Playing Guitar Through Bass Amp?

AndrewM · #1 03-20-2013, 07:14 PM

To my understanding, playing guitar through a bass amplifier is perfectly safe. However, when I searched previous threads I didn't see anything regarding using effects with a guitar whilst playing through a bass amp. I'm not very tech-savvy, so I'm sorry if my question makes me appear a bit dumb

Any help you could offer me would be greatly appreciated.

Pilgrim · #2 03-20-2013, 07:18 PM

It has been done for more than 50 years. Dick Dale, King of the Surf Guitar, plays through JBL 15's. The amp's signal processing makes more difference than the cabs. If you like the sound, you're good.

TheRealKong · #3 03-20-2013, 07:28 PM

The Rolling Stones took the first 12 Ampeg SVT for a world tour. Lots of bassamps are used until today for guitar, like the Fender Bassman 50. The first amps were designed to amplify bass guitar, Ampeg started they busines with the "amplified peg" what gave them the name of the company.

Even the first Marshalls were designet as bassamps. Or, as they sayed in former times, instrument amp. You could amplyfi any instrument through those amps.

AndrewM · #4 03-20-2013, 07:31 PM

Alright then, thanks! Looks like im good to go

fjadams · #5 03-20-2013, 07:31 PM

Yep, it's all good.
The Traynor YBA-1 is one of the nicest sounding guitar amps ever made for a bass.

Brian Setzer plays thru two Fender Bassman Tweeds, and it's be hard to criticize that tone.

coyote1 · #6 03-20-2013, 07:46 PM

Yep. An amp is an amp is an amp. I have a Marshall Major that has done triple duty since I got it in 1979. It's been my guitar amp, my bass amp, and an amp for a Hammond organ and a synth. Handled all of them just fine til I finally retired it a couple months ago.

Amps do have various voicings which some like for certain purposes, or are designed to handle different signals in different ways. But you can apply them any way you want....
The excursion required by bass signals might shred a small guitar speaker though.

Ronnietex · #7 03-20-2013, 07:58 PM

There is a Great Orange Terror Bass Amp review somewhere where the two guys doing the review play guitars through that amp and are just blown away with how great it sounds. If I can find it I will link it. They are from England as I recall. Oh... and I got the amp and yes, it Rocks for Bass And Guitar.

jlepre · #8 03-20-2013, 08:11 PM

The only thing I remember reading was if the cab has a tweeter, that you should turn it off if using any distortion.

JimmyM · #9 03-20-2013, 11:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jlepre

The only thing I remember reading was if the cab has a tweeter, that you should turn it off if using any distortion.

I''m not a fan of distortion with tweeters, but I have run into folks who are. Only bassists, though, never guitarists. Got to be really careful if playing at high volumes, though. Distortion can rip through a tweeter if you're not careful.

chaosMK · #10 03-20-2013, 11:41 PM

I think guitar cabs would be prefered regardless of amp type. It probably needs to be one of a few bass amps that actually do it well (by well, I mean capable of tones for pro-ish recordings) or you will be in a kind of dark territory with a poor gain structure for guitar.

I've used my Bass 400 for clean guitar a few times (particular setup of the EQ is such that cranking the Treble pulls the other frequencies out of bass voicing and into ranges that are more ideal for guitar). It has a similar circuit to the D180 which has my *favorite* clean guitar tones. Essentially the same preamp in both but Channel 1 on the D180 has a high-pass filter of some sort.

Doug Parent · #11 03-21-2013, 01:13 AM

I'm about to venture into this territory myself as I'm playing my Strat more but have no guitar rig. I think the speaker cabs and the drivers are much more important consideration than the amp itself.

Sartori · #12 03-21-2013, 01:54 AM

With bass cabs, it still doesn't matter that much, unless the specific cab has a tweeter that you can't turn off. The bass drivers themselves don't care if you play guitar through them.

darius8 · #13 03-21-2013, 02:20 AM

I played my Jackson Soloist w/ Dimarzio Super distortion pups into a BOSS HM-2 Heavy Metal pedal and then thru my GK 400rb III into a 2x10 cab (no tweeter) several times. It sounded monsterous and huge. I'll say ala 90's metal.

Phlipper · #14 03-21-2013, 02:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by darius8

I played my Jackson Soloist w/ Dimarzio Super distortion pups into a BOSS HM-2 Heavy Metal pedal and then thru my GK 400rb III into a 2x10 cab (no tweeter) several times. It sounded monsterous and huge. I'll say ala 90's metal.

I used to gig on lead guitar with a four-piece thru an ancient 400RB head and generic 2x10 bass cab. At one point I had a Peavey Bravo combo (awesome amp) at home but the 400RB had far more volume and growled almost as much. Almost. It was actually a pretty decent classic rock guitar tone without pedals.

JHAz · #15 03-21-2013, 09:36 AM

FWIW, I thought my Strat sounded pretty decent through my GK MB210 (tweeter OFF, please). Even the amp's preamp grind from the gain control was at least useable in a pinch. Probably would use a pedal if I were actually playing in front of people with it . . .

mystic38 · #16 03-21-2013, 09:46 AM

Well, for giggles i put my Strat through the Streamliner + Uber Quad... disclaimer..i am not a pedal junkie.

Loud enough to wake the dead, for sure, ok for clean + very mild/polite distortion but even with gain button in and knob cranked, just not enough distortion.. the Blues Junior knocks the socks off it tone wise...

AllenLee · #17 03-21-2013, 11:03 AM

I use a Fender Rumble 100 combo (15", tweet) to amplify my acoustic. Honestly, I think it is better suited for acoustic guitar than bass. Chorus sounds good, and delay is cool. I tried distortion once, but distortion on an acoustic guitar? Bad.

RockNRollAl · #18 03-21-2013, 11:30 AM

I used to run my Line6 PodXTLive pedal into my Eden rig with no problem. Keep in mind, most guitar players are running 100 watts or less, and my Eden rig was 1200 watts - but I was only using about 15 watts tops while playing guitar. It's plenty loud.

I also used a Nemesis N28 (120 watt 2x8 combo) with the Line6 pedal - no problem. the extreme distortion sounds good. Also, the bass rig provides instant tone for guitar on the clean tones. You'll love it.

Christian Waiau · #19 03-21-2013, 11:42 AM

Other then tone issues... Doesn't matter either way.

nick98338 · #20 03-21-2013, 11:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Christian Waiau

Other then tone issues... Doesn't matter either way.

Agreed. I frequently do jams where I might play bass, lead electric, or acoustic. Depends on who else shows, and what song we're playing. I run both my bass and electric lead (Tele) through a POD X3 Live, to my Ampeg PF-350, to my 1X15 cab. Both of those sound good. Have to use different eq on the Ampeg, but no biggie. The acoustic, through the same rig sounds terrible. So, I send the acoustic to an Acoustic AG30 combo. That sounds good.