Tony Oresteen
From:
Georgia, USA
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Posted 19 Dec 2023 11:46 am |
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Practicing music with backing tracks requires some set up and planning. Since I still use iPods (my main iPod has 26,0000 songs on it for use in my car & my dedicated Christmas music iPod is shuffling 985 Christmas songs through my entertainment center), it was natural for me to set up a dedicated iPod to play my backing tracks. You could do this using a smartphone or even an old CD boom box. iPods are cheap and reliable so I use them. I buy mine off of eBay.
Many older guitar "practice" amps have CD in 1/4" jack and an output 1/4" jack for headphones. These are perfect for practice. The issue is how to get the sound out of the iPod and into your amp and having both stereo channels playing through a mono input.
Here's my Peavey Blazer 158 set up with an iPod.
Note that my stand lets you plug in the charging cord and run the cord below to an AC charger. Note that the sound is being routed from the iPod earphone 1/8" jack (not from the 30 pin power connector).
There are a couple of things you can do to make iPods easier to use.
1. Have a dedicated iPod for backing tracks. I use a Gen 5 Video 30GB iPod. When the screen went bad recently I had it repaired & upgraded to a 128GB SD card and had a new battery put in while it was open. By now many of them need new batteries so when it is in for service have the service center drop in a new battery
2. Get a dedicated stand, 30 pin Apple cord, and AC charger for it. Source: eBay, Amazon etc.
3. The output from an iPod is stereo. CD 1/4" inputs on guitar amps are usually MONO. To ensure that you hear both L & R tracks make a 1/8" (3.5mm) stereo to 1/4" MONO cord from an old computer speaker cord (they have Green 1/8" jacks). Do a test to see how much length you need and cut the cord. Solder both L&R lines to the tip connector of the 1/4" mono jack. Solder the ground wire to the shaft connector. Use heat shrink to prevent shorts. Now you can plug in your iPod and test it to see if it works with your amp. Most CD In jacks do NOT have a volume control. Most likely you will have to control the volume with the iPod's vol control.
4. If you want to use headphones so you won't disturb others around you, make a 1/8" FEMALE jack cord to 1/4" male MONO adapter cord. I used an RCA stereo (two Jacks - RED and WHITE) to 1/8" female patch cord. Clip the RCA connectors off and strip the wire back. Connect both grounds to the 1/4" shaft connector and both L&R wires to the 1/4" tip connector. Use heat shrink to prevent shorts. I used a 1/4" right-angle plug so that the cord points down and helps keep the headphone cord out of the way. A straight 1/4" jack will work just fine. Note that MOST guitar amps will mute the speaker when you plug into the headphone jack. When not using headphones pull the adapter out.
5. I rip all my backing track CDs to MP3 files (and set the GENRE to "Backing Track") and manually import the CD tracks to iTunes. I then set the iPod to MANUALLY sync & then drag the backing tracks to the iPod.
6. Now it is just a matter of balancing the backing track and your instrument so you can hear both sources.
I'd like to give a shout out to Doug Beaumier for his excellent backing tracks & books that he sells. They are fantastic!
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Tony
Newnan, GA
Too many guitars, not enough time to play
'72 Sho-Bud 6139, '71 Marlen 210
'78 Fender Stringmaster Quad black
PedalMaster D8 |
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