Crazy and stupid idea

[Seth DuSith]

Okay guys, I have a stupid idea. What if a man were to take a cheap mixer, and split his signal 2 or 3 times, wirh different sounds, and feed it into his combo bass amp? Tell me if this idea would be stupid or harmful for my amp or not.

And another, slightly less stupid idea, could I feed the sound from my iPad, bass and maybe a drum machine into it, into my bass amp, for a cheap and portable PA system? Mostly just to learn how to use a mixer, and play in my apartment. I don't plan to do live shows this way, but I do want to learn to use a mixer because one day I plan to do live electronic music shows, where I play bass live, and maybe have a guitarist also play live, sort of liek Dance with the Dead does, but I have no idea what level of control would be given to me, and just in case I end up needing to mix it myself, so that I can time my triggers and samples, I wanna practice with my bass amp

 

[Michedelic]

Okay guys, I have a stupid idea. What if a man were to take a cheap mixer, and split his signal 2 or 3 times, wirh different sounds, and feed it into his combo bass amp? Tell me if this idea would be stupid or harmful for my amp or not.

And another, slightly less stupid idea, could I feed the sound from my iPad, bass and maybe a drum machine into it, into my bass amp, for a cheap and portable PA system? Mostly just to learn how to use a mixer, and play in my apartment. I don't plan to do live shows this way, but I do want to learn to use a mixer because one day I plan to do live electronic music shows, where I play bass live, and maybe have a guitarist also play live, sort of liek Dance with the Dead does, but I have no idea what level of control would be given to me, and just in case I end up needing to mix it myself, so that I can time my triggers and samples, I wanna practice with my bass amp

Like this?
Electro-Harmonix Tri Parallel Mixer

 

[seamonkey]

If you want to learn, You should use a digital mixer, or use a Computer or iPad with an interface.
You can learn the basics on an analog mixer, but everything has gone digital.
High-priced used analog mixers go for pennies on the dollar these days.

 

[Seth DuSith]

Like this?
Electro-Harmonix Tri Parallel Mixer

I had no idea such a product exists! Thank you for shining a light on it. That would be even better for my amp specifically.

But say, I decided to cheap out, would a regular mixer work? Like this one

Edit: I decided I need that pedal lol. It sounds way too useful

 

[Seth DuSith]

If you want to learn, You should use a digital mixer, or use a Computer or iPad with an interface.
You can learn the basics on an analog mixer, but everything has gone digital.
High-priced used analog mixers go for pennies on the dollar these days.

That's not a bad idea. Even just until I get an actual mixer. How do digital mixers work? How would I plug a bunch of things in?

I only have a few things I really need to worry about. IPad, Synthesizer, and maybe Bass/Pre-amp. Depends how much instrumental clutter I gather before I decide to try perform

 

[seamonkey]

If you're talking iPad, then take a look at AUM
AUM - Audio Mixer
There are links to training AUM's site.

You'll need an audio interface, and newer iPads have USB, so they plug right in through a powered USB hub.
Then apps such as IK Tonex or Amplitube for bass, and many Synths on iPad, can be mixed together using AUM as the go between for routing the audio between them.
Keep in mind that there are other digital mixers such as Yamaha or Behringer that include all the routing internally, and also have an iPad interface to allow you to control the internals of the digital mixer. Once you figure out on Mixers and routing, it will fall into place as they all have similar workflows.

 

[agedhorse]

Actually, this is the perfect application for an analog mixer. A simple, straightforward solution that does not need firmware updates or calls home to the mother ship.

 

[Seth DuSith]

If you're talking iPad, then take a look at AUM
AUM - Audio Mixer
There are links to training AUM's site.

You'll need an audio interface, and newer iPads have USB, so they plug right in through a powered USB hub.
Then apps such as IK Tonex or Amplitube for bass, and many Synths on iPad, can be mixed together using AUM as the go between for routing the audio between them.
Keep in mind that there are other digital mixers such as Yamaha or Behringer that include all the routing internally, and also have an iPad interface to allow you to control the internals of the digital mixer. Once you figure out on Mixers and routing, it will fall into place as they all have similar workflows.

For practice, until I buy an anolog mixer, I might give this a try. It would be a great way to get practice at least

Actually, this is the perfect application for an analog mixer. A simple, straightforward solution that does not need firmware updates or calls home to the mother ship.

Yea exactly haha. I don't like to be too dependant on digital. I could just plug my iPad in and go, but if my iPad ever died I would be screwed

 

[agedhorse]

You still need an interface.

 

[Seth DuSith]

You still need an interface.

A what now

 

[Michedelic]

I had no idea such a product exists! Thank you for shining a light on it. That would be even better for my amp specifically.

But say, I decided to cheap out, would a regular mixer work? Like this one

View attachment 5161224

Edit: I decided I need that pedal lol. It sounds way too useful

Yeah, the thing about mini-mixers(4/6/8 channels)is that they don’t have enough sends on each channel for what you’d want to do, just an auxiliary(or effects)send, then a monitor send, usually, but not always. If you wanted to use that one pictured, you’d still need something like a Morley Tripler or ABC before it…

which takes your single bass signal and distributes it to three different directions. Then run your three different effects chains to three channels on the mixer, set your levels, and the take the sum out to your amp. But all of that mess is what that EHX pedal does in a more efficient package.

 

[agedhorse]

A what now

How are you planning on plugging your bass into your iPad?

 

[Seth DuSith]

Yeah, the thing about mini-mixers(4/6/8 channels)is that they don’t have enough sends on each channel for what you’d want to do, just an auxiliary(or effects)send, then a monitor send, usually, but not always. If you wanted to use that one pictured, you’d still need something like a Morley Tripler or ABC before it…
View attachment 5161268
View attachment 5161262
which takes your single bass signal and distributes it to three different directions. Then run your three different effects chains to three channels on the mixer, set your levels, and the take the sum out to your amp. But all of that mess is what that EHX pedal does in a more efficient package.

Oh okay, thank you, I didn't know that one. I'll write that down, so I don't forget

That tripler will also come in handy too. Thanks for sharing these

How are you planning on plugging your bass into your iPad?

Oh no, the bass would have a seperate line in, using my preamp xlr (unless I decided to run multiple signals). I figured my preamp will go to one channel, my synth to another, and my iPad for a backing track into one of those audio splitters, which will go into the other two channels, for panning left and right.

It wouldnt be the most sophisticated set up, but if I can learn to mix it, it's a start

 

[6thplanet]

Might have to deal with phase issues. All your different effects might not sum together like you think they will.

 

[drwv]

And another, slightly less stupid idea, could I feed the sound from my iPad, bass and maybe a drum machine into it, into my bass amp, for a cheap and portable PA system?

The level coming out of your analog mixer will be line level. The front-end preamp of your combo bass amp expects instrument level, so running into this input will require tweaking the gain on the preamp and/or the master level on the mixer.

If your combo amp has an effects loop, then plug the line level output from your mixer into the effects loop input, which expects a line level signal (and bypasses the preamp).

 

[groovepump]

Actually, this is the perfect application for an analog mixer. A simple, straightforward solution that does not need firmware updates or calls home to the mother ship.

Agree 100%.
Our sound guy does wonders with computer-controlled digital gadgets, until the summer heat shuts-down the computer, or some glitch re-boots or hangs the thing. We played through, but had a few minutes of down-time while we swapped-out the control laptop.
I'm a dinosaur and prefer analog. . .
I usually don't even know where my cell phone is (or care).

 

[jimmydean]

You see my friend , you are not stupid , crazy or insane (I threw that one in)....you are just a forward thinking bassist on a mission to use all those effects you have and the sounds they make in your head .

 

[KevInDaBassment]

I think I get the picture on what you're going for, OP.

Honestly, I think it's a good idea too. I've had the itch to give running a clean and dirty channel into a mixer and then back into the amp a try (a la Dug Pinnick, I guess?). I could see a hybrid rack solution or something being another way to tackle this. Two signal chains into a two or four channel rack mixer before going into a power amp. Definitely simpler solutions out there, but it's Friday and the morning coffee is wearing off lol

 

[DonaldR]

I had no idea such a product exists! Thank you for shining a light on it. That would be even better for my amp specifically.

But say, I decided to cheap out, would a regular mixer work? Like this one

View attachment 5161224

What will you learn from running such a basic mixer? Nothing except turning couple of knobs...

If you want to practice on how to use a mixer on the cheap (like for free), you can download Behringer X-Air Edit for Windows or Mac or Android or iOS. It's free and you can run it in demo mode without any mixer connected.
You can also run the free software demo of Soundcraft UI digital mixers directly on a web browser: https://www.soundcraft.com/ui24-software-demo/mixer.html

If you want a mixer to learn on I would personally get a Behringer Flow-8. Cheap and everything under the hood.

 

[Seth DuSith]

The level coming out of your analog mixer will be line level. The front-end preamp of your combo bass amp expects instrument level, so running into this input will require tweaking the gain on the preamp and/or the master level on the mixer.

If your combo amp has an effects loop, then plug the line level output from your mixer into the effects loop input, which expects a line level signal (and bypasses the preamp).

Oh okay, I didn't even think of this one. Thanks for informing me, unfortunately my amp doesn't have an effects line. But that's good to know. My amp does, however, have two inputs. One for high gain and one for low gain. Do you think the low gain channel will work?

What will you learn from running such a basic mixer? Nothing except turning couple of knobs...

If you want to practice on how to use a mixer on the cheap (like for free), you can download Behringer X-Air Edit for Windows or Mac or Android or iOS. It's free and you can run it in demo mode without any mixer connected.
You can also run the free software demo of Soundcraft UI digital mixers directly on a web browser: https://www.soundcraft.com/ui24-software-demo/mixer.html

If you want a mixer to learn on I would personally get a Behringer Flow-8. Cheap and everything under the hood.

Unfortunately I don't even have a computer. Perhaps one day, but I think I'll likely own a mixer before I even own a computer.

I think I get the picture on what you're going for, OP.

Honestly, I think it's a good idea too. I've had the itch to give running a clean and dirty channel into a mixer and then back into the amp a try (a la Dug Pinnick, I guess?). I could see a hybrid rack solution or something being another way to tackle this. Two signal chains into a two or four channel rack mixer before going into a power amp. Definitely simpler solutions out there, but it's Friday and the morning coffee is wearing off lol

Yea this might be a better route than what in doing. Eventually, I would like to get myself a power amp and mixer and everything, but truth be told, all this is mostly just a way to practice mixing my music, because I'm not entirely sure like...

Okay, let's say I was playing a show, with maybe 4 other musicians, how much time would I realistically have to explain to the sound guy how I want my stuff leveled and EQd? I'm not sure they do a full sound test with every single musician before hand and write it down or whatever. Truth be told, I actually have no idea how it's done. But what I'm thinking is if I brought my own mixer, and already had an idea how to mix my bass/preamp, iPad and synth, it would save the guy some time, and I can just plug in and go

I am not sure how much an audience is gonna want to wait for the sound guy to fiddle with my stuff when the opening might only be half an hour or 20 minutes to begin with.


But again, I've never done any of this before. So I am taking eveything into consideration, but I also want people to understand where I'm coming from