Recording bass through a guitar amp

[Will25]

Ok so I don't have a bass pre-amp, I was thinking of plugging my bass into my amp, running the line out from the amp straight into the mixer...would this damage the speaker if it was muted because of the line out? Cheers

 

[Lt. Bob]

Ok so I don't have a bass pre-amp, I was thinking of plugging my bass into my amp, running the line out from the amp straight into the mixer...would this damage the speaker if it was muted because of the line out? Cheers

no ..... just to help you understand why ask yourself .... how could it damage the speaker if it's muted?
What makes a bass damage a git speaker is excessive cone excursion. So if the speaker is muted it can't over-extend or bottom out the voice coil.
For that matter ..... if you play at low volumes the bass won't damage a speaker that's not muted.
I frequently record bass thru a small practice amp with an 8" speaker. Definitely not bass-rated but since I keep the volume pretty low there's no chance of damaging the speaker.
I'm not suggesting you do that since I don't know where your idea of "not loud" may be. But muted ........... no prob.

 

[AL P]

I`ve been known to use a friends guitar amp while giging as a bass player..the amp was mic`ed at the venue so i never really had to turn it up very loud..although I have cranked it a bit during practices, but as mentioned above, as long as you do not bounce the cone too far out, your good..LOL

been so long ago now, I really do not even remember what the amp was? I`m thinking it might have been an old fender reverd? can`t remember for sure though..
either way, i never did blow it up while playing my bass through it..but I did put a bit of a hurt`in on it, when it slipped out of my hands and tumbled down a flight of stairs while leaving a gig, ..ouch..LOL
Was at a bar/club in pontiac michigan, thank god no one was on the stairs comming up or down when it happen..LOL
Was a TALL set of stairs let me tell ya!!

EDIT:...just to add..i often record my bass using my ole Crate amp head and a 4X12 guitar/speaker cab...lately I`ve been using my newly aquired GLS ES57 mic, and it does`nt sound half bad with a bit of EQ`ing..

 

[Will25]

Ah cool as, I tried it with the line out and mic'ed as well at low volume (my low is still pretty low, specially when parents are watching tv) - it sounded ok with DI aswell! It's a Vox pathfinder 15w...I saw the La's a few months back and they were using it live as a bass amp, maybe for purposeful distortion? Apparently a lot of 60s bass players used guitar amps aswell so I guess it's ok.

Ha, did it survive?? On dropping the amp down the stairs - I saw on a Vox documentary a while back that to 'prove' the long life of the unreliable valve amps they threw them down a flight of stairs! It worked perfectly aswell...