Re: Bass and PA speakers
Posted by: wulf <wulf@...>
> I know that you should not play a bass through guitar
> speakers because of the low frequencies. But, is it safe
> for me to play it through older PA speakers?
Actually, that's not entirely true - you can use a guitar
amp but you may not get such a good low end response.
The 'flat' sound is likely to be too midrangy for the
average bassist's liking and, if you dial up a big bass
boost on the EQ, you may shorten the life of the speaker.
However, it will work and can be safe (and even sound
pretty good for some applications).
Likewise, PA speakers should work, but you need to
tread carefully to get a feel for their characteristics. When
my band rehearses we hire bass and guitar amps for the
session but for a couple of weeks I experimented with
saving some money by running the bass directly into the
PA.
Unfortunately there was a range of frequencies (centred
around an octave above low F - eg. like F at the 8th fret
on the A string) that were really boomy. With only limited
EQ controls available, I couldn't compensate for that and
so we're back to hiring the bass amp.
What are the details of the situation you're thinking about?
Wulf
--
Wulf Forrester-Barker <//<
NB. new preferred address: wulf@web-den.org.uk
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Website: http://www.web-den.org.uk/