I need help with an Idea

OK you guys that know about electronic stuff. I want to make up something that I can put in my Booths in Branson that will let people plug into and amp to try out the guitars and also have a CD player on loop to play a CD for people waking by the booth to hear or maybe a video screen that plays something like a youtube video on a loop. Would like to have it so they can switch between one or the other and have it return to CD after they walk away and forget to turn it back.

Anybody have any good and affordable ideas.

The whole thing will go in a free standing cabinet that will be made up to look old and used.
 
I've got a little battery powered Fender Mustang Mini amp that has a bunch of built in effects, has an aux input for your MP3 player (Or CD,if you choose, but you can get a whole more on a little mp3 player than you can a CD).

It wouldn't do any of the automatic switching around and stuff, but it's small, loud enough, and flexible.
 
As Brent mentioned, getting a little guitar amp with an Aux input would be easy enough. The automatic switching back to a predetermined setting would be the tricky part. I'd also be a bit hesitant to have it set up to where customers could do the switching from the demo loop (audio or video) to live playing. It's real hard to build something like that and make it idiot-proof. (Idiots just keep getting more and more inventive.) Instead, I'd have a loop going, and if someone shows interest in a particular instrument, then you can say "Let's plug it in so you can hear how it sounds", then do the switching for them.
 
Might consider a timer delay relay (http://www.amazon.com/Products-Dela...d=1395426622&sr=1-5&keywords=time+delay+relay or http://www.amazon.com/Power-Supply-...d_sim_t_6?ie=UTF8&refRID=0KWGWTFDCXSVD4R4TFG3) and have it switch input between a guitar jack and input from an mp3 player setup to play tracks in a loop. Just wire in an arcade button (http://www.amazon.com/Pushbutton-Ar...&qid=1395426955&sr=1-1&keywords=arcade+button) to kick in the relay and program it for x number of minutes then it will switch back to the mp3 when time is up.

Here is pdf for the relay in the first link (http://www.elkproducts.com/_literature_63602/ELK-960_Instructions) you may need to use a DPDT relay controlled by the relay on that board so that you switch both signal and ground from both sources to eliminate any ground loops, but will have to test it without to see if it's necessary.
 
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As Brent mentioned, getting a little guitar amp with an Aux input would be easy enough. The automatic switching back to a predetermined setting would be the tricky part. I'd also be a bit hesitant to have it set up to where customers could do the switching from the demo loop (audio or video) to live playing. It's real hard to build something like that and make it idiot-proof. (Idiots just keep getting more and more inventive.) Instead, I'd have a loop going, and if someone shows interest in a particular instrument, then you can say "Let's plug it in so you can hear how it sounds", then do the switching for them.

Problem is Vaughn I am not down there they are unattended booths I only go to restock. Im thinking Darren is on to something.
Oh Yeah I dont need a fancy amp just something for them to see that it does have a pick up. After all for right now they are just Disc or Rod Piezos
 
Maybe?

Maybe just a knob thats a timer for say 2 minutes. Plug the guitar in turn the knob get 2 minutes of amp sound in the speakers, at the end it reverts back to the original player.

Just leave both the amp and the player on at all times and only switch the speakers over.

Maybe, but don't know if this might ruin the amp or something?
 
Maybe separate components? A CD/screen with a proximity sensor that comes on when motion is detected and shuts off after a few minutes or when motion stops plus a small cigar box amp bolted to the table. Plug in an instrument to test it, push a button and get xx minutes of amp time then it shuts off. A few months ago I threw out a small 15" screen CRT TV with built in video player designed to play on a loop. Maybe they still make something like that with a CD? The craft malls were not very busy when we were there in the off season, but it looked like they had only one way out....past the cashier. Still, I bet some small stuff walks.
 
Maybe separate components? A CD/screen with a proximity sensor that comes on when motion is detected and shuts off after a few minutes or when motion stops plus a small cigar box amp bolted to the table. Plug in an instrument to test it, push a button and get xx minutes of amp time then it shuts off. A few months ago I threw out a small 15" screen CRT TV with built in video player designed to play on a loop. Maybe they still make something like that with a CD? The craft malls were not very busy when we were there in the off season, but it looked like they had only one way out....past the cashier. Still, I bet some small stuff walks.

Yeah small stuff is a problem we put sensors on everything but with some work you could get them off I would think. They say they don't have to much trouble. I know some vendors have been there for years so it must not be to bad.
Yer on the right track I am gong to make up some CBG amps I hope real soon so I just need to figure out how I am going to set it all up. The MP3 player sounds like a good idea I may have one of those somewhere.

I also had one of those TV systems too and got rid of it a couple years ago. Had I only known :doh:
 
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