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This topic has come up before, but not lately.
For 20 years I have owned an excellent Peavey Microbass combo amp: closed back, low watts, minimal controls, single 8" speaker, it is one of the best-sounding living room guitar amps I have ever used - but not loud enough for an actual show - definitely not loud enough to use with a drummer.
Any guitarists here perform with a bass combo amp? Thanks.
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01-18-2020 10:28 AM
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I wouldn't suggest you go that way, high chance of blowing up speaker.
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I used to perform with an Ampeg b-15n. Great sound. Too heavy.
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Why? I don't understand why a bass combo couldn't handle a guitar.
Originally Posted by Mecena
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B-15S for me, equipped with an old wide-range AlNiCo Altec 418. I double on upright and guitar, and it's a fantastic amp for both. Put a reverb box in front of it for guitar. It even has a completely useless 3-way "response" switch for bass/flat/guitar. Flat is the permanent setting. It's ... not light. Originally Posted by Greentone
I also use an old Polytone 101 Bass Amp (original 1x15, 2x8) for both upright and guitar. Black velvet. Much lighter.Last edited by Hammertone; 01-19-2020 at 02:55 AM.
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i respectfully disagree ..... Originally Posted by Mecena
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One of the best rigs I ever had was a Traynor Bass Mate. Forty watts of tube tone through a 6 - 10", 5.4 ohm speaker cabinet that had proper inset handles for a not-terribly hard-to-wrangle package and the best soft-knee compression envelope ever for sweet, warm, sustaining horn-like tones I found inspiring. One of the many set-ups I wish I still had.
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Yes I'm using a TC Bam200 bass amp for a clean guitar sound
i'm put it through a Toob baby 6.5" speaker
TOOB METRO 6.5" all products
Its working really great !
The bass player I was playing with at a jam session
a couple of days ago said to me afterwards
"wow that little amp of yours puts out a LOT of sound"
oh yeah .... and the whole rig weighs 6.5 lbs
love it
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Nonsense. It's possible for a bass amped through certain guitar cabinets, particularly those with an open backs, to blow the speaker by means of undamped excessive cone excursion at low frequencies. But damage to a bass amp speaker from running a guitar through it? Never heard of it happening. Originally Posted by Mecena
Like someone else on this thread, I played for a time through an Ampeg B15N. Great jazz guitar sound. I could have used a crane to move the thing.
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My very first amp was a 1962 Vox AC30 JMI bass amp - bought for £30 in 1973 from an equally poor student. I played my first ES-175 (1957) through it for a couple of years then had to sell both for financial reasons. Fantastic sound, great projection and LOUD (not forgetting very heavy)
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There are frequences difference between speakers for bass and for guitar.
It should be okey on low volume. But louder - no.
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I've seen few people go with low volume, and compressor pedal, on just very few limited models ...
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Bear in mind that the stock speakers in many/ most popular jazz guitar amps and cabs - hendriksen, raezer's edge, mambo, evans, acoustic image and others- are the eminence beta series speakers, which the spec sheet describes as being PA and bass guitar speakers. They are not " guitar" speakers. Originally Posted by Mecena
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Yeah, I know there are some like "hybrid" speakers , but via "regular" onces ... I'm not sure if it is a good way to go.
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Bass speakers are designed to be able to handle longer cone travels. I can't see how they can be damaged by higher frequencies. The trade off of bass speaker could be that they may not able to produce very high frequencies articulately. That's why some bass/guitar/voice capable combos have separate tweeters. Guitar pickups especially humbuckers produce the very little of the high frequencies anyway.
I have a 200 watt Traynor small block bass head. That's my only solid state amp. I like it.Last edited by Tal_175; 01-19-2020 at 12:40 PM.
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You have things exactly backwards--a bass is a far more punishing source than a guitar. Playing a bass through a guitar amp might very well damage the speakers, but a guitar is never going to damage a bass amp. Originally Posted by Mecena
One of the most popular guitar amps for decades has been the Fender Bassman.
As for the OP, lots of bass amps make good jazz amps. The Polytone Minibrute III & IV are good examples. All the Acoustic Image combos work well for either guitar or bass. My first solid-state amps were made by Kustom in the late '60's and could handle bass or guitar with ease.
Danny W.Last edited by Danny W.; 01-21-2020 at 07:38 PM.
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Pingu, I was thinking of getting one of those, as I now play bass as well as guitar (and Uke). Originally Posted by pingu
I was also considering TC's BC208 (2 8" speakers stacked vertically; 8 Ohms) to use with it but also as an extension speaker cab for my Henriksen Bud.
They're both very reasonably priced. Do you have any thoughts? Thanks!
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The BAM 200 is a good amp, and astonishingly compact. But for about £25 more, the BQ250 has a much more useable treble control for guitar, plus a high mid which allows fine tuning of the top string fundamental tone. And more power. Snag is, it's 3 times the size and twice the weight. But bearing in mind the BAM200 is about the size and weight of a very large box of matches, that might still work. Originally Posted by Tom Karol
It does for me anyway; the BQ eq section is more guitaristic than most guitar amps IMO. The BAM is more plug and play.
No info about the 2 x 8, but this TC stuff generally seems really good value for money.
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Yeah, I also like this TC Electronic stuff.
I like their tiny amp series. BH or BG I think. Cool amps for price.
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This was some noodling thru my bass combo amp a couple of years ago, Carvin MB12. Kind of high in fidelity but low in personality (just the opposite of a girlfriend I once had
). (The 60 cycle hum is because of the room.)
Box
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that seems like a good plan for duel bass and Guitar duties Tom .... Originally Posted by Tom Karol
(I don't have any experience of TC speakers)
but I've had no issues at all with the Bam200
it is well made , tough ....it works great for me
Franz (hi Franz) is probably correct re the eq etc etc of the BQ250 ....
My main consideration for getting the Bam was the very low weight
maybe that's not such a consideration for you
as you'll be carrying a 2x8 cab anyway ...
I'm using a super light Toob 6.5" speaker
(which is also great)
to get the lightest (loud) rig I could (6.5 lbs !)
maybe I'm a wimp .... yeah probably
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Thanks Pingu and Franz.
I have a Jazz Amp 112 and a Bud, so I don't need anything else.
But that never stopped me before!
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Like Fender Bassmen, Traynor Bass Mates are really guitar amps. I had the smaller version (basically, a Fender Deluxe). I don't know what the original cabinet was, but I got it with something a previous owner built with a Pioneer branded 15", which I got rid of and replaced with a no-name 6x10" (mistake). I wound up selling the Traynor and trashing the cab because I had nowhere to put something that big, and no one would buy it. I wish I had kept that head, though. 30 years down the road, I finally figured out that 2x 6v6 amps rool, after schlepping heavy stuff that was too loud for every situation. Originally Posted by citizenk74
John
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The Traynor Bass Mate was indeed a great guitar amp.
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I find it really depends on the bass combo. A bass player I play with sometimes has a bunch of amps that I've played through at his place (rather than schlep one of my amps). He's got an AI, and a couple of different SWR's; they all sound pretty bad to me, I guess because of the FR/FR speakers. I've played through a couple of different GK's that were decent. I did a gig once with a Peavey keyboard amp and a SansAmp and that was pretty good. But by and large, the tone controls and speakers in true SS bass amps aren't so great IMO. Tubes are another story. Most of the classic tube bass amps are really just guitar amps with beefier speakers (and no reverb), and often sound great. Fender Bassmen are way better as guitar amps than as bass amps. Fender Musicmaster Bass amps are fantastic (if you like overdrive). Originally Posted by Thoughtfree
John.
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