Heartland

Lately I bought a somewhat worn off elderly guitar amp. Its big and (relatively) powerfull, and I thought it would be nice to play bass through it (still have to get one, though). Now I wonder what makes the difference between a guitar and a bass amp? Is it only the frequency spectrum of the speaker? I don´t believe the actual amplifier parts are sensitive to the audio frequencies.. Or am I wrong here?

Indeed, there is little difference. After all, the legendary Fender Bassman amp is sought after by guitar players these days.

There is a school of thought that a 15" or 17" speaker is better for bass than the 10" or 12" one usually found in guitar amps..

It's whatever floats your boat really...

So I guess I know what I buy next..
What good wouldan electric Bass be without an amp..?
Thank you!

I have a little 8-watt amp under my desk. I use it for guitar and bass. It may be small, but it packs a fuckload of distortion.

From another forum:

"It's all to do with how much bass frequencies stress the speaker cone. That and bass frequencies need more power to amplify them to an audible level, which causes the speaker cone to travel more, and stress it.

At low levels you should be fine but it's easy to creep up the volume knob and before you know it you start hearing the tell-tale crackle, which is unfortunately permanent damage."

So, as long as you keep the level at living room level, you should be ok, but when you crank it up to play, say, a rehearsal with a band or for an actual gig, you will damage the amp.

IZ.

Well, but it is a speaker problem, as you confirm. So if I build in a bass speaker it will solve the problem, as it seems.
Well, then I´ll do so and see what happens.

I sometimes use my brothers guitar amp for my microphone or keyboard. Will this damage the amp?

robertzombie wrote:I sometimes use my brothers guitar amp for my microphone or keyboard. Will this damage the amp?

As long as you keep an eye on the frequencies.

Singing though a guitar amp won't do much damage, playing heavy organ sound through a guitar amp could....

It's a bit trial-and-error sometimes; I used to play the keys on a Valvestate amp back in the Avatar-days, then again, a couple of years later the amp was dead. Hard to tell if it was due to my or the previous owner's abuse, or just the piles of dust piling up and short-circuiting the damn thing.

Or maybe Valestates are built to be crap...

IZ.

Izzy HaveMercy wrote:At low levels you should be fine but it's easy to creep up the volume knob and before you know it you start hearing the tell-tale crackle, which is unfortunately permanent damage.

That sounds pleasantly desirable.

Dark wrote:

Izzy HaveMercy wrote:At low levels you should be fine but it's easy to creep up the volume knob and before you know it you start hearing the tell-tale crackle, which is unfortunately permanent damage.

That sounds pleasantly desirable.

I could give some very nice homework for you then, involving a microphone, a cheap mixing desk, some speakers and an ass who doesn't know what a 48v Phantom Power switch is...

"It says Power, no? So it turns on the mixer, no?"

"Not exac..."

BANG!

"Oops?"

IZ.

Well, my bass only has three strings.. a bit more wrecked gear won't hurt.

Except that you'd have to shell out around £100 for the microphone and cheap mixing desk with +48V. Not very sensible.

Dark wrote:Well, my bass only has three strings.. a bit more wrecked gear won't hurt.

And your mom misses the lid of a toilet and a broomstick, right?

Oi.

Nah, it was given to a church charity sale I was volunteering at (to raise my karma ), and the universe repaid me by giving me first dibs on the bass, for the grand total of £4.

I'm passing my bass on to Keith

Zuma wrote:I'm passing my bass on to Keith

Keef, wanna do a cover of "Where Spirits Fly"?

a £4 bass? Nice work Dark

Motz wrote:Except that you'd have to shell out around £100 for the microphone and cheap mixing desk with +48V. Not very sensible.

Not where I live.

Second hand Shure SM58: 10 quid.
Second hand Behringer Eurorack UB 1204: 30 quid.
XLR-cable: steal from nearest Recording Studio's trashbin.
Loudspeakers: steal from younger brother's PC.

Adding 'em all up, switch on the +48v Phantom and watch it all go up in smoke and sparkly light effects: PRICELESS.

IZ.

Cheers Mark.

Sounds like you live in the world of cheap audio hardware. I know where Mike will be taking his next holiday.

Taylor Rays wrote:Obviously because of this stress it but this and bass frequencies need more power to amplify them to an audible level, which causes the speaker cone to travel more. as long as you keep the level at living room level, you should be ok, but when you crank it up to play, say, a rehearsal with a band or for an actual gig.

Nice partial quote from a post I made 6 years ago. What's the deal?

IZ.

Izzy HaveMercy wrote:

Taylor Rays wrote:Obviously because of this stress it but this and bass frequencies need more power to amplify them to an audible level, which causes the speaker cone to travel more. as long as you keep the level at living room level, you should be ok, but when you crank it up to play, say, a rehearsal with a band or for an actual gig.

Nice partial quote from a post I made 6 years ago. What's the deal?

IZ.

I think this might explain, Iz

Zombie bot