Jump to content
Gibson Brands Forums

The most basic amp question ever


ksdaddy

Recommended Posts

This is a question you'd expect out of someone who had just fallen to Earth and was just getting acquainted with stringed instruments. I'm embarrassed to even pose the question but here goes... What, if anything, is the difference between a guitar amp and a bass amp?

 

I love playing funk bass through an amp with reverb. I don't gig; this is just man cave stuff, so the volume doesn't come into play as much as it could I guess. I do have a Fender Rumble bass amp with 4-10s that sounds great but without the reverb it just doesn't work for me. I tend to use an old 80s Peavey KB100 (a combo amp with one 15" and tons of reverb) which is more or less a keyboard amp... which confuses me even further.

 

Is there something different in the circuitry that makes one amp a guitar amp and another a bass amp?

 

Hopefully I don't go to jail for what I'm doing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is a question you'd expect out of someone who had just fallen to Earth and was just getting acquainted with stringed instruments. I'm embarrassed to even pose the question but here goes... What, if anything, is the difference between a guitar amp and a bass amp?

 

I love playing funk bass through an amp with reverb. I don't gig; this is just man cave stuff, so the volume doesn't come into play as much as it could I guess. I do have a Fender Rumble bass amp with 4-10s that sounds great but without the reverb it just doesn't work for me. I tend to use an old 80s Peavey KB100 (a combo amp with one 15" and tons of reverb) which is more or less a keyboard amp... which confuses me even further.

 

Is there something different in the circuitry that makes one amp a guitar amp and another a bass amp?

 

Hopefully I don't go to jail for what I'm doing.

 

It's all in the range of frequencies the amp emphasizes, and it's ability to reproduce the frequencies that the instrument produces. The speakers used in bass amps are voiced lower in the frequency spectrum than guitar speakers.

 

-Ryan

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bass amps usually don't provide high-gain channels. Some bass amps with passive tone controls use filter frequencies different from guitar amps.

 

The very differences are in speakers and cabinets. Next to all modern keyboard and lots of modern bass cabinets feature tweeters and so are close to full-range - one can use them for projecting acoustic guitar tones, too (what I occasionally do).

 

Use for bass at higher volumes may damage speaker cone suspensions of many guitar cabinet and combo models. Open-back speakers may sound weak and wimpy for bass due to cancellation of lows.

 

Hope this helps.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Why not get a reverb pedal?

 

Could do that. I would be more inclined to get one if it was dumbed down. I had one a couple years ago and it had like 5,000 different reverbs. Made my head spin. I'm a Telecaster guy....the more basic the better.

 

Good points all, and it does make a bit more sense now. Given that I don't go for the high gain channel and play low and clean, it sounds like I can continue to use whatever amp sounds good to my ears in the living room but if I wanted to crank it I should go to the Rumble.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Could do that. I would be more inclined to get one if it was dumbed down. I had one a couple years ago and it had like 5,000 different reverbs. Made my head spin. I'm a Telecaster guy....the more basic the better.

 

Good points all, and it does make a bit more sense now. Given that I don't go for the high gain channel and play low and clean, it sounds like I can continue to use whatever amp sounds good to my ears in the living room but if I wanted to crank it I should go to the Rumble.

 

If you want basic, consider the TC Hall of Fame Mini. One knob, more or less reverb, like an amp. It has the Toneprint functionality, so if you want to try out a new reverb or aren't satisfied with the one onboard, you can download a new one directly to the pedal. No knob twiddling, just "More or less".

 

-Ryan

Link to comment
Share on other sites

...

Given that I don't go for the high gain channel and play low and clean, it sounds like I can continue to use whatever amp sounds good to my ears in the living room but if I wanted to crank it I should go to the Rumble.

Just that. [thumbup]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My old '60s Bassman head and cab work fine with what I - and for about 15 years off and on, for what my 28-year-younger brother played. Obviously my brother and I were playing very different concepts of guitar. Both of us got good use out of it for out styles of playing and perspectives of what we wanted and expected from it.

 

I also used the Bassman for years with various basses.

 

It's just too @#$% heavy for me at this point.

 

I also use my 40-watt Fender Rumble amp more for guitar than my basses - but one must take a bit of extra care to run the guitar (usually my Gretsch full archtop) through it, 'cuz hitting the wrong buttons in transit can screw stuff up even if you're using it for a bass. But it works quite well.

 

m

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The biggest difference I have noticed with a bass amp compared to an electric guitar amp is this: The bass amp sounds real nice playing an "acoustic guitar" through it, nice and clean with good frequency response.

 

On the other hand my bass guitar sounds quits good through my acoustic amps. Some occasions I just plug the bass into one of my acoustic amps. It seems to me the speaker and circuitry may be similar between acoustic and bass amps. But my electric guitar amps both tube and solid state don't sound so hot with a bass guitar played through them.

 

On another note my acoustic amps have several settings for reverb. Not so much on my electric amps.

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Difference in the types of amps has been covered.

 

Just a warning to all that are goofing around occasionally playing bass through your guitar amp - the speaker isn't designed for those frequencies and you can easily blow it even at lower volumes. <_<

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've heard many guitarist do. I would love to have one.

 

I have a multi-unit with a zillion models/effects in it......the only one I ever use is the '59 Bassman w a hint of TS808

 

my 2x12 Blues Jr has a bass spkr (along w/a Jensen Vintage ceramic) in it to "balance the tone.......works quite well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Didn't Jimi use a Fender Bassman at some point?...

 

P.

 

So did SRV...

 

Fender in fact reissued the '59 Fender Bassman to appeal to those disciples of those names that did...

 

They are great sounding amps and go well with guitars!

 

Bassman59LTD-large.jpg 750-Bassman59LTD_panel.jpg

 

I too actually have no idea what the difference between a Bass amp and a guitar amp is... Other than the obvious; wattage, speaker size, and as Ryan suggests the frequencies it is geared toward. I suspect this reissue has actually been re-engineered for maximum performance from an electric guitar vs a bass guitar... But that is my own speculation.

 

I've seen some nice demos on Youtube with vintage '59 bassman amps that make me want to try one badly... (It's one of the reasons I got my Line-6 DT50 212 & the Pod HD500X so I could have my choice of many of the historic amps I want to try without having to shell-out the $, which I simply don't have, to try them out...)

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kg1fEPV5dSA

 

 

I believe the amp in that vid is a vintage 1955 Fender Bassman... A real one... So it does pose the question, what is the difference?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...