Bass through guitar combo. Guitar through a bass combo.

[Caesar]

Do any of you have some experience switching between a bass and guitar with the same amp? If I'm gonna play both, which combo amp would be better suited to handle both? Will my overall sound suffer?

[Prages]

You're better off running a guitar through a bass amp than vice-versa. The low bass frequencies can easily damage speakers that aren't meant to handle that much bass.

 

Plus, bass amps usually have a pretty wide frequency range, while guitar amps are fairly limited, so a bass wouldn't sound as good through a guitar amp.

 

You'd probably get a great guitar sound running a modeller into a bass amp.

[FrThib]

I used to play guitar in a kustom bass amp. Stock, I had the worst sound I ever heard. Bass speaker aren't optimized for guitar sound. It will sound harsh and bassy at the same time. You can use tons of EQ to correct your sound but it will sound "fake" then. One solution is a bass amp with a speaker out so you can plug a guitar cab. I used to do that with some success. Be ready to tweak if you go that way. You will learn a lot in the art of EQing in the process tough.

[Caesar]

So, is the problem the speakers or the preamp/amp or both?

 

Damn it! I'm gonna need two separate rigs, aren't I? How the hell did Geddy Lee play a 4/6 doubleneck? Sorry to bitch.

[dewees]

Yes, you can't play bass through a guitar amp. At reasonable volume it will fry the speakers.

 

Bass rigs can work great for a super clean jazz sound and definitely for an acoustic guitar.

 

They also work great if you have a modeling preamp. I have had occasions where I needed to play bass, electric and acoustic guitar in the same gig. I could run the bass as usual straight in the front of my Eden head. I ran the electric through a Yamaha DG Stomp modeling preamp directly into the power amp of the head. This worked great and involved almost no time to switch off instruments as both were always connected (I'd switch the DG Stomp to "tuner" mode when I was playing the bass.) I ran the acoustic to the PA. But I could have run it into the Eden head; it would just require tweaking the EQ at instrument changes.

 

The hifi quality of the bass rig actually works better for modelled sounds because you have a cleaner slate for the modelling. Speaker models will sound best through a more hifi speaker.

[liko]

Guitar through a bass amp is usually fine. You may end up with a little more low end than you want since the amp and cab are tuned that way, but that's what the bass knob is for. I play a Strat and an Ibanez SG copy through my Peavey 2x10. I turn the bass shelving halfway down from flat and it's fine. I also use bass effects; my OD/Dist pedal and chorus are both designed for bass. No low-end loss here when you kick in the distortion . The only caveat is that, if you have a treble horn in the combo/cab, keep an eye on its level (most horns have an attenuator dial at the back of the cab). If it's turned up too high or the crossover level is too low (getting into the fundamental frequencies of a guitar) you can blow it with a distorted guitar signal, but that's not much different than having it turned up too far for slap bass. Like I said, never had a problem. They give you all the clean sound you want; you'll usually need a good pedal for OD and dirt if you want it though. Only the GK Backline series of bass amps, in my experience, has had built-in distortion.

 

Bass through a guitar amp will eventually burn out the guitar amp. My first amp when starting bass was an el-cheapo 5W practice guitar amp that eventually fried itself. It never had the bass response of even a bass practice amp, and I was constantly peaking the speaker (I think what killed it was I warped the voice coil and shorted out the speaker, frying the power amp). That's not to say a bass signal at low gain will hurt anything, but most guitar amps and speakers simply aren't designed for the amount of clean bass a bass guitar needs.

[tlbonehead]

So, is the problem the speakers or the preamp/amp or both? Damn it! I'm gonna need two separate rigs, aren't I? How the hell did Geddy Lee play a 4/6 doubleneck? Sorry to bitch.

Two separate amps, I assume. Wouldn't you?