• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join freeLog in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Music through bass amp?

I was going to throw a party, and for music, I was just going to run my iPod through my bass amp. I would have used my guitar combo, but I want lots of volume and low end, so I figure I could safely do it with my bass amp. I have a 1x15. I just want to make sure before I do, could this at all be damaging to the amp/head if common sense were exercised toward the EQ/volume?
 
I had an 8-track player that I used to run through the instrunebt input jack on my Fender bassman 50 (tube) head and 1x15 cab.

In order not to damage anything, my brother's friend built a small circuit to reduce the input signal to correct level. it also did some other antifeedback and impedance matching functions. The entire circuit would fit inside a Bic lighter sized unit and was inline between the player and the amp.

Bottom line, it sounded great and was loud as hell. I used to crank Black Sabbath, Aerosmith and the Stones through it.
 
I run music through amps/cabs to see how full range they sound. Many bass amps are very full range, Peavey for example. Add a full range bass cab and you have a great setup.

Most of my bass cabs really sacrifice the highs on purpose. But we don't want no treble!

If you have a tweeter, you might want to turn it up all the way.
 
I listen to music through my computer and instead of buying speakers I just plugged into my AI Clarus with Berg ht112 cab. Sounds great! Initially I had some problems due to the low volume (i have a macbook pro) but I've discovered that if I leave my printer usb cable in the computer then the sound is much louder. In fact the volume knobs on my AI don't do very much, the sound is very stable no matter how loud I have it on. So i have the knobs at 8 and it's great.
 
I was going to throw a party, and for music, I was just going to run my iPod through my bass amp. I would have used my guitar combo, but I want lots of volume and low end, so I figure I could safely do it with my bass amp. I have a 1x15. I just want to make sure before I do, could this at all be damaging to the amp/head if common sense were exercised toward the EQ/volume?

It won't hurt anything as long as you use common sense. All that means is listen to it at the volume you want to run. Are there any clip lights illuminating? Is your cab farting? Does the tweeter sound clear?

If everything sounds o.k. then it is o.k. as long you have your Ipod connected properly.

Also, before you decide to use it, see if the tonal quality of the reproduced sound is what you will be happy with. Music sounds awesome through a couple of my cabs but sounds terrible through the rest of them.

:D

Joe.
 
Except I thought that the output jack on most music players was stereo, and are not pretty much all amps a mono input?
Mmmm...sort of. Most amps nowadays have a stereo input that is summed to mono at the speaker but stereo if you use headphones. Sure, there are lots of exceptions but this is becoming the norm. And as far as sound quality in mono vs. stereo, yeah, you lose the stereo image but it will still sound just fine...unless they forgot to listen to it in mono while engineering the tune.

:-)

Joe.
 
For personal practice (I like music to jam with) I use an MP3 player into different combo amps. One being a a Peavey Basic 60 bass combo and the other a H&K Blue Edition 30 guitar combo. Using the two of them it will get very loud and can easily carry a house party.

Has it hurt the amps in over three years of loud practice? Nope. :cool:
 
+1 to what everyone is saying...

I'll add that a few times, a band member will want everyone to hear something on an IPod, but won't have any sort of connector cables beyond the tiny earphones. I wedged the ear-buds between the strings, so the drivers touch the pickups. And BAM...great sounding playback through my bass amp, just EQ to taste. This is only gonna give you mono, but you could send on of the earphones to another bass and rig, which gives you a perfectly legit reason to go out and ease the G.A.S a bit...