Specialty Cable: 15 foot Dual-Channel Microphone/Pickup Cable (XLR and 1/4)

We've often spoken to people about mixing signals from a microphone with a pickup; the microphone adds realism and "air" to the sound, while the pickup provides a firm, full foundation to the sound. It's a common enough setup that we have special systems, devised by K&K Sound, which combine a small microphone with a pickup, wired together into a single stereo cable, and including a pocket preamp to blend them together. It's a great solution, and allows for a lot of tonal flexibility for you to achieve "your sound."

While the K&K setup works well for many, some folks like to create their own mic/pickup combinations, using their favorite pickup and mic - perhaps with their own favorite preamp. However, such an "a la carte" method means that they don't get the convenient, compact arrangement and single cable of the K&K setups.

Well, this new cable can get you a little closer! We asked, and our cable manufacturer kindly put together this custom cable, which puts together a mono ¼" cable for your pickup, and a male-to-female XLR (standard mic) cable for your microphone - combined into a single USA-made 15' combo cable made with quality components. So, finally -- just one wire from your bass to your amp!

The XLR portion of the cable uses standard mic connectors (1 male, 1 female), and will carry the signal from the mic to your amp - and will also carry standard phantom power back to the mic, if your amp or preamp supplies it. The ¼" jacks are mono and will work just like standard ¼" "guitar" cables. Each end of the cable splits into two separate 4" "pigtails" with the two separate connectors, to allow for a variety of jack placements and amplifier inputs.

Certainly many other combinations can be imagined, and even other possible uses for such a dual cable as this - for instance, you could send a mic down the XLR cable to your amp, and use the ¼" cable to send a return "line out" signal from your amp back to a small headphone amp at the bass for self-monitoring! Lots of possibilities, to be sure.

Trying to figure out whether this will work for your application? Email us with your details and we'll help you figure it out.

Putting it into practice...

Just one example of a great setup using this cable would be: DPA 4099 Bass Mic and David Gage Realist Pickup, connected via this cable, to an Acoustic Image Coda+ amplifier. The DPA mic would plug into the XLR, and the Realist into the ¼" plug. Just one "cable" would then connect your bass to the amp, where the dual-purpose jacks on the Coda+ would allow you to plug the mic into one channel and the Realist into the other. Separate volumes, EQs and filters would still be available to both the mic and the pickup, providing blend flexibility and tonal control over each component.