lead amp through bass cab, sheer folly or quick value for money fix for a one off gig?

[zakarath]

Apols in advance for the wordiness of this, but just wanted to be as transparent and clear as possible in stating my case.

Here's the thing, I've got a couple of Peavey 130 Special (SS), lead amps and a Peavey Deuce VT, lead amp (hybrid - SS preamp, valve power side), 130w and 120w respectively, and I was wondering if it would be worthwhile/possible to run them through my bass cab (fitted with a Carlsboro Powertone 4ohm driver which is actually , with the opinion of a helpful chap on BassChat, thanks stevie, again, a 150w Fane driver, possibly 200w, awaiting Stevie's final response) for a bit more ummph.

The story being, I've lots of bits and pieces - only had an accoustic guitar previously and a sh1t poor one from the fifties or earlier ,Valencia is the make, which I hadn't lifted in years, until last year, then my mate decided that, as I could "play" guitar, I would help him reform his and his brother's band for a gig on his 50th (big Johhny Kidd and the Pirates, Dr Feelgood, Stranglers - gotta love Keith Floyd - fans amongst others, I've educated them as to the virtues of Thinn lizzy, Horslips amongst others), as the bass player (drunken night of "yeah, lets put the band back together") upshot was he arrived round six months later with a couple of bass practice amps off Gumtree and an Encore bass ditto - yeah I know, not entirely brilliant, but it's ok for a duffer like me learning to play the bass for the first time, will probably hire something decent a week or two before the gig just to give me time to get used to it.

The reason why I'd like to run the one of the lead amps through the bass cab is; having only the couple of small practice bass amps (10-15w) and a Marshall 30w combo, impulse buy 2nd hand (anyone one wanna buy it?), which is neither one or 'tother, is the desire to have the aforementiond "bit more ummph". I've checked out the amps and driver and the impedance is OK, as the amps can run at 4ohms and that's what the driver is rated at (15" Carlsboro powertone 4ohm in a Peavey cab, bought the cab for £25 with a duff Peavey driver installed, needs reconed, again wanna buy it, message me...).

Currently I'm only playing in the house, so the wee amps are fine for mucking around with and occasionally I put the bass through one of the Peaveys, vol turned down, not wanting to wreck amp or driver, but as they are lead amps with appropriate drivers it's not ideal, but as I said, my buddy wants me to play with him and his brother at his 50th, hence the need for a bit more of the again aforementioned ummph. Now we will be micing/miking??? the gear up through a PA, but it's more the tone ability I'm concerned with and as it's only a one off gig I don't want to be going out and buying something at hundreds of pounds, and yes there's always the hire option, but I just thought that as I have these (quite frankly rather good amps - for what they are - beautiful tone and punch and cleans on the lead guitar at least) would they work for the bass?

Bear in mind, shoestring budget and champagne tastes, anybody done this before?, comments, polite ones of course, I don't want to hear " why don't you just go buy a Trace, AMPEG or Mesa etc"

I know what I'm suggesting is a work around and not ideal, but one can only work with what one has, bearing in mind money being a restricting factor, and again it's a one off gig never to be repeated, well not until one of us hits 60 or 70 if we're all still here gawd willing.... not likely - lol

Regards

Zak

[Dad3353]

Zak...

For what it's worth... Champagne is, imo, somewhat over-rated; one can have a lot of fun with much more simple fare. Your amps are fine with your cab, and will do you (all...) proud for this one-off gig. You'll be more interested in having fun between you on the day to be listening out for a db of 400 Hz here or there (or, at least, you should be..!). No, it's not the Roller that the top knobs haul around, but was perfectly adequate 'back then', and equally so today. You didn't mention a drummer, though; if there is one, he'll have to go easy on the skins, but you'll find that out during your practises and sound check. Have fun with your inspired economy set-up, take some pics or a video to post here afterwards and enjoy...
Disclaimer: I'm a drummer; what would I know..?

[zakarath]

Thanks for the reassurance and good wishes, it's actually the drummer who's my mate and it's his 50th and yes he does play somewhat like the well know muppets character, but as I said we hope to mic the guitar amps and run them through a PA anyway, of 2k-4kw depending on what we feel like on the night, as he's loads of PA amps and speakers to choose from (the drums will probably not be amplified. or at least not all of them, as it's only a friends bar we'll be playing and not terribly large).

heard

Regards

Zak

[i]A man goes to a pacific island for vacation. As the boat nears, he notices the constant sound of drumming. As he gets off the boat, he asks a native how long the drumming will go on. The native casts about nervously and says "very bad when drumming stops."
Later that day, the drumming is still going and it is really starting to get to him. So, he asks another native when the drumming will stop. The native looks as if he's just been spooked. "Very bad when drumming stops," he says, and hurries off.[/i]
[i][font="Times New Roman, Times, serif"][size="3"]After a couple of days with little sleep, the man has had enough. He grabbed the first native he saw, slammed him up against a tree, and shouted, "What happens when the drumming stops?!" [/size][/font][/i]
[i][font="Times New Roman, Times, serif"][size="3"]The native replied, "Bass solo." [/size][/font][/i]

[Lozz196]

Playing bass through a guitar amp can sound fine - a band I toured with, the basist played a Precision through a Marshall Lead amp and Lead cab and he sounded awesome.

[dmccombe7]

I've heard of some professional bass players using lead amps in the studio because they sounded better.
Not sure but i think Guy Pratt did this somewhere ?

I've played bass thru guitar amps and they sounded ok but do need to be careful with the speakers if ramping up the volume
Another option you might have is taking the DI signal from the guitar amp and put into the PA assuming its a reasonable PA capable of taking bass.
That way you can keep the gtr amp volume down a bit and use PA o give it some oomph.

As mentioned before just go and have some fun.

Dave
Dave

[zakarath]

Thanks again to all.

Yeah I had considered going down the DI line, but the only amp I have that has the facility is the Marshal and it's bog standard, but I'm sure we'll try out different oprions long before the gig. Where as using one of the lead amps through my bass cab should give more flexibility.

[6v6]

I bet that Peavey Deuce VT will sound awesome for bass - probably the better choice of the two when pushing it with bass as the tube power stage will be more forgiving and sound better when it inevitably starts to clip.

Provided you don't need huge volume I'm sure either will be fine - I'm a great fan of making do with what you have too, and have gigged successfully with some pretty weird and wonderfull lashed together rigs over the years.

You might also want to consider getting a Behringer BDI-21, they are very cheap, so if you need to you can DI into the PA easily as an alternative/backup.

Edited May 14, 2015 by 6v6

[hairychris]

Running bass -> guitar amp -> bass cab, as long as you match the amp/cab values should be fine. It might sound a bit funny as gain stages & EQ are optimized differently, but fundamentally there isn't any difference between guitar & bass amps of the same type.

[Adrenochrome]

Should be fine - I've gigged with a Marshall Superbass (100w and not that different to a guitar head), and obviously you have to make some allowances but with PA support I'm sure you'll be fine.