FUQ (eff -yu - cue) - FAQ's with an EDGE

Tagged As: Used Guitar Amp

Question:
I have an AX84 P1 which I built as my at-home guitar amp. I generally play it through a 1x12 closed back cabinet with an old Eminence guitar speaker in it (probably a 30 - 50 watt speaker, but not sure). I just picked up a cheap bass guitar for fiddling around with at home. Since I don't have a bass amp (and hope not to buy one), I plugged it into the P1, and tried it out at modest volumes. It actually sounded pretty darn good. Pretty.......pretty......pretty good (for those that don't know, that was a Larry David reference). So my question - what sort of damage can I do playing a bass through a guitar amp? Is it actually bad for any part of the amp, or is it just not going to give the most optimal tone?

Answer:
That plus it may blow the speaker. At least this is what I was told when I asked the same question about 6 months ago. I do not think the electronics in the amp can be harmed from simply using a bass instead of guitar. But certainly if the speaker is not made for it, it will have issues. I am figuring there is a 50/50 chance someone with good cred will post a reply saying a bass guitar will harm a guitar amp electronics. A guy could put in larger value coupling caps, for starters. I don't imagine the small OPT would ever do a whole lot of bass. I also don't know how well EL84 does for a bass amp. They are relatively short lived in guitar amps to begin with. With high power demands, it could be even shorter life.