amp buzz on effects return

[Didi23]

hi all.. please bear with me here, I'm new to guitars..

I'm hoping I can glean some wisdom here before I buy stuff that won't help..

 

To sum it up..:
question: why does a stereo cable buzz when plugged into amp in/effects return. But a mono instrument cable doesn’t… nothing on the other end of both cables… 

 

long version:
my daughter and I recently got a bass guitar and it came with an amp. unfortunately we didn't realise and it was a guitar amp, Fender Mustang 1. ok to start with on headphones, but not great with a 6inch speaker.. now I got the old fuse software and made some profiles with various amps and effects which is cool..

today I picked up an old bass amp Hartke b600, 12 inch speaker 60w.. nice but now I'm missing the effects and also it doesn't have an aux in to play track through it to play along to lessons etc.. the effects loop return/amp in stops the guitar working so can't be used as an aux in....
agreed I don't really need effects to learn to play, but headphones are essential as I mostly get to play late at night.


natural I was hoping I could wire the Modeling amp, Mustang1 to the effects loop on the Hartke, so that I can use the aux in and the effects from the modelling amp..

but here is the problem.. as soon as I plug in a lead to the amp in on the Hartke it starts buzzing. without it being plugged into the mustang...
now this is a stereo lead 3.5mm jack with a converter to 6.35mm.. I have several, some where labeled shielded... the only one it is not to bad is an old computer cable with magnets at either end...
if I however plug in my instrument cable, again without any input plugged in, there is no buzz... and I even tried the guitar here and it was fine..

is my problem that the amp needs a mono in??? and the output form the mustang is stereo form the headphones.. aka a stereo cable....????????


now to solutions....
1) a simple stereo to mono y lead???

2) a simple stereo to two mono lead and only use one?

3) a stereo to mono converter? do I need to lift the ground??

4)a di box like the bearings di400p? and lift the ground but again that I think is mono in and stereo out..

5) to make it more complicated I would like to keep the mustang1 speaker on while going to the hartke amp. obviously the headphone out stops speaker.... the Di400- says it can take an input direct from speaker output of a power amp up to 3000watts.. could I wire a jack in the back of the mustang in parallel with the speaker 20watt I believe.. and use this to the passive di box. and use one side of the balanced xlr to amp in on hartke??
just realised this might not be possible as the hartke amp in has no master volume to balance the two, so I'd need something with a volume adjuster?

6) the obvious other way I haven't even fathomed as yet.... I want to keep it simple for my daughter so she can just pick up and play... so no computer daw..


here is how I've used it at the mo.. just to clarify..

guitar (passive) inputs to mustang 1. computer inputs to aux in..
headphones out of mustang into Hartke amp/in (efx return), no control or eq on the hartke.. master on mustang does all.

I've also tried

guitar inputs to harkte preamp, can use shape and eq. fx loop out into mustang 1 input (yes I know keep volume down and possibly bad if my daughter plays and turns it up) then back to Hartke amp in from the headphone out.. or I plug headphones in to mustang..

hartke has an active input to so I thought maybe this could be a aux in... but when I have both inputs plugged in nothing comes out...

yes I did disable amp and cab simulation in the modeling amp.. fx and preamp only..

hope this makes any sense....

thanks for helping me out..

Dieter

Edited 4 hours ago by Didi23

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

The return jack is a mono 1/4 inch. It won't work with a stereo input.

[tauzero]

Simplest thing would be to abandon the Mustang and get a cheap multifx from Zoom or similar with an aux input and maybe headphones output.