Is this okay to do?

[onegypsygun]

I have been offered a gig that requires me to switch to playing bass. But I do not have a bass rig. What I was going to do is run my bass into a small pa head then into a 18" speaker cab and a 4x12" crate guitar cab. I will also be breaking this down for different sized clubs sometime using the 18" cab and sometime using the 4x12" crate... Can I do this without doing any damage to my cabinets? I can't afford to screw up my cabinets and I always get great help here with my issuses. I need this rig to last awhile so let me know if I can do it.......Thanks

[bassist_25]

I've seen the bass player of Flord do something similar with a PA head. I would be very cautious using a guitar cab because it's probably not rated for a serious amount of wattage, and bass generally requires a lot more headroom than guitar to reproduce the fundamentals of the notes. You may end up overdriving your speakers and clipping them, which may eventually lead to creased cones or blown voice coils.

If the 18 is a PA cab, it may work. Keep in mind, though, that it's a sub most probably designed to be used in a bi-amped PA system with a x-over. Therefore, it may not reproduce the upper harmonics as well as a traditional bass guitar cabinet. Also, it may not be very distinict nor tight because of the speaker moving slower.

[VENTGtr]

What Paul said. The PA head and the 18 may work okay, but guitar speakers aren't
made for that constant low end. Think you may just end up screwing the speakers
in the 412.

You may able to find a relatively low cost, but good, bass speaker around and could
throw it into whatever box the current 18" is in.

[onegypsygun]

What if I powerd the cabs with a crate power block?

[VENTGtr]

What if I powerd the cabs with a crate power block?

Mmmm....I dunno. I think it'd be more the "thud" of the low end than the actual
amount of power...but...I dunno. Good question.

[songsmith]

I think at some point you'll have to actually invest in some equipment that's designed to do what you need it to do. It's part of the gig, and it needn't be expensive. The PA head will work, the cabinets won't.--->JMS

[bassist_25]

What if I powerd the cabs with a crate power block?

Aren't those around a hundred watts? Generally for bass, I'd suggest gigging with at least around 500 solid-state watts, even with efficient speakers. I agree with Johnny. I've been in the situation where investing in equipment was difficult (I used a hundred watt Crate combo for a few years. Thank God for bass reinforcement through the FOH), but I think that you're going to be better in the long run to invest in an actual bass rig. There are a lot of options out there that can work with a budget and still sound good.

[VENTGtr]

Ya, if the sound guy'll bleed some of the bass into the mons, you could even go the SansAmp (Or some other DI Box) route...and it's way less to haul around. WIN. WIN!

A friend not has one of the Hartke DI Boxes. He's had it a while but hadn't used it until
filling in with us NYE. He loved it.

[MOONDOGGY]

I've got a nice quality 210 300W Yorkville bass cab that could easily solve your problems. If you're skeptical that a 210 bass cab can handle all your low end needs, you have nothing to lose by giving it a shot!!! See my thread in the 'For Sale' section.

And now back to your regularly scheduled thread.

(My deepest apologies for the thread heist. If I get scolded, I'll delete it.)

[songsmith]

No, I don't think you'll get in trouble... it's exactly what he needs.
Incidentally, onegypsy, if you still have that 15"+horn PA cabinet, that'll work, too, until you can get the real deal.--->JMS

[lonewolf]

What if I powerd the cabs with a crate power block?

With the equipment you have, I would use the CPB150 with the 4-12 for your own stage monitoring purposes and use the DI out of the Powerblock to the PA.