Bass through a guitar amp?.

spoonbadger

Howdy all,i might be getting a bass in the near future. Wanted to know what the story is with playing it through a guitar amp.

I'm almost certain that i'll have to get a bass speaker at least, but i'm just wondering if the amplifier itself can handle a bass. It's a JTM45 so i'm guessing with the whole bassman connection it'll be fine .

Speaker is a celestion G12-65 for what it's worth. Any chance this could handle those kind of bass freqs?.

Seziertisch

The amp shouldn't be a problem. I know for example that a lot of guys like to use Hiwatt amps for recording bass in the studio.

The speaker would be the big concern. And in terms of getting a bass sound the speaker cabinet would also play a fairly important role.

Paolo_M

spoonbadger wrote: »

Howdy all,i might be getting a bass in the near future. Wanted to know what the story is with playing it through a guitar amp.

I'm almost certain that i'll have to get a bass speaker at least, but i'm just wondering if the amplifier itself can handle a bass. It's a JTM45 so i'm guessing with the whole bassman connection it'll be fine .

Speaker is a celestion G12-65 for what it's worth. Any chance this could handle those kind of bass freqs?.

The amp will be fine, it's just amplifying signal, and a JTM45 is damn good at it.
You do need to be a bit concerned on the speaker, as you say, it's got handle power. The speaker wattage rating is only application with the frequency range quoted, usually 70Hz - 5kHz for guitar speakers. Bass, even through a guitar amp, can through out frequencies a good bit lower than that, and you run the risk of burining the voice coil if you intend playing the amp flat out.

spoonbadger

Seziertisch wrote: »

The amp shouldn't be a problem. I know for example that a lot of guys like to use Hiwatt amps for recording bass in the studio.

The speaker would be the big concern. And in terms of getting a bass sound the speaker cabinet would also play a fairly important role.

Eeeenteresting, hiwatts eh?. Is it for the flat EQ?.

And yeah,the cabinet is just a 2 x 12 bluesbreaker, but this would only be for jamming at home .

Paolo_M wrote: »

The amp will be fine, it's just amplifying signal, and a JTM45 is damn good at it.
You do need to be a bit concerned on the speaker, as you say, it's got handle power. The speaker wattage rating is only application with the frequency range quoted, usually 70Hz - 5kHz for guitar speakers. Bass, even through a guitar amp, can through out frequencies a good bit lower than that, and you run the risk of burining the voice coil if you intend playing the amp flat out.

.

Hmmm,you say flat out, but supposing i was only running it at less than half volume (i've never even tried playing bass before, so there's no gigs in the near future ) would i still be running that risk?.

Thanks guys .

Seziertisch

As for the Hiwatt, I can't say for sure. I just know that a lot of guys on Gearslutz rate them as studio bass amps, which I thought was pretty cool, two birds with one stone and all that.

In terms of cabs I think probably a closed back or ported design would work best. An open back wouldn't be so ideal (although they seem to be favoured for reggae bass, miked from behind).

Dord

At least get a bass cab. You can pick them up fairly cheap used, somehing by Peavey with the correct impedance should do the job.

Adyx

Dord wrote: »

At least get a bass cab. You can pick them up fairly cheap used, somehing by Peavey with the correct impedance should do the job.

+1 to this. Or at least have a look at getting a small bass amp since you're only going to be playing at home. I don't know what a bass will sound like through a JTM45, but if it sounds **** it's not going to do much to encourage you further with the bass.

Eoin Madsen

spoonbadger wrote: »

I'm almost certain that i'll have to get a bass speaker at least, but i'm just wondering if the amplifier itself can handle a bass. It's a JTM45 so i'm guessing with the whole bassman connection it'll be fine .

Speaker is a celestion G12-65 for what it's worth. Any chance this could handle those kind of bass freqs?.

The amp circuit will do it just fine. I use a 1959 for bass frequently, and it sounds awesome. Be a little extra careful not to overdrive the powerstage of the amp too much. Low frequencies are deceptive - a bass has a much hotter output than a guitar. The coupling caps and tone caps in the circuit should shelf off a lot of the low end though.

I think the speaker would actually do okay if it was in the right cab. An open backed cab will have little or no bass response so you'll lose the fundamental frequencies completely. And your odds of overheating something without realising it will be a lot higher. I've used a closed G12H-30 4x12 cab with the bass and it has performed very well at all frequencies. In saying that, I haven't really run the amp close to the ceiling, and a 1959 has an insane amount of headroom.

Paolo_M

spoonbadger wrote: »

Hmmm,you say flat out, but supposing i was only running it at less than half volume (i've never even tried playing bass before, so there's no gigs in the near future ) would i still be running that risk?.

Thanks guys .

You'd still be running a risk because guitar speakers don't have any wattage rating below their stated frequency range. This means they weren't tested by the manufacturer. It might work fine for years but "don't come running to us if you fall and break your leg".
I'd second what the lads are saying, a bass speaker cab would be a good investment.