Using guitar and bass heads through a bass cab

[xtaftx]

Hi everyone, I was wondering if anybody could shed some light on this issue.
Okay, I have a 200 watt Acoustic brand bass amp head (solid state) and a Sovtek mig-50 guitar amp head (all tube). I also have an old trace elliott 4x12 (is it weird for a bass cab to have 12 inch speakers? I'm used to only seeing 10 inch speakers) bass cab. I was wondering if it would be safe to use both amps together into the cab, by using the direct out of the bass head into the input of the guitar head, and the output of the guitar head into the bass cab. The cab is 300 watts @ 8 ohms, so there would be no trouble that I can tell from overpowering the cab, I was just wondering if anyone has experience with this and if it'd damage either of the amps. Thanks!

 

[Spinal Tapper]

most tube amps for guitar sound amazing when run through bass cabs.

 

[rpsands]

Avoid using a distorting guitar head through a bass cab with a tweeter. As long as there's no tweeter/horn it should be fine.

The other thing to check is to make absolutely sure you have an ohm tap that matchest he 4x12's ohmage. Some tube heads do not like 8 ohm loads.

 

[62Start]

Finding someone who has done exactly what you propose is probably one chance in a billion. Up until the mid '90s just about all half stacks had 4x12 configuration. As I recall, until the slap/pop method of playing became more common place most people preferred larger speakers for lows that you feel as much as hear, instead of smaller, faster response speakers. I played 18" speakers in the 60's and would have stayed with them if they had been as bulletproof as 15" speakers or as inexpensive as 12" speakers. There were a ton of 2x12" bass cabinets sold in the 60's and 70's. Fender usually put 10" in guitar cabs and 12" in bass cabs. I finally made the switch to 12" speakers in the mid-70s and played a double stack of Fender 4x12 cabs for over a decade with zero problems. I'm not certain who did it first, but I think the first 4x10 cab I saw was a GK unit. I now play bass though an Ampeg 4x10, but for me a 4x12 is plenty responsive enough.

Anyway, I would recommend you start by playing the cab with each head by itself. One or the other may match up great. If neither sound too good, it may be your bass and not the amps or speaker cab. I suggest you take your bass to a music store and try out some amps to be certain your bass sounds good on a good amp.

 

[M0ses]

Why would you do this amp stacking? You won't actually get both amp's power - the Acoustic DI is post-power stage, so you'll just get additional coloration from it's preamp. There will be no volume gain. IF you were to plug a post-power signal into another amp's preamp, you'd fry at least one, if not both amps. So I don't see much point, since I don't think anyone has ever been crazy about the new Acoustic sound, I'll bet your tube guitar amp will sound great on it's own.

 

[xtaftx]

Well I have a good sound with each amp separately, I was just wondering about the combination with a tube guitar head and a solid state bass head, not necessarily the sovtek with an acoustic. Nothing that I feel like I need to do, just curious. The sovtek is really clean, almost like a bassman apparently. And thanks about the history of speaker sizes, I didn't know how much it has changed since the 60s. Luckily the Sovtek has outs for 4 ohm, 8 ohm, and 16 ohm, so the 8 ohm cab works fine with it. I originally got the acoustic because it was cheap, and with the podxt I was using at the time, I could get a sound relative to what I wanted with an expensive amp. Thanks for the feedback though, it's greatly appreciated.