Guitar Amp for bass

SamusChief

SamusChief

New member
I have a buddy coming over tomorrow who plays bass. He has a bass but left his amp with his band, so he has no amp. I have two amps, and one never gets any use. It's my Bandit 112. 80 Watts. Its a Peavey, so it has more low end than other guitar amps do. Is it possible to run a bass into it without damaging it?
 
Re: Guitar Amp for bass

If you do keep the volume and gain down on the amp. From what I understand it's not a good thing to do.
 
Re: Guitar Amp for bass

As long as you don't crank it up loud everything will be just fine. I also wouldn't dime the bass on it either. Other than, that everything's cool. I've done it plenty of times.
 
Re: Guitar Amp for bass

I wasn't going to boost the bass... I was going to cut it almost completely, along with the other EQ. And turn it up slowly until it hits a decent volume without causing damage. I'm hoping to sell this amp later, So I need no damage.

Thanks!
 
Re: Guitar Amp for bass

Aye, that's the way to do it.

I've gigged playing bass through my AOR running pretty loud a tonne of times and it's fine. I think the main part of the amp that's vulnerable is the speaker, so if you keep the volume low and don't make it move too much everything'll be grand.
 
Re: Guitar Amp for bass

I used to have one of the old Bandit 112's. It had about as much bass as a castrato.
 
Re: Guitar Amp for bass

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Really the only good amp for a bass....is a bass amp......Speaking from a bass players point of view.......lol

Mine is Fender 300W all tube head with 4 x 10 , 1 x 15 Eden cab
 
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Re: Guitar Amp for bass

My old Ampeg VT22 (a combo V-4) could spank a twin 15 with no problem, as long as I didn't go past 12 o'clock on the volume. 100w/8 ohms, switchable down to 2.

Playing with the midrange EQ might help get rid of that nasally honking sound that some guitar amps have. It'll do in a pinch for practice.
 
Re: Guitar Amp for bass

A lot of older amps were "instrument" amplifiers meaning you could plug any electronic instrument into them. Eventually amps became specialized and had features tailored to specific instruments. I can't imagine it harming the electronics, but it might harm the speaker if played loud enough. Although SS Peavy amps are pretty reliable. When I play bass through my amplifier I get a nasty ZZZPPPFFFTTTT sound on certain notes and I think it is speaker breakup?
 
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Re: Guitar Amp for bass

idsnowdog said:
When I play bass through my amplifier I get a nasty ZZZPPPFFFTTTT sound on certain notes and I think it is speaker breakup?
Click to expand...

You might be finding notes that excite the resonant frequency of the driver. When this happens, a driver might vibrate uncontrollably.
 
Re: Guitar Amp for bass

I've always heard that it's a bad idea. Having said that, I used to play with a guy that used a solid state Crate guitar amp, for his bass. I thought for sure he'd at least end up killing the speaker, but it never happened. Sounded absolutely INSANE, too! I guess that ****ty distortion is good for something, after all.
 
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