another dumb question...

[onegypsygun]

I was at a friends house jaming...I ran my guitar into a stomp box then thru his behringer ultrabass amp. It sounded great! I'm thinking about buying it off of him. Will it ruin a Bass amp playnig a guitar thru it? I don't want to get something and just blow it up... thanks!!

[slackin@dabass]

i don't think it will ruin it. most bass amps can handle the high frequencies with their horn, and obviously low frequencies since they are designed to amplify a bass. you shouldn't have a problem at all... now, a bass through a guitar amp... i guess you could blow one of those up... but, and correct me if i'm wrong, but back in the day, dustin hill (zz top) played bass through a marshall 100 watt guitar full stack, and never blew a speaker.


just keep an ear out in case you burn the horn up with all those high in the sky freqs you'll be using...

[metalchurch]

No it wont hurt it at all.
Kim Thayall of Soundgarden used a Guild S-100 thru a bass amp on their early records and tours with no problems. In fact thats how he got his thick sound which alot of people couldn't quite figure out at the time.

Now a Bass thru a guitar amp...not so much.

[KyleMayket]

Weezer recorded their whole first album (blue album) with nothing but bass amps.

[MeYatch]

Weezer recorded their whole first album (blue album) with nothing but bass amps.

I don't know if that's true, but Matt Sharp used to play his bass through an old Orange guitar amp

[bassist_25]

Many guitarists were enamored with the Fender Bassman. Companies even make copies of the Bassmen cabinets and market them towards guitar players.

[JackANSI]

From the designs I've looked at, there is little difference between guitar and bass amps. Main difference being the target freqs on the EQ (what bassists call low-mids, guitarists call just low).

In tube guitar amps there are gain differences and sometimes a complete lack of respect for low frequencies. Which such disrespect might cause instability in the output, not good for output transformers.

IMO Its those pesky low excursion guitar speakers that are more likely to disagree with a bass guitar being driven through them. Just like that tweeter in the bass amp might disagree with being used so hard.

I see it like this:
At low volumes its not going to matter much at all. Just don't try to make whatever amp you are using do something its not good at.

Bass amps tend to be more robust in the way a good PA system can handle just about everything on stage.

[VENTGtr]

Many guitarists were enamored with the Fender Bassman.

That's 'cause they're awesome. Too loud to get the sound you want, at least at
stage I would use...but awesome.

Marshalls started off by trying to copy the Bassman.

[lonewolf]

No. People have been playing guitar thru bass amps since they discovered how good it sounds thru the old Fender Bassman

[metalchurch]

The only other "problem" that I can think of when playing at lower volumes is if the amp has 15" speakers the low volume won't be pushing them that much and it will be muffled and undefined.

Also aren't bass speakers voiced for more low end? (Comparing a 12" guitar speaker to a 12" bass speaker.)

There will be differences, but thats a given and we all understand that, and it's not the point I guess.

What type of amp is it?

[Ray Salamon]

We need more definition on what OP means by "amp".
If only by the actual AMP part, i.e. head, then there's no problem at all. Like previously pointed out, the largest difference between guitar and bass amps is power output and EQ point centers. There are other differences, but those are the largest two.
Bassist have been playing through guitar amps, and guitarists have been playing through bass amps for ages.

When you start talking about speakers and cabs though, this is the general rule of thumb:
Guitar into a bass cab, you'll be OK. This might give you a tone you're looking for, and it might end up a muddy mess.
Bass into a guitar cab; NONO. At any kind of decent, useable volume (i.e. anything above low bedroom practice), you'll kill the speakers. Guitar speakers have a MUCH lower power handling, spider design and much lower xmax and xlim (how far the cone can/will move) that you'll easily exceed.
Also, guitar cabs are not always as efficient as bass cabs. And, keep in mind, a lot of combo guitar amps have open-back design, which will sound like crap when you try to play bass through it... The box tuning and many other factors come into play as well too.

[killedbydeath]

As Ray said, the amps aint the problem, the speakers are what to worry about. Oh yea and pedals. to much signal boost and you can burn anything out! Way back guitar players would play through bass tube amps with half burnt tubes and slash the speakers with razor blades to get distorted sounds

[DrumAndDestroy]

the liner notes on reissue of the first agent orange record say that mike palm (guitarist) used a gibson SG through a fender bassman amp. it's definitely a cool sound.