| Author |
Topic: Powered mixer for laptop and steel guitar |
Don Benoit
From:
Okanagan Falls, BC
|
Posted 8 Mar 2011 2:15 pm |
|
I need a small 2 channel powered mixer that will have line level inout from my laptop headphone output and an input for my steel guitar which would require a pre amp in the mixer. Also need a headphone jack. The reason is that I would like to practice my steel with tracks from the laptop using headphones.
The closest that I have come to what I want so far is a Rolls PM50 which has a mike input and a line input along with a headphone jack all powered by a 9 volt battery. The problem is that the gain is too high when I connect the steel to the mic input so the signal is slightly distorted. I could insert an attenuator between the guitar and the mike input but have not tried that.
Any suggestions for under $100? |
|
|
 |
Dave Grafe
From:
Hudson River Valley NY
|
Posted 8 Mar 2011 3:05 pm
|
|
A "powered mixer" for under $100? Unless you find somebody willing to give away a used unit it's not likely to happen.
If you only want to do the stuff you mention in your post and aren't planning to use it to power PA speakers then you will be far better off with a compact, NON-powered USB mixer such as the M-Audio Fast-Track:
http://www.guitarcenter.com/M-Audio-Fast-Track-MKII-USB-Audio-Interface-105632467-i1474272.gc
The big bonus with M-Audio is that you can run Pro-Tools LE with it attached to your computer - it's a dingle/dongle thing you know.... |
|
|
|
Bill Ford
From:
Graniteville SC Aiken
|
|
|
|
Bill Ford
From:
Graniteville SC Aiken
|
|
|
|
Don Benoit
From:
Okanagan Falls, BC
|
Posted 8 Mar 2011 5:21 pm
|
|
Dave
I have a Maudio Fast track Pro but did not think of using it as such. It is USB powered so I should be able to get power from the laptop. I will be getting a new laptop this week so I will see how it works.
Thanks |
|
|
|
Dave Grafe
From:
Hudson River Valley NY
|
Posted 8 Mar 2011 5:34 pm
|
|
| Excellent, Don, that's the unit I wanted to recommend but it's more expensive and you had mentioned a $100.00 price tag. You should be able to do all that you want for no more than $0.00! |
|
|
|
Richard Sinkler
From:
aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana
|
Posted 8 Mar 2011 5:49 pm
|
|
I used to use a cheap Behringer 8 channel mixer for practicing my keyboards in my apartment. It has RCA plugs to hook a tape player to (or Mp3 player, computer, pretty much any sound playback device). Definitely not high quality, but for just home practice, they are just fine. Of course, they are not a powered mixer, so you would need to feed it to a power amp to play through speakers.
Also, I use a pocket POD for practicing my steel. I believe they are still only $99, and they have a 1/8" phone jack to plug in an external sound player, a headphone jack, and an instrument input. Again not high quality, but good enough for practice.
The advantage of the Pocket POD over the mixer is that the mixer has no reverb or other effects. The Pocket Pod does.
_________________
Carter D10 8p/8k, Dekley S10 3p/4k C6 setup,Regal RD40 Dobro, Recording King Professional Dobro, NV400, NV112,Ibanez Gio guitar, Epiphone SG Special (open D slide guitar) . Playing for 55 years and still counting. |
|
|
|
Don Benoit
From:
Okanagan Falls, BC
|
Posted 8 Mar 2011 5:57 pm
|
|
Thanks again Dave. I have been doing some recording on my desktop with the Fast Track Pro but just never thought of using it with a laptop for portability when I get the laptop.
Please close thread.
Don |
|
|
|
Don Benoit
From:
Okanagan Falls, BC
|
Posted 8 Mar 2011 6:02 pm
|
|
Richard
Thanks for your tips. Also you have a great site.
Don |
|
|
|
Tom Mortensen
From:
Nashville TN
|
|
|
|
David Mason
From:
Cambridge, MD, USA
|
Posted 8 Mar 2011 11:48 pm
|
|
| I'll pimp for the mini-mixers again too. I have a Samson 8 in, a Behringer 8 and a Behringer 10 in. I bought the Samson new for $80, and the Behringers used for $40 and $25. They have headphone outputs, an effects loop, and enough ins and outs that you can put your steel, computer, TV, iPod and drum machine all in, speakers and recorder out and leave it that way, you don't have to unplug stuff all the time. |
|
|
|
Richard Sinkler
From:
aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana
|
Posted 8 Mar 2011 11:51 pm
|
|
Yeah. I forgot about the effects loop. I never used it because synthesizers have effects built into each patch (like reverb, chorus etc.)
_________________
Carter D10 8p/8k, Dekley S10 3p/4k C6 setup,Regal RD40 Dobro, Recording King Professional Dobro, NV400, NV112,Ibanez Gio guitar, Epiphone SG Special (open D slide guitar) . Playing for 55 years and still counting. |
|
|
|
