jantheman Posted May 16, 2011 Posted May 16, 2011 Guys. Just a quick question that I'm sure I'll get an answer to. Is it OK to use guitar effects with a bass. I have a small selection of effects but dont want to damage them or anything. I dont see how I could but just checking before I use them. TIA for all replies. Quote
BOD2 Posted May 16, 2011 Posted May 16, 2011 Yes - no problems at all. "Bass effects" sometimes have a different ferquency response so that they work more effectively on the lower frequency content of a bass guitar but there are no issues or problems with damaging anything by running bass into guitar FX or vice versa. Quote
topo morto Posted May 16, 2011 Posted May 16, 2011 +1 on 'won't damage'. Moving on to how they'll sound: Generally, time - based effects like reverb, chorus, delay, flange etc. are going to be usable with either instrument. When it comes to distortions, fuzzes, etc, you might find that units designed for guitar will sound a bit light at the bass end, though you can often get round that by putting them in a blender loop, or just boosting the bass afterwards, e.g. with your amp controls. Quote
thisnameistaken Posted May 16, 2011 Posted May 16, 2011 You'll also find that filters / wahs designed for guitar won't work very well on bass, because they're focused in frequency ranges that are too high. Quote
BigRedX Posted May 16, 2011 Posted May 16, 2011 The worst that can happen is they might not sound very good. Quote
webster Posted May 17, 2011 Posted May 17, 2011 I sometimes use the Zoom G2, its made for guitar but still works great for bass. You can really get creative with the sound, I found the B2 a bit limiting for me. Quote
Doddy Posted May 17, 2011 Posted May 17, 2011 Go for it,it won't hurt anything. In fact,you may find a sound that you like. Out of all the pedals I've got-which is a lot-I only have 3 or 4 that are bass specific. Quote
Wolverinebass Posted May 17, 2011 Posted May 17, 2011 They might work, maybe not. The comments about evelope filters is definitely true. I use a Digitech 2120 and that's a guitar processor. It works like a dream for bass as well, so try some stuff out. The worst that can happen is it sounds pants. Quote
Jerry_B Posted May 17, 2011 Posted May 17, 2011 I use a Boss HM-2 ('heavy metal' distortion) and it seems to handle the bassiness just fine, with a bit of tweaking. Quote
jantheman Posted May 18, 2011 Author Posted May 18, 2011 Thanks guys...I'll give it a go and see what happens. Quote
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