Hey, I don’t have money for an audio interface right now. I just want to play over backing tracks in Garageband and record it. But it says ‘no input’ because I don’t have an interface. How can I connect my amp to my laptop without needing an interface? Thanks!
What are you using to run Garageband? If I remember correctly, the Fender Frontman 10G Amp has a USB connection and an inbuilt audio interface, so you just need to plug it in using USB. You might need a USB to Lightning adapter.
@Jesse
I’m using a MacBook Air. The amp has two jacks – one for aux and the other for headphones. Should I use the aux jack?
Palmer said:
@Jesse
I’m using a MacBook Air. The amp has two jacks – one for aux and the other for headphones. Should I use the aux jack?
OK, I might have been mistaken about the amp. It only has analog inputs. The output is either through the speaker or the headphone jack. You’ll have to mic up the speaker to record in Garageband. Unfortunately, to do that, you need to convert the analog mic signal into a digital audio stream, which requires an audio interface.
You could try connecting the headphones to your computer, but that still requires an audio interface. It’s not designed for this, so it might not work well, and you wouldn’t get the full sound of the amp.
Decent audio interfaces aren’t too expensive. Something like a Behringer UMC22 is affordable, but you’d also need a mic, a cable, and a stand.
Here’s a cheaper option: Ubisoft Rocksmith Cable on Amazon. This is one of the cheapest ways. Just plug it directly into the guitar. You don’t even need an amp for Garageband.
You could use your MacBook’s built-in microphone to listen to the amp. It’ll sound terrible, but anything that isn’t a proper interface will likely sound bad.
Another possible but bad solution is to modify a TRRS jack (3.5mm mic cord) with a TSR jack (3.5mm headphone cord) and connect the headphones out of the amp to the mic input on the MacBook. This is a desperate solution and won’t sound good, but you might be able to do it with stuff you already have. Just know you’ll probably ruin those items in the process.
But honestly, you’ll want something like this: M-Audio M-Track Duo Interface.
The MacBook has a built-in mic that can pick up sound from the amp in the room.
Go to system settings → sound and set the input to the built-in mic and the output to headphones. Then in GarageBand preferences, do the same.
After that, load a backing track on a separate track in GarageBand. Use your headphones (maybe over one ear) to listen to the track. Then, on the other track, record using the built-in mic to capture the sound from your amp as you play.