Bass VI amplification

[Mighty Tom]

Simple question:

Do I need to use a bass amp for a Fender Bass VI, or can I use a guitar amp without blowing it up?

[eggwheat]

you can use either..Ive never harmed a guitar amp yet with one..

[Mighty Tom]

Interesting. I hope you're right! I'd hate to destroy my Vox.

[pullover]

I use a super reverb with my Jag Baritone and it works fine. Start out low and slowly raise the volume, you can tell when you're getting too loud and are doing damage.

[Mighty Tom]

I can? What are the signs?

[zhivago]

I'd stop if I heard the speakers farting out etc

[Mighty Tom]

Uh... I think the next step after that would be to take it in for repairs. Wouldn't the damage be pretty much permanent by that point? If I understand what you're describing correctly, the same thing happened when I decided to play my P-bass through my Peavey Ultra 60 head. Bad move on my part. Had to have the tubes replaced.

[eggwheat]

I play bass and bass vi's  through all manner of guitar heads and cabs..ive never caused any damage..I could imagine that its easily possible to damage a small poorly rated speaker with too much bass but surely you can put whtever you want through a head of any sort..I record Bass (not bass VI) usually through a 70's marshall guitar head and 4x12..I'm sure any combo worth it's salt would be able to handle bass...if the speakers fart n flap then I guess that's the sign to back off the volume.. anyway we're talking bass VI not real bass anyway..Bass VI's are not as bassy as a proper 4 string bass..

I seriously doubt playing a bass through your peavey head damaged the tubes..I do think the extra energy of the bass frequencies probablycould  push an already bad tube over the edge though.

[pullover]

Like Eggwheat said, if you hear it farting out, turn it down. The only real difference between a bass amp and a guitar amp is that guitar amps have a lower speaker rating so that they break up earlier. Too much break up with basses can blow the speaker.

Carol Kaye (of beach boys fame) played a Fender p-base through a Super Reverb.

...Carol favored a Fender Super Reverb, which had a 4x10 speaker configuration and an open back. She laughs, "I used to have to stick matchbook covers in the back so the bottom panel wouldn't rattle." Wilson would place a Shure 626 mic right up against the top-right 10" speaker.

Edit: Since bass takes a lot more power to produce its volume your not going to get the same volume level out of a bass. If you crank it too much, you're going to blow your speakers.

Another person who used guitar amps rather than bass amps

Chris Squire of Yes produced his classic bass guitar sound by playing through a guitar amplifier with its bass turned down, treble turned up, and volume turned up well into distortion; the miked guitar speaker signal was then mixed with a direct-inject (DI) signal, a technique that has been used for processing synth keyboards as well. A bass guitar can also be played through a bass amp in parallel with a distorted guitar amp by using a DI box, producing complex breakup yet well-defined lower frequencies.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guitar_amplifier

[OffYourFace]

When I finish my Bass VI i'm going to get an old Peavey Musician Mark III (w/ built-in phaser).  That's what Robert Smith uses for his Bass VI, the Disintegration sound