Can I play a electric guitar through a bass amplifier?












5















I am a bassist and I am looking for an electric guitar, but I don’t want to buy another amplifier. Can I play the guitar through the bass amplifier?










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    5















    I am a bassist and I am looking for an electric guitar, but I don’t want to buy another amplifier. Can I play the guitar through the bass amplifier?










    share|improve this question



























      5












      5








      5








      I am a bassist and I am looking for an electric guitar, but I don’t want to buy another amplifier. Can I play the guitar through the bass amplifier?










      share|improve this question
















      I am a bassist and I am looking for an electric guitar, but I don’t want to buy another amplifier. Can I play the guitar through the bass amplifier?







      guitar amplifiers bass-guitar






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      edited Apr 8 at 1:48









      Peter Mortensen

      1506




      1506










      asked Apr 6 at 18:52









      Kristin LarocqueKristin Larocque

      261




      261






















          4 Answers
          4






          active

          oldest

          votes


















          6














          Bass amps have been used by guitarists for many decades. In some instances, they work better for guitarists than other amps designed for guitars, especially the speakers. If you are going to use effects pedals, they will do just fine, but if you're looking for something that will overdrive and distort, bass amps generally aren't designed with that in mind. If your bass amp is a valve amp, it'll do the job really well. If it is a transistor amp, it'll still work well enough, but you won't really be able to overdrive it as much as you would an amp designed for guitar.






          share|improve this answer





















          • 2





            Normally I see the word “tranny” used to mean “transformer”, not “transistor”. Of course tubes amps almost always have transformers and solid state amps almost never do.

            – Todd Wilcox
            Apr 6 at 19:41






          • 2





            In this situation tranny is meant as transistor. All amps will have transformers regardless.

            – Tim
            Apr 6 at 20:35






          • 2





            False. I’m not aware of a solid state amp, including all digital modeling designs and PA amps, in production today that has an output transformer. That’s one of the main reasons for having a solid state design in the first place. BJT and I believe MOSFET power stages can be built with arbitrarily low output impedances, so there’s no need for a heavy, expensive output transformer. And output transformers have large potential impact on the sound. The presence of an output transformer is one of main differences between tube and solid state designs that affects the sound.

            – Todd Wilcox
            Apr 6 at 21:36













          • A 'tranny amp' has always been one 'not made with valves, but transistors', in the broadest terms. From the early 70's the cry was always 'ooh, don't get a tranny amp, they don't sound as good'. The 2nd part has, of course, changed over the years, as attested by my remarkable Dynacord BS412 [not a valve in sight but I'd defy anyone to know that from the sound].

            – Tetsujin
            Apr 7 at 7:51



















          4














          Yes. But the whole point of a guitar amp is to NOT be 'accurate' but to distort in interesting ways. This aspect may be missing.






          share|improve this answer































            2














            The Fender Bassman has famously been many guitarists' amp of choice over the years. A bass amp still needs to produce all the same higher frequencies as a guitar amp, because it's the higher frequencies which give you the "attack" of a note. So there's no problems with the speaker itself.



            As LaurencePayne said already, guitar and bass amps are not intended to have clean, flat responses like a PA amplifier and speaker. Amplifiers are deliberately run into saturation or distortion of various kinds. Speakers are not designed for flat responses. And speaker cabs are pretty much without exception constructed in a shoddy way which would horrify a PA speaker designer, with insufficient bracing all round and no damping or box tuning. But all this is why a guitar or bass amp has a distinct "sound" and a good PA speaker does not.



            Where you are likely to have issues though might be with the EQ. A good bass amp will have 5-band EQ, and you can generally make that work. Others may only have 3-band EQ though, or perhaps even just a "tone" control. On a bass amp, that'll be set up for the kind of frequency range which is most applicable for a bass, and it won't necessarily work so well for a guitar. If there are other FX on the amp, they may also be tuned more for a bass.



            The obvious solution in that case is to get yourself a pedalboard for the guitar. This works best if your amp has an FX loop, because then you can make best use of the amp's preamp, but otherwise an FX unit or pedalboard which includes an overdrive on the way in will still work fine.






            share|improve this answer
























            • ... and the entire Marshall line is based on the Fender Bassman.

              – user207421
              Apr 7 at 4:43











            • @user207421 ... which I'm sure they strenuously deny. I suspect the official line is "strongly influenced by". ;)

              – Graham
              Apr 7 at 11:59











            • They don't deny it at all. It's well known. A few minor changes, but same thing really.

              – user207421
              Apr 8 at 8:51



















            1














            The simple answer is of course you can. You won't break the thing. But whether you get a satisfying sound out of it - it really depends of what type of guitar sound you want to use.



            It also depends on what type of bass amp you have. I'd argue that since the Fender Bassman's times when guitar and bass amps design were quite similar we had a substantial evolution and divergence of the two. And while Fender Bassman is definitely a guitar friendly animal, modern amps like Gallien Kruger, SWR or Markbass might be less so.



            Guitar amps are designed for organic multistage distortion. Some of the most iconic rock sounds involve compound effect of preamp distorition, power amp clipping, transformer saturation and the way a really thin almost paper like speaker membranes of guitar amps color the sound.



            One practical solution would be to use the bass amp along with some sort of guitar modelling solution to get a variety of decent sounds.






            share|improve this answer
























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              4 Answers
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              4 Answers
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              active

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              active

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              votes






              active

              oldest

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              6














              Bass amps have been used by guitarists for many decades. In some instances, they work better for guitarists than other amps designed for guitars, especially the speakers. If you are going to use effects pedals, they will do just fine, but if you're looking for something that will overdrive and distort, bass amps generally aren't designed with that in mind. If your bass amp is a valve amp, it'll do the job really well. If it is a transistor amp, it'll still work well enough, but you won't really be able to overdrive it as much as you would an amp designed for guitar.






              share|improve this answer





















              • 2





                Normally I see the word “tranny” used to mean “transformer”, not “transistor”. Of course tubes amps almost always have transformers and solid state amps almost never do.

                – Todd Wilcox
                Apr 6 at 19:41






              • 2





                In this situation tranny is meant as transistor. All amps will have transformers regardless.

                – Tim
                Apr 6 at 20:35






              • 2





                False. I’m not aware of a solid state amp, including all digital modeling designs and PA amps, in production today that has an output transformer. That’s one of the main reasons for having a solid state design in the first place. BJT and I believe MOSFET power stages can be built with arbitrarily low output impedances, so there’s no need for a heavy, expensive output transformer. And output transformers have large potential impact on the sound. The presence of an output transformer is one of main differences between tube and solid state designs that affects the sound.

                – Todd Wilcox
                Apr 6 at 21:36













              • A 'tranny amp' has always been one 'not made with valves, but transistors', in the broadest terms. From the early 70's the cry was always 'ooh, don't get a tranny amp, they don't sound as good'. The 2nd part has, of course, changed over the years, as attested by my remarkable Dynacord BS412 [not a valve in sight but I'd defy anyone to know that from the sound].

                – Tetsujin
                Apr 7 at 7:51
















              6














              Bass amps have been used by guitarists for many decades. In some instances, they work better for guitarists than other amps designed for guitars, especially the speakers. If you are going to use effects pedals, they will do just fine, but if you're looking for something that will overdrive and distort, bass amps generally aren't designed with that in mind. If your bass amp is a valve amp, it'll do the job really well. If it is a transistor amp, it'll still work well enough, but you won't really be able to overdrive it as much as you would an amp designed for guitar.






              share|improve this answer





















              • 2





                Normally I see the word “tranny” used to mean “transformer”, not “transistor”. Of course tubes amps almost always have transformers and solid state amps almost never do.

                – Todd Wilcox
                Apr 6 at 19:41






              • 2





                In this situation tranny is meant as transistor. All amps will have transformers regardless.

                – Tim
                Apr 6 at 20:35






              • 2





                False. I’m not aware of a solid state amp, including all digital modeling designs and PA amps, in production today that has an output transformer. That’s one of the main reasons for having a solid state design in the first place. BJT and I believe MOSFET power stages can be built with arbitrarily low output impedances, so there’s no need for a heavy, expensive output transformer. And output transformers have large potential impact on the sound. The presence of an output transformer is one of main differences between tube and solid state designs that affects the sound.

                – Todd Wilcox
                Apr 6 at 21:36













              • A 'tranny amp' has always been one 'not made with valves, but transistors', in the broadest terms. From the early 70's the cry was always 'ooh, don't get a tranny amp, they don't sound as good'. The 2nd part has, of course, changed over the years, as attested by my remarkable Dynacord BS412 [not a valve in sight but I'd defy anyone to know that from the sound].

                – Tetsujin
                Apr 7 at 7:51














              6












              6








              6







              Bass amps have been used by guitarists for many decades. In some instances, they work better for guitarists than other amps designed for guitars, especially the speakers. If you are going to use effects pedals, they will do just fine, but if you're looking for something that will overdrive and distort, bass amps generally aren't designed with that in mind. If your bass amp is a valve amp, it'll do the job really well. If it is a transistor amp, it'll still work well enough, but you won't really be able to overdrive it as much as you would an amp designed for guitar.






              share|improve this answer















              Bass amps have been used by guitarists for many decades. In some instances, they work better for guitarists than other amps designed for guitars, especially the speakers. If you are going to use effects pedals, they will do just fine, but if you're looking for something that will overdrive and distort, bass amps generally aren't designed with that in mind. If your bass amp is a valve amp, it'll do the job really well. If it is a transistor amp, it'll still work well enough, but you won't really be able to overdrive it as much as you would an amp designed for guitar.







              share|improve this answer














              share|improve this answer



              share|improve this answer








              edited Apr 6 at 21:43









              Your Uncle Bob

              1,168317




              1,168317










              answered Apr 6 at 19:25









              TimTim

              106k10107269




              106k10107269








              • 2





                Normally I see the word “tranny” used to mean “transformer”, not “transistor”. Of course tubes amps almost always have transformers and solid state amps almost never do.

                – Todd Wilcox
                Apr 6 at 19:41






              • 2





                In this situation tranny is meant as transistor. All amps will have transformers regardless.

                – Tim
                Apr 6 at 20:35






              • 2





                False. I’m not aware of a solid state amp, including all digital modeling designs and PA amps, in production today that has an output transformer. That’s one of the main reasons for having a solid state design in the first place. BJT and I believe MOSFET power stages can be built with arbitrarily low output impedances, so there’s no need for a heavy, expensive output transformer. And output transformers have large potential impact on the sound. The presence of an output transformer is one of main differences between tube and solid state designs that affects the sound.

                – Todd Wilcox
                Apr 6 at 21:36













              • A 'tranny amp' has always been one 'not made with valves, but transistors', in the broadest terms. From the early 70's the cry was always 'ooh, don't get a tranny amp, they don't sound as good'. The 2nd part has, of course, changed over the years, as attested by my remarkable Dynacord BS412 [not a valve in sight but I'd defy anyone to know that from the sound].

                – Tetsujin
                Apr 7 at 7:51














              • 2





                Normally I see the word “tranny” used to mean “transformer”, not “transistor”. Of course tubes amps almost always have transformers and solid state amps almost never do.

                – Todd Wilcox
                Apr 6 at 19:41






              • 2





                In this situation tranny is meant as transistor. All amps will have transformers regardless.

                – Tim
                Apr 6 at 20:35






              • 2





                False. I’m not aware of a solid state amp, including all digital modeling designs and PA amps, in production today that has an output transformer. That’s one of the main reasons for having a solid state design in the first place. BJT and I believe MOSFET power stages can be built with arbitrarily low output impedances, so there’s no need for a heavy, expensive output transformer. And output transformers have large potential impact on the sound. The presence of an output transformer is one of main differences between tube and solid state designs that affects the sound.

                – Todd Wilcox
                Apr 6 at 21:36













              • A 'tranny amp' has always been one 'not made with valves, but transistors', in the broadest terms. From the early 70's the cry was always 'ooh, don't get a tranny amp, they don't sound as good'. The 2nd part has, of course, changed over the years, as attested by my remarkable Dynacord BS412 [not a valve in sight but I'd defy anyone to know that from the sound].

                – Tetsujin
                Apr 7 at 7:51








              2




              2





              Normally I see the word “tranny” used to mean “transformer”, not “transistor”. Of course tubes amps almost always have transformers and solid state amps almost never do.

              – Todd Wilcox
              Apr 6 at 19:41





              Normally I see the word “tranny” used to mean “transformer”, not “transistor”. Of course tubes amps almost always have transformers and solid state amps almost never do.

              – Todd Wilcox
              Apr 6 at 19:41




              2




              2





              In this situation tranny is meant as transistor. All amps will have transformers regardless.

              – Tim
              Apr 6 at 20:35





              In this situation tranny is meant as transistor. All amps will have transformers regardless.

              – Tim
              Apr 6 at 20:35




              2




              2





              False. I’m not aware of a solid state amp, including all digital modeling designs and PA amps, in production today that has an output transformer. That’s one of the main reasons for having a solid state design in the first place. BJT and I believe MOSFET power stages can be built with arbitrarily low output impedances, so there’s no need for a heavy, expensive output transformer. And output transformers have large potential impact on the sound. The presence of an output transformer is one of main differences between tube and solid state designs that affects the sound.

              – Todd Wilcox
              Apr 6 at 21:36







              False. I’m not aware of a solid state amp, including all digital modeling designs and PA amps, in production today that has an output transformer. That’s one of the main reasons for having a solid state design in the first place. BJT and I believe MOSFET power stages can be built with arbitrarily low output impedances, so there’s no need for a heavy, expensive output transformer. And output transformers have large potential impact on the sound. The presence of an output transformer is one of main differences between tube and solid state designs that affects the sound.

              – Todd Wilcox
              Apr 6 at 21:36















              A 'tranny amp' has always been one 'not made with valves, but transistors', in the broadest terms. From the early 70's the cry was always 'ooh, don't get a tranny amp, they don't sound as good'. The 2nd part has, of course, changed over the years, as attested by my remarkable Dynacord BS412 [not a valve in sight but I'd defy anyone to know that from the sound].

              – Tetsujin
              Apr 7 at 7:51





              A 'tranny amp' has always been one 'not made with valves, but transistors', in the broadest terms. From the early 70's the cry was always 'ooh, don't get a tranny amp, they don't sound as good'. The 2nd part has, of course, changed over the years, as attested by my remarkable Dynacord BS412 [not a valve in sight but I'd defy anyone to know that from the sound].

              – Tetsujin
              Apr 7 at 7:51











              4














              Yes. But the whole point of a guitar amp is to NOT be 'accurate' but to distort in interesting ways. This aspect may be missing.






              share|improve this answer




























                4














                Yes. But the whole point of a guitar amp is to NOT be 'accurate' but to distort in interesting ways. This aspect may be missing.






                share|improve this answer


























                  4












                  4








                  4







                  Yes. But the whole point of a guitar amp is to NOT be 'accurate' but to distort in interesting ways. This aspect may be missing.






                  share|improve this answer













                  Yes. But the whole point of a guitar amp is to NOT be 'accurate' but to distort in interesting ways. This aspect may be missing.







                  share|improve this answer












                  share|improve this answer



                  share|improve this answer










                  answered Apr 6 at 18:57









                  Laurence PayneLaurence Payne

                  37.8k1872




                  37.8k1872























                      2














                      The Fender Bassman has famously been many guitarists' amp of choice over the years. A bass amp still needs to produce all the same higher frequencies as a guitar amp, because it's the higher frequencies which give you the "attack" of a note. So there's no problems with the speaker itself.



                      As LaurencePayne said already, guitar and bass amps are not intended to have clean, flat responses like a PA amplifier and speaker. Amplifiers are deliberately run into saturation or distortion of various kinds. Speakers are not designed for flat responses. And speaker cabs are pretty much without exception constructed in a shoddy way which would horrify a PA speaker designer, with insufficient bracing all round and no damping or box tuning. But all this is why a guitar or bass amp has a distinct "sound" and a good PA speaker does not.



                      Where you are likely to have issues though might be with the EQ. A good bass amp will have 5-band EQ, and you can generally make that work. Others may only have 3-band EQ though, or perhaps even just a "tone" control. On a bass amp, that'll be set up for the kind of frequency range which is most applicable for a bass, and it won't necessarily work so well for a guitar. If there are other FX on the amp, they may also be tuned more for a bass.



                      The obvious solution in that case is to get yourself a pedalboard for the guitar. This works best if your amp has an FX loop, because then you can make best use of the amp's preamp, but otherwise an FX unit or pedalboard which includes an overdrive on the way in will still work fine.






                      share|improve this answer
























                      • ... and the entire Marshall line is based on the Fender Bassman.

                        – user207421
                        Apr 7 at 4:43











                      • @user207421 ... which I'm sure they strenuously deny. I suspect the official line is "strongly influenced by". ;)

                        – Graham
                        Apr 7 at 11:59











                      • They don't deny it at all. It's well known. A few minor changes, but same thing really.

                        – user207421
                        Apr 8 at 8:51
















                      2














                      The Fender Bassman has famously been many guitarists' amp of choice over the years. A bass amp still needs to produce all the same higher frequencies as a guitar amp, because it's the higher frequencies which give you the "attack" of a note. So there's no problems with the speaker itself.



                      As LaurencePayne said already, guitar and bass amps are not intended to have clean, flat responses like a PA amplifier and speaker. Amplifiers are deliberately run into saturation or distortion of various kinds. Speakers are not designed for flat responses. And speaker cabs are pretty much without exception constructed in a shoddy way which would horrify a PA speaker designer, with insufficient bracing all round and no damping or box tuning. But all this is why a guitar or bass amp has a distinct "sound" and a good PA speaker does not.



                      Where you are likely to have issues though might be with the EQ. A good bass amp will have 5-band EQ, and you can generally make that work. Others may only have 3-band EQ though, or perhaps even just a "tone" control. On a bass amp, that'll be set up for the kind of frequency range which is most applicable for a bass, and it won't necessarily work so well for a guitar. If there are other FX on the amp, they may also be tuned more for a bass.



                      The obvious solution in that case is to get yourself a pedalboard for the guitar. This works best if your amp has an FX loop, because then you can make best use of the amp's preamp, but otherwise an FX unit or pedalboard which includes an overdrive on the way in will still work fine.






                      share|improve this answer
























                      • ... and the entire Marshall line is based on the Fender Bassman.

                        – user207421
                        Apr 7 at 4:43











                      • @user207421 ... which I'm sure they strenuously deny. I suspect the official line is "strongly influenced by". ;)

                        – Graham
                        Apr 7 at 11:59











                      • They don't deny it at all. It's well known. A few minor changes, but same thing really.

                        – user207421
                        Apr 8 at 8:51














                      2












                      2








                      2







                      The Fender Bassman has famously been many guitarists' amp of choice over the years. A bass amp still needs to produce all the same higher frequencies as a guitar amp, because it's the higher frequencies which give you the "attack" of a note. So there's no problems with the speaker itself.



                      As LaurencePayne said already, guitar and bass amps are not intended to have clean, flat responses like a PA amplifier and speaker. Amplifiers are deliberately run into saturation or distortion of various kinds. Speakers are not designed for flat responses. And speaker cabs are pretty much without exception constructed in a shoddy way which would horrify a PA speaker designer, with insufficient bracing all round and no damping or box tuning. But all this is why a guitar or bass amp has a distinct "sound" and a good PA speaker does not.



                      Where you are likely to have issues though might be with the EQ. A good bass amp will have 5-band EQ, and you can generally make that work. Others may only have 3-band EQ though, or perhaps even just a "tone" control. On a bass amp, that'll be set up for the kind of frequency range which is most applicable for a bass, and it won't necessarily work so well for a guitar. If there are other FX on the amp, they may also be tuned more for a bass.



                      The obvious solution in that case is to get yourself a pedalboard for the guitar. This works best if your amp has an FX loop, because then you can make best use of the amp's preamp, but otherwise an FX unit or pedalboard which includes an overdrive on the way in will still work fine.






                      share|improve this answer













                      The Fender Bassman has famously been many guitarists' amp of choice over the years. A bass amp still needs to produce all the same higher frequencies as a guitar amp, because it's the higher frequencies which give you the "attack" of a note. So there's no problems with the speaker itself.



                      As LaurencePayne said already, guitar and bass amps are not intended to have clean, flat responses like a PA amplifier and speaker. Amplifiers are deliberately run into saturation or distortion of various kinds. Speakers are not designed for flat responses. And speaker cabs are pretty much without exception constructed in a shoddy way which would horrify a PA speaker designer, with insufficient bracing all round and no damping or box tuning. But all this is why a guitar or bass amp has a distinct "sound" and a good PA speaker does not.



                      Where you are likely to have issues though might be with the EQ. A good bass amp will have 5-band EQ, and you can generally make that work. Others may only have 3-band EQ though, or perhaps even just a "tone" control. On a bass amp, that'll be set up for the kind of frequency range which is most applicable for a bass, and it won't necessarily work so well for a guitar. If there are other FX on the amp, they may also be tuned more for a bass.



                      The obvious solution in that case is to get yourself a pedalboard for the guitar. This works best if your amp has an FX loop, because then you can make best use of the amp's preamp, but otherwise an FX unit or pedalboard which includes an overdrive on the way in will still work fine.







                      share|improve this answer












                      share|improve this answer



                      share|improve this answer










                      answered Apr 6 at 21:13









                      GrahamGraham

                      1,815413




                      1,815413













                      • ... and the entire Marshall line is based on the Fender Bassman.

                        – user207421
                        Apr 7 at 4:43











                      • @user207421 ... which I'm sure they strenuously deny. I suspect the official line is "strongly influenced by". ;)

                        – Graham
                        Apr 7 at 11:59











                      • They don't deny it at all. It's well known. A few minor changes, but same thing really.

                        – user207421
                        Apr 8 at 8:51



















                      • ... and the entire Marshall line is based on the Fender Bassman.

                        – user207421
                        Apr 7 at 4:43











                      • @user207421 ... which I'm sure they strenuously deny. I suspect the official line is "strongly influenced by". ;)

                        – Graham
                        Apr 7 at 11:59











                      • They don't deny it at all. It's well known. A few minor changes, but same thing really.

                        – user207421
                        Apr 8 at 8:51

















                      ... and the entire Marshall line is based on the Fender Bassman.

                      – user207421
                      Apr 7 at 4:43





                      ... and the entire Marshall line is based on the Fender Bassman.

                      – user207421
                      Apr 7 at 4:43













                      @user207421 ... which I'm sure they strenuously deny. I suspect the official line is "strongly influenced by". ;)

                      – Graham
                      Apr 7 at 11:59





                      @user207421 ... which I'm sure they strenuously deny. I suspect the official line is "strongly influenced by". ;)

                      – Graham
                      Apr 7 at 11:59













                      They don't deny it at all. It's well known. A few minor changes, but same thing really.

                      – user207421
                      Apr 8 at 8:51





                      They don't deny it at all. It's well known. A few minor changes, but same thing really.

                      – user207421
                      Apr 8 at 8:51











                      1














                      The simple answer is of course you can. You won't break the thing. But whether you get a satisfying sound out of it - it really depends of what type of guitar sound you want to use.



                      It also depends on what type of bass amp you have. I'd argue that since the Fender Bassman's times when guitar and bass amps design were quite similar we had a substantial evolution and divergence of the two. And while Fender Bassman is definitely a guitar friendly animal, modern amps like Gallien Kruger, SWR or Markbass might be less so.



                      Guitar amps are designed for organic multistage distortion. Some of the most iconic rock sounds involve compound effect of preamp distorition, power amp clipping, transformer saturation and the way a really thin almost paper like speaker membranes of guitar amps color the sound.



                      One practical solution would be to use the bass amp along with some sort of guitar modelling solution to get a variety of decent sounds.






                      share|improve this answer




























                        1














                        The simple answer is of course you can. You won't break the thing. But whether you get a satisfying sound out of it - it really depends of what type of guitar sound you want to use.



                        It also depends on what type of bass amp you have. I'd argue that since the Fender Bassman's times when guitar and bass amps design were quite similar we had a substantial evolution and divergence of the two. And while Fender Bassman is definitely a guitar friendly animal, modern amps like Gallien Kruger, SWR or Markbass might be less so.



                        Guitar amps are designed for organic multistage distortion. Some of the most iconic rock sounds involve compound effect of preamp distorition, power amp clipping, transformer saturation and the way a really thin almost paper like speaker membranes of guitar amps color the sound.



                        One practical solution would be to use the bass amp along with some sort of guitar modelling solution to get a variety of decent sounds.






                        share|improve this answer


























                          1












                          1








                          1







                          The simple answer is of course you can. You won't break the thing. But whether you get a satisfying sound out of it - it really depends of what type of guitar sound you want to use.



                          It also depends on what type of bass amp you have. I'd argue that since the Fender Bassman's times when guitar and bass amps design were quite similar we had a substantial evolution and divergence of the two. And while Fender Bassman is definitely a guitar friendly animal, modern amps like Gallien Kruger, SWR or Markbass might be less so.



                          Guitar amps are designed for organic multistage distortion. Some of the most iconic rock sounds involve compound effect of preamp distorition, power amp clipping, transformer saturation and the way a really thin almost paper like speaker membranes of guitar amps color the sound.



                          One practical solution would be to use the bass amp along with some sort of guitar modelling solution to get a variety of decent sounds.






                          share|improve this answer













                          The simple answer is of course you can. You won't break the thing. But whether you get a satisfying sound out of it - it really depends of what type of guitar sound you want to use.



                          It also depends on what type of bass amp you have. I'd argue that since the Fender Bassman's times when guitar and bass amps design were quite similar we had a substantial evolution and divergence of the two. And while Fender Bassman is definitely a guitar friendly animal, modern amps like Gallien Kruger, SWR or Markbass might be less so.



                          Guitar amps are designed for organic multistage distortion. Some of the most iconic rock sounds involve compound effect of preamp distorition, power amp clipping, transformer saturation and the way a really thin almost paper like speaker membranes of guitar amps color the sound.



                          One practical solution would be to use the bass amp along with some sort of guitar modelling solution to get a variety of decent sounds.







                          share|improve this answer












                          share|improve this answer



                          share|improve this answer










                          answered Apr 8 at 9:17









                          Jarek.DJarek.D

                          9167




                          9167






























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