Can I use a bass with a guitar amp?
June 28, 2011 12:24 PM Subscribe
Is it true that I can't use a bass with a guitar amp? Why or why not?
I have a medium-sized Crate guitar amp (among others) that I found on the side of the road. I have a bass amp that sounds awful. I've tried playing my bass through the guitar amp once and it sounded leaps and bounds better than the bass amp.
The conventional wisdom here is that a bass will blow a guitar amp over time. Is that true? But I also have a bass pedal for my guitar. Why would I be able to use that but not an actual bass?
All amps involved are lower-end solid states, if that makes a difference.
I have a medium-sized Crate guitar amp (among others) that I found on the side of the road. I have a bass amp that sounds awful. I've tried playing my bass through the guitar amp once and it sounded leaps and bounds better than the bass amp.
The conventional wisdom here is that a bass will blow a guitar amp over time. Is that true? But I also have a bass pedal for my guitar. Why would I be able to use that but not an actual bass?
All amps involved are lower-end solid states, if that makes a difference.
A guitar and bass amp of equal quality will sound better with their respective instruments, because they're tuned to the correct register. I suspect you are using a better-quality guitar amp than bass amp.
I've never heard that conventional wisdom. In fact, I had a highly-skilled bassist friend who had separate outputs for the two pickups on one of his basses, and he always played one of them through a smallish guitar amp. Come to think of it, he would often play through that amp around the house because it was smaller than his bass amp.
I highly doubt it'll hurt the amp unless you're trying to perform with it and outplay drums, etc.
posted by supercres at 12:31 PM on June 28, 2011
I've never heard that conventional wisdom. In fact, I had a highly-skilled bassist friend who had separate outputs for the two pickups on one of his basses, and he always played one of them through a smallish guitar amp. Come to think of it, he would often play through that amp around the house because it was smaller than his bass amp.
I highly doubt it'll hurt the amp unless you're trying to perform with it and outplay drums, etc.
posted by supercres at 12:31 PM on June 28, 2011
You're wrong to plug your bass into that crappy Crate amp, so play on it as much as possible. Screw conventional wisdom.
posted by swift at 12:45 PM on June 28, 2011
posted by swift at 12:45 PM on June 28, 2011
yeah, it's the speaker that is in danger, not the amp. think about how you can actually see a big 'ol woofer move, but you are unlikely to see a little tweeter vibrating. bass frequencies are much longer and demand a more dramatic movement from the cone. play at low volumes and you'll be fine. play loud and it's a waiting game...
posted by quarterframer at 1:31 PM on June 28, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by quarterframer at 1:31 PM on June 28, 2011 [2 favorites]
Go easy on really slapping the strings with your thumb. It's not just how loud you play but how severe the transients are. In other words, if you really make the woofer move a fair distance by whacking the strings it's more likely to go kaput. If it's not too loud but relatively smooth it should be fine.
posted by fantasticninety at 1:36 PM on June 28, 2011
posted by fantasticninety at 1:36 PM on June 28, 2011
Best answer: It's unlikely you'll hurt the guitar amp any more than it could be hurt by a guitar. There are differences between guitar and bass amps. But durability isn't really the difference. Either can be damaged by being used beyond the scope of their ability. But for the most part, either amp is likely to be more hardy than you think.
posted by 2N2222 at 2:16 PM on June 28, 2011
posted by 2N2222 at 2:16 PM on June 28, 2011
Best answer: Use the one that sounds better to practice. As long as you don't overload the input and overdrive the output, you won't hurt it. Don't turn it up to eleven.
If you need to perform, a guitar amp won't have the low-end frequency response (and power delivery at those frequencies) to fill a space like you'd want.
posted by graftole at 2:50 PM on June 28, 2011
If you need to perform, a guitar amp won't have the low-end frequency response (and power delivery at those frequencies) to fill a space like you'd want.
posted by graftole at 2:50 PM on June 28, 2011
Use the one that sounds better to practice. As long as you don't overload the input and overdrive the output, you won't hurt it. Don't turn it up to eleven.
If you need to perform, a guitar amp won't have the low-end frequency response (and power delivery at those frequencies) to fill a space like you'd want.
Exactly. It won't do what it can't do. If a guitar amp can ruin its own speaker, it was a piece of shit to begin with. It shouldn't be able to put out what the speaker can't handle.
Just watch out for clipping, because that means you are going to melt your speaker.
posted by gjc at 3:57 PM on June 28, 2011
If you need to perform, a guitar amp won't have the low-end frequency response (and power delivery at those frequencies) to fill a space like you'd want.
Exactly. It won't do what it can't do. If a guitar amp can ruin its own speaker, it was a piece of shit to begin with. It shouldn't be able to put out what the speaker can't handle.
Just watch out for clipping, because that means you are going to melt your speaker.
posted by gjc at 3:57 PM on June 28, 2011
It takes a lot more energy to pump out bass than it does to pump out guitar, because of the lower frequencies. You risk blowing both the speaker and who knows what on a guitar amp if you play a bass through it loud.
For example, when we plug in our band to a generator, it is the bass that will cause the circuit breakers to trip.
posted by unSane at 6:38 PM on June 28, 2011
For example, when we plug in our band to a generator, it is the bass that will cause the circuit breakers to trip.
posted by unSane at 6:38 PM on June 28, 2011
Best answer: Stanley Clarke has been using guitar amps and cabs forever. A lot of other bassists do too.
Your best option if you'd like to be "safe" is run a high pass filter at 100hz.
Some of the other information in here isn't technically correct. Like the actual amp has plenty of power to drive the bass. A long time ago all basses were pretty much played through guitar gear but just with LOWER wattage heads.
The biggest "problem" you'll have using guitar speakers is they aren't meant to physically move as much as bass speakers. This isn't a concern for what you're talking about doing though.
Anyway, the option is totally valid and you really won't have any problems as long as you aren't going for a dub sound.
posted by zephyr_words at 5:49 AM on June 29, 2011
Your best option if you'd like to be "safe" is run a high pass filter at 100hz.
Some of the other information in here isn't technically correct. Like the actual amp has plenty of power to drive the bass. A long time ago all basses were pretty much played through guitar gear but just with LOWER wattage heads.
The biggest "problem" you'll have using guitar speakers is they aren't meant to physically move as much as bass speakers. This isn't a concern for what you're talking about doing though.
Anyway, the option is totally valid and you really won't have any problems as long as you aren't going for a dub sound.
posted by zephyr_words at 5:49 AM on June 29, 2011
Yep, it's the speaker that's the issue; specifically the range for compression and rarefaction. Trying to make the speaker replicate frequencies for which it wasn't designed could be harder on it. But speakers do wear out over time. I've heard stories from guys who do live sound about speakers failing during really loud shows; a speaker's a mechanical object, subject to wear and tear...
You'll probably get a bit of use out of it before it goes, though, and replacing a speaker in a free amp is still potentially cheaper than a bass amp. or you could potentially use the speaker from the bass amp that you don't like.
posted by dubold at 6:12 AM on June 29, 2011
You'll probably get a bit of use out of it before it goes, though, and replacing a speaker in a free amp is still potentially cheaper than a bass amp. or you could potentially use the speaker from the bass amp that you don't like.
posted by dubold at 6:12 AM on June 29, 2011
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It is the speaker that will take the heat and get fucked up, and a bass guitar speaker is made to pump out the low end much more than a guitar's speaker. Just take it easy on the EPIC SLAP BASS solos and you should be fine.
posted by Threeway Handshake at 12:31 PM on June 28, 2011