Thread Guitar & Bass into Mixer, then out to one amp?

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snethej

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First post

1 Posted on 07/26/2007 at 15:40:29

Maybe this should be in a noob forum, but it's more of what a mixer can do question.

Can I put a bass and guitar into a mixer (e.g. UB802, inputs 1 & 2) and run the main out to a single combo amp without any drawbacks (i.e. shorting something out)?

I'm not trying to record from this setup, but just trying to get two of us to be able to play at the same time on one available amp. I didn't know if there was some sort of loading problem, or what magic I might be removing by not plugging into the amp directly with my instrument.

I think I blew out an amplifier before by mixing speaker outputs into the mixer (maybe a grounding problem?), so I didn't want to do something like that again.

Thanks.

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hozomean

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2 Posted on 07/27/2007 at 09:22:54

Well, the situation you're describing that got you into trouble before sounds like you were trying to run an amplified signal (speaker outputs) into a source expecting a line level signal (the mixer ins). The situation you're trying to do now definitely sounds a little sketchy, but depending on the amp you're running into probably won't break anything, though its definitely not something Id recommend. The one thing to think about is what the amp was designed to handle. If its a guitar amp and you're running guitar and bass into it, it wasn't really designed to handle the frequency and dynamic range of a bass and you may be endangering the speakers among other things.

The short answer is, yes what you're trying to do will probably work. The not so short answer is that its still probably not a great idea.

my 2 cents.

snethej

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3 Posted on 07/28/2007 at 04:43:42

It is a bass amp that we're trying to use, so I think I would assume that it could handle the frequency and dynamic range. It's the other things that you mentioned which concerns me, because I don't know what the other things are.

Your analysis of my previous trouble is interesting. The sound guy who had the equipment gave me more of a response like, "Yea, I don't see why it wouldn't work. Try it."

Thanks for the $0.02. I'll put it in my savings and see if I can make it do something for me.

Streetdblo

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4 Posted on 01/14/2008 at 13:32:39

Ive tried something similar to what your talking about. about 5 years ago when my band started we only had 1 amp and two guitar players. we tried using a berihnger mixer and run it into the single input on a combo amp, Didnt work so well. We blew the speakers because it was overloading, you cant make out the two guitars. Thats my 2 cents aswell. good luck tho, if you get it to work, let me know

dan

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