Playing bass on a guitaramp...

[jagsonic]

Some time ago i brought my guitaramp - a marshall jtm45 and a vintage orange 4x12" cabinet with greenbacks - to our bandroom and checked in my bass. I loved the sound!!!!!! Since this time i play this amp very often with my bass.
My question: How do the amp and the speakers like to be played by a bass? Can i ruin something?

[NickS]

Some time ago i brought my guitaramp - a marshall jtm45 and a vintage orange 4x12" cabinet with greenbacks - to our bandroom and checked in my bass. I loved the sound!!!!!! Since this time i play this amp very often with my bass.
My question: How do the amp and the speakers like to be played by a bass? Can i ruin something?

Yes and no. Lower frequencies generally require greater excursion (the speaker cones move in and out further) and you will probably pump more watts through them to keep up wtih the guitar/drums. If the amp can overload the speakers, you are much more likely to do so playing bass, especially on the transients (when you first hit the string). On the amp side; guitar amps are generally made with smaller value coupling and bypass capacitors and less iron in the output transformer. This makes it unlikely that you will get full power out of a guitar amp on the lower bass notes. There's a good chance you'll get away with it as the JTM45 shouldn't be able to overload the Orange 4x12.

[jagsonic]

okay..... this means it is more dangerous for the speakers than for the amp?
So when i really like the sound, i should take more powerful speakers or usefully a basscabinet and hope, the sound i like comes out of the amp and not out of the greenbacks...

(the 4x12" orange only has 120W due to the old g12h greenbacks)

[laterallateral]

JTM 45s and Bassmen are essentially the same, circuit-wise. As the name implies, it's not uncommon for bassists to play Bassmen.
You'll never get a clean tone like you would out of a high power amp but if you like how it sounds, that's not a concern for you.

Like the person above me mentioned, speakers meant for guitar will struggle (and fail) to articulate a bass signal to it's full potential.
Unless you have some kind of crossover, a speaker will indiscriminately try to handle whatever you throw at it whether it can or not.

Now a JTM 45 can't overload 4 Greenbacks with sheer power but you still stand a chance to damage your speakers by feeding them a signal that falls out of their usable frequency range. The louder you go the more this becomes a concern. It can be very tempting to turn your amp up when playing bass trough guitar speakers to overcome their inherent "midrageiness".

If you can get a sound that you like out of that setup at a volume that is suitable for you without hearing the speaker fart out or clip hard, you're probably okay.
If you don't, consider going trough a proper bass cab.

BTW, I've blown a 150W 12 incher, in a 2x12 configuration by playing a bass + Bassman too loud trough it.
The Big Muff and LPB-1 probably didn't help, though...

[Billy3000]

Yea you should probably be ok if you're not pushing the speakers too hard. I would look into getting a bass cab if you're wanting to play it any louder.

[Ankhanu]

JTM 45s and Bassmen are essentially the same, circuit-wise. As the name implies, it's not uncommon for bassists to play Bassmen.

The Fender Bassman was designed and released to accompany their brand new Precision Bass... it's really a bass amp that makes a phenomenal guitar amp It's sad that more of us bassists don't use them (and their derivatives), really.

But, yeah, like the others have said, it's only the speakers that you have to worry about, and generally only at high volume. If the driver doesn't have enough track to run to pump out the loud low frequencies you may cause it to fuse. As long as the speakers have the room to move (in their design), you're ok. A bass cab will cover this no problem, guitar cabs you have to do some research.

[paul_]

Yea you should probably be ok if you're not pushing the speakers too hard. I would look into getting a bass cab if you're wanting to play it any louder.

+1

Get yo'self a 2x15!

I have a Marshall Superbass (100-watt bass head of the plexi era) and it overdrives at band volume with bass guitar too. It's Live Cream or nothing.

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[benecol]

Some time ago i brought my guitaramp - a marshall jtm45 and a vintage orange 4x12" cabinet with greenbacks - to our bandroom and checked in my bass. I loved the sound!!!!!! Since this time i play this amp very often with my bass.
My question: How do the amp and the speakers like to be played by a bass? Can i ruin something?

Yes and no. Lower frequencies generally require greater excursion (the speaker cones move in and out further) and you will probably pump more watts through them to keep up wtih the guitar/drums. If the amp can overload the speakers, you are much more likely to do so playing bass, especially on the transients (when you first hit the string). On the amp side; guitar amps are generally made with smaller value coupling and bypass capacitors and less iron in the output transformer. This makes it unlikely that you will get full power out of a guitar amp on the lower bass notes. There's a good chance you'll get away with it as the JTM45 shouldn't be able to overload the Orange 4x12.

Bit of a bump here, forgive me...

So, I want to tool around on my bass through my Minimat. The Matamp makes 4 watts, and has a greenback in the cab - I'm pretty safe to do whatever, aren't I? Pretty sure it won't hurt the amp, and fairly sure it won't hurt the speaker either (and if it does, I don't mind changing it every now and then). Can someone reassure me or shout "NOOOOOO" please?

[jagsonic]

think you can go for it - i do so, too. I'm looking that my amp is not louder than 10 o'clock (4 of 10 on scale) and enjoy the great sixties-sound of my bass.