Question regarding amp/cab safety

[raptor10439]

I'm primarily a guitar player but I'm going to play bass for one of my favorite local bands. I recently bought a GK MB500 with a GK 410 cab. I have a Zoom G5 I use for my my guitar effects and distortion (and also amp modeling when I record). I would like to use this on my bass as well. Is this safe for the pedal, amp, and cab?

Also I've heard of people using bass amps for guitar. Am I safe using the G5s amp modeling and running it into the bass amp essentially using it as a PA?

Any other info about taking care of my gear would also be much appreciated.

 

[scottfeldstein]

I don't think using the Zoom on your bass rig is dangerous. You might find the effects aren't optimized for bass frequencies, but I don't think it'll hurt anything.

I do almost all my sound processing on the floor and use my amp rig as a stage monitor. Nothing unusual about that.

 

[raptor10439]

I read somewhere (might have been on this forum I honestly can't remember) where someone said something about sending too much distortion into a solid state amp isn't good for it. I suspect this person doesn't know what they're talking about because that doesn't make sense but I could be wrong.

 

[scottfeldstein]

Hm. That would be news to me. But maybe some smart person here will chime in.

 

[tr4252]

I use an old Digitech RP3 in my bass setup and it works just fine.

Tom

 

[raptor10439]

That's good to know. When hooking my pedal up, should I run it through the effects loop? I get a ton of buzz I don't get when I run the pedal to the input

 

[beans-on-toast]

There is no problem doing what you are proposing.

Of course, bass amp EQ ranges are tuned for bass frequencies so you might want to adjust the settings from what you use for guitar.

Using the bass amp as a PA is a good approach because if you wanted to drive the bass amp and speakers hard with a guitar, the volume levels are going to be huge.

Try it, use common sense.

 

[B-string]

That's good to know. When hooking my pedal up, should I run it through the effects loop? I get a ton of buzz I don't get when I run the pedal to the input

The pedal is a instrument level device. Use it between the bass and amp as intended. The effects loop is for line level effects units that are usually the rack mount variety.

Only thing to caution about is if the unit provides distortion effects, turn the tweeter off in the bass cab if it has one. Tweeter horns can blow pretty easy with distorted effects (guitar cabs won't use horns after Acoustic Control Corp discovered the reason for blown horns).

 

[raptor10439]

That's very good to know. Will definitely keep that in mind

 

[Downunderwonder]

Powerful low end resides in the bottom of the bass mids, not the bass bass. Inexperienced players crank the bass knob and flap their speakers to no useful effect. Contour knobs add to the misery, scooping out the most toneful frequencies.