Guitar amp as bass amp?

silentblackhat · 11th March 2006, 04:47 AM

This might sound ghetto but here it goes. I have an Ibanez 25watt guitar amp. I am getting a bass soon so what im wondering is, can i use it as a bass amp also? No i wont be using the guitar speaker if i do. what i am thinking is, since the speaker now is 8ohm in the amp, what i will do is disconnect the guitar speaker and hook it to an extra home audio subwoofer that i have. im just looking for a cheap alt. till i can get a decent bass amp.

Nigel Goodwin · 11th March 2006, 09:02 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by silentblackhat
This might sound ghetto but here it goes. I have an Ibanez 25watt guitar amp. I am getting a bass soon so what im wondering is, can i use it as a bass amp also? No i wont be using the guitar speaker if i do. what i am thinking is, since the speaker now is 8ohm in the amp, what i will do is disconnect the guitar speaker and hook it to an extra home audio subwoofer that i have. im just looking for a cheap alt. till i can get a decent bass amp.

A home audio sub-woofer will be useless as a bass guitar speaker. Assuming you're only using it for home practice? - simply use the guitar amp as it is, 25W is only good for home practice anyway.

silentblackhat · 11th March 2006, 03:32 PM

wont the bass mess up the speaker since its designed for a guitar, not a bass?

Nigel Goodwin · 11th March 2006, 04:09 PM

Not as much as it would mess up a home sub-woofer!.

How loud are you expecting to play it?.

Bobken · 11th March 2006, 05:01 PM

Hi,

I second what Nigel says here.

The characteristics of these two speakers will be quite different.

I don't know how big the driver is in your guitar amp, but few will be smaller than 12" or maybe 10".

A recent Celestion bass driver (BL10 - 150 Neo) is only 10" diameter, anyway, and this is good down to 75Hz, apparently.

If there are any coupling caps in the amp, these might 'restrict' the lower end a bit, anyway, as guitars are not intended to play so low, of course, and bigger caps (usually!) cost more money.

Regards,

Brion55 · 12th March 2006, 02:48 AM

As a long time bass & guitar player and amp builder I agree with Nigel. You could put a little better speaker in the amp for $30 - $40 and have a pretty good practice amp. I have a little $60 amp that I put a better speaker in and use it for bass and guitar with no problem.

ellishk · 12th March 2006, 02:52 AM

i am not a pro but i heard that because the bass sounds too low pitch, and the guitar amp basically cannot bare so low, so the guitar amp would be harmed somehow and might be the sound coming out from the amp is not gd too

neutron7 · 12th March 2006, 03:55 AM

I would just plug the bass in to the amp. if its good enough then use it the way it is. guitar. amp/speaker combo is designed not to break no matter what some **** plugs in to it

it may not sound as deep as you want but its fine for practice. i dont think the other 1000000000000 bassists who started out with guitar amps would argue

Ahmad_tbp · 12th March 2006, 09:29 AM

in my opinion no need to change the speaker ,
most of commercial bass combos , ( include big brands ) will not respond lower than 70 or 80 hz , and that s excatly freq range for guitar , so don expect to hear the lower freqs if u buy a combo someday ,infact most of specially design bass driver will respond above 70hz ( a b string in a 5 strings bass is 31hz i think ), so u don need to change the speaker , but keep the bass knob low , if u wanna experience it and have some more money , buy atleast a pa bass driver ( i think ibanez 25w amp has a 8" driver , so go for 8 if it is ) but believe me and don think about sub , after all , if u change speaker to a bass driver , and changing the coupling caps , u ll not hear much diffrence at all in a 8" or 10" driver .
i don t have too much experience and never had access to good drivers but i searched a lot and collect as much infos as i can find , and i think it s better to stick w original amp , no need to change for practicing ,
something i completely forgot is if u r into slapping/poping NEVER EVER forget to use compressor if u wanna have ur speaker alive ...not diffrence that u r using a bass amp w big drivers or using an small combo , the fact is the spike of slapping/poping will blow them all ...
hope it helps , and again don forget compressor ( u can go for boss lmb3 or boss cs3 )
Cheers

sreten · 13th March 2006, 04:28 PM

Hi,

If the combo is open backed you should convert it to closed backed.

/sreten.

11th March 2006, 04:47 AM	#1
silentblackhat diyAudio Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: kansas	Guitar amp as bass amp? This might sound ghetto but here it goes. I have an Ibanez 25watt guitar amp. I am getting a bass soon so what im wondering is, can i use it as a bass amp also? No i wont be using the guitar speaker if i do. what i am thinking is, since the speaker now is 8ohm in the amp, what i will do is disconnect the guitar speaker and hook it to an extra home audio subwoofer that i have. im just looking for a cheap alt. till i can get a decent bass amp.

11th March 2006, 04:09 PM	#4
Nigel Goodwin diyAudio Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: North Derbyshire	Not as much as it would mess up a home sub-woofer!. How loud are you expecting to play it?. __________________ Nigel Goodwin

11th March 2006, 05:01 PM	#5
Bobken diyAudio Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: UK	Hi, I second what Nigel says here. The characteristics of these two speakers will be quite different. I don't know how big the driver is in your guitar amp, but few will be smaller than 12" or maybe 10". A recent Celestion bass driver (BL10 - 150 Neo) is only 10" diameter, anyway, and this is good down to 75Hz, apparently. If there are any coupling caps in the amp, these might 'restrict' the lower end a bit, anyway, as guitars are not intended to play so low, of course, and bigger caps (usually!) cost more money. Regards, __________________ Bob

12th March 2006, 02:48 AM	#6
Brion55 diyAudio Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Kansas	As a long time bass & guitar player and amp builder I agree with Nigel. You could put a little better speaker in the amp for $30 - $40 and have a pretty good practice amp. I have a little $60 amp that I put a better speaker in and use it for bass and guitar with no problem. __________________ How do I put the smoke back in this thing?

12th March 2006, 09:29 AM	#9
Ahmad_tbp diyAudio Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Kayseri/Turkey	in my opinion no need to change the speaker , most of commercial bass combos , ( include big brands ) will not respond lower than 70 or 80 hz , and that s excatly freq range for guitar , so don expect to hear the lower freqs if u buy a combo someday ,infact most of specially design bass driver will respond above 70hz ( a b string in a 5 strings bass is 31hz i think ), so u don need to change the speaker , but keep the bass knob low , if u wanna experience it and have some more money , buy atleast a pa bass driver ( i think ibanez 25w amp has a 8" driver , so go for 8 if it is ) but believe me and don think about sub , after all , if u change speaker to a bass driver , and changing the coupling caps , u ll not hear much diffrence at all in a 8" or 10" driver . i don t have too much experience and never had access to good drivers but i searched a lot and collect as much infos as i can find , and i think it s better to stick w original amp , no need to change for practicing , something i completely forgot is if u r into slapping/poping NEVER EVER forget to use compressor if u wanna have ur speaker alive ...not diffrence that u r using a bass amp w big drivers or using an small combo , the fact is the spike of slapping/poping will blow them all ... hope it helps , and again don forget compressor ( u can go for boss lmb3 or boss cs3 ) Cheers __________________ Marge, don't discourage the boy! Weaseling out of things is important to learn. It's what separates us from the animals! Except the weasel.


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11th March 2006, 03:32 PM	#3
silentblackhat diyAudio Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: kansas	wont the bass mess up the speaker since its designed for a guitar, not a bass?

12th March 2006, 02:52 AM	#7
ellishk diyAudio Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: HK	i am not a pro but i heard that because the bass sounds too low pitch, and the guitar amp basically cannot bare so low, so the guitar amp would be harmed somehow and might be the sound coming out from the amp is not gd too

12th March 2006, 03:55 AM	#8
neutron7 diyAudio Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Toronto Canada	I would just plug the bass in to the amp. if its good enough then use it the way it is. guitar. amp/speaker combo is designed not to break no matter what some **** plugs in to it it may not sound as deep as you want but its fine for practice. i dont think the other 1000000000000 bassists who started out with guitar amps would argue

13th March 2006, 04:28 PM	#10
sreten diyAudio Member Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Brighton UK	Hi, If the combo is open backed you should convert it to closed backed. /sreten.

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