[geeks] GarageBand test

[Joshua Boyd]

On Mon, Jan 19, 2004 at 09:50:43AM -0600, Bill Bradford wrote:

> My main concern is that Apple's "guitar adapter" seems to be a plain generic
> Monster Cable-brand 1/4" to 1/8" adapter.  Are these *safe* to run a normal
> electric guitar into a Mac's Audio-In?  
 
> I tried to do this with my guitar and my stereo's line-in interface about 15
> years ago and blew up a set of speakers.. 8-)

It seems to me that if Apple sells you a guitar adapter that blow up
your Apple computer, then it should be a waranty issue.  Not that you
want the hassle.

However, I think that most likely, either Apple has built their machine
to take pro-level signals, or else the adapter does the conversion.

As to the speakers you blew up, how did you do it?  Did you just plug it
in and play, or did you turn the volume all the way day, and just slowly
bring it up?  I've plugged my guitar into consumer stereo gear before,
and I've just had to keep the volume knob really low because of how hot
the signal was (relative to what the consumer stereo expected).

Also, I could see there being impedance issues with some stuff, but that
would ruin an amp more likely than the speakers, and I don't think it
would be an issue for high impedance stuff as much as it might be for
low impedance, but I'm really just not sure here.

On a side note, I've also had no trouble with hooking my guitar up to PC
sound cards (SB 16, SBAWE64, Turtle Beach something or other consumer
card [as opposed to their semi-pro cards).  I always go to line in,
rather than mic in.  I suppose that when I did that, I was probably
using a pre-amp out signal, rather than the guitar directly.  But that
should change the impedance, and should just make the signal going into
the computer even hotter.