Why you shouldn't plug a Guitar into a Bass Amp.

I have seen plenty of people do this and it drives me nuts... I just can't remember why you aren't supposed to... Ugh... I don't do it of course, but I know there are certain exceptions. Or are there? Ahhh... Help please...

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“The guitar is a small orchestra. It is polyphonic. Every string is a different color, a different voice.”


- Andreas Segovia

Thousands of guitarists all over this planet happily plug their Strats, LPs, 335s, Teles, etc into a 5F6-A or an AB165 Bassman with no apparent ill effects. They've been doing it for decades, in fact.

What's the prob?

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

Really now? I kind of figured that people around the world are doing this. It's just I believe because of the frequency difference of the Guitar to the Bass Amp it can damage the amp. That is just what I heard. Although, I have heard of people plugging into a Fender Bassman, and that's okay? I am confused...

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“The guitar is a small orchestra. It is polyphonic. Every string is a different color, a different voice.”


- Andreas Segovia

A guitar plugged into a bass amp will cause no harm. Conversely though, it is not wise to use a bass with a guitar amp. It isn't generally the amp's components that are at risk -- it's the fact that most guitar speakers are not built as ruggedly for extreme low-frequency response as a dedicated bass driver and, in the case of a combo guitar amp, the open-back design does not provide sufficient acoustic damping for the speaker(s).

HTH

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

Basses and even drop tuning turned up loud enough can potentially wreak havoc on a guitar amp. Guitar through a bass amp won't hurt anything, and it can actually sound pretty cool.

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I completely agree, and thank you. That makes sense since the Treble and Bass of the Guitar is not that low without amplification, it would make sense to plug it into a Bass Amp with a dedicated Bass Driver. Thank you very much good sir.


Also now that I think about it I do believe I have seen someone try and plug a Bass into a Guitar Amp. I did indeed stop them.

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“The guitar is a small orchestra. It is polyphonic. Every string is a different color, a different voice.”


- Andreas Segovia

As all of these guys said, it will cause no harm to plug a guitar into a bass amp. In fact I get some of the best clean tones with my Tele plugged into an old 70's Traynor 40 watt bass amp.

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I remember seeing a clip of The Guess Who from "back in the day" and Randy Bachman was playing a Tele through a Traynor. Sounded great!

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

Very interesting. I'm assuming that the Traynor is the Bass Amp. Okay I might have to try this in the future. Maybe when I get enough cash to get a Fender Bassman. Lol.

Thanks for the assistance good sir.

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“The guitar is a small orchestra. It is polyphonic. Every string is a different color, a different voice.”


- Andreas Segovia

That is so common, I do not even think of a Fender Bassman as a bass amplifier ...

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Laughing out loud with fear and hope, I have a desperate plan ...

Cool man yeah I think that is a very good combination from what I have heard. The Who played through Fender Bassman Amps during their Super Bowl performance.

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“The guitar is a small orchestra. It is polyphonic. Every string is a different color, a different voice.”


- Andreas Segovia

IMO The Who were at their best (and their loudest!) during their "Sunn Coliseum era"......



"His bass sounded like a bleedin' VC10!"

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

I routinely plug my guitars into my 68 Bassman with the original 15" Fender speakers and haven't done any damage and never will even if I crank it.I prefer to use my 4/12 Marshall cab only because the 12s respond better to the sound frequencies of the guitar.BTW the old Bassmen are fabulous guitar amps and the more you push them the better they wail as a matter of fact many Bassman amps have a dedicated input labeled "Guitar" as mine does.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Rory Gallagher used to play through a bass version of an AC30.

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Rated "M" for meaty.

Neither did the guys back in the day causing it to become one of the best guitar amps ever,so much that Jim Marshall copied it for his first Marshall guitar amp.