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Amp for bass AND guitar

Stevie C

Stevie C

Guest
Oct 9, 2014
41
6
San Diego California
#1
Hey guys, I'm a guitar player and recently picked up the bass
I play through a line 6 X3 Live into a Roland KC550 Keyboard combo for a monitor
Now that I'm focusing on bass I would like to purchase a head or combo that will work for both
I'm not worried about the bass amp not having reverb or trem or anything because I get all that from the Line 6 X3
I know it can be done because I played guitar through a big ol Fender Bassman for years with various pedals

So what would be an decent setup for a somewhat compact head/cab or combo that I could use for both bass and guitar?

Thanks guys!
 
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#4
Do you need this for practice or gigging?
I've been looking at the little 15W to 40W tube heads that are out there. Stuff like the Vox Night Train and the Traynor IronHorse would do double duty with mix and match cabinets for the job. They probably wouldn't push a lot of volume for bass gigging but would make nice practice/recording rigs.
 
#7
I use a Line 6 DT25 head. For cabs, I have a DIY, dual ported 1x12 and I sometimes add a Carvin LS1503 PA speaker. Moves quite a bit of air for a 25 watt tube amp. Also use with a POD HD500 for bass and for guitar (I use a semi-open back, 1x12 cab loaded with EVM-12L speaker for guitar). So, best of both worlds and I like the sound so much, I sold my Genz Benz Shuttle 6.0 amp. If you need more power, there is a DT50 as well. Used would run $600-700 maybe?
 
#8
I also play both guitar and bass, so I know where you are coming from. There are always going to be compromises. Peavey makes an amp for both, and Carvin
makes an acoustic amp that has a dedicated bass channel. They are ok, but in my opinion, there are better options.

You are already on the right track as far as gear. The best thing short of separate amps for each, is to think preamp into PA....and having a full range monitor. You have that with your current setup. For bass, get either a multi-effect like one of the newer Zoom models, or something like the Tech 21 VT bass. There might even be bass amp models on your Line6. If you need more volume, go with a larger keyboard amp or powered PA speaker.

Otherwise get a power amp a full range cabinets, then run the preamp into that. See the Zoom B3 as a preamp thread on this site's effect forum for more details.
 
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#13
If you can find an old one of these on Ebay, they are a bargain and will handle everything you throw at it.

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#14
As a recent convert to bass myself, I believe you would need to compromise too much with only one rig. If you play clean rythm then it wouldn't matter so much.
You could do well with a solid state head and whatever speakers handle the volume at which you need for bass.
If you are looking for the warm, sweet & bluesy tube sound however, then the aforementioned rig would never do.

My guitar gear is an old, Epiphone strat copy with a Kahler tremelo bridge through a Fender Blues Jr. or Schecter Dianomd 6 through a Laney Tube Fusion.
My bass rig is a couple of Yamaha BBN5s through a Hartke LH500 (Carvin BX500 as backup) into an Acoustic B115 and B410 (the older sealed version).

Once I switched to bass and fell into a band with competent musicians, I never looked back. My bass amp prgression was an Acoustic B200H traded for a Galien Krueger Backline 600.
Found a Hartke HA4000 (SS) at MGR for $200.00, then a Hartke LH500 (tube preamp) on CL for $200.00.
Most recently, picked up the 6 lb. wonder Carvin BX500 which absolutely kicks ass.
 
#15
If you go to the "Zoom B3 as a preamp" thread on the effects forum, they talk about which power amps and cabs work best---the info would apply to your Line 6. The sensitivity of the power amp, and having a full range fairly transparent cabinet is what you want to look for. You could even just use a power amp with a couple of passive PA speakers.
I personally use a powered PA speaker as a monitor and go DI to the PA system. Even without a PA, one powered speaker will do acoustic type gigs just fine.
There is also a PA speaker that Line6 markets for use with their multi-effect pedal.
If I play somewhere with a back line amp, I just go direct to the PA from my preamp pedalboard, and use the amp as a monitor. the front of house tone is consistent, and I just tweak the amp's eq to sound decent to me. It's nice walking into a gig with just my bass or guitar, guitar stand, and pedal board. One trip and no sore back.
 
#18
Stevie C said:
yeah it has thirty or so bass amps and a bunch of bass cab models
What would be a good power amp and cab?
Click to expand...

PA type power amps are lots of power for cheap. See what's available where you are. Cab, probably the avatar 15/6 thing, because fairly broad range and not so coloured in the scheme of things, but any cab that goes high and low enough with colour to taste is fine, the simulation take care of cone breakup stuff that guitar cabs do that bass cabs don't like.
 
#19
I have heard the Peavey Vyper and was very impressed. Sounded great with my Dingwall plugged straight in. My lead singer/second guitar player uses it to gig with (mic'd through the PA). I think it would work anywhere your stage volume was low enough, it rocks as a guitar amp with a single 12" driver but would struggle by itself without more speaker area as a bass amp (on a loud stage). Sounded fabulous though nailing the Ampeg SVT sound at low to medium volumes. With PA support in a lowish stage volume event it would do very well.
 

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