Playing bass through guitar amps

[kevlar3000]

Re: Playing bass through guitar amps

Bumping an old thread, but per a request on the amplifier forum, I thought I would toss this here too. Just riffing with an old PV T20 bass, into an early 70s WEST Fillmore guitar head.

 

[Johnny the Kid]

Re: Playing bass through guitar amps

Rob Trujillo has mentioned using a Marshall at some point in his rig stereo'ed with his Ampegs.

 

[ginormous]

Re: Playing bass through guitar amps

During a band rehearsal, I once used an Ampeg V4 (the guitar amp, not the V4B) through an Acoustic twin 15" with no harm done. Watts are watts.
My style of playing doesn't require overdrive or fuzz; I figured I was safe for the evening.

The tone stack isn't being addressed here. This is the one section of the amp that determines tone more than any other.
The lucky thing with the Magnavox-era (split steel knob) V4 that I used was that the midrange control was switchable.
I could move the center frequency of the mids and drop them down to a manageable level. It massaged the tone into something listenable.

Otherwise, I'd rather use a PA head; they handle transients (kick drums, vocalists spitting out "P"s and "B"s) and low end better than most dedicated guitar amps.

 

[Liko]

Re: Playing bass through guitar amps

I know you have to be gentle playing a bass through a guitar amp, it is very easy to blow the speakers. I have been playing my bass through my Fender Excelsior (gently) lately and it sounds great. 15 inch speaker and 13 watts of tube power. I am wondering if any of you bass players use guitar amps occasionally and what your results were.

I typically go the other way around; I play guitars through bass amps. While I appreciate the sound of good tubes, I'm definitely not a tube snob, and prefer to get my OD from a pedal (easier to control than setting my gain right on the balance point between clean and breakup) so what I use for an amp makes much less difference. And a bass amp can definitely take it. Only thing is that if the cab has a horn in it, you want to turn the horn down or off, cause distorted guitar doesn't sound very good through it (and you can blow the horn pretty easily with strong treble).

 

[kilphody]

Re: Playing bass through guitar amps

I play bass thru my Vox AC30 headphones. Sounds great. I don't need the cops breaking breaking down my door at 3am if I use the EBS T90 on 2.
PC

 

[BlueTalon]

Re: Playing bass through guitar amps

Using a guitar amp is something I would do in a pinch, but it's definitely my 3rd or 4th option. I have two SWR 15" Working Man combos that stack very nicely on their sides. I have it set up so that one amp drives both speakers. If one amp craps out, I can use the other amp, and all I have to do is change the speaker cables. If both amps crap out, then I might use someone's guitar amp, if I don't have my tiny GK250 head in my gig bag.

Can you play bass safely through a guitar amp? Maybe. Will it sound good? Maybe. But unless your bass rig just blew out and you have no money, why on earth would anyone want to play bass through a guitar amp instead of a dedicated bass amp?