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Fender quad reverb for bass?

G

Geo0321

Jun 6, 2018
7
1
#1
Hi all,
So I found a real good deal on a quad reverb, which for you that don't know is a ~120 watt twin reverb with a 4x12. Any thoughts on how it would sounds through a high powered 15 on bass? I have zero experience with tube bass amps, all I've used is SS. How will the volume compare to a drummer and guitarist unmiced, while maintaining a fairly clean signal? And how loud do you think it will be compared to my 350 watt SS amp, because I know the tube amps are louder per watt, but I'm not sure by how much...
Thanks for your inputs!
 
#2
Guitar amps are designed with high efficiency speakers - they give up linear excursion for the sake of making a lot of noise at higher frequencies with not so much power input. They also don't really give you low end frequency response wise - the speakers are too stiff to move at low frequencies, and the unit is open back, so any low end they do make is cancelled at any distance from the speakers.

Through a better speaker, you still have the issue of the head not being designed (the output transformer and the circuit in general) to pass low frequencies.

So, plug a bass into it on a gig, and it ain't gonna work like a real bass amp. It'll make lots of noise, but if you want actual bass out of your bass, look elsewhere.

You can sometimes use a bass amp as a guitar amp, but the other way 'round is usually a bad idea.
 
#3
The amp part of the equation is actually pretty cool, but the open-backed speaker system isn't really gonna work. Couple that amp with an actual bass cab and it would work pretty well, IMO. There's nothing about that amp -- driving an appropriate speaker system -- that would make it inappropriate for a bass guitar.
 
#4
If you like some hair on your sound it might be great. Like mentioned you would disconnect the guitar speakers and run the 15 bass cab you mentioned. Some folks do fine with 100 watt Marshall, Ampeg and Fender bass heads. I would think it will run out of clean power fairly quickly once other instruments and drums start piling on. One thing to also keep in mind is that a single 15 may not supply the SPL that you would need to keep up with the group. Be sure to match impedance if you do go for it.
 

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