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phil.mcglassup
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If I want to put any songs from my iTunes library on my laptop through an amplifier, which lead or adaptor do I need?

I thought about using a standard 1/4" to 1/4" mono jack lead and getting a "3.5mm stereo jack to 6.35mm mono socket adaptor" to plug into the headphone socket on the laptop.

Is that correct? Regarding the adaptor - does the 3.5mm jack have to be stereo to match the laptop? And does the 6.35mm socket have to be mono - to match the lead?


TIA

Edited by phil.mcglassup
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Another way...
If you're using a hifi set up to play your tunes, like i do, use a stereo 3.5mm jack lead to stereo phono plugs. Put the jack into the earphone socket on your lap top and plug the phonos onto the AUX inputs on the back of the power amp section of your hifi. Of course, this only works if you have AUX inputs, and the AUX channel :)

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Cheers.

Though I am wanting to 'play along' with the songs on our setlist, at volume, in order to learn them, I am planning on using an old bass amp. It maybe won't sound good but should do it!!

Also, in future, I might want to download drum-machine software and play that through a bass amp. That's why I think I need a 1/4" jack plug at one end of the cable and an adaptor to convert the 1/4" jack plug at the other end into a 3.5mm stereo to fit into the headphone socket.

I've never done this before so didn't want to damage anything by using stereo or mono sockets and jacks etc where I shouldn't!!

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[quote name='phil.mcglassup' post='1077273' date='Jan 4 2011, 01:29 PM']If I want to put any songs from my iTunes library on my laptop through an amplifier, which lead or adaptor do I need?

I thought about using a standard 1/4" to 1/4" mono jack lead and getting a "3.5mm stereo jack to 6.35mm mono socket adaptor" to plug into the headphone socket on the laptop.

Is that correct? Regarding the adaptor - does the 3.5mm jack have to be stereo to match the laptop? And does the 6.35mm socket have to be mono - to match the lead?


TIA[/quote]

That would probably work. Depending on what your adaptor does it might only give you the left channel. To avoid that I took an old bit of headphone cable (with an 1/8" stereo jack) and connected a mono jack plug where the headphones used to be, making sure to connect both left and right wires to the tip of the mono jack plug.

Yorick's suggestion is better if your amp has a phono aux in. (A couple of my amps don't which is why I made up my special cable).

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[quote name='phil.mcglassup' post='1077331' date='Jan 4 2011, 02:09 PM']Cheers.

Though I am wanting to 'play along' with the songs on our setlist, at volume, in order to learn them, I am planning on using an old bass amp. It maybe won't sound good but should do it!!

Also, in future, I might want to download drum-machine software and play that through a bass amp. That's why I think I need a 1/4" jack plug at one end of the cable and an adaptor to convert the 1/4" jack plug at the other end into a 3.5mm stereo to fit into the headphone socket.

I've never done this before so didn't want to damage anything by using stereo or mono sockets and jacks etc where I shouldn't!![/quote]

Whatever you're playing on the laptop - itunes or drum tracks or whatever - the same arrangement will work.

Technically if you use a mono plug in a stereo socket you might be shorting out one channel, but the voltages are so small that it won't be a problem.

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[quote name='phil.mcglassup' post='1077273' date='Jan 4 2011, 01:29 PM']If I want to put any songs from my iTunes library on my laptop through an amplifier, which lead or adaptor do I need?

I thought about using a standard 1/4" to 1/4" mono jack lead and getting a "3.5mm stereo jack to 6.35mm mono socket adaptor" to plug into the headphone socket on the laptop.

Is that correct? Regarding the adaptor - does the 3.5mm jack have to be stereo to match the laptop? And does the 6.35mm socket have to be mono - to match the lead?[/quote]
Most equipment these days is pretty resilient to abuse so you'll likely get away with almost anything, but here are a few things to bear in mind.

Connecting an audio input to ground won't cause a problem but connecting an audio output to ground is not good practice. What will actually happen will depend on the detailed design of the output circuit, but I imagine you can understand that an audio output is expecting to "see" some sort of resistance rather than a short to ground.

So, when using stereo/mono adapters, bear in mind if you're connecting them to an input or an output. Connecting two inputs together is not a problem, so a single mono signal into the L+R of a stereo input is fine. But L+R stereo outputs connected into a mono input needs a little more care in case one of the stereo outputs ends up being connected to ground. This might be OK or it might not - it depends on the circuitry. Ideally, resistors could be used to blend a stereo output into a mono one, but that's probably being a bit paranoid.

Othe issues are output impedance and signal levels. A headphone output will be designed for a low-impedance load and will provide a fairly high signal level. A guitar amp input will be high impedance and it will expect a very low voltage. Again, a lot depends on the circuit design, but just remember to turn down inputs and outputs when connecting stuff together - you don't want max gain on your amp when plugging in a max-volume headphone output from your laptop. Even if the amp survives, your speaker (or ears!) may not.

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[quote name='mart' post='1077334' date='Jan 4 2011, 02:14 PM']That would probably work. Depending on what your adaptor does it might only give you the left channel. To avoid that I took an old bit of headphone cable (with an 1/8" stereo jack) and connected a mono jack plug where the headphones used to be, making sure to connect both left and right wires to the tip of the mono jack plug.[/quote]

If you plan to go down this route, it's a good idea to put a small resistor (1/8 Watt, 50-100 Ohms) between each of the 'hot' wires from the headphone cable and the tip of the mono jack. That way, you won't risk shorting your left and right channel output amps together.

A

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Get a cheap 4 channel mixer and mix your bass and the music before it gets to the amp.

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/4-INPUT-CHANNEL-MONO-MINI-MICROPHONE-MIXER-DRUMS-PA-SM-/390277588372?pt=UK_Mixers&hash=item5ade5b6594"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/4-INPUT-CHANNEL-MONO...=item5ade5b6594[/url]

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/4-8-INPUT-2-CHANNEL-MONO-STEREO-MINI-MICROPHONE-MIXER-/350426738849?pt=UK_Mixers&hash=item51970fb0a1"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/4-8-INPUT-2-CHANNEL-...=item51970fb0a1[/url]

Other useful stuff in this guys eBay shop. I can recommend him.

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