Hugh Robjohns wrote: ↑Sun Feb 05, 2023 12:13 pm
Short answer: yes you can plug instruments into the line inputs of your mixer.
Longer, and more nuanced answer: Electronic sources — keyboards, synths, electronic drum kits etc — can be plugged straight into the line inputs of your mixer without problems.
You can also plug electric guitars and basses straight into the line inputs and you will get sound out. It may be low level, though, and the tonality will be different to the sound from a proper amp.
Part of that is related to the lower input impedance (a mixer line input is typically 10-50k Ohms, while an amp or dedicated DI input is typically 250-1000k Ohms). There's also a difference in frequency response since a mixer line input will be flat beyond 20kHz, while a guitar amp will roll off quite quickly above 5kHz. This is why 'cab emulation' is so popular.
Acoustic guitars are often equipped with piezo pickups which work best into an even higher impedance of 10M Ohms, but many have an onboard preamp which is usually happy feeding a mixer line output directly.
The usual solution to addressing the impedance mis-match and low-level compatibility problems with electric guitars and basses is to use DI boxes.
The guitar/bass plugs into the DI box which presents much the same high impedance as a normal amplifier. An isolated balanced output at mic level is connected to a mixer's mic input. The DI box's electronics are normally powered by phantom power from the mixer.
There are hundreds of different DI boxes on the market. Some are passive, but active designs are generally thought to be better. Some include filtering options to emulate the real-world speaker/cab roll-off.
Generally, you get what you pay for, with more expensive models being more robust, better sounding, and more feature-laden... but there are some real bargains to be found. For your kind of application I'm a big fan of the Orchid Micro DI.
Are you planning do away with all the amplification apart from the mixer/PA speakers?
If so be aware that for some instruments (especially electric guitar) the amplifier is an important part of the overall sound of the instrument, so you will need some way of replicating that sound without having an amplifier and speakers.
BigRedX wrote: ↑Mon Feb 06, 2023 5:24 pm
Are you planning do away with all the amplification apart from the mixer/PA speakers?
If so be aware that for some instruments (especially electric guitar) the amplifier is an important part of the overall sound of the instrument, so you will need some way of replicating that sound without having an amplifier and speakers.
With all respect, that is your opinion for a specific set of sounds and not a requirement for all players and situations. As I mentioned earlier, I often like my electrics plugged in directly, the raw sound can be beautiful, especially fingerpicked. Plucked?
However, for the OP’s benefit I’ll state that plugging an electric guitar straight into a mixer and PA may be acceptable and even desirable for a small number of players, but for the vast majority it’s not, especially if playing anything other than clean sounds.
And even if you like the sound of full-range distortion on an electric, unfiltered by a guitar speaker or a speaker emulator, it’s likely the audience won’t appreciate it much, especially younger people with better high-frequency hearing.
Maybe if the OP could give some examples of tracks the band sound similar to, especially if they heavily feature electric guitar, it would help our understanding.
But without that, as the OP is very new indeed to all of this, it would still be better to play safe and use a pedal that has amp and cab/speaker emulation.
I agree Wonks and since OP needs a high Z input anyway he could look at a multi-effects pedal? They start at 40 quid for a Behringer, 70 odd for a Zoom and then the sky's the limit. Some might even have speaker emulation.
Rene Asologuitar wrote: ↑Mon Feb 20, 2023 1:14 am
I have a similar mixer, and I use acoustic/electric guitar, and I plug in directly, and I have no issues!!!
Fine, but as I and others have said, other peeps MMV. I have touched on the risk to tweeters but another fact is that guitarists that play through FOH PA are BEHIND the speakers! What might be a nicely balanced sound to them can be ice pick, bat bothering HF torture to those out front! Add to that the problem that many guitarists play far too loudly anyway!
