Bass Guitar plugged into regular guitar amp?

matonanjin

Chubby, old guy trying to play some blues.
Yes? No? Can it be done without damaging the amp?

And, actually, I'm not all that concerned if it will damage the amp. I would use my cheap starter amp that Santa brought me years ago when I started.

But here is why I want to know. My 10 year old grandson started on drums. But a couple years (and a divorce) later the drum kit got sold. And he, his father and his sisters moved in with us. So he hasn't pursued the drum lessons and he, completely out of the blue, has informed us he is interested in bass.

There is no room now, given the crowded living conditions, for a kit. I didn't pursue whether it was a legitimate option or not, but I suggested to him we just get a snare drum for now and he could continue lessons, working on timing and rhythms, etc. Maybe any drummers on here can tell me if that is even viable.

But he thought about that for a very short time and informed us, "No. I want to learn bass guitar".

So I have my little Yamaha GA-15 practice amp that I got with my Yamaha Pacifica when I started. I thought we could find a cheap starter bass for him to try out learning. Will the low frequencies of a bass damage it? At beginning learning volume levels I wouldn't think he would damage it.
 

dvs

Green Mountain Blues
The only thing I can find about the speaker is that it is "16cm full range", probably chosen in part so it can sound ok playing tracks through the AUX in. Full range is what you want for bass, so that's a plus. No idea what the rated power capacity of the speaker is, but I don't imagine you'd be likely to damage it with 15W. This amp might sound pretty good as a practice amp for bass guitar.
 
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Elwood

Blues
My guess would be that little amp is good for very little bass abuse. After that you get increasingly bad sounds. If he is a normal 10 year old his first "good" sound may be that amp's last one.
A cheap used bass amp would save the day.
 

Zzzen Dog

Blues Junior
You might direct your question to CapnDenny1 here on the forums. If there's someone who knows what's going on with the various components of an amp and how they'd interact with an instrument, it'd be him.
 

Silicon Valley Tom

It makes me happpy to play The Blues!
My suggestion is to go ahead and use a bass guitar with a regular guitar amplifier, if you do not have the volume too high! That is subjective. What is too high? Ideally, you would use a bass guitar amplifier. With high volume, the bass at lower frequencies can easily destroy the speaker.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvMXJHnEjXA

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=611920

https://www.guitarcenter.com/Fender/RUMBLE-25-1x8-25W-Bass-Combo-Amp-1390836359181.gc

For a ten year old, I would suggest a short scale bass guitar.

https://www.guitarcenter.com/Ibanez/GSRM20-Mikro-Short-Scale-Bass-Guitar.gc

https://www.guitarcenter.com/Mitchell/MB100-Short-Scale-Solid-Body-Electric-Bass.gc

Tom
 

david moon

Attempting the Blues
It will probably sound really bad before anything gets damaged.

What is the learning plan? Local teacher could probably advise about amp.
 

PapaBear

Guit Fiddlier
My suggestion is to go ahead and use a bass guitar with a regular guitar amplifier, if you do not have the volume too high! That is subjective. What is too high? Ideally, you would use a bass guitar amplifier. With high volume, the bass at lower frequencies can easily destroy the speaker.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvMXJHnEjXA

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=611920

https://www.guitarcenter.com/Fender/RUMBLE-25-1x8-25W-Bass-Combo-Amp-1390836359181.gc

For a ten year old, I would suggest a short scale bass guitar.

https://www.guitarcenter.com/Ibanez/GSRM20-Mikro-Short-Scale-Bass-Guitar.gc

https://www.guitarcenter.com/Mitchell/MB100-Short-Scale-Solid-Body-Electric-Bass.gc

Tom
I got one of those little Fender rumbles I'll donate to the cause if you can handle the cost of shipping, may be cheaper to pick one up used locally
 

ronico

rainyislandblues
A buddy showed up for a jam one night and for some reason thought we would have a bass amp for him??? Long story short, he plugged in to my Mustang III V1 at maybe nothing more than 3ish and we were 3 on plugged-in acoustics. No probs noted but ymmv.
 

CapnDenny1

Student Of The Blues
A small speaker probably will sound pretty bad playing a bass through it. Just don’t crank it all the way up. If it’s distorted sounding it’s up too loud. As to whether it will cause damage? It is possible. If the amp reproduces the low frequencies, and the power is enough to drive the speaker over it’s maximum excursion limit, then it could damage the voice oil and make the speaker start to buzz. Any buzzing turn it down, but it mightbe too late.

You can damage a bass speaker with a bass amp the same way. A bass speaker may have a 200 watt rating, but if a 100w amp can drive the speaker cone past it’s excursion limit, called the X-max, it will damage the speaker. A ported or open back speaker is more susceptible at low frequencies. Some designsrecomend using a high pass filter to prevent very low frequencies from being amplified too much.

So basically, no buzzing you are ok.
 

matonanjin

Chubby, old guy trying to play some blues.
For a ten year old, I would suggest a short scale bass guitar.

Tom
Tom, I had posted this same question in another forum and someone there also suggested the short scale bass. I didn't know such a thing existed so it is definitely something we will consider. Thank you!
So basically, no buzzing you are ok.
CapnDenny1 as Zzzen dog suggested I should have posed this question to our resident amp expert at the onset. Thank you. With his starting we will keep the volume down. If he continues his interest and if we start to hear any buzzing we will then consider a more appropriate amp.

To all of you thanks fro the advice.
 
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