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Berethond

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diego_2112 said:
Berethond said:
That's a horrendously bad idea. If you've ever seen a speaker explode, then you might know why.
Really now? Hrm... I'm pretty sure Mr. Lee (as in GEDDY LEE, from the Prog band RUSH) would dispute that. He does the same thing. Why do you think he's got a wall of random appliances on stage with him, rather than a wall of speakers?

I've ran Direct to PA for YEARS now, never been a problem. Recently, I added a nice passive DI box, just to take advantage of better EQ on our current PA's mic channel.

Hell, our ENTIRE DEMO (link above) was recorded running bass DIRECT THROUGH THE PA, the only time we even put the DI on it was for "Simple Thoughts!"

Just sayin' man, I've been playing for quite some time now. I know what to do, and what NOT to do. I've been on stage with people who blow amps, and hell, I've even blown one myself! Trust me on this one, ok?
I saw a (cheap) PA blow because of a bass run through it. I also blew one with my piano bass strings. I guess, it works for some people. It's a bad idea for most, though.
 

octafish

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For guitar a 5 to 15 watt valve amp is plenty loud, especially if you want a natural distortion. You'll want a decent 12" speaker with it. For Bass you want a clean solid state amp with decent headroom, say 50 watts or so. The two aren't particularly compatible.
 

Snake Plissken

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Finding an amp that will handle both guitar and bass will be extremely difficult to do. Amps are designed for their specific instrument, but there are exceptions. That's why you'll see lots of guitarists running through a head or two, but bassists always have a rig from Hell. Many bassists in the sixties played bass through the Kustom guitar stacks with Kustom heads, but those are LOOOOOONG gone. I have perfect mid-sixties tuck-and-roll head and stack made by Kustom and am NOT letting it go. You may find one, but finding one for 200 will be WAAAAAAAY hard. As stated above, I would looking into finding two separate amps for your purposes. The Line 6 series isn't a studio or performance quality amp, but will serve any beginner with enough fun stuff to keep you busy forever(I have no idea how long you've been playing), and you could probably find an SWR-12 (prior to the Fender buy-out)for relatively cheap. They are built rock solid. If I could afford a million of them, I'd build a goddamned castle. If you could give more specifics for your purpose, I'd be able to help you out more. I've been playing for over 12 years and am kind of a gear nerd...
In any case, the second you introduce any sort of effect on a bass through a guitar amp, the guitar amp will cease to function after a very short period of time. It really is not worth the risk.
 

diego_2112

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Jan 28, 2009
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Berethond said:
I saw a (cheap) PA blow because of a bass run through it. I also blew one with my piano bass strings. I guess, it works for some people. It's a bad idea for most, though.
Not really. Yes, you dont want to "Crank it to 11," as it were, but hell, you dont want to do that in most cases ANYWAY. My band's music is metal, and we're never cranked past 12 'o Clock.

By your logic, even putting a MIC'd amp through a PA will blow it. Not quite the case though, ya know? PA speakers are QUITE capable of handeling the frequencies you put through them with a bass.

Just for the record, our CURRENT PA is a Phonic PowerPod 620+. Not top of the line by ANY means.

Snake Plissken said:
The Line 6 series isn't a studio or performance quality amp, but will serve any beginner with enough fun stuff to keep you busy forever(I have no idea how long you've been playing.)
Works fine in studio for us. And works fine for James Hetfield on stange. And many other artists, for that matter. I'm not saying they're the TOP of the line stuff, but they ARE roadworthy...

This is coming from over a decade of experience myself (that includes active gigging). Yes, their emulations are not QUITE spot on... BUT they do a decent job! As I said, I play through a Vox Pathfinder 15R in studio, and the Class A Red setting on the Spider IV (it's supposed to mimic an AC30), does a pretty decent job of getting that british sound!
 

The Afrodactyl

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Snake Plissken said:
In any case, the second you introduce any sort of effect on a bass through a guitar amp, the guitar amp will cease to function after a very short period of time. It really is not worth the risk.
Which is why I'm getting a bass amp. As someone said above, they can handle both guitar and bass without exploding (hopefully), so I'll keep my current amp for guitar.

And my bassing is only casual at the moment, so I don't need a "fuck-off huge" rig.

Thanks for the input.
 

Snake Plissken

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Snake Plissken said:
The Line 6 series isn't a studio or performance quality amp, but will serve any beginner with enough fun stuff to keep you busy forever(I have no idea how long you've been playing.)
diego_2112 said:
Works fine in studio for us. And works fine for James Hetfield on stange. And many other artists, for that matter. I'm not saying they're the TOP of the line stuff, but they ARE roadworthy...

This is coming from over a decade of experience myself (that includes active gigging). Yes, their emulations are not QUITE spot on... BUT they do a decent job! As I said, I play through a Vox Pathfinder 15R in studio, and the Class A Red setting on the Spider IV (it's supposed to mimic an AC30), does a pretty decent job of getting that british sound!
No, no, I don't want to seem like I am saying they are total garbage. I think they're great. I use one myself all the time. But anyone would agree that there are major flaws. I think they're tons of fun, but it takes a lot of time to dial in what you want at particular volumes. When you want to crank a setting from bedroom volume to performance volume, everything gets lost in between and it sounds...processed. Digital. Whatever. It bothers me, but not so much that I dislike the amp because of it. I'd just prefer to use tube amps in studio and on stage.

Dave Mustaine also has a Line 6 rig that was custom built for him. It's awesome.
 

Berethond

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diego_2112 said:
I should have said, that the problem was mostly overheating. Which is pretty much unavoidable here, so I didn't even think about it.