Playing Bass on a TUBE guitar amp, is there any difference?

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Hi, I've been playing guitar for quite some time, I have a sweet American made Fender amp, It was some sort of limited run, its a Fender Deluxe basically, except it was limited run. Its got a 12 inch Jensen speaker which just makes my strat rage, march and burn the face of the MAN.

I've got a guitar prodigy in my town whose planning on leaving his band soon and asked me if I wanted to form a band, on the condition I play Bass. I wish I could use my amp with a bass just cause its so freaking amazing.....

Anyways if I were to play bass on it, would the amp ruined just like a solid state amp would?

If so, which I'm assuming, is it within a budgetable reason to mod the amp, is that even possible? I was thinking maybe a new Bass amp speaker and possibly new circuitry for the difference would do the trick????

I would freakin love to be able to just throw a new speaker in the amp and then rule the world with it.

It would mean a lot to get a response. Thanks

― Mike Lamie, Sunday, 14 May 2006 15:43 (nineteen years ago)

The cabinet design is the problem. Get a cheap bass amp.

― Colin Meeder (Mert), Sunday, 14 May 2006 17:20 (nineteen years ago)

and power... deluxes are 22 watts. most bass amps worth their salt for live use are 300 watts and up!

― b mulvey, Monday, 15 May 2006 05:20 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah. Don't.

― Jamey Lewis (Jameys Burning), Monday, 15 May 2006 07:22 (nineteen years ago)

Thing is, that amp that sounds so great with your strat will not sound so great with your bass. You can get away with it at home practice level and probably get some very cool tones (good for recording!), but it's going to distort almost immediately at anything resembling band volume.

Also, there's this thread: bass guitar through a guitar amp? and other questions from an ignorant beginner

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Monday, 15 May 2006 16:39 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, as far as I know....

the amp is 40watts though....

and its tube so it should be like physically louder

― Mike Lamie, Tuesday, 16 May 2006 00:53 (nineteen years ago)

Don't matter. It'll still sound band.

― Colin Meeder (Mert), Tuesday, 16 May 2006 07:51 (nineteen years ago)

band = bad.

― Colin Meeder (Mert), Tuesday, 16 May 2006 07:51 (nineteen years ago)

Unless you're going for unconventional sounds, you need a bass amp.

― Chewshabadoo (Chewshabadoo), Tuesday, 16 May 2006 16:19 (nineteen years ago)

No, even if you're going for unconventional sounds -- there's nothing unconventional about a bass played through a cabinet designed for guitar -- it sounds like bass does on a cheap transistor radio, which is about conventional as you get.

― Colin Meeder (Mert), Tuesday, 16 May 2006 16:58 (nineteen years ago)

the amp is 40watts though....

Then it's not a Deluxe.

and its tube so it should be like physically louder

Huh? I want to see the physics lesson that proves that one.

Also, guitar amps really aren't even good for recording bass. I mean, there are exceptions to every rule, but whatever.

― martin m. (mushrush), Wednesday, 17 May 2006 20:20 (nineteen years ago)

my sunn solarus/4x10 cabinet sounds amazing for bass, but it's a monster. Not exactly a 'clean' sound though.

― superultramega (superultramarinated), Wednesday, 17 May 2006 21:07 (nineteen years ago)

Since it's 40 watts, I think it's either a Hot Rod or Blues Deluxe, which are pretty much nothing like the 22W vintage amp.

Honestly, Mike, it's a really terrible idea, both for tone and more importantly, the longevity of yer amp. I vote no.

― John Justen (johnjusten), Wednesday, 17 May 2006 21:31 (nineteen years ago)

(Off-topic -- a 40 watt tube amp will be more usable at higher volumes than a 40 watt solid state amp assuming that the watt measurement was made at the same (low) amount of harmonic distortion, because harmonic distortion on a tube amp is, in general, less displeasing to the ear.)

― Colin Meeder (Mert), Thursday, 18 May 2006 10:59 (nineteen years ago)

just to add another voice: all those who think it is a bad idea are right. it just doesn't work well.

― AaronK (AaronK), Thursday, 18 May 2006 12:41 (nineteen years ago)

Its definitly a 40 Watt guys, trust me I've jammed extensively with my friends, My amp just beats their 22w tube amps to death/melts their face off man.

So, I'll be playing a few local festivals(hippie revolution in my town), but we're supplied with a Cab, that means I wont have to go live with it for now. So now the main question is....

Can I be heard over drums without ruining the speaker playing bass?

And is it really not possible to mod the amp to play bass like I new speaker?! (I wont give up that dream, even the cosmetics of this amp are just amazing)

Could I send it away to get it rebuilt/converted? I have a bond with that amp. I can't explain it.

I'd be willing to lay down like 250-300 and maybe 400 to get make it into a full out bass amp dude. (((I just got a sweet job at a camp, 7.50 an hour 8-4:30 Mon.-Fri. for about the whole summer, So I'm gonna be rollin the dough)))

― Mike Lamie, Sunday, 21 May 2006 15:35 (nineteen years ago)

dude... how many times...

if you have 400 bucks you can certainly pick up a used gk/hartke head. that will do the job... so it's not really about money, i guess. there's no mod short of a new power section thats going to let you bullshit a bass rig out of that guitar amp.

― b mulvey, Monday, 22 May 2006 01:42 (nineteen years ago)

three weeks pass...

john, I remember you mentioning this thread, but until now I didn't realize it's full impact. A tiny bit of beer came through my nose after reading "limited run" twice in the same sentance.

I am also baffled by the capitalization of "Cab."

― the mr. man tim xio yeah hot (aWESome), Saturday, 17 June 2006 04:08 (nineteen years ago)

Perhaps he's playing bass through Mr. Calloway?

― John Justen, UMSOGTH PERMAPRESS CTHULU. (johnjusten), Saturday, 17 June 2006 16:59 (nineteen years ago)

how do you pundits explain lemmy and tom petersson?

― noname, Tuesday, 27 June 2006 20:00 (nineteen years ago)

THE SPEAKER CABINETS. PAY SOME FUCKING ATTENTION.

― Colin Meeder (Mert), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 07:00 (nineteen years ago)

well SOMEONE woke up with a little sand in the ol' vagina this morning!

― it was an honest question (rogermexico), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 17:12 (nineteen years ago)

No sand, just a question that's been answered 50 skidillion times.

― Colin Meeder (Mert), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 18:40 (nineteen years ago)

I hate getting questions in my vagina.

― Jesus Dan (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 28 June 2006 20:27 (nineteen years ago)

two years pass...

bump for Dan's vagina and also because I have acquired boomstick but moar amps in home DO NOT WANT. P-Bass, meet AC30.

― Passenger 57 (rogermexico.), Tuesday, 16 December 2008 23:21 (sixteen years ago)

admin: user has been successfully banned

― VISION QUEST TO KNOCK YOU UP (John Justen), Wednesday, 17 December 2008 23:42 (sixteen years ago)

http://www.hauntingmids.com/forum/Smileys/default/cry1.gif

― butt-rock miyagi (rogermexico.), Thursday, 18 December 2008 04:48 (sixteen years ago)

five years pass...

the meme that will be kept alive, sort of

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/electronic-music-instruments-electronic-music-production/892939-safe-run-minimoog-through-tube-amp.html

― Tusk is entirely responsible for my lifelong love of charlie (electricsound), Monday, 23 December 2013 22:23 (eleven years ago)

Going by what those dudes are saying, my two cents is that you would probably get a better result running the synth into the guitar head through an effects loop post pre-amp and just using the power tubes on the head.

I do agree that it probably would sound better and be easier on the speakers running through a bass cab with a horn. It would sound even better through a full range PA cab.

― earlnash, Monday, 23 December 2013 23:31 (eleven years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.