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Bass Through Guitar Amps

B

bassplayer7768521

Jun 30, 2009
138
1
#1
Morning/Afternoon/Evening everyone!

I heard people talking about about how a few bassists use guitar amps in the rigs somewhere. I think I remember Robert Trujillo saying he used a Marshall guitar stack on tour (in addition to all of his bass gear, of course).

What are the advantages to using guitar amps? Any info is very well appreciated, thanks a bunch!
 
#6
Mike watt used a Marshall head when he played with Dinosaur Jr. as requested by J. I also use a fender super twin in sabertooth cavity and recently I recorded our album with an ampeg B-22-X Jupiter 22 that was chopped down to a head. Its basically a b-25b but with tremolo and vibrato. You should use bass speakers at all costs though and not guitar speakers. In my opinion its generally not worth the hassle of using guitar head because the preamp sections are usually voiced for guitars. ONe exception though is the ampeg guitar heads because the preamps are usually bass friendly and they just slap a guitar friendly tag on them. So to me its not totally about the power because nowadays running through a PA is the norm so it's super critical to have bass speakers and a head in which the preamp nicely reproduces the low end.
 
#14
Depends on the amp, the speakers, and how loud you play. Don't think you can turn up a 50 watt marshall into a basic celestion filled cab. It'll distort quick. Lemmy's playing a 100 watt head into a 4x15 with bass speakers, and a 4x12 into heavy duty 100 watt celestions. I tried my 65 watt bloodhound amp into two 15 bass bins, and it was too distorted if I turned up. I can play my 100 watt Marshall through a 100watt Marshall 4x12 if I don't turn up. I wouldn't want to blow 250 dollar speakers, so I use it for guitar, and then it's overkill there too. If I could find a Marshall 4x15 cheap I would buy it and try it. Most anything works at low volumes. I was using an old 50's magnavox alnico 15 for years, but not abusing it. Still has that vintage sound. I'd rather pair it with a 12 for guitar and a 15 watt amp. You can try it, but wouldn't you rather have the right stuff.
 
#15
I never had a problem of damaged speakers caused by playing a bass through a guitar amp through guitar speakers. Some sounded very good even at fairly high volumes, some sounded like crap. Just depends on the particular amp and speakers used. Not all guitar speakers are equal in handling bass tonewise.


It seems to me that the real problem would occur if you played a bass through a bass amp through guitar speakers because of the power of the amp at low frequencies into the speakers.


Why would someone choose to use a guitar amp/speakers for use with a bass? Tone. Especially with tube amps for recording.
 
#18
Hawaii Islander said:
I never had a problem of damaged speakers caused by playing a bass through a guitar amp through guitar speakers. Some sounded very good even at fairly high volumes, some sounded like crap. Just depends on the particular amp and speakers used. Not all guitar speakers are equal in handling bass tonewise.


It seems to me that the real problem would occur if you played a bass through a bass amp through guitar speakers because of the power of the amp at low frequencies into the speakers.


Why would someone choose to use a guitar amp/speakers for use with a bass? Tone. Especially with tube amps for recording.
Click to expand...

+1

I have often gone to my guitarists house and played my bass at low volume through his 4X12 halfstack while working through songs at conversational level. I would not do that at performance volumes though.

And to the comments about Lemmy, back in the day it was not uncommon for us to play Rickenbackers through guitar amps in stereo mode, that's the real *secret handshake required* reason for the .0047 cap in the 4001 bridge pickup that gets a bad rap today. But you didn't hear that from me. :ninja:
 
#19
Well. I play bass through a vintage guitar tube amplifier and two Ampeg bass-cabs. The amp is a '74 Sound City L(ead) 120, which my father used for guitar. The thing is, that is tighter than a lot of bass-tube-amps, so it controls a 15" like a dream, if you're looking for the tight sound. It gives a certain percussion, especially when playing a Rick.
The only minus is, as already metioned, that the 3-band EQ is designed for guitar, so the mid-tone sounds kinda awful with the bass, if you ask me. But if you're searching for some treble but a lot of bass, however, an old tube-guitar-amp might be a great thing. I'd recommend bass cabs for improved bass-sustain.
 

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