Any bass players using guitar amps?

[soupbone]

Just wondering if any bass players here use guitar amps for their overdrive instead of a pedal - or use a guitar rig in conjunction with their bass rig.

[reentune]

I have a Yamaha DG Stomp that I run through a Tech 21 Power Wedge. I also have an EBS Octabass before the DG.
You can really tweak that DG to sound great with a bass.

And it's set up like a subwoofer for use with guitar (original intention).
I set up two guitar amps in stereo and pair them with the bass setup on an ab/y so I can have all three amps. Turn on the Octabass and you've got a hellaciously fat guitar sound.

Sorry for veering off on that tangent, but I'm still kinda in the ballpark.

[TedintheShed]

Just wondering if any bass players here use guitar amps for their overdrive instead of a pedal - or use a guitar rig in conjunction with their bass rig.

Yes...

Amy Humphry from Clatter uses a Mesa Booge Dual Rectifier Half Stack to get her distorted tone. It we didn't have a ryhtm guitarist I would do the same.

Google will help you find out about it.

[soupbone]

Thanks for the info - I'll check out Amy Humphry and see what that's all about.

reenture - another option worth checking into -Thanks

[jzucker]

i've done it before but guitar cabs sound awful to me for bass. I love the sound of a fender head through a bass cab at lower volume...

[The Golden Boy]

i've done it before but guitar cabs sound awful to me for bass. I love the sound of a fender head through a bass cab at lower volume...

I could see it (I guess) if you weren't trying to get a full, big sound out of it...

[tedzepplin]

Peter Hook of New Order does when recording. He uses a bass amp and a guitar amp. He had an interview in a bass magazine a while back.

[Bongo Jonny]

I am a guitarist, and have a '59 bassman ltd. My bassist tried it out with his bass guitar (Cort) and it didn't sound too good. I would have thought it would sound great.
Anyone else try the bassman with a bass?

[KazJY]

I am a guitarist, and have a '59 bassman ltd. My bassist tried it out with his bass guitar (Cort) and it didn't sound too good. I would have thought it would sound great.
Anyone else try the bassman with a bass?

anyone? I actually signed online this morning to ask this!! Jonny - you da man!

[The Golden Boy]

I am a guitarist, and have a '59 bassman ltd. My bassist tried it out with his bass guitar (Cort) and it didn't sound too good. I would have thought it would sound great.
Anyone else try the bassman with a bass?

I used to own two blackface Bassman heads. They didn't do it for me playing guitar, and they were even less "gooder" for bass. There was no clean headroom, no clean tones at stage volume and it never got as "crisp" as I'd like my bass sound to be.

The Bassman does what it does- I've heard lots of people that sound great with them with guitar, but it seems to have a niche as far as it's bass tone is concerned.

[dodelson]

I've been wondering about this lately as well. Is it possible that it would blow the speaker or some part of the amp in my Deluxe Reverb at bedroom level volumes if I were playing a bass through it? I really don't want to buy a bass amp...

[mikelaw]

not at bedroom levels dodelson. youll be fine.

[TeleVision]

I run a custom built 50-Watt guitar head (sort of Marshall/Fender clone in what looks like a Bassman-style frame) through a marshall 4/12 slant cab, plus an SWR SM-400S through an Eden 4x10, with a P-bass. The SWR/Eden is really for bottom; mids are EQ'd out. The guitar amp I run through the clean channel and get a fantastic natural distortion that still preserves the essential tone of the instrument. Volumes are adjusted down, becuase I am not looking for volume so much as tone. It really works for me. Much better than any fuzz pedal (I really don't want fuzz anyway). For what I play--mostly 60s & 70s rock--it is absolutely perfect.

[Rumblefish]

I like to play my Stingray 5 string through my '68 Plexi and a TV cab with 4
Scumback 55's.That's Jim's G12 H30 copy.I play through the dark channel and like it a lot.

[ghoti]

Vox VR-15. I live in a studio with thin walls; works fine. I can shake the room with other gear, elsewhere.

[n.j.]

I play a '62 Blonde Bassman head into an 8 ohm Bergantino 2x10" for recording sometimes, it sounds great. Not for stage volumes, but otherwise solid.

[PrestonBrick]

my bass player came over and plugged into my vox ad-50 and i switched the amp to AC-15. The 15 works amaizing.

[FFTT]

I'm getting some great tones running my basses through my Bad Cat 100R
into my SVT 8X10 cabinet.

I've also used my Blues Deluxe for a jam/rehearsal amp for over 13 years
and it does fine, although I'd like to replace the stock Fart-tone speaker
with a heavy duty EVM-12L

[Davbass]

Well, yes and no. For bass I have used bass amps that guitar players sometimes use for guitar.

I have an Ampeg B-25, Traynor Bassmaster and a Sound City 120B and all these have been used as guitar amps by some guitar players. They drive really well and when cranked can get some mean distortion. Of course the Sound City will blow out your eardrums before you get to that distortion but that's a completely different story.

The Bassmaster, much like the Fender Bassman it was designed after, has a channel for guitar and a channel for bass. Bass into the high gain input of the guitar channel on the Bassmaster produces some interesting distortion when cranked.

[BassHog]

I play a Sound City L200+ which is a guitar amp. I converted the pre-amp to a Hiwatt DR201 though...but thats still a guitar amp. This think sounds amazing...best sounding bass amp I have ever played through.

[Verence]

There are a couple of bassists in really popular bands that use a Peavey XXX.

Can't remember which exactly...

[LaXu]

Doesn't Lemmy use Marshall guitar amps as well as cabs? He apparently runs them totally cranked but then again his sound is more of a "rhythm bass guitar" sound than traditional bass sounds. I wonder how he makes those speakers last though...

[mcknigs]

i've done it before but guitar cabs sound awful to me for bass. I love the sound of a fender head through a bass cab at lower volume...

I did a few shows using a Dual Showman Reverb (Twin Reverb) head into a close, ported 2x12 Ampeg cab w/ extra heavy duty Weber Californias. That worked pretty well.

-Scott

[voxworld]

I just picked up a Lab Series L11 head, which is a 200 watt guitar amp head, anybody used these, or any Lab Series amps for bass?

[backaxe]

I've used my Lab L-9 for almost everything at one time or another..I have a friend who collects them, and the L-5 KICKS....Our current bass player plays a Washburn 5-string through a Crate guitar head into a Fender 8x10...says he likes the mids...it sounds great, and I'm NOT a Crate fan....

[Chicago Slim]

I'm useing a Peavey Supreme XL, with an Eminence Basslite 12" cabinet, and a Yamaha 2X8" cabinet. It's sounds as good as anything in it's weight class. I just miss having an XLR out.

[dave s]

Showed up at a birthday party 'jam' back this summer. The bass rig was a blonde Bassman 60 head and matching 212 cab. Pretty much looked like any other bassman rig.

I played an MIM P-bass through it and the tone was beautiful. No wonder so many bass players still use the Ampeg SVT tube heads! Works both ways--guitar AND bass!

dave

[hawkeyeinexile]

'64 Showman :AOK

:cool:

[triple_vee]

i've played my 5 string through a 5150 II head + cab and it sounds pretty good...even the low B. this is at bed room level, but it sounds like i could crank it as well.

[LowWatt]

When I was playing more bass, I'd use my Hiwatt 100w 112 and it sounded phenomenal. I kept meaning to get a "real" bass amp, but none of the ones I tried sounded as good to me.

[Chris Rice]

I used to use a Roland JC-120H head through a pair ADA 2x12" cabs with 50 watt Celestions.
Done a fair number of shows through a Roland keyboard amp.
I ran my Vibrosonic Reverb along with a Bag End extension cab with a blues band.

I play mostly bass amps these days.

[kbphx]

I've done a couple of gigs with a Stingray 5 thru my Matchless Phoenix head and 2x12 cab. It had a surprisingly full tone...very punchy. Reminded me of the 'Eminence Front' sound.

[tedzepplin]

'64 Showman :AOK

:cool:

Dick Dale's bassist uses a Showman amp.

[hawkeyeinexile]

Dick Dale's bassist uses a Showman amp.

amp of choice for many bass players in this area back then...

:D

:cool:

[John Phillips]

The Mesa Trem-o-verb combo sounds great for bass, clean and distorted - including putting the reverb and tremolo on for some really swampy stuff. I often use it in the house for fun or when I can't be bothered setting up my proper bass rig, and I'd definitely use it for recording. I don't think it would hold up at the sort of volume I play live at though - or at least not on its own, maybe run in parallel with a bass amp... there's just not enough bottom end on the combo (open-back 2x12") when it's driven even slightly hard, and I don't think the speakers would like it if I tried.

[Rob Martinez]

I play my Waterstone 12 string basses through guitar and bass amps, with a split signal.

At home I put the 12ver through a 15 watt Epiphone Valve Standard amp, no effects, and push the gain just until it starts to break up. I also put the signal into an Ampeg B200R for lows, and it is a HUGE sound.

At my band's practice I put the signal to a Kustom Coupe '36 (30 watts) and to a Kustom Groove Bass 210c (600 watts) and that is just MASSIVE sounding!

The guitar amps are fine, no damage. The signal does not sound all that great by itself coming out of the guitar amp, you need to blend the two sounds to get the right effect.

[DucRyder]

Komet Blinky's revenge thru a 4x12 sealed back loaded with G12H30s. sounds nice with a short scale bass. Kinda like the bassist from Free...

[tbelling]

Only amps I had lying around. 64 Bassman, 67 Dual Showman, and 68 Bandmaster. Love the sound. With my EBO a clean sound has no top end anyway so why not distort and turn all the amps treble to 11! njsandthejeff.comhttp://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u24/njsandthejeff/2007_0826blastoff070034.jpg

[alanbass1]

Chris Wolstenholme from Muse plays through a Line 6 Flextone II amp running in parallel with his SVT. Also has a Big Muff which he seems to favour a little more for distrortion over the Line 6 in recent months.

[Crikey]

There are a couple of bassists in really popular bands that use a Peavey XXX.

Can't remember which exactly...

The Nickelback guy is one, according to an interview I read.

Crikey

[LaXu]

So is the bass cab the key to getting good low end when using a guitar amp for bass? I tried my 50W Diezel 1x12 combo with my bass at low volume and it had no bottom end to speak of though it sounded very nice otherwise.

[daysleeper]

A Bruno Underground 30 through a bass cabinet (Bergantino HS210) is killer - though not loud enough for a larger venue.