Stupid question

[dillonfiore]

Can getting feedback on my bass mess up my amp?

[John Phillips]

No more than playing very loud on it will.

If the amp (or speakers) aren't robust enough, yes it could be a risk. If they are, no problem.

[dillonfiore]

Thanks!

[Johnny Z]

There is a point where you can do some damage. Feedback is the effect of a audio loop, and causes vibration to the speaker, tubes, pickup and just about everything in the signal path. Sometimes things can vibrate to the point where something breaks, like a coil wire in a pickup, speaker or a tube becomes mycrophonic. I seen pickups become so sensitive to gain they feedback at low to medium volume, I have one on my SG I should replace. I don't think doing a little feedback is going to hurt your equipment very much, just don't over do it. It's kind of a fun thing to play with, guitarist have been playing with it for years even before there were highgain amps, The Beatles made the first #1 single using feedback off Paul's bass for the intro to "I Feel Fine".