Using Guitar Effects for bass applications won't damage the effects pedals in any way, as all they serve to do is to process the signal from the bass.
The only difference is that guitar effects and bass effects are voiced to enhance/modify different perimeters in the EQ.
As you know, bass and guitar EQs are different in that both instruments dwell in different regions of frequencies, therefore the effects are made to tailor to that difference.
Guitar effects will focus on upper end frequencies, while bass effects focus on lower end frequencies.
This is the same reason why bass wahs work better than guitar wahs for wide sweeps when used for bass applications. Guitar wahs usually are not voiced to handle the lower end of the bass frequencies.
I hope this helps.
Then again, being the idiot that I usually am, I may be wrong! Feel free to correct me if you deem fit, I would love to learn more stuff too!
