Have any of you out there ever used guitar amps for your bass, and, if so, what has been your experience with it? I know Lemmy Kilmeister did that for a while and several other bassists have actually used crossovers to send the highs to a distorted guitar amp and the lows to a clean bass amp. Justin Meldal-Johnson turned me on to the idea in an interview he did a while back, and it's just come up that I could potentially get the same sound setup going.

Even if you haven't had personal experience with it, what do you think? Have you heard bassists do this? What did it sound like to you?

Chris Squire of yes used a Sunn Coliseum guitar head and 2 6x12 cabs when the band first toured the US in 1972, and I think he used it in the studio as well. These days, I think amp manufacturers are more into tuning the characteristics of the amp to match the intended instrument, at least in the EQ sections. I had good luck with Acoustic in the '70s using the 450 lead/bass head with the rocker switch in the lead position. It either boosted highs or the bass setting cut them. I got more than enough bottom by using a 2x15 cab. I think you could get away with using a powerful tube guitar head for bass provided that you use a bass cabinet. I wouldn't use, say, a Twin Reverb or other open backed amp for bass. However, carol Kaye used to use an open backed Fender in the studio in the '60s.

I like the idea of sending the highs to a guitar amp, but I would never just use a guitar amp by itself for anything other then playing it very low volume for practice. I would be to afraid to blow out the speakers. I have used a guitar on a bass amp for the same purpose just to amplify a small amount to hear for practice. But I would never play those high notes really loud on a bass amp I don't think it would be able to handle it.

Fear not !! Geetar thru bass rig is SOP
for many players. Bass rigs are tough :-)

As you know, the reverse is kinda risky
yet has some cool apps but if you want it
seriously loud, you'll need a big full stack
to handle what one mid-size bass cab can
easily handle, SPL-wise.

I'm never involved in really loud stuff so
I can use a geetar rig for FL, for effect,
without nasty distortion, but I just don't
like geetar rigs. They are intentionally
delivering a very narrow spectrum.

A geetar "rig" would include a geetar cab.
Replace that with a bass cab and *now*
you have an inneressinn rig. Lotsa geetar
amps lack the wattage for a bass cab, but
just 130W of all-tube geetar amp will do
justice to almost any bass cab ever made.

OTOH, if you wanna fry a geetar cab, just
hook it to a mid-level bass amp, and play
bass with lotsa sustain. Won't take long !


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