Bass into Peavey Classic 30? (Guitar Amp)

lukelogandennis · #1 02-08-2011, 04:29 PM

So, I don't know if it is the lack of sleep or what, but I just plugged my bass into my Peavey Classic 30 guitar combo and it blew me away! It sounded wonderful!

Now, am I hurting the amp in any way?

Jason P Bass · #2 02-08-2011, 04:34 PM

I have a Delta Blues 210 that I use for practice and scratch recording.

I don't think it will do any damage provided you keep the volume low enough to protect the speakers. I would not suggest cranking the bass and putting the clean channel on 12.

Those Peavey Classic series amps are underrated gems. The Delta Blues have a mid boost circuit that, IMO, makes the Classic 30 a runner up. The 210 hard to find, as well. I wouldn't sell mine unless someone offered WAY more than what I paid new.

dmrogers · #3 02-08-2011, 04:58 PM

I have a couple of Peavey Classics and I love them. If you play your bass through the 30, just keep the volume low. You don't want to mess up a great amp.

Slackerprince · #4 02-08-2011, 07:18 PM

What if you installed a bass speaker into it?

Jason P Bass · #5 02-08-2011, 08:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Slackerprince

What if you installed a bass speaker into it?

Then you would have an 30W all-tube amplifier that was carefully designed to amplify a guitar, and carefully matched to a guitar speaker, but now it's amplifying bass guitar and connected to a bass guitar speaker.

In other words, it could be done, but it's a solution in search of a problem. The EQ knobs on my Delta Blues are not terribly useful when I use it for bass guitar. Most of the "magic" in these amps is how they sound when the preamp is overdriven - makes electric guitar sound fantastic. For a bass guitar, it's nothing to drool over, IMO, although it works.

I use it just to practice or for scratch recordings - situations where I'm not going to nit-pick the tone.

If you really, really want a low wattage all tube bass amplifier, I recommend the Epiphone Valve Jr. I use it with a Peavey 115 Black Widow cabinet and it sounds great, but not so great with a Genz Benz 210XB. Play through your favorite preamp and you'll have plenty of funky compressed distortion.