amplifier for a guitar, Bass vs. 6 String

[bdw]

I have a 6 string that I am looking to trade or sell so I can get a Bass guitar.

 

Question:

 

If I swap guitars, should I also swap amps, or will my six-string amp be OK for a BASS?

[Mognam]

the guitar amps don't work well with bass guitars.  You will still get a sound but it will lack in the low end and also you run a chance of blowing the speakers.

 

best to get a bass amp for your bass guitar.

 

If you are just learning and/or not in a band a small bass combo amp (that is amp and speaker/s together) set up should work well and be relatively inexpensive.

 

ampeg make some good bass amps.  That is what I use.

 

http://www.ampeg.com/products/bassamp/ba115/

 

link to my amp.  yes, I'm showing off a bit.

[bdw]

That's what I figured, the frequency range wouldn't jive.

[darkhorse16]

simple-

 

bass amp for bass guitar

 

if you play bass through your guitar amp its gunna sound like shit and you'll just wreck your speaks in the end

[bdw]

I ended up with a little Fender Squier amp that has two inputs and it supports both bass & six string guitars.

 

[fatjack1]

Who told you the second input was for bass?  I am no expert on this particular amp but typically Fender amps with 2 inputs have one for high output guitars and one for lower output.  But in both cases they are for guitars not bass.

 

Better check again.

[boxershrimp]

Yeah, I think that one has one clean channel and one routed through some kind of distortion.

You could use either with a bass, I'm sure, but the cabinet of a guitar combo isn't really built for bass, the frequency response drops off way too early at the low end.

[fatjack1]

My issue would be how long the speaker survives.  But it isn't an expensive error if it blows.

[boxershrimp]

Best bass combo I've had the pleasure of fixing was a Gallien-Krueger. Not so much bigger than that Squier guitar one, and 100 (real) watts.

Compressor/limiter and a pretty cheesy but cool chorus effect was built in, besides the usual knobs. Too bad I'm relatively crap at bass, but I had a bit of fun with it still.

[fatjack1]

Best bass combo I've had the pleasure of fixing was a Gallien-Krueger. Not so much bigger than that Squier guitar one, and 100 (real) watts.

Compressor/limiter and a pretty cheesy but cool chorus effect was built in, besides the usual knobs. Too bad I'm relatively crap at bass, but I had a bit of fun with it still.

 

When you say 100 (real) watts.  Does this mean 100 tube watts or ??  

 

Just saying.  I tried several 200-400 watt PAs in the store and all were a bit weak to my ears.  Yet I have 20 watt tube amps that will deafen me.  

[boxershrimp]

No, this was all transistors. When I say real, I mean that it would actually put out 100W sustained sine wave for an indefinite amount of time. (Known erroneously as watts RMS in many contexts.) Probably quite a bit over that if you clip the tops a bit. Square has more energy than sine, after all.

 

But as you no doubt know, having a tube amp, clipping is nowhere near as nice with transistor amps as with tube ones. That is why it was good to have the compressor/limiter built in, to make sure it doesn't clip. With a tube amp, you can just crank the volume and the limiting is taken care of in the output stage and transformer. Well, in my opinion, of course.

 

Edit: Oh, and also, tube amps are almost always built so that the power supply sags if you play "too hard". Another method of limiting, there.

[bdw]

Who told you the second input was for bass?  I am no expert on this particular amp but typically Fender amps with 2 inputs have one for high output guitars and one for lower output.  But in both cases they are for guitars not bass.

 

Better check again.

 

I'm trying to dig up the owner's manual, but even the Fender website only has manuals for the Champ 30, and mine is a Champ 15. I guess I will just DL for the Champ 30, as it should be similar.

[Mognam]

I ended up with a little Fender Squier amp that has two inputs and it supports both bass & six string guitars.

 

 

 

Who told you the second input was for bass?  I am no expert on this particular amp but typically Fender amps with 2 inputs have one for high output guitars and one for lower output.  But in both cases they are for guitars not bass.

 

Better check again.

 

yeah, from any info I can get from the net on the amp suggests that it is a guitar amp and not a bass amp.

[bdw]

Ah well, I don't practice loud enough to blow the speaker.