Bass through a guitar rig?

[iamhammill]

I know the greats would often record with a guitar amp, but what about live?

I think I'll be playing bass tomorrow as a fill in, and I'd love to run it through my Orange.


My cab is a 4x12 with Greenbacks. Will I blow the speakers?

Thanks,
Jake

[Antero]

The speaker cab isn't going to reproduce the low notes very well. The frequency response of Greenbacks drops off pretty quickly below guitar range. I don't think you should damage them unless you're running at 10, but the low octave won't have much of a strong fundamental. I'm also not sure of the breakup structure of the Orange you're using, so stuff might get a bit distorted depending on the volume.

This isn't necessarily a problem of course - back in the old days, there wasn't all that much difference between guitar and bass amps, so you could probably cop some good motown sounds in the studio that way. :)

What volume are you going to throw down at?

[John Phillips]

I know the greats would often record with a guitar amp, but what about live?

I think I'll be playing bass tomorrow as a fill in, and I'd love to run it through my Orange.


My cab is a 4x12 with Greenbacks. Will I blow the speakers?

Thanks,
Jake
With an OR120, very likely. The amp is above the power rating of the speakers even for guitar. (Even if by 'Greenbacks' you mean old green backed G12H-30s, it's pushing it.)

I would definitely not try that.

OR120s sound great for bass, but you need the speakers to handle them. If you need to do this and only have one cab, pull one pair of tubes (outer or inner pair) and set the amp to half the impedance of the cab. This basically turns it into an OR80, and it will probably be safe. I would still take care to avoid too much distortion though.

[iamhammill]

Guess I should have been more specific. It's actually an Orange Rocker 30. I wish I had an OR120.

The Rocker does great for studio bass tones. I'd prob be running it around noon on the volume. Just enough to stay with the drummer.

The bass tone I'm after is HUMBLE PIE!

[lookslikemeband]

I actually like bass through a guitar amp.

I actually played a bass through my OR80 once and it sounded very cool!

[John Phillips]

Guess I should have been more specific. It's actually an Orange Rocker 30. I wish I had an OR120.

The Rocker does great for studio bass tones. I'd prob be running it around noon on the volume. Just enough to stay with the drummer.
That will be perfectly safe then :).

It's quite a loud 30W - I think you'll be able to hear it, although you may be struggling to keep it clean. Bass needs a LOT of power compared to guitar.

The guitar player in the band I play bass in has one, and a Marshall handwired 2x12" (with G12H-30s, probably as loud as a 4x12" with 25s). I need a 200W Trace Elliot and a giant cab just to keep up with him.

I was thinking about getting an OR120, but I'm concerned it wouldn't be loud enough, for bass - not to retain a clean sound when I want it, anyway (I do like overdriven bass, but not all the time ;)). They do a 200 as well...