Good afternoon; just joined this forum, and have found some great ideas! I hope my query below is acceptable via the rules?

I have an issue with my Christmas present, SubZero SZ-MIX04; the idea is to not annoy my wife and neighbours. My plan was to have two inputs (1) cable from laptop into the MIX04 and (2) standard jack cable from bass guitar PHONES socket into the MIX-04 LINE/IN socket, then attach headphones to the PHONES output socket on the MIX-04. That way, I can "play along" to songs, with the ability to adjust the bass and the song EQ.

However, the laptop music comes through fine via a 3.5mm cable from laptop socket to red and white cable inputs on the 2TK/IN sockets; but, I cannot get a signal from the 6.3mm cable from the bass PHONES socket to the LINE/IN socket on the mixer. Tried stereo 6.3mm cables but no joy.

GEAR4 who I bought from have been helpful, but only suggest now it could be cabling?

Any suggestions? Thank you!!

BJBASSMAN53 wrote:My plan was to have two inputs (1) cable from laptop into the MIX04 and (2) standard jack cable from bass guitar PHONES socket into the MIX-04 LINE/IN socket, then attach headphones to the PHONES output socket on the MIX-04.

Hi BJBASSMAN53, welcome to the forum.
I think we're missing a key bit of information here. Most bass guitars don't have a 'phones' socket, so can you confirm what bass guitar you're using?
I suspect that there's one of two things happening.
Either
1) you're trying to send an 'instrument level' signal into a 'line level' input.
or
2) you're trying to send a stereo signal (or dual mono) into a balanced mono input.

BJBASSMAN53 wrote:Good afternoon; just joined this forum

Welcome bassman!

My plan was to have two inputs (1) cable from laptop into the MIX04 and (2) standard jack cable from bass guitar PHONES socket into the MIX-04 LINE/IN socket, then attach headphones to the PHONES output socket on the MIX-04. That way, I can "play along" to songs, with the ability to adjust the bass and the song EQ.

There will be a way of achieving what you want, but probably not in quite the way you're currently doing it!

...the laptop music comes through fine via a 3.5mm cable from laptop socket to red and white cable inputs on the 2TK/IN sockets

Sure -- but you'll need to make sure you have the 2-trk-to-main button pressed, to route the 2-trk into the main mix bus (to combine with the bass input). By default, the 2-trk is only routed to the monitoring, so you wouldn't hear the bass being played along with it!

I cannot get a signal from the 6.3mm cable from the bass PHONES socket to the LINE/IN socket on the mixer. Tried stereo 6.3mm cables but no joy.

I'm assuming you are referring to a headphone output on a bass amp... and if so it's probably because the mixer has a balanced line input, and balanced inputs look for the difference between the signals on the tip and ring connections.

But your bass guitar amp stereo headphone socket is putting out exactly the same signal on the tip and ring connections because it's a mono source. Consequently, you won't hear much through the mixer input!

You can probably prove the point by pulling either plug half-out of the socket (which will effectively disconnect the tip contact)... at which point I think you'll hear the bass!

To fix the problem properly you can either use a standard TS (mono) instrument cable for the job, or a splitter cable that breaks a stereo TRS plug out to two mono TS plugs.

Hope that helps.

blinddrew wrote:I think we're missing a key bit of information here. Most bass guitars don't have a 'phones' socket, so can you confirm what bass guitar you're using?
I suspect that there's one of two things happening.
Either
1) you're trying to send an 'instrument level' signal into a 'line level' input.
or
2) you're trying to send a stereo signal (or dual mono) into a balanced mono input.

Thanks! Sorry - it's not directly from the bass; the bass is plugged into the bass amp, and its the connection from the bass amp phones socket to the mixer that seems to be the issue as no sound from the bass comes through. Thanks.

Hugh, thank you very much! I have indeed tried pulling the jackplug halfway out of the bass amp phones socket, and indeed it does work.......I can now get the laptop music and the bass guitar coming through the mixer.

I'll order up a TS cable - which looks like a standard lead - and plug that from basss amp phones to LINE/IN and hopefully that will work.

Thanks very much all!

:thumbup: :D

Hi - sorry to labour this one! I ordered and got delivered today a cable which said on the website description was a TS cable, but I get the same results as the problem mentioned......I don't know if I have been shipped the wrong cable, as it doesn't say TS on it.

If this forum allows, is there a website/part number that is definitely a TS cable and I'll order that to see if that fixes it, or is promoting products not allowed?

Any help appreciated! Thanks......

A TRS cable has a plug on each end with three contacts like this Tip, Ring, and Sleeve:



These are used for unbalanced stereo connections (like headphones) and balanced mono connections (like on your mixer line inputs)

A TS cable has a plug on each end with just two contacts: a tip and Sleeve -- no ring -- like this:



These are used for standard instrument cables for guitars and basses, etc.

I would expect this type -- TS-TS -- to work in getting the headphone signal from your bass amp into your mixer....

But if that's what you've really got and it still doesn't work it is possible that the left and right channels of your amp's headphone output aren't properly individually buffered and consequently both channels are being shorted out by the mono TS plug (which inherently connects the ring contact to the sleeve ground contact).

If that's the case, the alternative -- as mentioned earlier -- would be to use a splitter cable like the one below, which has a TRS for the end that goes into the amp's headphone output, and a pair of TS plugs for the mixer inputs. This cable keeps thje left and right headphone channels separate and them to be plugged into separate line input channels on your mixer:



That particular one is a HosaTech STP-201 1metre 1/4 inch TRS to Dual 1/4 inch TS Insert Cable which you'll find on Amazon and elsewhere...

Thanks again, Hugh.

Looks like the cable shipped is in fact a TS cable, but it doesn't work. Re your suggestion, the MIX-04 only has one input for the splitters and that's taken up with the connection from the laptop........will have a mess around with the connections but any suggestions welcome!

Apologies for taking up your time, but as you can guess I am new to this mixer side......thanks.

BJBASSMAN53 wrote:Looks like the cable shipped is in fact a TS cable, but it doesn't work.

Does it work if you pull the plug in the amp's headphone socket half way out?

...the MIX-04 only has one input for the splitters and that's taken up with the connection from the laptop

I thought the laptop was connected to the RCA-phone sockets (2-track return inputs)?

The TS splitters would plug into the line input sockets of channels 1/2. (Although you'd actually only need to plug one of them in since the bass amp is mono)

Apologies for taking up your time, but as you can guess I am new to this mixer side......thanks.

No problem. We were all new to this stuff once, but we're here to help!

Have you tried the bass straight into the line in on CH1 or 2, with the gain up there should be enough to make the lowish guitar signal work?

What is your bass amp?

Thanks, all!

With a bit of messing around, thanks to all your advice, I believe we are up and running! A few cables purchased which aren't needed but you can never have enough, eh?

What is working is:-

-The splitter 3.5mm into the laptop headphones socket, then the splitters plugged into 2TK/IN on the mixer
- New TRS stereo 6.3mm cable bought yesterday plugged into bass amp (Stagg) headphones socket, and other 6.3mm end plugged into LINE/IN socket on mixer
- 2TK to Main switch set to on
- Volume controls working

The music is now coming through in stereo, as is the bass in the mix (although maybe not in stereo!). Frankly, I had thought I had done this yesterday with no joy but perhaps it's the 2TK setting which may not have been correct.

Thanks very much for your help all! I am very grateful.......maybe along the way I can return the favour!

:thumbup: :clap: :D

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