dohhhhh6 Posted January 8, 2003 Share Posted January 8, 2003 My bass guitar teacher( had my firt lesson today) said it was ok to use my guitar on my bass amp but not a bass on a guitar amp. I just want a secodn opinion on this topic so will it work w/o screwing up the amp? In Skynyrd We Trust Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patrick_dont_fret Posted January 8, 2003 Share Posted January 8, 2003 He is right. A lot of players use bass heads of amplify their guitars. Bass amps have more power behind them because they have to push lower frequencies. Guitar amps aren't as powerful because it doesn't take a whole lot of power to amplify that high of a frequency. My friend, a guitarist/mandolinist, wants a bass amp for this purpose. He says that most guitar amps have a hard time amplifying mandolin frequencies, so he wants a bass amp. Consider this your second opinion. If you play a bass through a bass amp, it might not blow the speaker or pre-amp or anything, but it won't sound the greatest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremy c Posted January 8, 2003 Share Posted January 8, 2003 Your teacher is right. It might not sound the greatest, but you can't hurt anything by playing guitar through a bass amp. However, you can hurt a guitar amp by playing bass through it. I sold a lot of good guitars that I played through my bass amp and sounded terrible until I finally bought a guitar amp and a guitar actually sounded the way it was supposed to. Free download of my cd!. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rumpelstiltskin. Posted January 8, 2003 Share Posted January 8, 2003 david gilmour used a bass amp for his guitar rig, and i don't think anyone has had anything bad to say about his tones. the main reason you wouldn't want to use a guitar amp for you bass is because it's not voiced to push that much low frequency. the speakers will crap out on you very quickly. also, there's less power, so you may not be loud enough. finally, bass amps are typically more full-range than guitar amps, and can sound good with guitar and keyboard, too. robb. because i like people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patrick_dont_fret Posted January 8, 2003 Share Posted January 8, 2003 Yeah, Dave Gilmour used a bass amp. I do believe Doyle Bramhall II uses one, as well, but I may be wrong. It sounds just as good, as long as you've got the tone knobs set right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremy c Posted January 8, 2003 Share Posted January 8, 2003 Most guitar amps have reverb, which helps those little six stringie thingies sound halfway decent. Bass amps are often attached to 15" speakers. Guitarists generally use 10s or 12s. The original Fender Bassman amp is often used by blues guitarists these days. It was never powerful enough for bassists. But I really don't care what you use or what David Gilmour uses. I'd be more interested in hearing what Roger Waters uses...after all he does play bass. And IMHO, Pink Floyd was way better when Syd Barrett was playing lead guitar, the Stones were better when Brian Jones was playing lead guitar, Fleetwood Mac was better when Peter Green was playing lead guitar, etc. etc. etc. Showing my age here...I saw all those groups live. Free download of my cd!. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fonz Posted January 8, 2003 Share Posted January 8, 2003 i feel inclined to add that pretty much any time i'd heard a guitar through a bass amp it sounded HUGE and fat and generaly better than it did through a guitar amp. Eeeeeehhhhhhhhh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bear Jew Posted January 8, 2003 Share Posted January 8, 2003 And IMHO, Pink Floyd was way better when Syd Barrett was playing lead guitar, the Stones were better when Brian Jones was playing lead guitar, Fleetwood Mac was better when Peter Green was playing lead guitar, etc. etc. etc. Showing my age here...I saw all those groups live.Damn.. you're old. I wonder if anyone will give a shit in 30 years when I say, "Monster Magnet was better when John McBain was playing guitar for them" or "Guns N' Roses was better when they had Slash instead of Buckethead." Hmmm... nope. Doesn't have quite the same ring. \m/ Erik "To fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting." --Sun Tzu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boggs Posted January 8, 2003 Share Posted January 8, 2003 Actually, acoustic guitars with piezos sound pretty darned good when played through a bass amp... On the other hand, if you try to run a bass through a guitar amp, one big danger is bottoming the voice coil against the magnet structure and clipping the amp as well as overheating the voice coil of the speaker. This is especially true for 5 and 6 stringers... Boggs Check out my Rock Beach Guitars page showing guitars I have built and repaired... http://www.rockbeachguitars.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adamixoye Posted January 9, 2003 Share Posted January 9, 2003 Well, you've already gotten a second opinion, but your teacher is absolutely right. Playing guitar through a bass amp is kosher, because bass amps can handle a wider range of frequencies...in both directions, I might add. Check out the graphic EQ's sometime, you'll notice that bass amps have both lower and high ranges that they are meant to handle, lower frequencies for obvious reasons, higher frequencies for good tone, pop and snap when slapping, etc. Conversely, playing bass through a guitar amp could harm the speakers, as stated before. And it sounds terrible. I own just a bass amp and play guitar through it. I think it sounds average to very good, depending on the setting. I also use my GT-6B, a bass multi-effects processor, for all my guitar effects, and that seems to be fine. If you want to play both bass and guitar but can only have one amp, the choice is clear: bass amp is the way to go. I believe that is the greatest reply I\'ve ever read! I\'m not even joking. -- justinruins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
where02190 Posted January 10, 2003 Share Posted January 10, 2003 We often use out Ampeg B-15-N to track guitars. Phat!!! Hope this is helpful. Hope this is helpful. NP Recording Studios Analog approach to digital recording. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dohhhhh6 Posted January 10, 2003 Author Share Posted January 10, 2003 Damnit I didn't have to ask this question until another week or two. It happens I ain't doing shit until a week or two. But since the teacher guy( the one whom I'm doing amazing grace with) was goen so I was playing geetar in the church cafeteria Yeah and I tryed by new 3.0 mmDunlop Jazz Stubby pick and it sounds liek butta but it's really small so it's hard to use with bass. Anyway right now I'm learning Black Hole Sun by Soundgarden from tabs on guitar I'm already memorized the first intro part Oh and who you think is better Les Claypool or Noel Redding? In Skynyrd We Trust Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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