Guitar through bass amp?

[Alfonso Alba]

Do any of you guys play guitar through your bass amps? If so, do you use any specific pedals to emulate a guitar amp?

I just got a Fender Rumble 500 and I'm planning to start learning guitar in a couple months but I don't want to have to buy a guitar amp. I also have an original Bass POD amp modeler - I don't know if it would work well with a guitar. I don't really use it for bass, so I could sell it and buy a more adequate pedal.

 

[And I]

it'll work okay for noodling around, practicing, learning, etc. turn the bass knob down to about 9 o'clock. you'll find there will also be more treble than you're used to for a guitar. if the rumble 500 has a way to turn the tweeter off that will help. it will be VERY clean, won't break up nice like a guitar amp can. i personally avoid line 6 gear like the plague but a guitar amp modeler might help. you can probably get a practice amp used for like $25.

 

[Stumbo]

You could add a 1x10 or 1x12 guitar cab. Sit it on top of the 500.

 

[Steve Dallman]

I gig these days with a PF500. I also give guitar lessons. I have a couple small sealed cabinets with 150 watt 10" speakers in them.

I plugged a strat into the Ampeg and one speaker cabinet. It was the BEST clean guitar tone I ever pulled out of an amp. Even the compressor was fantastic.

If you don't use a tweeter (because tweeters and distortion aren't your friends) you don't need any emulator. Plug in and enjoy. FWIW, for years and often even today, I use small bass amps (Peavey Minx, and others) for acoustic guitar, but I added a piezo tweeter to each, usually small ones mounted coaxially with a DIY bracket. They always work well for acoustic guitar.

 

[quickfix]

Archtop jazz box through a bass amp. It's what's expected.
My Gibson ES125 or Gibson L-4CES with flat wound 12s through my Ampeg PF 800 and PF115HE is THE sound for jazz.
Anyway...that's my usual guitar rig.

I did play through my Roland JC120 a few years back, but the Ampeg bass rig and chorus pedal supplanted the Roland.

 

[Alfonso Alba]

Thanks. Since I will be learning, I won't be looking for distortion or a specific guitar tone, yet, so a clean sound will be fine. Eventually I might just buy a multi effect pedal with amp sims and be done with it. Bass POD is going to the chop block... I never quite liked it, either.

 

[Bass V]

all my bass amps excel at guitar and most for steel as well, after discovering my old Guild Thunderbass head was a Marshall slayer I always focused on guitar-friendly bass amps.
my Roland CUBE 60XL BASS combo is another winner and can impress in the Bman (Bassman) setting then opening up the sweetning features to emulate it's vintage namesake.
my new Acoustic B100 mkII shines as well.

 

[basslust]

I would just get a guitar amp. I was in the same position a few years ago (down to having a Rumble) and when I finally got a guitar amp, I couldn't believe what I was missing. Guitar sounds extremely clean and not the "chimey" type clean that you get from a guitar amp. It's okay for noodling around perhaps, but I think a real guitar amp is well worth it if you're going to take the time to learn guitar.

 

[lz4005]

Do any of you guys play guitar through your bass amps? If so, do you use any specific pedals to emulate a guitar amp?
I just got a Fender Rumble 500 and I'm planning to start learning guitar in a couple months but I don't want to have to buy a guitar amp. I also have an original Bass POD amp modeler - I don't know if it would work well with a guitar. I don't really use it for bass, so I could sell it and buy a more adequate pedal.

I practice guitar and bass through the same bass combo amp all the time.
Don't sell the POD so fast. At minimum you'll want to add some reverb to that clean tone. Then play with the EQ and drive on the amp until it sounds good.
Eventually you'll want a guitar amp that's suited for whatever genre you go into, but starting out the Rumble will work fine.

 

[TroyK]

Hey, can I glom onto this disucssion?

I have 2 good Euphonic Audio bass rigs. A iAmp 500 combo and a 10" Wizzy cab with a micro head. They are my bread a butter for upright bass gigs. I use a Sans Amp ParaDriver in front of them for the odd electric bass work that I do and it gives me a little drive.

I've been playing more electric guitar on my own through a small, solid-state Fender guitar amp that I bought new in the 90s. The clean channel is pretty nice, the drive channel...not so much..and the eq either doesn't work or is at least very insensitive. The SansAmp helps it too, because the eq works much better and I like that drive signal better than the one in the amp.

A buddy loaned me an old 5W tube amp that I have been enjoying, but it's not perfect or versitle either.

So, I've been thinking maybe replace my SS Fender with a small, low wattage tube amp, to enjoy guitar more and have available when people come here to play. For jazz, guitar players are usually happy with one of my bass amps for a rehearsal. Space is an issue for me, so I'm also noodling with the idea of maybe a guitar tube head on top of one of the bass cabinets that I already have. Any thoughts about that?

The purpose would be a) enjoy playing electric guitar in my basement (blues, rock, jazz). Have it be backline for small rehearsals where, which would ALMOST always be jazz, and something that could be loaned out for a small gig or recording. I play, usually duo now and again with a Canadian guitar player, who would rather borrow an amp that take one back and forth across the border.

Advice?

 

[Stumbo]

What's your max budget?

 

[Stumbo]

If you can keep the 5w tube amp for awhile, I'd get a tech to check it out. Replace tubes, caps, install grounded plug. Replace the speaker, possibly.

What's the speaker size? Put the amp through a low- watt 10" or 12".

Maybe pick up a volume pedal to use as a master volume control.

IMO, That amp should be perfect for what you want to do.

 

[Stumbo]

Alternatively, Fender Mustang I V.2 20-watt 1x8" Modeling Combo Amp

 

[beans-on-toast]

A guitar sounds great through a bass amp such as a Rumble. If you want more tonal control than what the amp provides, try an EQ pedal to dial in more high end.

Many bass players use a clean boost pedal when they want more high end. It saturates the input stage to provide creamy distortion. Works well for guitar as well. The tube is generating the distortion. This is opposed to a fuzz pedal that generates distortion in the pedal. A fuzz can also be used to saturate the input of the amp. What you can do depends on the pedal.

I play guitar through an Ampeg B-15 bass amp. It works well. Tell me that Hendrix doesn't sound good through one.

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[Alfonso Alba]

Thanks for all the comments. I got a guitar on a trade (a Hello Kitty edition Squier Strat - don't laugh) and tried it yesterday with my Rumble 500. It actually sounded pretty good, both clean and with the Rumble overdrive. I also have a couple pedals, besides the Bass POD: a Moog MF-103 phaser (which also overdrives nicely) and a TC Electronic Nova Reverb. Plus a ton of rack effects but I don't want to divert from practice into endless ambient-jamming.

 

[mapleglo]

I had been using my Ampeg Micro VR stack.

Micro VR Stack

• mapleglo
• Sep 24, 2017
• ampeg micro vr

Micro VR and a pair of SVT-210AVs

With this pedal board.

pedal board

• mapleglo
• Sep 24, 2017
• mxr

for guitar

But recently picked this up.

New tube

• mapleglo
• Sep 18, 2017
• pa 100 tube

Put in the new 12AX7A tube, almost no hum, no microphonic

 

[Haroldo]

A guitar sounds great through a bass amp such as a Rumble. If you want more tonal control than what the amp provides, try an EQ pedal to dial in more high end.

Many bass players use a clean boost pedal when they want more high end. It saturates the input stage to provide creamy distortion. Works well for guitar as well. The tube is generating the distortion. This is opposed to a fuzz pedal that generates distortion in the pedal. A fuzz can also be used to saturate the input of the amp. What you can do depends on the pedal.

I play guitar through an Ampeg B-15 bass amp. It works well. Tell me that Hendrix doesn't sound good through one.

Invalid Link Removed

Damn straight! An old Gibson 345 through a B-15 is sonic bliss. (At least as I remember such a pairing!)

 

[beans-on-toast]

People like to change the pickup on Hello Kitty guitars. Because of the low initial cost, the guitar serves as a good base for mods.

 

[TroyK]

If you can keep the 5w tube amp for awhile, I'd get a tech to check it out. Replace tubes, caps, install grounded plug. Replace the speaker, possibly.

What's the speaker size? Put the amp through a low- watt 10" or 12".

Maybe pick up a volume pedal to use as a master volume control.

IMO, That amp should be perfect for what you want to do.

First of all my friend is a vintage guitar and amp geek and services his own amps, so I have no reason to question the soundness of it. Second, he just loaned it to me to play with and enjoy, it's not something for me to buy or modify.

The little Vox MV50 heads are intriguing to me.

Hello Kitty is a Golden God.

 

[beans-on-toast]

Hey, can I glom onto this disucssion?

I have 2 good Euphonic Audio bass rigs. A iAmp 500 combo and a 10" Wizzy cab with a micro head. They are my bread a butter for upright bass gigs. I use a Sans Amp ParaDriver in front of them for the odd electric bass work that I do and it gives me a little drive.

I've been playing more electric guitar on my own through a small, solid-state Fender guitar amp that I bought new in the 90s. The clean channel is pretty nice, the drive channel...not so much..and the eq either doesn't work or is at least very insensitive. The SansAmp helps it too, because the eq works much better and I like that drive signal better than the one in the amp.

A buddy loaned me an old 5W tube amp that I have been enjoying, but it's not perfect or versitle either.

So, I've been thinking maybe replace my SS Fender with a small, low wattage tube amp, to enjoy guitar more and have available when people come here to play. For jazz, guitar players are usually happy with one of my bass amps for a rehearsal. Space is an issue for me, so I'm also noodling with the idea of maybe a guitar tube head on top of one of the bass cabinets that I already have. Any thoughts about that?

The purpose would be a) enjoy playing electric guitar in my basement (blues, rock, jazz). Have it be backline for small rehearsals where, which would ALMOST always be jazz, and something that could be loaned out for a small gig or recording. I play, usually duo now and again with a Canadian guitar player, who would rather borrow an amp that take one back and forth across the border.

Advice?

There are so many small amp options. It really depends on your budget. For jazz you want a clean tube sound that can weave in and out of mild distortion when called for.. I have a lovely vintage vibro-champ. It does clean and distorted when turned up. Don't let the size fool you. Fnder makes some nice higher powered amps such as the blues junior, deluxe reverb.

But if you want a head for jazz, take a look at the 20W Ampeg PF-20T and 50W PF-50T. Bass amps that will do jazz well. Both amps can be used without a speaker connected for recording. It doesn't hurt that you can use it for bass. Demos on youtube.