winterland Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 Hi Everyone - This isn't a recording question per say, but I wasn't sure where else to post it. I practice alone quite a bit at night with headphones connected to my amp. I love to play along to live performances and occasionally backing tracks through my mp3 player. One of my amps has an AUX input for an mp3 player, but the sound output is awful. So I ended up using headphones from my amp over the top of the ear buds from my mp3 player. Needless to say it does not sound great - the sounds levels are hard to synch up and my guitar doesn't sound 'connected' to the music at all. So I was hoping to get some guidance on how to better mix/synch my amp and mp3 player to get a more "real" sound. I guess I need something like a mixer ? I saw a few 4 channel mixers on-line that were around $50 or so. Would something like that work ? Should I get one with mono or stereo inputs ? I am embarrassed to say I don't understand how mono vs. stereo will affect what I actually hear !! Besides mono/stereo are there other features or anything I should be aware of ? I need to keep this under $100 or I will be in some hot water with my wife. Thank you very much for reading my question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hellion102792 Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 You could certainly use a mixer for that, here's 2 cheap mini mixers I just found at GC for under $50: Nady MM-14FX Mini Line Mixer with Effects Behringer MICROMIX MX400 4-Channel Line Mixer Mono just means that all the signal is mixed into one channel. So if you have a mixer with mono in/out, you'll hear it on both sides of your headphones. Stereo instead relies on two separate independent signals. For example, my interface has mono inputs (one jack) and stereo output (2 jacks for left/right, respectively). It takes the monophonic signal from my guitar or mic and splits it into the two separate channels. The type of mixers you'll be looking at will most likely have a mono headphone-out jack so you probably won't have to worry about it. What kind of jack plug do your headphones have? The only thing I can think of that you'd need to watch for is the type of adapter you use if they have a 1/8th inch plug and the mixer has a 1/4th inch phone jack. Make sure you get a mono adapter, as if you use a stereo adapter you'll only hear signal out of one channel of your headphones. Another option is for you to buy a USB interface. My setup for nighttime/dorm playing goes guitar>Focusrite Saffire 6>FL Studio>Guitar Rig 4>headphones, I just load in the track I want to play along to and jam out. You can use any plugin effect instead of Guitar Rig, (not the best sounding options but good enough for private contained playing) or just run it guitar>amp>interface. There are a bunch of cheap >$100 interfaces out there and the plus side with that option is you can record your jams right to your laptop or computer and get a good idea of how your playing sounds. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winterland Posted June 7, 2012 Author Share Posted June 7, 2012 You could certainly use a mixer for that, here's 2 cheap mini mixers I just found at GC for under $50: Nady MM-14FX Mini Line Mixer with Effects Behringer MICROMIX MX400 4-Channel Line Mixer Mono just means that all the signal is mixed into one channel. So if you have a mixer with mono in/out, you'll hear it on both sides of your headphones. Stereo instead relies on two separate independent signals. For example, my interface has mono inputs (one jack) and stereo output (2 jacks for left/right, respectively). It takes the monophonic signal from my guitar or mic and splits it into the two separate channels. The type of mixers you'll be looking at will most likely have a mono headphone-out jack so you probably won't have to worry about it. What kind of jack plug do your headphones have? The only thing I can think of that you'd need to watch for is the type of adapter you use if they have a 1/8th inch plug and the mixer has a 1/4th inch phone jack. Make sure you get a mono adapter, as if you use a stereo adapter you'll only hear signal out of one channel of your headphones. Another option is for you to buy a USB interface. My setup for nighttime/dorm playing goes guitar>Focusrite Saffire 6>FL Studio>Guitar Rig 4>headphones, I just load in the track I want to play along to and jam out. You can use any plugin effect instead of Guitar Rig, (not the best sounding options but good enough for private contained playing) or just run it guitar>amp>interface. There are a bunch of cheap >$100 interfaces out there and the plus side with that option is you can record your jams right to your laptop or computer and get a good idea of how your playing sounds. Good luck! Excellent ... Thank you very much for your research and response. I think I will go the mixer route for now - especially since there is a used Nady at a local used gear shop for $20 !! Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hellion102792 Posted June 8, 2012 Share Posted June 8, 2012 Sounds like a good deal for what you're looking for. You're welcome and enjoy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winterland Posted June 14, 2012 Author Share Posted June 14, 2012 You could certainly use a mixer for that, here's 2 cheap mini mixers I just found at GC for under $50: Nady MM-14FX Mini Line Mixer with Effects Behringer MICROMIX MX400 4-Channel Line Mixer Mono just means that all the signal is mixed into one channel. So if you have a mixer with mono in/out, you'll hear it on both sides of your headphones. Stereo instead relies on two separate independent signals. For example, my interface has mono inputs (one jack) and stereo output (2 jacks for left/right, respectively). It takes the monophonic signal from my guitar or mic and splits it into the two separate channels. The type of mixers you'll be looking at will most likely have a mono headphone-out jack so you probably won't have to worry about it. What kind of jack plug do your headphones have? The only thing I can think of that you'd need to watch for is the type of adapter you use if they have a 1/8th inch plug and the mixer has a 1/4th inch phone jack. Make sure you get a mono adapter, as if you use a stereo adapter you'll only hear signal out of one channel of your headphones. Another option is for you to buy a USB interface. My setup for nighttime/dorm playing goes guitar>Focusrite Saffire 6>FL Studio>Guitar Rig 4>headphones, I just load in the track I want to play along to and jam out. You can use any plugin effect instead of Guitar Rig, (not the best sounding options but good enough for private contained playing) or just run it guitar>amp>interface. There are a bunch of cheap >$100 interfaces out there and the plus side with that option is you can record your jams right to your laptop or computer and get a good idea of how your playing sounds. Good luck! I bought an inexpensive 4 channel mixer - it was from Radio Shack as none of major instrument retailers or used shops had anything close in stock. It's a 4 channel, with 4 mono inputs on the front, and on the back a stereo (white/red) output, and two stereo (white/red)inputs. I have been using the mono inputs on the front (input 1 connects to my guitar output - monster cable 1/4 connector and input 2 connects to my iPod - uses an 1/8 inch headphone extender with a 1/4 adapter). The output connects to a stereo adapter that has a 1/4 inch male jack on the other end which I plug into my amp input. While this arrangement does help cause I don't have to use two sets of headphones, the sound isn't as good as I had hoped. One issue is definitely the quality of my music source - an iPod and some live shows with lots of crowd noise isn't ideal to begin with, but I really like to play to that kind of stuff because it's fun and I think it helps my timing. I chained an EQ in front of my iPod which helps to clean up the sound a bit. But still kind of disappointing overall. I get some 'hiss' from my iPod consistently and can't get rid of it -and- if I chain a few guitar effects together I start getting some static which was not a problem before introducing the mixer. So, some follow up questions ... 1. I have not tried using the stereo inputs on the back - to do that I would need a cable w/stereo (red/white) connectors on one and and an 1/8 male on the other - and then the same for my guitar but w/a 1/4 male end or adapter. Would using those inputs produce a cleaner sound to the ear, or it will just be in stereo which won't really improve sound quality ? 2. I use good quality instrument cables and patch cords - but some of my setup relies on stereo to mono (1/4 inch jack) adapters and the iPod uses some 1/8 extensions. They were the best (most expensive) Radio Shack had, but is the chain of cables and connectors potentially part of the problem ? I looked at the usb/software solution you mentioned above - i like the idea, but it's a bit too much for the pocket book right now; however, would you have any recommended sites or discussions I can read through to get an understanding of interfacing guitar and laptop, and what kinds of things I can do with a setup(midi i think its called)like that ? I am really sorry for all the specific questions ... I have been playing for about 2 years and have always just jammed along by myself quite happily. I play every day and over time I have improved to the point where I can play along pretty well with many of the songs I like, so just plugging in and playing without any backing just isn't very gratifying any more. I have tried to find some others to jam with - but availability/time is a major issue for me, so for now it's just not really an option. Thanks again for your help with this. It's really appreciated !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaysEpiphone Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 I bought an inexpensive 4 channel mixer - it was from Radio Shack as none of major instrument retailers or used shops had anything close in stock. It's a 4 channel, with 4 mono inputs on the front, and on the back a stereo (white/red) output, and two stereo (white/red)inputs. I have been using the mono inputs on the front (input 1 connects to my guitar output - monster cable 1/4 connector and input 2 connects to my iPod - uses an 1/8 inch headphone extender with a 1/4 adapter). The output connects to a stereo adapter that has a 1/4 inch male jack on the other end which I plug into my amp input. While this arrangement does help cause I don't have to use two sets of headphones, the sound isn't as good as I had hoped. One issue is definitely the quality of my music source - an iPod and some live shows with lots of crowd noise isn't ideal to begin with, but I really like to play to that kind of stuff because it's fun and I think it helps my timing. I chained an EQ in front of my iPod which helps to clean up the sound a bit. But still kind of disappointing overall. I get some 'hiss' from my iPod consistently and can't get rid of it -and- if I chain a few guitar effects together I start getting some static which was not a problem before introducing the mixer. So, some follow up questions ... 1. I have not tried using the stereo inputs on the back - to do that I would need a cable w/stereo (red/white) connectors on one and and an 1/8 male on the other - and then the same for my guitar but w/a 1/4 male end or adapter. Would using those inputs produce a cleaner sound to the ear, or it will just be in stereo which won't really improve sound quality ? 2. I use good quality instrument cables and patch cords - but some of my setup relies on stereo to mono (1/4 inch jack) adapters and the iPod uses some 1/8 extensions. They were the best (most expensive) Radio Shack had, but is the chain of cables and connectors potentially part of the problem ? I looked at the usb/software solution you mentioned above - i like the idea, but it's a bit too much for the pocket book right now; however, would you have any recommended sites or discussions I can read through to get an understanding of interfacing guitar and laptop, and what kinds of things I can do with a setup(midi i think its called)like that ? I am really sorry for all the specific questions ... I have been playing for about 2 years and have always just jammed along by myself quite happily. I play every day and over time I have improved to the point where I can play along pretty well with many of the songs I like, so just plugging in and playing without any backing just isn't very gratifying any more. I have tried to find some others to jam with - but availability/time is a major issue for me, so for now it's just not really an option. Thanks again for your help with this. It's really appreciated !! Your noise is coming from one of the things you stated for sure. With out knowing specific brand names, model number's and good pictures/video of your whole set-up it's going to be hard to say really. I use a cheep to rout all my audio signals to one output or to a buss (out-put) I need to send it to. My Marshall Class 5 amp has a nice headphone out-put that interfaces seamlessly to this set-up, I also use a distribution amp to send signals to headphone's or speaker's or both depending on my need at the time. Hope this clears things up for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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