An amp for guitar and bass?

Rocker

I have a bass amp and several guitar amps. When playing music with friends, there is enough equipment to lug to and from the car that I wondered if there is one amp that will do both jobs. Reasonable sound for both and not heavy. Not gigging loud. Not heavy, bad back. Thanks.

axisus

Yes, any amp at all. The only downside is that you will sound like sh*te when you plug the wrong instrument in.

Flanging_Fred

From the thread title I was going to suggest the Orange Thunderverb 200. But I think it might be a tiny bit too big and a bit too loud.

Just a bit though. 

timmysoft

Get an old peavey

mart

Use a bass amp, and plug in an amp simulator pedal to get your guitar sounds. 

JezWynd

Probably not the solution for your situation but I get a very nice bass sound using a Laney Cub valve amp, feeding the output to a 2x10 cabinet. This is much better solution for my needs than putting my guitar though the bass amp, which sounds very poor.

fretmeister

The litle Roland Bass Cube amp the old 20XL is great for guitar - it has an excellent Fender Bassman model in it, and that started as a bass amp that guitarists love.

Or get a Helix and FRFR cab.

olafgarten

Fender Bassman, the obvious choice. 

Powerslave

2061x + cab of your choice - possibly with one pedal per instrument type (guitar, bass) to tailor your sound?

steamabacus

I'd suggest something like an old Polytone Minibrute combo if you can find one - compact, 100w, 1x12.  A friend had one as a bass amp but it had a perfectly acceptable guitar tone (in a 'jazz' kind of way, add an overdrive/preamp style pedal for janglier or more driven tones).

ESBlonde

Some of the old Keyboard combos like a carlsboro or similar will have the inputs and a half decent response range to cover Bass, Keys, acoustic guitar, even a mic if pushed. A guitar amp tends to have quite a narrow frequency response ofton with a mid hump built in. By using a cheap pod type thing into such a combo an electric guitar like sound can be easily achived, a behringer would be an option or a graphic with a non smily face at the end of your effects input chain.

Rocker

Weight and a reduction in the number of 'boxes' that need to be transported is the reason for my search.  My Markbass is a fine bass amp but poor for a guitar.  And my Stinger combo is the opposite.  The Markbass is light, the Stinger is damn heavy for a small box.  @mart, what is an amp simulator pedal?  I never heard of one so please school me.  @fretmeister, the Roland Bass Cube seems like a good solution, I will check it out a.s.a.p.

ICBM

Strangely, one of those 1980s solid-state 15W amps which was sold under various brand names (eg Solex) works quite well. They're all the same in having an 8" speaker, three 'gain' controls (I think usually labelled volume, distortion and master) and three-band EQ. Just set the gain and EQ differently for each - it won't be perfect, but surprisingly passable. The bass player in one of my old bands actually used one as a personal monitor on stage, for small acoustic-type gigs - with the main signal DI'd into the PA. As long as you don't overdrive the speaker it doesn't seem to do them any harm.

On that basis the Fender/Squier 15 might be even better since it has a closed cabinet with forward-facing ports, and the usual problem for guitar is stopping them sounding too boomy. I've never tried one for bass but possibly I should!

All of these are very small and light, and cheap - under £50 in full serviced order from any shop, maybe less form Ebay.

mart

Rocker said:

....  @mart, what is an amp simulator pedal?  I never heard of one so please school me.  ...

Something that reproduces the tone-shaping of a preamp and speaker cab, without amplifying the signal very much, like this:
http://www.tech21nyc.com/products/sansamp/images/blonde_sm.jpg
https://www.gak.co.uk/en/tech-21-sansamp-blonde/55529?gclid=CKv6wpDvsNMCFRe3GwodLuoKRw

or
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/613DrKx939L._SX355_.jpg
https://www.amazon.co.uk/JOYO-JF-13-Vintage-Amplifier-Effect-x/dp/B006QUGBVK

or or there are many others, emulating various different classic amps.