Guitar amp signal through a bass amp?

sh1tin-a-brick

Hi everybody

(First of all I would like to say I know it's not a very good idea to play a bass through a guitar amp. That's not what this is about )

I have a vox vt20+ guitar amp with some nice built in effects to toy around with. If I was to plug a bass into the amp, then connect the amp, via the line out (therefore bypassing the speaker?) to the line in of a bass amp, would it do damage?

My thinking is that I would be sending the signal through the guitar amp and getting all the lovely effects but putting the signal out through a bass speaker so no damage is done. Am I correct in saying this?

Please note, it would be a small crappy bass amp but I have no intentions to gig any time soon, I just want to play around with some cool effects on bass.

Thanks!

Malice

I've never done it but I think the whole bass through guitar amp thing only becomes a problem at high volume so if you keep the volume low it shouldn't be a problem.

As regards built-in effects I've never come across an amp with built-in effects that were anywhere near as good as those that are available through dedicated pedals or effects units.

sh1tin-a-brick

Malice wrote: »

I've never done it but I think the whole bass through guitar amp thing only becomes a problem at high volume so if you keep the volume low it shouldn't be a problem.

Na I know, but the low notes wouldnt be carried well through the guitar speaker. I spose I just want to know if what I suggested would work, ie if the guitar amp could in a sense act like an effects pedal.

As regards built-in effects I've never come across an amp with built-in effects that were anywhere near as good as those that are available through dedicated pedals or effects units.

Well we dont all have the money to splash out on top notch stuff, the built in effects serve me just fine. :-)

Malice

sh1tin-a-brick wrote: »

Na I know, but the low notes wouldnt be carried well through the guitar speaker. I spose I just want to know if what I suggested would work, ie if the guitar amp could in a sense act like an effects pedal.

I'm far from an expert on the subject so what I really meant was to just give it a go. Unless you're blasting out at ear-splitting volume you're unlikely to do any damage.

sh1tin-a-brick wrote:

Well we dont all have the money to splash out on top notch stuff, the built in effects serve me just fine. :-)

That's fair enough. I don't have the money to splash out on top-notch stuff either .

One thing to bear in mind is that some effects, particularly distortion, will sound fuzzy as hell which may not be to your liking at all. Basically something that sounds good with the higher-frequency guitar notes might not sound as good with the bass notes.

Squidgy Black

It all depends on whether the line out bypasses the speaker or not. If it doesn't, then the frequencies emitted by the bass can destroy the speaker.

Also quite important, the input on your amp is expecting an unbalanced signal coming from the guitar, and not the balanced line out that the amp will be giving out, so it more than likely won't sound good, it's like plugging an ipod into your amp's input.

firefly08

Also quite important, the input on your amp is expecting an unbalanced signal coming from the guitar, and not the balanced line out that the amp will be giving out, so it more than likely won't sound good, it's like plugging an ipod into your amp's input.

In the original post, he was talking about sending the line out to the line in of the second amp, rather than to the input.

Just in case the OP, or anyone else, is thinking of connecting a line-out to an instrument input, I don't think that's a good idea. Line level signals are much hotter than instrument levels, so whether it sounds good or not I wouldn't risk it.