Guitarist in the room!...

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BeardyAndyBeardyAndy Frets: 716
edited August 2019 in Bass
I've just gotten involved with a band/jam kind of thing but we have too many guitarists and not enough bassists so I've thrown my hat into the ring as temp bassist until a proper musician turns up!

I've not played a bass since my teens and I've got a decades old P bass copy that I inherited and that's it, will i kill my 30 year old Fender Champ 12 if i run the bass through it at any volume? Would i be better buying a cheap used bass amp and sell it on when (or if, maybe i'm a closet bassist?) i'm done?

New strings are on the way and I've been bingeing on "Bass guitar lessons for guitarists" videos on YouTube, any other tips? 
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  • JezWyndJezWynd Frets: 6021
    Wouldn't advise it at any volume, esp if competing with a drummer. Okay for home practise and acoustic jams, anything else may kill it.

    Better look for an old Peavey combo or similar. iI you can stretch to it, one of the new Fender Rumble combos, v lightweight and sound decent.
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  • sweepysweepy Frets: 4158
    Seconded old Peavey combo or Fender Rumble, cheap as chips 
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  • EricTheWearyEricTheWeary Frets: 16253
    My son's Rumble 40 cost £100 used, I think, and it has gigged. One of the bigger ones you'd be laughing. It is so lightweight it's positively weird. It's an okay clean amp for guitar as well ( should you want to take up bass and jazz funk guitar it'll be a bargain). 
    If there is a reasonable PA at the jam you might get away plugged into that, may not be brilliant but not as noticeably awful as plugging an electric guitar straight in would be. 
    Tipton is a small fishing village in the borough of Sandwell. 
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71956

    I've not played a bass since my teens and I've got a decades old P bass copy that I inherited and that's it, will i kill my 30 year old Fender Champ 12 if i run the bass through it at any volume? Would i be better buying a cheap used bass amp and sell it on when (or if, maybe i'm a closet bassist?) i'm done?
    At any volume, no - it will be fine at home for practicing as long as the sound you hear is clean. At band volume - yes, probably. The speaker is most likely to blow - although they're actually over-rated for the amp, in an open-back cabinet you'll get too much cone excursion. You're unlikely to get a usable sound at a volume you can hear anyway.

    It's easy enough to get a half-decent bass amp that will do the job for practice or jamming - look for about 100W minimum with a 12" speaker, anything much less than that will struggle. If you can get up to about 150W and a 15" speaker that will handle it easily - amps like that are usually large and heavy, and so quite cheap second hand.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • MattBansheeMattBanshee Frets: 1498
    If you're just doing small-scale stuff with a PA system available, get one of these for £20 (look at the "available from other sellers" bit for cheaper prices).

    Behringer BDI 21 Bass Amp Modeler/ DI Guitar Effects Pedal https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000KIPUQG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_tB-wDbZM7YMEZ
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  • FunkfingersFunkfingers Frets: 14321
    Fly rig into P.A.?
    Be seeing you.
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