Use Eden E10 combo for bass and cajon simultaneously?

[solo4652]

[url="http://www.soundsystems.co.nz/products/EDEN-E10-10%22-50-Watts-RMS-Bass-Combo.html"]http://www.soundsyst...Bass-Combo.html[/url]

I have an Eden E10 bass combo I use for home practice. I also use it to amplify my cajon, with a bass-drum mic. My question is; Is there some way I can do both at the same time - myself on bass, drummer on cajon - for low-volume acoustic set home rehearsals? Combo has: One 1/4" jack input, gain + 3 band EQ knobs, master volume knob, one 1/4" phones jack socket. Is there such a thing as some sort of double adaptor that plugs into the input socket and accepts input from two instruments? I'm making this up.

Edited January 25, 2016 by solo4652

[ben4343]

Yes, there are a few options, ranging in price. I think you can get stereo splitters (sort of like the ones you might have had as a kid to share headphones on a music player), but the easiest/cheapest option I'm familiar with is an A/B/Y box.

ABY boxes have 3 jacks, and can either go 2 instruments to 1 amp (you) or 1 instrument to 2 amps. You have the added bonus of being able to switch between A, B or A+B using the footswitches. I've got a cheap Fender one which is ok but large, but they also do one with a tiny footprint for not much more money. Morley also do a decent one.

I would note that these are very primitive and purely act as a signal blender. Theoretically they should work perfectly, and sometimes mine does (!) but occasionally you can experience volume drops or imbalances from one of the inputs; I think it's to do with signal phasing, but don't really know.

This where it gets more expensive; something like the Boss LS2 can be used in a similar way, but you have independent volume controls for each input. This could be pretty useful for you actually, as you might value the ease of adjustment for each instrument. They are about £70 new, but often come up on the market place here for cheaper. Might be worth checking out. I'm pleased I bought one.

[SubsonicSimpleton]

You could use a small format mixing desk to blend the signals - probably the best price/features balance would be something along these lines (there are similar products from other manufacturers)
http://www.gear4music.com/PA-DJ-and-Lighting/Behringer-Xenyx-802-Mixer/2A9
There are cheaper alternatives that come with only a single mic input, but the extra inputs tend to be line only, and you usually lose any input gain trimming facility on these inputs so you might have problems if the output level of your bass is on the low side.

If you spend a few extra quid, you can get the same functionality with the addition of USB connectivity which gives you recording direct into your PC/Mac as well.
http://www.gear4music.com/PA-DJ-and-Lighting/Behringer-XENYX-Q802USB-USB-Mixer/IPH

You don't get ultimate audio fidelity at this price point, but you do get genuinely useful functionality - the main issue with these inexpensive small format mixers is self noise, which is acceptable if you remember to turn the volume right down on any inputs that you are not using.

[solo4652]

Thank you. The Behringer 802 looks interesting. Would that accommodate two mic inputs, bass, guitar and cahon? Hmmmm

Edited January 25, 2016 by solo4652

[SubsonicSimpleton]

If you want to mix a load of sources, individual gain trim controls are pretty important as a minimum IMHO. I have one of these

http://www.gear4music.com/PA-DJ-and-Lighting/Behringer-Xenyx-1002B-Mixer/AM5

Of the budget mixers, it has a lot of genuinely useful features, most notably insert points on the first two channels, and gain/eq/2 aux sends/pan on every channel/channel pair, and it can run on battery power. The extra control is worth paying for if you want to work with multiple instruments/mics, and if you intended to use it as a portable mixer for small gigs/busking then the aux sends become important as they allow you to make a monitor mix that is different to what is going to your main speakers. There are better quality mixers without a doubt if you have a bigger budget, but I spent a lot of time trawling the web when I bought mine and didn't find anything with the same feature set in this price bracket.