Webb steel guitar amp for bass?

[Surf52]

while waiting for my new to me Buster 200 to be repaired, I thought about an amp I had put away a few years ago, it is a Webb 6-14e. These are made for pedal steel and steel players think highly of them .it is solid state, 225 watt 1x15 combo with partially open back cabinet. So I pulled it out and tried it with my bass and a WOW it sounds great! Really good to my ears. Internet searches turn up no good news and all bad about open back cabinets for bass, so Im surprised this works so good. Playing in my living room, pretty loud, but not with a band yet, I wonder if it will hold up there? I like a very clean punchy sound, play soul, funk, ska, reggae. No metal, very little to no rock. Big upside for this amp is it is compact. heavy but not too bad to move around. I have been using a 67 b15 portaflex, sweet sounding but no way loud enough to gig. The Webb sounds way bigger, Fuller, cleaner. Anyone have any thoughts on this or are my ears just not working right? Thanks

 

[JimmyM]

Open back cabs can sound great for low-volume applications, but I have never played one that worked for bass when I needed a good amount of volume. They just don't reproduce the low end efficiently like a real bass cab does. There may be an exception out there but I've yet to find it in over 40 years of playing professionally.

 

[JW56789]

Webbs are fairly rare amps that are one of the best for pedal steel, know a guy that plays his MCI thru one and it really, really does the business, with amazing tone for a 'solid state' amp. And yeah, in the living room with a bass, it would sound great, they're just one of those amps it's hard to get a bad sound out of.

But on a gig? You need to push big air, and with that Webb, or any open back cabinet, you'd be pushing it alright . . . . . right out the open back side. Unless your gig is a rented tux / fake book / piano trio at a country club that's barely louder than a conversation, you're gonna have to mike the Portaflex or make other arrangements.

 

[walterw]

Playing in my living room, pretty loud, but not with a band yet, I wonder if it will hold up there?

nope

trying to play bass through that thing is like trying to pull stumps out of the back yard with a sports car.

(now if you ran the head portion into an actual bass cab it might be OK for lower volume gigs)

 

[Wasnex]

while waiting for my new to me Buster 200 to be repaired, I thought about an amp I had put away a few years ago, it is a Webb 6-14e. These are made for pedal steel and steel players think highly of them .it is solid state, 225 watt 1x15 combo with partially open back cabinet. So I pulled it out and tried it with my bass and a WOW it sounds great! Really good to my ears. Internet searches turn up no good news and all bad about open back cabinets for bass, so Im surprised this works so good. Playing in my living room, pretty loud, but not with a band yet, I wonder if it will hold up there? I like a very clean punchy sound, play soul, funk, ska, reggae. No metal, very little to no rock. Big upside for this amp is it is compact. heavy but not too bad to move around. I have been using a 67 b15 portaflex, sweet sounding but no way loud enough to gig. The Webb sounds way bigger, Fuller, cleaner. Anyone have any thoughts on this or are my ears just not working right? Thanks

Not many speakers can handle bass in an open back cabinet. I used to run a pair of JBL E120 in a Twin Reverb and they would take most of the amps 85W as long as I kept the Bass control below 4. The E120s don't have much XMax but they are really tight and don't flap around a lot like Utahs. I put the amp up on a case so I could hear it and it worked fine for a personal monitor. I enjoyed the sound, but most people would want a lot more bass.

I wouldn't risk the speaker in your Webb if it can't be repaired or replaced relatively easily. I did a google search and all the 6-14Es I saw had JBL K130s. That's a nice vintage speaker, but per this thread not ideal for bass.
JBL K130 drivers; Treasure or Trash?

 

[Surf52]

Thanks to everyone who replied. I won’t think about this amp and speaker for gigs. Nice sound for practice or maybe with an acoustic guitarist and conga drums.