Amp "splitter" - plug more into one amp input

July 14, 2015 4:56 PM

Is there such a thing that allows me to plug two things into one thing on an amp the way there is a thing that allows one to plug two headphones into one headphone slot? I keep googling things like "amp splitter" but clearly my terminology is lacking here. I want to plug in a guitar and a microphone into one input.
posted by Corduroy (7 comments total)

Try Googling
"male to dual female" 1/4 inch
(or 3.5mm if it's a very strange amp?)
posted by xorry at 5:33 PM on July 14, 2015


Also, some are mono if that's important to filter out
posted by xorry at 5:35 PM on July 14, 2015


It sounds like you want this splitter thing, but you could also get a preamp and a different splitter cable to recombine the signal if you want to level it before running it through the amp.
posted by TheNegativeInfluence at 11:40 PM on July 15, 2015 [1 favorite]


I don't think you want to use a plain splitter, wouldn't that cut the signal voltage in half? Could be an issue getting the sound you're looking for if the input level is too low.

People usually use an A/B/Y switch for this purpose to avoid that issue. Probably best used with a high impedence mic with a 1/4" connection. I've never had much luck using those XLR to 1/4" adapters, they get really noisy.
posted by InfidelZombie at 12:34 PM on July 17, 2015


If you want to use them at the same time, surely what you need is a mixer?
posted by Grangousier at 10:57 AM on July 18, 2015


Tiny mixer. I have a recommendation but I realized we don't know: are you trying to use a portable (battery-powered) amp or could you use a tiny mixer that needs AC current?
posted by kalapierson at 9:55 PM on July 18, 2015


TheNegativeInfluence's first link will do what you want.

I want to plug in a guitar and a microphone into one input.

Guitars and microphones can have drastically different output levels, and they definitely have very different tonal characteristics, so this might not work very well. In which case you would want a tiny mixer of some kind, as kalapierson says, so you can set the levels and tone of the guitar and mic separately.
posted by soundguy99 at 6:49 AM on July 23, 2015


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