Should I trade for a heavily modified amp?

[599XX]

First off, hello talkbass! I'm new to this forum and to bass guitar. This is my first post

I've been playing guitar for a few years now but I just bought a bass guitar for a change of pace. However, I can't afford to have both a bass amp and a guitar amp, so knowing that you can't play bass through a guitar amp but you can play guitar through a bass amp I figured I'd trade my guitar amp for a bass amp. I received an email from a man offering to trade his custom bass head+cab, but I would like some advice because it seems like it could potentially be a headache.

What he did was take an old 100w Peavey Bandit with a 12" speaker, turned it into a head+cab, and replaced most of the wiring and the OT. It sounds like a very enticing idea but the fact that he's done so much work on it concerns me, especially considering the Bandit, to my knowledge, has always been a guitar amp (and the 12" speaker seems much more suited to a guitar amp). However, if this is a good deal, I'd gladly jump on it. He's also offered to throw in a bass POD.

Anyway, any and all advice is appreciated

 

[Coop Soup]

While 12" speakers are used in bass cabs, if he just split up a bandit it's probably the original guitar speaker. Personally I'd pass on something like that.

 

[599XX]

That's what I was thinking. It's going to be my first bass amp after all and so I'd need something a little more straightforward.

 

[anderbass]

What brand/model guitar amp and cab do you have now?

And are you planning on using your bass amp with a band, or maybe just for solo rehearsal?

 

[599XX]

Right now I have a 1x12 Peavey Valveking. I don't plan on using it (the bass amp) with a full band in the near future.

 

[anderbass]

I noticed your combo sells new for $399 w/free shipping, so I'd guess its used/trade value is probably somewhere around $200. So it might be worth asking that guy if he has a bass speaker in that cab and maybe try it out with your bass.

On the other hand... the amp section of your combo would be completely safe for bass duty and I think It'd probably sound pretty good. The only worry with a bass guitar duty would be your speaker being damaged at louder volume levels. Plus your combo is an open back design, so Its internal speaker could never give good low-bass response. But with that said, you could use your combo with a bass for home practicing at lower volumes.

I noticed your combos specifications list Its amp section can be operated at 4, 8 or 16 ohm. So another option here is to unplug its internal speaker and plug most any bass cab into its external speaker jack.

 

[Jeff Scott]

... the amp section of your combo would be completely safe for bass duty and I think It'd probably sound pretty good.....unplug its internal speaker and plug most any bass cab into its external speaker jack.

+1.

 

[599XX]

So I could unplug my speaker (how difficult is that, by the way?), plug in an external, say, 1x15, crank it up, and rock out on bass?

 

[anderbass]

I did some more accurate research on your Valveking 112: Invalid Link Removed

(Quote from your manual below)

EXTERNAL SPEAKER JACK:

Provided for connection of external speaker cabinet(s). Minimum external speaker impedance is
16 Ω on the ValveKing 112. This disconnects the internal speaker in the ValveKing 112.
Load Impedance is selectable via the IMPEDANCE SELECTOR (25) on the ValveKing 212 and ValveKing 100 Head.

So the good new is your 112 model automatically disconnects the combos internal 16-ohm speaker when you plug another cab into its external speaker jack.

But the bad news here is Peavey is recommending your external cab should be a 16-ohm to be safe for the poweramp section in your model, and there's very few 16-ohm bass cabs available... (most all bass cabs are 4 or 8-ohm and could damage your amp)

If you owned a Valveking 212 or 100-head model, It would have a 4-8-16 ohm selector switch, so you could safely plug most any bass cab in. So it turns out I gave you bad advice in my last post, unless you can find a 16-ohm bass cab.

 

[Bmorefoozler]

A 16 ohm cab can be created when a 4 ohm 2x? casbinet uses 8 ohm drivers.
And example of this is the Bagend 2x10's, which are wired in parrallel down to 4 ohm but could use series wiring to get to 16 ohms.

 

[Jeff Scott]

Most tube amps can handle a 100% impedance mismatch, so an 8Ω cabinet is fine; I would just watch how warm the output transformer gets and perhaps, not rock out like Motorhead.

 

[599XX]

I don't want to even run the risk of screwing up my Valveking using an 8 ohm cab. I'd be fine with just trying to find an inexpensive bass combo. I understand that you can generally get good cleans when playing guitar through a bass amp, and since I mostly use cleans in my tone anyway I figured I could get away with trading my amp for a bass amp (especially since in the short while I've had my bass I've fallen in love with how much more comfortable it is to play with my gigantic hands).

 

[Downunderwonder]

The trade seems heavily in the other guy's favour. I wouldn't waste any petrol going to look at it.

The usual story with valve amps is they will run happy on less impedance but not more. If that quote in post #9 is correct then someone at Peavey was smoking something before they wrote the manual. That's my understanding anyway.

All the same you wouldn't go bad to rewire a 4ohm 2x whatever to 16 ohms as a bass cab. I heard the Peavey valve guitar amps sound pretty good on bass.

You could do a pair of the diy BFM jack cabs with cheaper beta speakers and run them in series for 16 ohm also. That could cost you less than $180 for unfinished cabs without handles and corners, if you don't have to buy tools. Make your 30W sound like 120W too.

 

[599XX]

^That sounds like a good suggestion but right now I can't afford to buy more gear without selling gear first, which is why I wanted to trade my Valveking in the first place. Are there any good combos out there for around $200? What do y'all think of the Ampeg BA112?

Additionally, there's an Acoustic BA100 that I could get for $120, seems like a good deal as long as I manage to sell my Valveking. There's also a Peavey TNT for that much on my local craigslist.