anyone else play guitar through a bass amp?

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anyone else play guitar through a bass amp?

Post by twelve stars » Fri Feb 03, 2017 5:25 am

hey all. i recently started playing with a very loud drummer, and my eighty five can no longer keep up. i've been splitting my signal through my eighty five and a big bass amp that he has lying around (both maxed out) and i'm really digging the low end, especially when i have my rat and obd3 on. i haven't read much about other guitar players who use bass amps other than the old sunns, which would be a dream but are way too expensive for me.

my question is this: if you're using a bass amp with a guitar, what are you using and what's your set up look like? i'm very interested to see what other people are doing, and tell me what kinda stuff you play while you're at it!

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Re: anyone else play guitar through a bass amp?

Post by Redstar30 » Fri Feb 03, 2017 10:33 am

I sometimes a/b my Ampeg b25b with my Ampeg VT-40 while playing guitar or my bass vi. Sounds huge with nice thick lowend

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Re: anyone else play guitar through a bass amp?

Post by Embenny » Fri Feb 03, 2017 11:21 am

Josh Homme used an Ampeg SVT 8x10 cab for the majority of his time in KYUSS (and early QOTSA, I believe), though I think he typically ran a JCM900 into it. It's been done before. The extra low end is something many guitarists find satisfying, but generally makes for a messy mix live if you're playing with a bassist, unless you EQ carefully at the FoH, and even so - they'll probably be subtracting out that bass. For recording, you'll be hard pressed to gain any benefit from a bass amp since most recording engineers high-pass guitar tracks to make room for the bass in the mix.

But for playing on your own, or in a band without a bass? It can be tons of fun.
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Re: anyone else play guitar through a bass amp?

Post by 017493816 » Fri Feb 03, 2017 12:01 pm

I play through a 70s Fender musicmaster bass amp - but that's not a lot in the way of loud or low end. Great amp though, falls somewhere between a princeton and a supro, perhaps? And the fact that I can run a bass through it makes it that much more useful to me.
Last edited by 017493816 on Fri Feb 03, 2017 7:20 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: anyone else play guitar through a bass amp?

Post by twelve stars » Fri Feb 03, 2017 1:19 pm

mbene085 wrote: But for playing on your own, or in a band without a bass? It can be tons of fun.
that's another reason i'm doing this: no bassist! lots of space to fill out, so i'm trying everything.

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Re: anyone else play guitar through a bass amp?

Post by surfingonacid » Fri Feb 03, 2017 1:23 pm

I don't play through a bass amp but for years I played through my Showman into a 2x15 w/ JBLs. Now I use a Vibrolux Reverb with 10" speakers and it is a constant battle. It sounds so dinky sometimes. I'm considering keeping the amp for recording/practicing and eventually finding a Twin Reverb..
My point is I think 15" speakers are my favourite so I bet I would enjoying playing through a bass amp w/ 15s.

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Re: anyone else play guitar through a bass amp?

Post by jorri » Fri Feb 03, 2017 7:12 pm

I've recorded with an Ampeg b200r and a Wem head/stack which i can't remember the name of. Those flip-tops (of which there's probably better than the b200r but trying it with a portaflex wasn't doing it for me), and those various other 70s bass amps are great. The time when bass amps kinda lacked bottom end to really meet modern bass standards is what works sometimes for guitar. Of course there's the Bassman's too, but if Sunn is out of your range then I doubt that's reachable. Really think Wem is one to check out if its affordable, occasionally you can still find them affordably. And if you think Sunn is needed for "teh doom o)))" well last time i saw Earth Dylan used a Wem Dominator, and the bass player was using two HH IC100- not even bass amps.

There have been a couple of practices with an Ashdown head+cab. They SUCK with bass, which is why they work on guitar. They also have a sub generator which is pretty useful.

Mind you, one band that is a no-bass band, YYYs don't use bass amps and still get a deep sound. Partly detuning, but just whatever amps they use I cannot remember...but it was more than one. Sometimes its the power and the ability to 'cross-over' the low frequencies without having one amp do it all that works well.

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Re: anyone else play guitar through a bass amp?

Post by countertext » Fri Feb 03, 2017 8:39 pm

Last time I saw Andy Moor (The Ex) play, he was running a Squier Tele through a silverface Twin and an SVT with a 4x10. It was massive and I would love to run a rig like that sometime. It kinda reminded me of Albini's tone last time I saw Shellac (very thumpy) only heavier, but as I don't remember what Albini's rig was, I can't guess specifically why they would have sounded similar.

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Re: anyone else play guitar through a bass amp?

Post by noisepunk » Sat Feb 04, 2017 1:50 am

I do this when I'm recording occasionally, and have messed with it for fun before. I've also played guitar through just a bass amp which can sound pretty neat with the right amp and guitar.

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Re: anyone else play guitar through a bass amp?

Post by marqueemoon » Mon Feb 06, 2017 4:53 pm

A 66 Bassman head was my main amp for many years. It sounds fantastic loud, particularly with humbuckers. I've moved to lower wattage amps over the years for guitar though. Silverface Bassman heads are still some of the better vintage amp values out there.

I've always wanted to try a Musicmaster Bass for guitar. Messed with them in shops, but never at a stage-like volume. Lots of guitar players using Traynor YBA-1s too.

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Re: anyone else play guitar through a bass amp?

Post by N0_Camping4U » Mon Feb 06, 2017 6:53 pm

I mainly play bass in the band that I'm in, but I also play guitar when we're messing around or to demo songs I've written to show the guitarist - I typically bring my P/J bass, Jaguar, and my reverb tank. My Fender Rumble.. 150? is always at the rehearsal place. I put the reverb through the bass amp and when I play the Jaguar through the amp it sounds fantastic, honestly.

I just don't feel like bringing my 61 showman head clone + cabinet with JBL's everytime I want to demo some songs.
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Re: anyone else play guitar through a bass amp?

Post by 017493816 » Mon Feb 06, 2017 7:04 pm

marqueemoon wrote:I've always wanted to try a Musicmaster Bass for guitar. Messed with them in shops, but never at a stage-like volume.
That's definitely where mine seems to shine. The low volume sound is nice, but the overdrive you can squeeze from it at about "8" with a boost is just absolutely beautiful. Very silversun pickups, maybe?

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Re: anyone else play guitar through a bass amp?

Post by soggy mittens » Mon Feb 06, 2017 8:02 pm

did this in an old band when we didn't have a bassist, fat sound but preferred having a bassist x)
plus playing live sound engineers never mic'd the bass cab even when I asked, psshh.
If OSG has tort me anything...

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Re: anyone else play guitar through a bass amp?

Post by daemon » Tue Feb 07, 2017 9:27 am

I played through both an Alamo Bass amp as well as a Bassman ten and they both sounded great. It was helpful playing as a two piece to have some more bottom to it.

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Re: anyone else play guitar through a bass amp?

Post by Patrick » Thu Feb 09, 2017 11:36 am

Altar wrote:I play through a 70s Fender musicmaster bass amp - but that's not a lot in the way of loud or low end. Great amp though, falls somewhere between a princeton and a supro, perhaps? And the fact that I can run a bass through it makes it that much more useful to me.
I also use a Musicmaster Bass amp for guitar. Actually, I don't think I've ever played bass through it.
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