Bass into guitar amp?

[warmstrat]

I know there have been posts on this in the past, but I can't find them manually, and my search function seems to be... err... GeFooey, as I think you folks call it - sorry for wasting your time if this is the case. Hopefully we could start something interesting here...

In short, I have a Vox AD30VT modelling amp which is beautiful and fantastic and blah blah blah and above all, designed for guitars, and I'm wondering if anything will or could go wrong if I plugged a (hypothetical) bass guitar into it.

I'm contemplating buying an old bass to fiddle with/restore/paint/rewire/etc and i don't particularly feel like being obliged to buy a new amp for something that I don't (yet) take particularly seriously.

Any knowledge/experience/warnings?

Thanks again in advance ;D

[newey]

Warm One-

The thread you were recalling is here:

guitarnuts2.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=Amps&action=display&thread=2665

The consensus from that thread was that it's OK to do it at very low levels but don't push it, or you'll damage the speaker. Bass amp (as well as keyboard amps) use a full-range speaker, and usually also have a closed back cab or a tuned port design to avoid unloading the speaker, as ChrisK pointed out in the prior thread.

The amp itself won't care; it's the speaker that's the issue.

I faced the same dilemma when I built my bass project. I had just replaced the speaker in my Fender amp with an upgraded Jensen, and didn't want to risk damaging a new speaker. And hey, while low levels are fine, every now and then you'll want to blast that bass out, if only for fun. It's pretty easy to get carried away and push your guitar speaker over the edge . . .

So I hit Ebay and bought a used Traynor bass practice amp for $40. Works great for the bass, and also can be used (with a pedal or two for some color) with a guitar, if I need another guitar amp for when folks stop over for a bit of jamming. And, I could have spent a lot less, the Traynor's a pretty nice little rig. I was looking at small 10-watt Crates and Kustoms in the $20-$25 range before going for the Traynor, which has a 10" speaker and some more power than the others.

I realize that you live in the R.S.A., so Ebay might not be such a good solution- no point to paying $50 to ship a $25 amp. And I don't know what mains power standard is used there, so that may limit your options somewhat. So, Plan B would be to hit the local pawnshops and flea markets.

[cynical1]

Newey pretty much pegged everything. The operative word here is paper mache.

If one of your existing amps has a headphone jack that'll at least get you started. If it has a jack for an external cabinet then all you'd need is a bass cabinet, or swap the speakers out in an old cabinet. This may not be sonically perfect, but it gets you plinking around.

These are workarounds, and a bass will sound better through a bass amp. My preference is a head and cabinet, but whatever works for you is cool. Just remember, a big one piece bass or keyboard amp will weight as much as your refrigerator...

Keep in mind, 50 watts for a guitar does not translate to the same volume in a bass. Not sure I said that right, but my point is that a bass eats power, especially with some volume behind it. And if you're planning on playing this with a drummer then 50 watts will vanish into the vapors quickly. In other words, consider anything under 100 watts in a bass amp as a practice amp.

If eBay works for you there are a number of deals out there, if you're patient. I picked up a 100 watt head and 2 x 10 w/horn cabinet in two deals for 140 USD, which translates to about 1,000.00 ZAR.

Good luck...and keep those basses away from your guitar amp...they're nothing but trouble...

Happy Trails

Cynical One

[ashcatlt]

This question comes up fairly regularly over on the TapeOp board. Most of the folks over there say that you don't need to be overly paranoid re: the volume. Under normal playing conditions, the speaker will warn you (by sounding horrible) well before it takes any permanent damage.

The things that kill speakers without warning are direct application of DC voltage - which requires a series malfunction of the amp - or a hard-clipped output from an unforgiving solid state power amp. The "tops and bottoms" of these waves look exactly like DC for a brief moment, and destroy speakers for the same reason. I'd imagine that Vox was smart enough to design your amp to avoid that sort of thing.

[warmstrat]

Thanks! That pretty much confirms what I'd suspected/theorised.

The fact that my search feature pretty much doesn't feature is still a tad distressing though

[newey]

The search function hereabouts does leave much to be desired. You would have had to hit the search terms pretty close to pick up that thread given its title.

[dunkelfalke]

I play bass on my guitar amp (same thing as Epiphone Valve Jr). No problem there. Many vintage amps were designed for both guitar and bass (Vox AC30 and Hiwatt DR103 come to mind).