Mp3 input on amp head is too quiet.

[Nudram]

Ive recently purchased an all new head and cab to replace my crappy old combo amp. One thing I did love about the combo amp was the option for an mp3 in so I could play along with my favorite songs on guitar. My newer amp also has an option for track in but the input for it is in RCA plug style so I got a 3.5mm to RCA adapter, but when I play my music on my phone or chromebook the music is very quiet compared to the guitar. Is there any way to fix this, or does anyone have other ways to play along with music? Any help is much appreciated👍

[52 Bill]

Ive recently purchased an all new head and cab to replace my crappy old combo amp. One thing I did love about the combo amp was the option for an mp3 in so I could play along with my favorite songs on guitar. My newer amp also has an option for track in but the input for it is in RCA plug style so I got a 3.5mm to RCA adapter, but when I play my music on my phone or chromebook the music is very quiet compared to the guitar. Is there any way to fix this, or does anyone have other ways to play along with music? Any help is much appreciated👍

Welcome to the place.

It might help us all to know what amp you are talking about and maybe a link to an owner's manual.

[TomCarlos]

And (1) Do you have a set of Red and White RCA inputs? (2) Is your adapter a stereo 3.5mm to RCA? I have seen mono on one end and two RCAs on the other but both RCAs have the same connection.

[HaroldBrooks]

I don't know the specifics of your amp, but most problems with too low an input drive level come from either the unit itself having too little audio output, or an impedance miss match between the external unit and the amplifier.

I willing to bet since the MP3 player can drive a set of headphones, it's not the output of that unit that's too low, but rather some imbalance in your MP3 player output impedance vs. the input impedance of the RCA jack on your amplifier.


Read this and it may help (section on "Preamp/Source Device Output Impedance ") : https://www.lifewire.com/output-impedance-3134904