Playing Bass Through A Guitar Amp

[madcow]

I know that playing a bass through a guitar amp is bad for the amp, but why exactly is it bad? Is is it the low frequency? What are the long term consequences of doing this?

thanks

[feylya]

A guitar speaker isn't designed to handle bass guitar frequencies at high volume for long periods of time. And the electronics are designed for guitar frequencies, not bass. You'll get a better sound from a proper bass amp.

[madcow]

would it have lasting damage on the guitar amp?

[feylya]

If you play the amp turned up loud, you'll eventually knacker the speaker.

[GEdwardJones]

Here's the deal. Bass occupies a greater dynamic range than guitar. That is that speakers for a bass amp have to be less "focused" than those of a guitar (this is why you'll often see bass amps that can also act as keyboard amps and PAs). While I disagree that you'll get a "better" sound from a proper bass amp (a lot of the bass that you grew up listening to and listen to today was recording through guitar amps) you will get a more accurate sound through a bass amp.

That being said, remember that greated dynamic range? The speaker in a guitar amp is NOT designed to move that much. Actually producing the lowest note on a typical four string bass is pretty much pushing the speaker as far as it was designed to go. Add high volumes to this and you're asking to rip your speaker cone in half.

Which, you know, will really only just make you sound like Lemmy, Danny Lilker, or Pete Steele, so that might be good for you.