I have a tonematch 4 with the model 2 and b2. I sing and play guitar (Ed Sheeran little martin) with two pedals: Boss RC 300 and TC Helicon Play Acoustic. On top of that my bose sysytem is US 110v and I am in south africa and bought a step down/step up converter (max 1000w) to allow for our 220v power. When I play with just the tc helicon I dont seem to get any real feedback or buzz but I do with the RC 300 connected(took it for a service and getting it back today). I am concerned that I get little shocks occasionally when touching the mic and guitar. Is that due to ground loop? Do I need a DI box?
Any suggestions on how best to set up my rig? Also does the tone match act as a DI are there settings I can use on the tonematch that nullifies the need for a DI?
What you're describing is a grounding problem. I'm unfortunately unfamiliar with the typical electrical wire of venues in South Africa, but if you have 2 units hooked up to 2 electric circuits with a faulty ground, you're going to get zapped with hands on say the strings of a guitar (hooked up to an amp that is plugged into house current), and your lips touch a mic plugged into the BOSE that is also plugged into another circuit. If the electric plugs there have a 3rd prong on the plug, make sure that 3rd prong is hooked up to ground properly and you should be good. You might pop down to a local hardware store to see if they have a relatively inexpensive device you can plug into a socket to check for proper wiring at the places you play. Here's what one of those look like here in the States.
The purpose of a DI box is to take an unbalanced, high-impedance signal such as your guitar pickup and convert it to a balanced, low-impedance signal. This allows you to plug your guitar directly into microphone preamps or to send it’s signal over extended cable runs without losing volume. It doesn’t have anything to do with grounding. Also, among its other features, your PlayAcoustic IS a DI box — so you’re already covered in that department.
Also does the tone match act as a DI are there settings I can use on the tonematch that nullifies the need for a DI?
Thanks for letting me on this very helpful group!
Hi bose dylan,
The T4 accepts a wide range of line-level inputs and instruments in the 1/4 inch (6.3 mm) jacks. You don't need a DI. However, like rycowan mentioned, a DI is common in the recording studio to enable a bass or guitar to input into an interface or console with XLR cable, as well as allowing for input into an amp via the 1/4" cable. Folks might also choose to use a DI simply for how it affects the sound.
This was all very helpful!