RyMed Posted April 30, 2008 Share Posted April 30, 2008 Yo people. I've just got myself a sweet sounding 1976 Marshall JMP 100 watt head (guitar), I've heard someone use one of these amps for bass through an AMPEG 8x10, sounded great. My question is, is this advisable and would it be possible to do any damage whatsoever to the amp or cab for that matter thrashing my bass through it? (the amp and cabs ohmage will be matched at 4 ohm by the way) Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOD2 Posted April 30, 2008 Share Posted April 30, 2008 Shouldn't cause any damage. Follow the same advice that you should use with ANY amp/cab setup and use your ears to judge if everything is ok. i.e. Start with the volume relatively low, bring up the volume slowly and listen. If you start to hear any unexpected distortion then simply back-off a little. I used a 50 Watt JCM800 guitar head and 4x12 cab for over a year at practices and gigs before getting a "proper" bass rig and then handing the amp and cab over to our guitarist. No damage whatsoever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigjohn Posted April 30, 2008 Share Posted April 30, 2008 [quote name='BOD2' post='188735' date='Apr 30 2008, 11:58 AM']Shouldn't cause any damage. Follow the same advice that you should use with ANY amp/cab setup and use your ears to judge if everything is ok. i.e. Start with the volume relatively low, bring up the volume slowly and listen. If you start to hear any unexpected distortion then simply back-off a little. I used a 50 Watt JCM800 guitar head and 4x12 cab for over a year at practices and gigs before getting a "proper" bass rig and then handing the amp and cab over to our guitarist. No damage whatsoever.[/quote] Yeah - I used to borrow a 100w Hiwatt guitar amp. Was fantastic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vegas_hooker Posted April 30, 2008 Share Posted April 30, 2008 Crank it!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoo Posted April 30, 2008 Share Posted April 30, 2008 [quote name='bigjohn' post='188748' date='Apr 30 2008, 12:19 PM']Yeah - I used to borrow a 100w Hiwatt guitar amp. Was fantastic.[/quote] I had one of them back when I was a guitard only type - found it in the local freeads for not much at all. Sounded awesome but this was in the days before the internet so I had no idea what it was worth. Sold it to our bands bass player for what I paid for it when I decided to get a rack setup instead. Biggest mistake I ever made... never played through anything since that sounded so good, and it'd cost me ten times as much to get another one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gypsymoth Posted April 30, 2008 Share Posted April 30, 2008 the amp is absolutely safe - there is nothing that a bass does to it that a guitar doesn't do. the cab is designed for a lot more watts than the amp puts out - it is safer than if you had the ampeg. enjoy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaggy Posted April 30, 2008 Share Posted April 30, 2008 As used by JJ Burnel early on in the Stranglers, I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevebasshead Posted April 30, 2008 Share Posted April 30, 2008 You'll be fine, it's nigh on impossible to actually damage electronic equipment by playing a bass through them, the only thing you might notice is a loss in some bottom end because guitar amps/pedals etc. sometimes aren't designed to pass all the bottom frequencies through, 'cos they're not necessarily needed for guitar. It doesn't mean you won't like the end results, it's just something to be aware of. It's only mechanical devices such as speaker cones that need care. You're using a bass cab so you're fine, whereas a guitar cab would suffer at prolonged high volumes. This is because bass frequencies need the cones to move back and forth by a huge amount compared to guitar speakers and either the rubber surround linking the outer edge of the cone to the frame will fail or the voice coil will overheat and fail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mxm Posted April 30, 2008 Share Posted April 30, 2008 Hi, I used to use an allegedly ex-Motorhead 1978 JMP100 guitar head, through a black-face early 80's, 8ohm if i recall, Fender 2x15 and it sounded sweet (until the speakers went kaput - age and all that...) ! Go for it ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richy316 Posted April 30, 2008 Share Posted April 30, 2008 Im pretty sure Gareth Davies (funeral for a friend) is using one for recording the new album, says it adds a bit of grit to the sound? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaggy Posted May 2, 2008 Share Posted May 2, 2008 [quote name='mxm' post='189135' date='Apr 30 2008, 07:17 PM']Hi, I used to use an allegedly ex-Motorhead 1978 JMP100 guitar head[/quote] Blimey, was there anything left of it? That's like buying a used car that's been driven at top speed ten times round the earth by the Stig! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mxm Posted May 3, 2008 Share Posted May 3, 2008 [quote name='Shaggy' post='190262' date='May 2 2008, 08:40 AM'] Blimey, was there anything left of it? That's like buying a used car that's been driven at top speed ten times round the earth by the Stig![/quote] Was in pretty good nick to be fair - probably one of many that passed through the man's hands !!! Tone-wise had great presence through a 2x15 - i do miss it ! Anyone seen the new ltd ed Marshall Lemmy heads ??!!! - [url="http://www.marshallamps.com/product.asp?productCode=1992LEM&pageType=OVERVIEW"]lemmy head[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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