I have a DI box, but the out to the amp is noisy. I set the ground to on, but there's still just enough noise coming through that it's causing issues.

I was thinking of just splitting the signal from the bass to the amp and the DI. Should I use a passive splitter box or just a Y cable? What's your recommendation?

Short answer: A Y cable and a Passive splitter do the exact same thing, and if your DI is Passive, the same thing the 2 TS jacks on the DI do.

Is your DI active or passive? If it is passive it shouldn't be injecting any noise into the throughput. Usually they are just paralleled connections, like a y cable would be. Also, the Ground switch doesn't affect either of the TS jacks, only the XLR (if you have a ground loop, try lifting ground) . If it is active, maybe try a new battery, or make sure there is phantom applied. Some Active DI are also just paralleled , but I think sometimes their can be a buffer circuit in there. Either way, it it is passive, a Y cable is probably going to give you the same problems as if the noise is going to the Through (out) it is probably present on the Input as well, and that will just crawl up that Y cable.

The DI is passive. The problem is that the thru to the amp, once connected, adds it's own level of noise. I've thrown a few different cables at it. If the thru is not used, there's absolutely no noise. So, if I split the cable, one to the DI, the other to the amp, then I bypass the thru and not get the extra noise.

As far as I know, there's no battery in this DI. It doesn't take power. The signal is also super low out from the DI. Maybe I should look into getting an active DI.

the thru is a Y. the in and the thru are the same thing, the Y/split is to the 1/4" that is not the bass cord and to the xlr
where is the xlr output going?

If the DI has no noise going Direct but not also hitting an Amp, but has noise when using an amp, My guess is that there is a ground loop between whatever the XLR is plugged into, and the Amp. In this case, you probably want the DI to be in Ground Lift mode, which can, but doesn't always fix the issue. If it isn't a grounding issue, the only thing I can imagine it being is maybe the solder on the jack needs to be reworked? There is no mumbo jumbo with the input and through of most DI. They are just wired together tip to tip, sleeve to sleeve. You can use them interchangeably and I have used them to sum stereo line into mono Mic a million times. try plugging the amp into the same outlet, or power strip as what ever the XLR is plugged into to insure they have common ground and see if it helps, if either or both have IEC power cables, try new ones. Maybe there is just a bad connection somewhere.

In this setup...

Everything that has to be plugged in... All plugged into a common power strip?

The DI is not powered. But yes, everything that is plugged (amps, pedalboard) are all on the same power source.

I realized the bigger issue is that I actually need an active D.I. In order to get a proper signal, I was having to go through an extra preamp to raise the signal, which just made things worse. The preamp has a little noise, but sounds just fine with mics, but not a DI. And yes, I used the ground lift, which removed a lot of the noise, but not all of the noise. My original plan was to just use a Y splitter to go from pedal board to amp and DI, removing the noise by not using the thru output from the DI. Either way, that still may be an issue with the new active DI I purchased. Waiting on that to come in a day or two. But I think I solved a different problem!

I have a passive DI for sale now, though.

Sounds like getting a new DI is the solution for you, but at some point pick up a Morley/Ebtech Hum Eliminator. Invaluable tool to have for scenarios like this.

Adam P wrote: Fri Oct 22, 2021 6:38 am Sounds like getting a new DI is the solution for you, but at some point pick up a Morley/Ebtech Hum Eliminator. Invaluable tool to have for scenarios like this.

Thanks for the tip. If the new DI has this problem, I will def look into this!

Kniferide wrote: Thu Oct 21, 2021 3:44 pm Short answer: A Y cable and a Passive splitter do the exact same thing, and if your DI is Passive, the same thing the 2 TS jacks on the DI do.

Could you elaborate on this? I don't own a ts-to-two-more-ts Y cable, but was always under the impression that this is bad because of noticeable signal loss - which is why an active ABY pedal is used if you're doing two amps, or the old Boss TU-2 trick....but I've certainly plugged my bass into passive DIs and not noticed any signal loss there.