Members epi56ebony Posted August 7, 2014 Members Share Posted August 7, 2014 got a great deal on this amp [$60]. I've read that the Roland guitar speakers are a bit stronger because of all the special effects that the Cube amps use. I just tried my Squier P Bass thru it and it sounds great. Here's why I bought the Guitar Cube instead of the Bass Cube 1. My bass playing friend needs a portable amp for his practice sessions with his church group and they rehearse in an apartment. The volume will never go above volume level 3 [out of 10] 2. When I play in my house I will never play it above volume level 3 3. In case I or my friend blows out the speaker, I'm not out that much cash since it only cost me 60 4. Of course I can also use the amp for my guitars. 5. I rarely see the Roland Bass cubes go for less than $100, mainly because there's less of the out there because there's less bass players. If I could buy that 20XL Bass cube for $60, I'd jump on it. Well so far I'm still on the Honeymoon with this amp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators isaac42 Posted August 7, 2014 Moderators Share Posted August 7, 2014 Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gibsunLPgoldtop Posted August 7, 2014 Members Share Posted August 7, 2014 I think given the low volume, it won't hurt the amp. I've periodically played my bass through my Roland Street Cube with no ill effects and it's still running strong. That was a great buy on that amp though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted August 8, 2014 Members Share Posted August 8, 2014 You should be able to use it for bass without hurting anything. Anyway, you got a great deal. Happy New Amp Day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jarl Sigurd Posted August 8, 2014 Members Share Posted August 8, 2014 Maybe a 4 stringer, but I surely wouldnt play a 5 stringer thru it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted August 8, 2014 Members Share Posted August 8, 2014 It wont hurt anything unless you turn it up enough for the speaker to start flapping. The main differences between a guitar and bass amp are, the voicing of the tone stack and the speaker to handle that voicing. Most of the power in any amp is consumed by the low frequencies by the speakers. For example, in a PA you may only need a 50W horn to handle the highs in comparison to a 300W woofer to handle the lows. A guitar produces frequencies between 150 to 6Khz in a guitar and with the strongest peaks at about 1~3Khz. A bass on the other hand is an octave lower. It produces frequencies between 40 to 3Khz with its strongest frequencies about 500~1Khz. Because the instruments are separated by an octave the tone controls for bass will target lower frequencies then a guitar amp. The two do overlap a bit but one wont be ideal for the other. for example, the 5K and above treble control for guitar wont be much use to a bass, and the bass control of say 200Hz is more like a midrange control to a bass. The mid control for guitar is more like treble control for a bass guitar. Its going to vary between amps but you get the idea. lastly, guitar amps don't push as much lows as a bass amp. Lows require allot of power, and power consumption causes heat. You'll be pushing the output transistors and speaker voice coil much harder then a guitar ever will. Heat is the worst thing for SS amps. Not sure how well those cubes are built. Its a matter of how well the output transistors are heat sinked to dissipate heat. You can play through it for awhile then feel how hot the back panel is. power transistors are usually mounted to a panel to dissipate heat. If the panel is getting too hot to touch you may be pushing the amp too hard. Other then that, if you go easy and don't mind having midrange bass tones it shouldn't hurt anything. I plug my bass into my little 15w Marshall when I'm tweaking the bass and practicing parts. Its sounds awful in comparison to a real bass amp but it doesn't hurt anything. I just don't crank it too much because that little speaker wont last very long if I did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members epi56ebony Posted August 9, 2014 Author Members Share Posted August 9, 2014 Great explanation WRGKMC! Thanks everyone for the posts. I think I'll be ok goofing around on bass on my 20XL. My friend wasn't thrilled with the sound [although I like the sound of my bass thru the amp], but he'll use it because it's light. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted August 10, 2014 Members Share Posted August 10, 2014 The other day I bought a used Ibanez IBZ15B "practice amp" (1X6 15 Watts) for a bass player friend. I tried an Ibanez 4-string through it and I was surprised at how good it sounded. No fundamental, mind you, but actually not bad. If an amp like that can handle a bass, then your 20XL Cube can too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mildbill Posted August 11, 2014 Members Share Posted August 11, 2014 I used a small guitar practice amp for a while when I got my first bass. It didn't sound very good, and I was always tempted to crank it up a bit to see if it would sound better. I've got a couple decent amps for bass now, and recently also picked up a used Cube 30 bass amp just for goofing around/practicing.Lots of fun, and it sounds pretty decent for what it is. Some of the stuff, like the chorus sounds pretty gimmicky and I'd never use it. It's got a bass octave thing that adds a note an octave lower than what you play.On the lower two strings on a 4 string, it just sounds like the speaker's blown - pretty bad.Roll off the bass a little and play on the upper two strings, and it sounds pretty good though.Sounds good with a guitar too. The other amp sims are all pretty good, and I like the compression. Anyways - your 20xl guitar amp will probably work just fine if you keep the volume in check. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Radar-Love Posted August 13, 2014 Members Share Posted August 13, 2014 If it's a guitar amp, the most important thing is that the cabinet has a closed back. The guitar speaker is less likely to get cone damage if the back is closed. Bass and guitar amp rigs before the late '60s were nearly they same thing. Bass amps had different frequency centerpoints on the bass, mid, and treble tone controls and the amp cabinets were close-backed. The speakers were often the same as similar guitar amp models. Ampeg changed all of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators isaac42 Posted August 13, 2014 Moderators Share Posted August 13, 2014 Ampeg changed it? I was thinking Sunn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted August 13, 2014 Members Share Posted August 13, 2014 Ampeg changed it? I was thinking Sunn. Wikipedia says it was Standel: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standel#Technical_achievements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators isaac42 Posted August 14, 2014 Moderators Share Posted August 14, 2014 Could be. Wikipedia is often correct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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