blowing out a guitar amp?

You might damage the speaker, you might not, since the speaker wasn't designed for bass. As far as the amp itself, there should be no problem. Bass players played through guitar amps before there ever was such a thing as a "bass specific" amp.

 

Bass players used to blow out a lot of guitar amps back then too...

If you play REALLY quiet it may not hurt it, but its likely going to screw up the speakers.

Better to save your money and get a bass amp. SPend the money on your own amp instead of repairing your friends amp and using what's left over to buy your own amp when he won't let you borrow it anymore.


Randy

 

Maybe you cant get the guitar amp traded in for a bass amp.

 

That's weird. They make gig bags and cases. Basses are mobile. I bring my basses all kinds of places.

Guitar amps are not effective for amplifying basses if there are any other instruments playing.

 

whats wrong with lugging your bass to his house? that way, you can trade in the extra bass you bought and get a $200 practice amp for his house and you won't have to worry about destroying the guitar amp.

 

Do you have a drummer? Will you ever have a drummer?

Drummer + 50W guitar amp = something blown.

 

i played a gig through a Peavey 50 Classic. i used it as a monitor and had my bass run through a DI into the mixing desk.

it farted all night. it sounded like uber crap. now i wish i had fried it back then and made a laugh out of a nasty bad memory

 

As long as you use a bass cab with the guitar amp, it will be fine.


Is it by chance a Classic 50?

 

You're going to need to be far more specific with your posting.

Beginning every post you make with "it's not that simple" is going to lead you down a path to finding little help.

What more advice do you want?

We cannot recommend using the guitar amp.

Will it work? perhaps

Will it explode? probably not, but that would be pretty sweet to watch

Will it seriously damage the amp/speaker? there is enough chance of that happening for us to not recommend you using it....your milage may vary


My advice?

It's not that simple....

You don't want to spend money on another amp.

I assume you can't practice at your house for some reason. I assume that the reason 'is not that simple.'

Do you own the guitar amp you are currently using?

What are your concerns when it comes to selling/trading the guitar amp for a bass amp.

 

If this is a Classic 50 all-tube guitar amp...it's a very nice guitar combo, so please don't fry the speakers! Trade it or sell it, a Classic 50 with the 2x12's or 4x10's is worth at least $250

 

I regularly play bass through a Peavey Triple XXX guitar head. Wide open, with tubes a-glowin' and speakers jumpin'. Nothing's blown after numerous rehearsals and several gigs. Granted, the cabinet is an old Ampeg 412 guitar cab, and is rated at 300 watts. Just check your speaker's max wattage rating, and try not to exceed it. The amp itself won't fry, speaker damage is possible depending on tone, volume, etc. If you smell smoke or hear distortion, stop playing.


For the record, yes, I have a real bass rig. A couple in fact. I just like the way the clean channel on the XXX sounds through a 412

 

Do you not have a locker, band room, teachers classroom or closet within one, principals office, etc to take your bass to school with you when you practice?

As has been said, the guitar head won't see much damage, but at a reasonable volume you WILL damage the speakers. Guitar heads and cabs are made for mid range to high frequencies and cannot handle that much low end. I view this as you have a guitar amp and two basses, either sell the guitar amp and one bass and buy a bass amp, or sell a bass and buy a guitar to use when at buddies house if you don't already have one, but you probaly do if you have an amp for one. A lot of people can't afford the gear they would like and they cope, but playing a bass through a guitar amp is going to make you end up with less gear than you could have in the first place.

 

I used to carry a fender jazz in a flight case (well over 25 lbs) to school everyday when I had band practice, it really builds up your bodies muscle mass. and it can give you time to practice when your board at school, lunch, before class. I think it would have been better to spend the money on a nice case and a decent practice amp. JMHO

 

Carry your bass to school, any kind of guitar case will bring the ladies in like a magnet... at least until they find out its a bass.

 

There you go. It's far easier on a bass amp to have a guitar played through it than it is for a guitar amp to have a bass played through it.

Get rid of the guitar amp and get a bass amp.

Better yet, have the guitar player buy the guitar amp from you so you can go get a bass amp.

By the way, how loud are you playing? If you're playing at low, normal conversation like volume levels, then you're probably fine playing through that amp. As every one else has pointed out, the danger lies in hurting the speakers and not the amp itself.

Anyway, you're a bass player and you've bought 2 basses and a guitar amp. What has the guitar player bought? He needs to help out in all this too.

Final word, go get a bass amp, sell the guitar amp. Or be very cautious with volume levels.

 

Why exactly does a passive bass hurt a guitar amps speaker?

I don't ask to be a smart aleck...I ask because I don't know.

I knew a guy who prefered to play his jazz bass through a Polytone minibrute guitar amp....he never seemed to have any problems.

Chad

 

Low notes would likely overextend the speakers. Its fine if you play real quiet, but its tough to reproduce low notes, so if the speaker cab isn't tuned to handle them, it can be damaged by trying to do them at surprisingly low volumes. IF you go for a relatively non-bassy sound, like for a jazz bass, you might be able to get away with it to a larger degree than if you like a warm bottomy sound with lots of low end.

Randy