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Author Topic: Mixer into guitar amp effects loop  (Read 4837 times)

plastercaster

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Mixer into guitar amp effects loop
« on: September 19, 2011, 11:37:01 AM »
Well I tried a blackstar ht-1r today and it had a line input, which is cool because I'm back to uni soon and I'd like to be able to run guitar and my pc (via a mixer) through the one speaker.

But the old models are going for sensible money second hand and seem to have line level effects loops;
Would it do any harm to stick a mixer into the FX loop, and run preamp and PC signals into a clean power amp?

Levels seem fine but I've no idea what the impedance of a mixer is compared to a rack mounted fx or whatever.

Many thanks

Bob
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Frank

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Re: Mixer into guitar amp effects loop
« Reply #1 on: September 20, 2011, 09:51:58 AM »
If it's a line level effects loop and a line level mixer then it shouldn't be a problem as regards signal levels.

What might be a problem is sound quality - a power amp and speaker designed for guitar use is very different from one intended for music reproduction. You might find the result is a very midrange heavy sound as the output transformer won't be designed to handle much bass and the speaker won't have much treble response.

And you'd be hearing everything in mono!

HTH AMPS

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Re: Mixer into guitar amp effects loop
« Reply #2 on: September 20, 2011, 05:23:01 PM »
If it's a line level effects loop and a line level mixer then it shouldn't be a problem as regards signal levels.

What might be a problem is sound quality - a power amp and speaker designed for guitar use is very different from one intended for music reproduction. You might find the result is a very midrange heavy sound as the output transformer won't be designed to handle much bass and the speaker won't have much treble response.

And you'd be hearing everything in mono!

never did Brian Wilson any harm  :lol:

darkbluemurder

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Re: Mixer into guitar amp effects loop
« Reply #3 on: September 20, 2011, 05:41:40 PM »

What might be a problem is sound quality - a power amp and speaker designed for guitar use is very different from one intended for music reproduction. You might find the result is a very midrange heavy sound as the output transformer won't be designed to handle much bass and the speaker won't have much treble response.

The speaker puts the narrower limit - most guitar speakers peak at 5 - 6 khz with a response curve going down rapidly as the frequendies increase. The output transformer imposes a bandwith limit as soon as its power handling capacity is reached. Keep in mind that most commercial amps use undersized output transformers for cost reasons. Since wide frequency bandwith is not needed in guitar amps the manufacturers get away with it.

Cheers Stephan

Frank

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Re: Mixer into guitar amp effects loop
« Reply #4 on: September 21, 2011, 09:27:21 AM »
never did Brian Wilson any harm  :lol:

oof!