Anyone ever driven a bass cab with a guitar amp?

[SketchMan3]

Well, it's technically not a bass cab, It's a 1x12 with a PA speaker. but I'd still like to hear responses to the subject title.
I have a Peavey Studio Pro 112. 65 watts, 8 ohms and all that. I got it used with a PA speaker inside of it, and swapped for a Blue Marvel guitar speaker. Sometimes I practice my bass through this amp, and it works fine as long as I don't crank it.

But lately I've been wondering if I could build a cab for my PA speaker and plug it into my amps external speaker jack. The amps internal speaker would be deactivated if I did this. I know it wouldn't sound as good as a real bass amp, but I think I could get more lows and power out of it if I didn't have to worry about busting my guitar speaker.

Any thoughts?

[BigOldHarry]

Yes -

A common difference between a "bass" speaker and a "Guitar" speaker is that bass cabs are often sealed, where guitar cabs are often not. This leads to a very different sound.

Not only that, but the drivers are designed with different frequency responses in mind.

[rpsands]

Yeah, I used an old Peavey 120w tube head to drive a bass cab in a pinch Worked great actually.

[Pilgrim]

You can drive a bass CAB with a guitar AMP. However, that's not what you're doing at the moment.

You are playing a bass through a guitar COMBO. A combo has cab and amp in one enclosure..it is not a bass cab, it is a guitar cab with amp built in. If you play loud, you will destroy the speaker, as guitar speakers are not built to meet the demands of reproducing bass frequencies at much volume.

If you build a separate cab for the speaker, you won't gain much because PA speakers are generally not made to reproduce bass either. Chances are that you'll damage the PA speaker if you push it hard. Yes, you can drive it from the external speaker jack, but you also get into the question of total impedence - you will most likely need to disconnect the internal speaker when you do this.

I recommend that if you're going to go to the trouble of building or buying an enclosure, you will be in better shape to get a real bass speaker, do your homework on getting the right size and type of enclosure for that speaker, and do the project right.

[paganjack]

Yeah go for it if you have the time and can make a decently appropriate enclosure for the speaker. What's the worst that could happen?

[SketchMan3]

I really don't care much if I damage the PA speaker. I'd rather do that than damage the guitar speaker.

The Studio Pro 112 automatically disengages the internal speaker when an external speaker is connected, effectively making it a head.

If I build an enclosure for this speaker, I could always get a better speaker later, right? I'd rather be able to do something "ok" now than wait until I have the means to do it right, which is not in the foreseeable future. Plus, I'll get a usable PA speaker out of it, rather than just having it laying around collecting dust.

This would be my first project like this. If I'd been smart, I wouldn't be posting this, because when I moved I left two perfectly good speaker boxes at the old house that would've worked fine.

Thanks for the responses. I'm going to go ahead with the project, then.

[My name is Mudd]

To answer the original question...yes. My bedroom rig is an Epiphone Valve Junior head pushing a Dr Bass 1260 cab. Tone for DAYS!

[SketchMan3]

Originally Posted by My name is Mudd

To answer the original question...yes. My bedroom rig is an Epiphone Valve Junior head pushing a Dr Bass 1260 cab. Tone for DAYS!

This is exciting to hear! I'm mainly a guitarist, and just recently got into bass, so it's good to know that I could just get a good bass cab and be pretty much set for home and jam session playing.

[My name is Mudd]

Note that I'm using a Tronographic Rusty Box in front of it for tone shaping. IMO the head works well, but if your idea of good bass tone is the warm flat thump of a '62 Precision strung with original flatwounds, you probably won't like what the Epi does.

There are few of us here that are using the Epi head for bass...do a search in amps for the 50-100 Watt Owner's club thingy (the club was adjusted to allow for even lower watts...).

[SketchMan3]

Originally Posted by My name is Mudd

Note that I'm using a Tronographic Rusty Box in front of it for tone shaping. IMO the head works well, but if your idea of good bass tone is the warm flat thump of a '62 Precision strung with original flatwounds, you probably won't like what the Epi does.

There are few of us here that are using the Epi head for bass...do a search in amps for the 50-100 Watt Owner's club thingy (the club was adjusted to allow for even lower watts...).

Duly noted. You don't happen to have any clips of the typical bass-to-Epi sound, do you?

[chetorch]

I did this twice for rehearsals while my bass head was being fixed.

I borrowed a friends Line 6 HD150 and used it on my 1x15 Behringer BA115 cab and it was fine.

a bit high on the mids at first but you can eq it out and it'll work.

used a Line 6 bass floorpod in front.

[MNAirHead]

all the time..

[christw]

I've used many designated guitar heads for bass. Some sounded good, others did not. I've got a Sound City 120 right now and it's kind of an all-purpose amp. (It even has a 100V line PA tap!) Anyways, point is, guitar heads will do just fine. Just make sure the impedances match if you're playing with tubes. And have fun!

[My name is Mudd]

Originally Posted by SketchMan3

You don't happen to have any clips of the typical bass-to-Epi sound, do you?

Not yet...if I can borrow my friend's mic, I'll see what I can do.

[Sartori]

Originally Posted by BigOldHarry

Yes -

A common difference between a "bass" speaker and a "Guitar" speaker is that bass cabs are often sealed, where guitar cabs are often not. This leads to a very different sound.

Not only that, but the drivers are designed with different frequency responses in mind.

Er... tons of bass cabs I've seen are ported. And most guitar cabs I've seen are sealed.

[perogato02]

I use my Fender Bassman to drive my ampeg 15 incher ... I know, strictly speaking the Bassman is a bass amp, but the guitarists love to use it.

[GrowlerBox]

Originally Posted by SketchMan3

If I build an enclosure for this speaker, I could always get a better speaker later, right? I'd rather be able to do something "ok" now than wait until I have the means to do it right, which is not in the foreseeable future. Plus, I'll get a usable PA speaker out of it, rather than just having it laying around collecting dust.

Enclosures need to be matched to speakers -- that isn't to say that you couldn't find 2 speakers equally suited to the same box, but you would certainly narrow your choices.

[SketchMan3]

Thanks again for all the replies. I decided to hook up a jack to the speaker to see what it sounded like... it was pretty horrible, and broke up really easily. I don't know if putting it into a cabinet would help, but, yeah, the guitar speaker is much better suited to a bass than the PA speaker.

I've decided to put the project on hold.

[Bass_Pounder]

Originally Posted by SketchMan3

Thanks again for all the replies. I decided to hook up a jack to the speaker to see what it sounded like... it was pretty horrible, and broke up really easily. I don't know if putting it into a cabinet would help, but, yeah, the guitar speaker is much better suited to a bass than the PA speaker.

I've decided to put the project on hold.

Putting it in a cabinet would be night and day.

Raw speakers are NOT supposed to played without being mounted in a cab as you can damage the speaker.

[Electricblue]

Originally Posted by Bass_Pounder

Putting it in a cabinet would be night and day.

Raw speakers are NOT supposed to played without being mounted in a cab as you can damage the speaker.

^ this x 954634587

Don't use raw speakers without being mounted in a cab. If you wish to use them without a cab, they need to be cooked or lightly fried.