Curious what type of tone improvement you noticed with the tube DI?  Warmer tone?  Also what style of music are you playing?

I also used an ART Tube MP for a bit - it did tame some harshness, but it beefed up my lows into borderline lap steel territory (sustain, tone, etc) which wasn't ideal for my style of playing.  So i cut bait.

Andy Hall did a rig rundown a few years back and he was (and possibly still is) using a Tube EQ pedal in his chain.  He talks about it here.

https://youtu.be/iafinoNc7vE?si=DfQOKIaVVlPdBxL0

Depending on what tone problem you're trying to solve (e.g. taming harshness), you may notice your resonator works better with certain settings on the JD Aura.  I find that to be the case on mine.  Examples, settings 1 and 2 are more harsh (but cut well).  Also a reverb can exaggerate some "brittleness" of tone.

Anyhow, you would be in good company with the likes of Andy Hall if you favor the sound of a tube pre in your chain.  Nothing wrong with that.  But worth tweaking some EQ or Aura settings first IMO, if you haven't already experimented. 

Hi Jamie. Yes, it warmed up the sound considerably, and also filled it out, without threatening to tip into low-frequency feedback. I generally stick to settings 7 and 8 on the JD Aura for their warmth, but even through the Venue DI, I still find the best tone I get isn't as good as I get by simply clipping my relatively cheap AT condenser mic on. I would use that all the time, but indoors in a loud room, it is obviously a major feedback risk.

This show was an all-acoustic Townes van Zandt tribute, so pretty transparent and low stage-volume. I do use this rig for a (much!) louder traditional country band and sometimes a louder-still Neil Young tribute act, where the low-end feedback is always an issue, even with the notch controls on the Venue DI. Remains to be seen whether the benefit of the tube DI will carry over on those louder gigs.

Nice, TVZ and Neil tributes, two of my non-bluegrass favs :)

I often blend the Fishman Pup with an ATM350 clipon. (I have a DI w/ dual inputs). Even a smidge of blended mic in a loud room (majority Pup obviously...) gives a dose of natural tone as well as greater gain-before-feedback on the combined mic/pup output signal.

Also, for reducing low end pup feedback squeal or rumble, i've stuffed soundproofing foam inside the soundholes. It worked to cut feedback for crazy loud venues, while projecting a good amplified tone.

Finally, a Krivo humbucking resonator pickup is an option for some. It is feedback resistant (if not bulletproof) and warms things up. Didn't totally float my tone boat, but some swear by it, and likely it would work well in some of your use cases.

All that said, maybe you've found your solution with a tube DI and don't need as much of an experimental phase like i went through...lol.

Good luck!

No experience with a Tube DI, but I’ve been pretty happy lately with Nashville PU —>JD pedal—>Dispatch Master (delay & ‘verb)—>Fishman Loudbox mini , using the Loudbox mini to EQ and for it’s DI out. It’s a very small amp with 40 watts. And the mini LB functions as a small monitor whilst using DI out. And it’s a backup, in that it could be mic’d if there are DI issues. And it’s a nice coffeehouse amp on its own. The three Fishman products play well with each other.

I do have a Sarno Blackbox (tube) buffer that I suppose I could try in the chain (normally it should go after the guitar, but using the JD pedal, probably should be after it?).

Thanks for all these great ideas, guys. For some reason, I could never get my Loudbox Artist to play nicely with my dobro. I sold it to one of the fiddlers in my triple fiddle band to match the ones the other two players were using.

For mixing in the AT signal (I have the 35, but should work about the same) I suppose I would need a dual input box. I do have a Zoom A3 (which I used with my bluegrass band the night after my Venue went out), which does have separate 1/4" and XLR inputs (and a bunch of other handy features)m that I could try for that.

Definitely going to try stuffing some foam in the sound holes for very loud stages. I have no screens so it shouldn't be too hard. Any particular type of foam I should use?

Thanks again.

I used 2" Auralex studio foam and cut out circular pieces to fit the sound holes. There's some depth to these with the irregular tooth-like structure. Visually it just looked like shadows inside the resonator.

For blending signals, i use a Radial PZ-Pro. The Zoom will do but the Radial is much cleaner (i have both...).

I use a VUMP meter so i always know my combined signal strength as I dial between mic and pickup. That nearly elimimates guesswork.

Here are some photos. Maybe this helps.

Thanks, Jamie. Definitely going to get some of that foam for the soundholes. Since pedal steel is my primary instrument, I might need to wait on the PZ-Pro. I don't doubt for a second that it is way better than the Zoom, but it's pricey and it's a question of resource allocation, as they say in the business world.

Yeah that makes sense, the Zoom will do what you need.

The foam-in-soundholes is a "field expedient" move when loud teles, bass, percussion (and monitors) bring out a low end squeal or rumble that eq'ing doesn't totally resolve. Fortunately I haven't had to use them in a while. But i keep 'em in gig tote for those types of gigs just in case. They do work for me.