Anyone use guitar amps for bass?

[_jmp]

i'm playing through a '79 Marshall 2203 into an ampeg 810 right now...mainly because my svt needs a new preamp tube that i haven't replaced...

what i love about it is the beautiful top end, it's magnificent to my ear...

i couldn't gig with it unless it was a very quiet setting, because there isn't enough clean headroom, but for very low volume stuff, really nice

[dspellman]

Originally Posted by geddyentwistle

here is a fun idea

use a guitar amp, use 2 cabinets a guitar cab and a bass

this works really well for both bass and guitar... adds bottom to guitar and mids for bass... i'v been thinking about a cab with a 10 inch bass speaker and an inefficient higher wattage greenback clone, each with its own input

Don't even need to do that. There are any number of full-range bass cabinets out there these days that will handle whatever you can toss at them with either instrument. Same cabinets can be used with keyboards or electronic drums. The key for bass (and for the drums and keyboards) is a low frequency driver with a lot of cone excursion ("wattage" is less of a concern to bass players, obviously). Often these same cabinets will have a mids driver that will handle guitar easily...

[SkippyD]

I have had good luck with using an old Ampeg V4 as a bass amp for years.

[wolfmancharlie]

Would you use a bass amp to play lead guitar for a gig ? Bass guitar amps were designed for bass guitars. A bass thru a guitar rig ,unless it's an old 100 watt Marshal full stack, sounds bad anemic. and if it is a combo you will be buying new speakers soon.

[bluemood]

I use a Polytone mini brute IV works great

[DisasterArea]

My live rig - on the left is a Seymour Duncan KTG-1 tube pre feeding a Peavey Classic Series 120 tube power amp, into a closed-back 4x12 cab. On the right is an SVT-II non-pro feeding an SVT1540HE cabinet with 4x10 and 1x15.

I play in a 4-piece metal band, just one guitar so I sometimes need some extra mids to fill things out. The "guitar" amp usually runs pretty dirty with lots of mids but not much else, while the "bass" amp runs more or less clean so that I can still play a low B.

The Peavey was recently replaced with a handmade Marshall clone with 4x6550's. It's still voiced for guitar but the 6550's have a more grindy breakup that suits me fine.

For recording, it's hard to beat my B-15N but I do use a Valve Jr. modded with a 6550 into my SVT cab quite a bit.

[simplecomplexity]

I'd never use my bass on my guitar amp or speaker or open back or anything!

[Rotten]

Doesn't Chris Squire use both?

[jcarpenter]

I got 1x12 lopo line cab loaded with an EVM 12L Classic. I play bass through it all the time. Just put my 100 watt ceriatone chupa through it and set it clean and it sounds great.

[s2y]

I did when I was broke and a student. Was never really happy with the sound.

[BONGKARMA]

marshall jcm 800 w/ 2 4x12 cabs

[khngphm]

Let me just clarify: it is indeed possible but not recommended because of guitar speakers, correct? If that's the case, then I could theoretically, get a bassman head and play it through a bass cab? Or better yet, get something like a hot rod deluxe and replace the speakers?

Someone correct me if I'm wrong

[DukeLeJeune]

Originally Posted by khngphm

Let me just clarify: it is indeed possible but not recommended because of guitar speakers, correct? If that's the case, then I could theoretically, get a bassman head and play it through a bass cab?

Yup, that would work. Recognize that bass cabs are usually less efficient than guitar cabs, so you might not have the SPL you were hoping for. There's an inevitable tradeoff relationship between good efficiency, good bottom-end extension, and small box size. Briefly, you can pick any two of the three, but you can't have all three.

Originally Posted by khngphm

Or better yet, get something like a hot rod deluxe and replace the speakers?

No, because the enclosure itself is a critical part of a bass cab. The enclosure + speaker determines your bottom-end performance, and the one can't really make up for a shortcoming in the other. You need the right kind of speakers, and then the box should be specifically designed to work well with those speakers.

[sharpshooter]

Originally Posted by SkippyD

I have had good luck with using an old Ampeg V4 as a bass amp for years.

Several players over at Talk Bass, have/are using V4s,,and love them.
The hot set-up, is taking the '70s V4, 4-12 cabs, (30 x 27 x 14 1/2), and
fitting them with Eminence Neos, in 2012, 2512, or 3012 persuasion.

[wolfmancharlie]

The OP is asking if he could use his Twin Reverb combo amp for bass guitar at a couple of gigs.answer is yes.the speakers should hold out for a couple of gigs before the burping starts then the total destruction of his guitar speakers. And yes over at talkbass there are a lot of bassists doing a lot of things with cabinets and guitars.The question is ,is it financially smart to buy an Ampeg 4-10 speaker cab that was built for guitar, then gut the speakers ,buy four new expensive speakers and install them in a made for guitar cab? Probably a great cab for a six string bass but now not very good for guitar and probably not all that hot for a 4 string bass. Bass needs the right cabs and speakers and most of us like a bass head .I have done the guitar amp with bass in the seventies but it didnt last long.Why not just borrow or rent a bass amp?