Multiple Guitars - Multiple Inputs?

C

ChiroVette

Inspired
Okay, out of sheer habit, I have been unplugging and plugging back in when I want to use two or more guitars in a night. I have always done it like this, even when I break a string mid-song. My question is, can I use the other inputs to make switching guitars more seamless? My guess is no, since the other two inputs are balanced, and not simple TS. Not a big deal, since I have always just switched the old-school way.
 
I have one preset where I have 2 paths, one for electric and one for acoustic. Electric is plugged into input one and acoustic is plugged into 2. I use scenes to switch between them and it works like a charm. I also have done gigs with two electric guitars going at the same time.

If I'm not mistaken, there's nothing wrong with using a TS cable into a balanced input. I don't think it causes any extra noise or impedance issues.
 
Yes you can use inputs 2 and 3 for guitars. They don't have the special sauce input circuit that's optimized for guitar input, so there could possibly be a tiny bit more noise on those inputs with weak pickups, but they will work just fine. All three inputs have a 1 M Ohm input impedance. Set your input sensitivity in the I/O menu for each just like you do for Input 1.

TS into a balanced input is fine. The input circuit will automatically switch to unbalanced operation.
 
Thanks, @mr_fender and @Seven2Eleven! I wasn't able to get it to work before making this thread. I was plugging the guitar into the Left (top) jacks for Input 2 and 3. Something I forgot is that I think I need to actually set those inputs before they will work? When I get to the FM9 in a little while, I will see if I can get this to work. Even if there is a tiny bit of noise on those inputs, I'm sure it will be negligible.

On some shows, I play acoustic guitar, and at least a second electric. So it would be awesome to have three inputs. Now that I think about it, one concern might be having three different guitars plugged in at the same time. That alone could maybe create some line noise. I would also have to remember to make sure the volume is all the way down on the unused guitars.
 
Oh yeah I forgot, you need to set the input mode for Inputs 2 and 3 to match the input jack you're using (Left Only for the Left input jack, etc.) in the I/O menu as well. That will duplicate the mono signal to both input channels on the grid to match the way Input 1 works.
 
ChiroVette said:
Thanks, @mr_fender and @Seven2Eleven! I wasn't able to get it to work before making this thread. I was plugging the guitar into the Left (top) jacks for Input 2 and 3. Something I forgot is that I think I need to actually set those inputs before they will work? When I get to the FM9 in a little while, I will see if I can get this to work. Even if there is a tiny bit of noise on those inputs, I'm sure it will be negligible.

On some shows, I play acoustic guitar, and at least a second electric. So it would be awesome to have three inputs. Now that I think about it, one concern might be having three different guitars plugged in at the same time. That alone could maybe create some line noise. I would also have to remember to make sure the volume is all the way down on the unused guitars.
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You need to make sure the blocks for the respective inputs are in your preset. Also, if you're just connecting a mono source into one of the stereo inputs, then you need to change the input mode in the settings to be mono, otherwise you'll get a lower signal level.

As far as muting the guitars, you can bypass the input blocks like you could any other block. When they're bypassed, no extra noise from the other guitars you're not using.

For my electric/acoustic preset, Scene 1 is Electric and has input 1 on, input 2 off. Scene 2 is for the acoustic and has input 1 off with input 2 on.
 
Great, thanks @mr_fender and @Seven2Eleven. I will try all that this weekend. I already assumed I would have to plug into the left input. It seems to be the industry standard from waaaaaay back to my old ass Boss units that all had stereo inputs and outputs, that if you wanted the mono, you used the left.

I think this is going to come in very handy live. Not sure why I didn't think of even trying multiple inputs until today. Every time I have played live with my FM9, I pretty much just did the old-school guitar-cable-shuffle, hopefully (but not always! lol) remembering to mute the unit before doing it, to avoid the nasty electronic sound of switching guitars. 🤣

One question: I will try this anyway, so I will find out for myself this weekend, but do you guys think that having three guitars in the three inputs will cause any kind of excessive noise just having them all connected? This occurs to me because some of my presets, the ones I purchased from Marco (which are really good, by the way) seem to not respond to the guitar volume in a traditional way. Particularly ones that he uses Marshal stack amp models for. Meaning, that in one or two of my presets, even with the guitar volume down, there isn't a normal drop in volume, and it seems that pot changes the characteristic sounds of the models and the effects. In most of my preset, though, the guitar volume tapers consistently up and down 0 to 10 normally. So, this wouldn't present an issue. But in my Lukather and Gary Moore presets, the guitar volume pot seems to function more as nuanced effects, rather than just volume. I have to check, though, because it may be that with the guitar volume pot at zero, it shuts off the guitar, but I can't recall for certain.
 
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