hooking bass to stereo reciever

[stanlee]

i have an old magnavox stereo reciever that doesnt have a mic input , all it has is rca's can i hook bass to that somehow?

if not , i have a numark dm1050 dj mixer that has a mic jack that has a gain, treble and bass knobs, could i hook the bass into that and then the dj mixer goes to my stereo reciever? or do i need a DI box ? bass->interface->mixer->stereo

any help would be greatly appreciated

thanks

[Tractorr]

It depends on the input levels. Consumer stereo stuff is usually -10dbV where pro stuff is usually +4dbu.

You are doing this just to listen at home, correct? If so try all the different permutations, with different levels at all the different points of gain, and stop if something sounds really bad.

[39-Bassist]

You can hook a bass to it...get a 1/4" male to mono rca splitter...it will be only good for lower volume practices because of freq. response of speakers and possibly you will need to use settings as said by Tractorr. It will work though...(I had done that in my younger years when I had no practice amp at home)

[5port]

It will work. I use to do this when I was in my teens. The results did not encourage me to practice however. The phono input has much higher gain (passive bass)...the tuner input has lower gain (active bass). Good luck.

[Jeff Scott]

Do not use the phono input, besides probably overloading the first gain stage, it has a severe EQ curve (RIAA) built in to it that will not sound very good. Other than that, use an adapter cable as mentioned above to any of the line inputs, most like the tape or AUX input.

[Oren Hudson]

This thread takes me back. My first bass "amp" was my parents new Magnavox console stereo with turntable. I got an adapter making the guitar plug an RCA plug and went into the tape out on the back of the stereo. Sounded great, just not very mobile. This was in 1964.

[bstark]

I did this with a friend's stereo receiver. I really don't remember exactly how I hooked it up but I sure remember how good my bass sounded! I had a Hofner Beatle Bass and running it through his stereo made it sound just like Paul McCartney's recorded bass. The low frequency response was out of this world. Playing through that stereo sounded just like being on a record.

Thanks for the thread.

Bob

[T-Bird]

Hi.

Both ways "work", if by working You mean it reproduces the sound.

You'll kill the home stereo speakers with bass in no-time though, I did that with a mere 6 string guitar when I was young.
And I didn't play loud.

Regards
Sam

[paparoof]

Ah yes - my first "bass amp" as well....

Fried the receiver as I recall.

[texasgreg]

If you can grab one of the larger Bose outdoor unpowered speakers off ebay or somewhere, they work fairly well for home practice with all sorts of "alternative" amps and can handle the bass.

For that matter, when traveling for practice I've used bose powered roommate speakers out of a line6 unit and had decent low volume sound.

[dincz]

Level problems yes. EQ problems on the phono input yes. And add to that impedance matching problems if you're using a passive bass. A passive bass needs typically 500K - 1Mohm input impedance to avoid loading of the pickups.

But yes, you'll get some kind of sound.

[chadds]

May I suggest, if its actually old ( 50s-70s) it's for sale value could get you an actual home practice bass amp. In my state many folks are looking for old receivers tube or transistor.

[4Mal]

The other issue is relatively delicate 'hi-fi' tweeters. I used to replace those in my old 70's micro-acoustics regularly back in the day. My apartment was too small, the rig too large and the stairs too many... Tweeters were cheap... I did not practice his way when I upgraded to KEF 104's as tweeters were no longer cheap.

[stanlee]

thanks guys, ill try a few diff things out and get back to yall
peace