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Double Bass I want to make a Y-adaptor to . . .

Jack Clark

Jack Clark

Aug 17, 2008
1,022
14
Idyllwild, California
#1
. . . play my bass into the left channel, play an mp3 from my MacBook into the right channel, and listen to both channels simultaneosly in my headphones. What I envision is as follows, and I'd like to have opinions from you electronics experts as to whether this will work:

I have a small Vox bass headphone amp. The Vox's 1/4" TS male input plug goes into my bass's 1/4" output jack, leaving a 1/4" TS female output jack free in the Vox amp.

My MacBook has an mp3 player program playing into an 1/8" TRS female output jack in the side of the MacBook.

I envision a Y-adaptor with three connector ends: one 1/4" TS male plug, one 1/8" TRS male plug, and one 1/8" TRS female jack.
(a) The 1/4" TS male plug of the Y-adaptor would go into the 1/4" TS female output jack from the Vox. The Tip in that 1/4" TS male plug of the Y-adaptor would be soldered to a wire leading to the Tip of the 1/8" TRS female jack of the Y-adapter;
(b) The 1/8" TRS male plug of the Y-adaptor would go into the 1/8" TRS female output from my MacBook. The Tip and Ring of that TRS male plug of the Y-adaptor both would be soldered to a wire leading to the Ring of the same 1/8" TRS female jack of the Y-adapter that was mentioned in (a), above.
(c) All three S (sleeve) contacts would all be soldered together.
(d) The 1/8" TRS male plug on my headphones would plug into the 1/8" TRS female jack of the Y-adapter.

I'm hoping this would play my live bass into the Tip of my headphone plug (with the bass's volume controlled by the Vox's volume control) and simultaneously play the mp3 into the Ring of my headphone plug (with the mp3 volume controlled by my mp3 player program's volume control).

Is there any reason this wouldn't work?
 
#2
The amazing part is that I read and followed all of that. A circuit diagram would have made it easier. :) In any case, I see no problem with your plan other than improbable issues that could arise as a result of tying together the grounds across the outputs of the devices. I think it would be much simpler to feed a third stereo device that drives your headphones. Many devices would work, e.g., a small amplifier, a digital recorder, etc. You would simply connect your bass to the left channel of that device and your Mac to the right. One volume control would affect both simultaneously. Yet another and, perhaps, even better option is to connect your bass to the input of your Mac and use software to mix the bass with the mp3 source. The Mac would then drive the headphones.
 
#4
drurb said:
The amazing part is that I read and followed all of that. A circuit diagram would have made it easier. :) In any case, I see no problem with your plan other than improbable issues that could arise as a result of tying together the grounds across the outputs of the devices. I think it would be much simpler to feed a third stereo device that drives your headphones. Many devices would work, e.g., a small amplifier, a digital recorder, etc. You would simply connect your bass to the left channel of that device and your Mac to the right. One volume control would affect both simultaneously. Yet another and, perhaps, even better option is to connect your bass to the input of your Mac and use software to mix the bass with the mp3 source. The Mac would then drive the headphones.
Click to expand...

Thanks, drurb. While I usually can read circuit diagrams okay, I don't trust myself to use the correct symbols in writing them. Sorry for the drawn-out verbal explanation. Your ideas--both of them--sound better to me, and I'll look into them first. Thanks very much!
 
#5
Jack Clark said:
Thanks, drurb. While I usually can read circuit diagrams okay, I don't trust myself to use the correct symbols in writing them. Sorry for the drawn-out verbal explanation. Your ideas--both of them--sound better to me, and I'll look into them first. Thanks very much!
Click to expand...

My pleasure. I didn't expect you to really draw a diagram. :)
 
#6
tstone said:
I guess my question would be, why reinvent the wheel? There are plenty of headphone amps out there with AUX inputs for a CD/mp3 player.
Click to expand...

Good Godfrey! I just took a good look at the spec sheet for my little Vox headphone amp and I'll be darned if it doesn't have an AUX input for that exact purpose. What a stupid I am. Thanks for the heads up, tstone. This'll probably work fine. I'm away on vacation now and will let you know when I return.

Just goes to show us all that this forum is great—not only for answering good questions but also for answering stupid ones.
 
#7
Jack Clark said:
Good Godfrey! I just took a good look at the spec sheet for my little Vox headphone amp and I'll be darned if it doesn't have an AUX input for that exact purpose. What a stupid I am. Thanks for the heads up, tstone. This'll probably work fine. I'm away on vacation now and will let you know when I return.

Just goes to show us all that this forum is great—not only for answering good questions but also for answering stupid ones.
Click to expand...

Ah, so you can use the Vox in the fashion of my first alternative suggestion.
 
#8
drurb said:
Ah, so you can use the Vox in the fashion of my first alternative suggestion.
Click to expand...

Yes, exactly right. Although, I suspect that using the Vox Aux system will produce a mono sound with both my bass and the mp3 in both ears, but that might be fine. I originally was asking about having the bass in the left channel with piano and drums in the right, but that may not be so important.
 

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