thoughts on playing bass outta Dual rectifier head to Bass cab?

[videodrone]

I just joined a band as basist so I have to get some bass gear,

the problem is Im a guitarist and studio gear head. I dont mind spending monety on gear, but I dont want to invest a grand in bass gear when I could be spending it on guitar or studio stuff.

So I want to buy as less as possible,

So if I spring for a Bass cab, do you think Id get good results with my Mesa rectifier Head hooked up to it?

 

[Wide Awake]

The guitar head will probably emphasize too much midrange and they just aren't "voiced" for bass.

Because money is the issue, have you considered just going direct into the PA ? You could use a cheap direct box, tube preamp, or SansAmp Bass D.I.

 

[videodrone]

I have a Sansamp Bass DI,

How could I take advantage of this, do I plug into the singers PA?

wont that muddy his set up? he just has cheap PA

 

[Wide Awake]

The SansAmp Bass DI is a direct box and can plug directly into one of the channels on the PA. It shouldn't muddy up the singers sound, it's fairly common for bassists to take the XLR direct out from a bass amp into the PA in a live situation.

However, I'm not a working bassist so I will defer to others who know more than me. Try www.talkbass.com/forum/ There is a lot of info and working bass players there. They can answer anything, it's a good site.

Good luck

 

[HangDawg]

That's what I use. Sounds good too.

 

[M.Brane]

Use the amp

If I'm not mistaken doesn't the Mesa DR have a direct out? you could run a bass cab and a line to the PA. Just beware of ground loops.

As for the amp having too much midrange, and not being "voiced" for guitar I would agree with the latter, but not the former. It does have tone controls on it. The only issue you might have is a lack of power if the band is loud.

I track bass with my MKIII head using the direct out and get pretty good results. I just put everything on 5 and it sounds great. Not very loud though, it's only 75 watts with both power stages on.

 

[luzer_kidd]

i'm not tottaly positive... but doesn't running a bass through a guitar amp mess it up really baddly... because the guitar amp isnt ment for the low frequencies.....and u can end up screwing up all of the electronics.... also if i am wrong .. how many watts is that head... its probably like 100 watts.. and thats not enough for a bass

 

[HangDawg]

I've been doing it for years. My dual recto is 8 years old now and I have not messed it up really badly yet So, I would have to say NO it does not hurt it in any way.

 

[M.Brane]

Duh! My post above should have read: "voiced" for bass.

The only way you could damage a guitar amp by playing a bass through it would be if you used the stock speakers (which are probably not designed to handle low bass), or a bass cab with the wrong impedence. Impedence matching is critical with tube amps.

 

[HangDawg]

From what I've read about boogies and I imagine tube amps in general impedance matching is not that huge of a deal as long as you provide a sufficient load. Meaning that with a typical amp you could run a 4, 8 or 16 load without damaging the amp. They do however state that you must not go below 4 ohms unless that amp says it will work at 2 ohm.

 

[M.Brane]

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

While you may get away with it in the short-term, impedence mismatching is hard on the amp, and can lead to a catastrophic failure.

 

[volcano_lance]

I've done that in the past.
What it gets is a really good distorted bass sound if you use a good cab with it.

vl

 

[complexprocess]

The person that mentioned power hit it on the mark I think. It's recommended that a bass amp have 3-4times the power (!) of a guitar amp that it competes with. I'm not sure what sound you're going for or who you're playing with, but this is my suggestion: Buy a crown power amp at 400 watts if it's possible that you'll need that much ($300 dollars at musiciansfriend.com) which can be used in a guitar rack if you want in the future. Use your bass driver you have as the preamp, which will go into the power amp, and then by a bass cab (if you need one) from Avatar (http://www.avatarspeakers.com). They're dirt cheap, and VERY well thought of at activebass.com, the bassist community I post at.

With this setup the only new thing you're buying specifically for the bass is the (relatively inexpensive) cab, and you'll have what should be a good sounding rig, that should add some new possabilities in your studio as well.

If anyone thinks I've given some misinformation or would like to elaborate, please chime in.