The-Warlord
New member
Hey guy i'm borrowing a bass of a friend for a few days to finish my composition. The thing is I will be using a bass on a guitar amp - is this dangerous to the bass/amp? Its a Randall RG100Sc if thats any help.
Using a bass on a guitar amp
- Thread starter The-Warlord
- Start date
JMguitars
New member
I'm sure someone more experienced can advise you accurately but to my understanding, you would only be potentially hurting the amp, if you play at near-max volume, whereupon the speaker could be damaged whilst attempting to reproduce the low-end of the bass.
Aside from that, I don't think the bass's instrument signal would not be significantly different from that of a guitar, such that it would fry any internal components.
Aside from that, I don't think the bass's instrument signal would not be significantly different from that of a guitar, such that it would fry any internal components.
Hi,
Theortically, you can use any amp for anything, after you got the input signal level to be compatible. (ie. mic level, line level, instrument level..etc)
Except you MUST know the LIMIT of the amp, mainly by feel firstly. Bass & guitar level are similar, thus you can interchange, BUT the guitar amp is built to output more of a certain range of frequency, it's what we call voicing.
The guitar amp is voiced more to the mid range, so you might need to reduce the mids and boost the lows on the EQ adjustments. Remember to cut out the REVERB, bass sound bad with reverb, it prefers chorus.
If you are recording by mic, I don't think you will crank the amp over the limit. So should be relatively safe. This is because bass signal needs more power to generate the sound, thus you amp (especially the speakers) will be heavily or overloaded if you crank it to keep up with the other guitars on a live set.
Also, bass amps are closed back with tuned port cabinet, so as to achieve the desired low end bass sound with less power needed (better efficiency). Guitar amp mostly are open backed, so the bass response or efficiency is much lower.
Just a small history lesson, when fender produced their Bassman Amp more than 50 yrs ago, guitarist find it so useful that it was used more as a guitar amp than a bass amp. Of course the bassman was built well and is suited for both tasks.
Mike
(Amp repairer)
Mikemann Music Studio
www.geocities.com/mikemann88
Theortically, you can use any amp for anything, after you got the input signal level to be compatible. (ie. mic level, line level, instrument level..etc)
Except you MUST know the LIMIT of the amp, mainly by feel firstly. Bass & guitar level are similar, thus you can interchange, BUT the guitar amp is built to output more of a certain range of frequency, it's what we call voicing.
The guitar amp is voiced more to the mid range, so you might need to reduce the mids and boost the lows on the EQ adjustments. Remember to cut out the REVERB, bass sound bad with reverb, it prefers chorus.
If you are recording by mic, I don't think you will crank the amp over the limit. So should be relatively safe. This is because bass signal needs more power to generate the sound, thus you amp (especially the speakers) will be heavily or overloaded if you crank it to keep up with the other guitars on a live set.
Also, bass amps are closed back with tuned port cabinet, so as to achieve the desired low end bass sound with less power needed (better efficiency). Guitar amp mostly are open backed, so the bass response or efficiency is much lower.
Just a small history lesson, when fender produced their Bassman Amp more than 50 yrs ago, guitarist find it so useful that it was used more as a guitar amp than a bass amp. Of course the bassman was built well and is suited for both tasks.
Mike
(Amp repairer)
Mikemann Music Studio
www.geocities.com/mikemann88
The-Warlord
New member
Nice..thanks guys.
seekz
New member
aiyah, bass = 4 times the money and 4 times the power
so a normal guitar needs a 10 watt pract amp to sound sufficient.
It means a decent bass amp should be about 30 and beyond
sure you can use the guitar amp as a bass amp.
just try not to play your bass like a guitar....
You can't UP everything to 11....
stick to 6 or 7 at most, just to be safe so you wont blow your speaker cone.
Its more or less the same tone... just the speaker voicing, wont really need much eq... infact boosting the lows too much might risk blowing your cones if not done correctly.
so a normal guitar needs a 10 watt pract amp to sound sufficient.
It means a decent bass amp should be about 30 and beyond
sure you can use the guitar amp as a bass amp.
just try not to play your bass like a guitar....
You can't UP everything to 11....
stick to 6 or 7 at most, just to be safe so you wont blow your speaker cone.
Its more or less the same tone... just the speaker voicing, wont really need much eq... infact boosting the lows too much might risk blowing your cones if not done correctly.
memory fails me )
pooo said:
erm kk i make clearer my point ...
i mean like someone on this forums ever told me or something like if u use an electric guitar (modern ones) on a bass amp ...might tear the cone of the amp . could be bass on electric amp ... not too sure which way is it ...
apparently cos sound of bass lower than guitar amp can reproduce accurately so if u use it will damage the speaker cone ? the fender bassamp amp probably such a well made model ... its tone range probably very very wide ... so can handle electric guitar playing on it i guess...
anyway for amp qn please ask mikemann ... he da man about amps here
