Can I (effectively) use my speaker cab with Celestion 12 inch greenbacks for bass?

[rze99]

Hi all wise bassists

I'm a guitarist with no bass amp rig. but like to play bass sometimes and do my own bass tracks on my DAW recordings. 

When I play bass I put it through a PodX3 with the Ampeg model into the desk for recording and that actually works very well for recording.

I'd like to be able to pay bass through an amp and speaker just for fun, but I don't have a bass amp.

I used to play bass sometimes through my 70s 50w Marshall JMP stack in the clean channel. I actually did several gigs with this set up way back when. It was OK but a bit lacking in true bass bottom end. Would the lack of true bass end be the amp or speaker... or both?

Can I (effectively) use my Marshall speaker cab (with old 70s Celestion 12 inch greenbacks) for bass with a separate dedicated bass amp head?

I have a small music room crammed with gear and have zero space for more cabs but could just add a bass amp head.

Also, if so, are there a choice of lightweight bass amp head that might get me close to an Ampeg type sound with a bit tube like growl?

 

Thanks

R

 

 

 

[Lozz196]

You can, just don’t turn either the volume or the bass up too much. Greenbacks are rated at 25 watts so you’d have to listen carefully to make sure you’re not pushing them too hard. For home use would be fine, and if looking for Ampeg growl maybe look at the PF20 or 50 - just make sure all the ohmage is right

[Doctor J]

Can the speakers can handle the energy being sent to them? The greenbacks are, what, 25W 8 ohm? It takes a lot of energy to amplify low frequencies, a lot of speaker travel too. I would be very careful what kind of head I would connect to a speaker like that. Where guitar amps tend like running low wattage at high ohms, bass amps tend to be the opposite.

[pete.young]

A '70s JMP is what, an an all-valve head? I'd think that would be fine for bass, it's what we used to do in the '70s. The cab isn't worth risking at anything louder than bedroom volumes though and it's pretty unlikely that it will ever sound ampeg-like. Youd probably do better to find a small bass combo.

[rze99]

9 minutes ago, pete.young said:

A '70s JMP is what, an an all-valve head? I'd think that would be fine for bass, it's what we used to do in the '70s. The cab isn't worth risking at anything louder than bedroom volumes though and it's pretty unlikely that it will ever sound ampeg-like. Youd probably do better to find a small bass combo.

It is indeed all valve. The 50W Master Lead.  The clean channel is actually very very serviceable for all sorts. I've had drum machines, keyboard, backing tracks and all kind of crap going through that over the years.

"What we used to do" - absolutely! 

 As I said I've done a bunch of covers gigs for a few quid playing bass (actually the '80s).

Nothing ever harms the JMP stuff. I mean that head when flying out of the back of a van door once bounced down a hill. I assume it would be shot. But, no. Worked fine. not worried about damaging at all.

 

@Lozz196 God those Ampeg PFs are very, very cute!  GAS alert. thanks for the suggestion.

 

Edited January 4, 2020 by rze99
typos

[Newfoundfreedom]

The head is fine, but for what it costs to pick up a decent second hand bass cab these days, I wouldn't even bother risking the guitar cab. 

[Dan Dare]

23 minutes ago, Newfoundfreedom said:

The head is fine, but for what it costs to pick up a decent second hand bass cab these days, I wouldn't even bother risking the guitar cab. 

Good advice. Those Greenbacks won't have the extension to produce low frequencies loud and you may risk damaging them if you push them. 

[rze99]

22 minutes ago, Dan Dare said:

Good advice. Those Greenbacks won't have the extension to produce low frequencies loud and you may risk damaging them if you push them. 

Yes, I think that’s the issue.

I just looked up the frequencies chart on them on the Celestion site. They are guitar speakers and voiced as such - and definitely in the mid range space - so they will always be limited in how they handle those true lower frequencies. I should have looked at that first. Duh.  

I’ve literally zero space for more cabs of any description right now so it is not an option to add more boxes.   

Seems little point in getting a head without the right speaker choice so I’ll still with into the desk monitoring for now. At least I have a sub woofer in the DAW setup so sounds good through that lot. Good enough for my infrequent bass duties. 

 

Thanks all. 

R