does playing a bass on a guitar amp hurt the amp?
Anthropoid76
Posts: 83
someone told me this and i wanted to know if it was true...
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http://www.wishlistfoundation.org
Oh my, they dropped the leash.
Morgan Freeman/Clint Eastwood 08' for President!
"Make our day"
ive been told that it will fuck up the amp, but then again, im a drummer
oh, it's fucked up. you heard it. :(
my bass or yours?
Guitar amps are built for the specific frequency range a guitar puts out, and a bass lies in a completely different frequency spectrum. The two ways it will hurt the amp:
1. Blown speakers. By trying to get super-low frequencies out of speakers not designed for it, you could damage the voice-coil or cone.
2. Blown power amp/transformer. Since the guitar amp doesn't push a lot of low-end, you turn the amp up, and keep playing... bass-frequencies draw a lot more juice from the power amp and transformer than mid- and high-frequencies do, so it's easy to ask the amp to do more than it was designed to do.
Was this amp a tube amp or solid-state amp?
forgive me for being ignorant but i really dont know what a tube amp is or looks like. i assume it's solid state, not because i know what it is, but because i dont think it's a tube. i bought it from a neighbor used bout 5 years ago. could you please tell me what the two are? thanks
I'd also assume that your amp is a solid state. The difference between the two is usually pretty noticeable. Tube amps get their power via a number of smaller tubes in the preamp (EQ and overdrive stage) and then a few (1,2,4,6 etc...) larger tubes in the power amp section (where the original signal is made louder, with some character added in the process). Solid state amps use a series of transistors, resistors, capacitors, etc... to "shape" the sound and amplify it. Basically, most solid states try to emulate a tube amp.
Most people prefer tube amps because they have a warmth and responsiveness that has not been matched be solid states. For the beginner though, there is nothing wrong with a solid state amp, and they are usually more reliable than tube amps as a whole.
I'm rambling now......but I hope that helped. Good Luck!
Yeah... that could be it. You're playing the wrong chords.
Try using some different chords and see what happens.
If that doesn't work, check the cords.
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I think LemonYellowSun gave a pretty good run-down on the difference. Here's the quickest and easiest way to see...
Does it have any of these in the back:
http://www.turnstyle.com/incubator/customers/nsc/images/12ax7lp_128.jpg
http://www.turnstyle.com/incubator/customers/nsc/images/6l6wxt+.jpg
http://www.turnstyle.com/incubator/customers/nsc/images/kt88.jpg
Those thingies are amplifier tubes, just metal filaments in vacuum-sealed glass tubes.
What make/model amp is it?
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Oh my, they dropped the leash.
Morgan Freeman/Clint Eastwood 08' for President!
"Make our day"
I am a man, I am advanced.....I am the first man to borrow Stone's leather pants!
Must....
Resist....
Urge....
To....
Point....
Out....
Mistake....
Chord: a grouping of notes which, when played together, have a distinct and musical quality in harmony.
Cord: a long thin strand of material, like rope or electrical conductor. AKA cable.
Another easy pair....
Barre: a type of guitar chord where the index finger holds (barres) across the entire fretboard.
Bar: place where I go to hear bad cover bands play songs with barre chords. And strangle said band with guitar cords.
I can't help but feel like there was one more... eh, forget it...
Yup
You might not have blown the amp, though. It might be a fuse or a loose connection somewhere if you were cranking it up. The vibration from the bass might have done something. If you had blown the speaker it probably would at least be making noise like a "flibbidy flobbidy blug blug blug":D
(Been there, done that a bunch times even with a guitar)
You would have to crank the bass for a long time to blow out the power parts of the amp. Usually the speaker goes first.
If it's just static and you wiggle the cord and tap on the connections at the amp or guitar, it's probably the cord or the jack connections.
Just my 2 cents.:)
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*lol* that's why i love this guy.....:D
That's why I asked if it's tube or transistor. Tube amps tend to be a tad better at absorbing abuse. Hell, the biggest difference between old tube guitar amps and tube bass amps, is that the bass amps had more wattage. That's why the Bassman is one of the most revered guitar amps (and harmonica amps) of all time. Hell, when I'm jamming in the bedroom, I'll plug my P-Bass into my Vibro Champ (albeit at LOW volumes for the speaker). Solid state amps, on the other hand, can't quite absorb that kind of thrashing, especially newer cheaper stuff. A friend of mine blew an early '90's Crate guitar combo by playing bass through it, toasted the speaker voice coil. The first amp I ever used for bass was a transistor Peavey 4-channel PA head from the 70's, and it worked great through a Peavey 1x12" Sheffield cabinet.
Man, I miss that cab... loved that little Sheffield...
i was gonna take it to guitar center, but i was worried it might cost a lot... how did your friend fix it? how much did it cost? thanks
With that amp, it was just time to toss it. Buh-bye.
I'd call a local guitar store (not a chain, a mom-and-pop store) and see if they can recommend a good amp tech.