playing bass through a guitar rig?

[abigor731]

i think if you distort the fuck out of it there aren't any signal peaks left anyway
it must be that gutar cabs are overloaded if they have to handle an overly big amount of bass frequencies

if it was the signal peaks, it would only apply to the clean channel, but does a bass even have a bigger output than a guitar?

 

[amarshism]

Orange makes cabs suitable for both, or at least I recall seeing an ad saying they do. Machine reamps bass through gtr heads.

 

[B36arin]

Bass amps have a lot more power output than guitar amps because of the low frequency content of a bass, and guitar speakers often aren't designed for that much power. For example, V30s can handle 60W. If you plug a 300W bass head into a 4x12" cab with V30s(that can only handle 240W) you'll blow the speakers if you turn up loud enough. And bass heads can get to ridiculous power ratings compared to guitar heads. But as long as you do the maths and have a cab that can match the power rating and impedance of the head you should be fine. The safest way to do this is to match a bass cab with a guitar head I've never tried it myself though.

 

[JeffTD]

You guys are nuts. You can run a bass into a guitar head and cab just fine - I do it all the time to add grit to a bass track.

 

[slashvanyoung]

The maximum excursion of guitar speakers is way lower than of bass speakers, that's why sudden low-frequency signal peaks at higher volumes (through a pop or slap for example) can kill a guitar speaker quite easily.

 

[Wisheraser]

Why not simply high pass the DI before reamping so the low notes aren't an issue?

 

[Full_Tilt]

I used to run my bass straight into a JCM 800 and 4X12 without any problems ,it actually sounded pretty good and did so for ages .
Just to recap the head was rated at 100W and the 4X12 was rated at 300W .
The valves in the head also compress the signal so its not like a purely clean spike when slapped .
If you want to take the extra precaution you could run the bass guitar into some kind of stomp compressor/limiter before the amp line input .
I take it that the cab will be miced and mixed into the P.A if so no stupid amp levels will be needed .

 

[musickey]

Pleq, Who runs The Panic Room used to have a real cool YT vid, were he was tracking bass, and splitting the signal into a Mesa Duel recto IIRC and it sounded beast. I looked for the video on his page but i think he removed it.

Found a little section of it towards the end of the vid

 

[professorlamp]

Thrice did it

 

[bryan_kilco]

I've been told this to, but is it true?? haha can anyone confirm this??

seen it happen. my old old old band....our bassist ran his bass thru a Peavey 2x12 or something....guitar amp....blew the speakers.