Im guessing nobody makes this thing I wanna buy, right?

2manband

2manband

Kick Henry Jackassowski
I want a combo amp that does a good job with guitar and bass. I have an old Bassman Ten (410 50w tube) and it does OK for this role. But for a gig I have coming up it’s too big and clunky and a little underpowered for clean bass. It’s a small ensemble so I don’t want to use 2 amps but will be switching between guitar and bass for different songs.

The ideal amp would be about a 1x12 combo. Solid state power amp with maybe a tube pre or a modeling ability. Basic reverb and some blues or classic rock level overdrive available for guitar purposes.

I’d like about 100 or 150W for small club ability on bass. The PA doesn’t have subs so not really interested in going DI for the bass.

Does anything like this exist? Should I just stick with my old bassman? Another option is to use my 100w 1x15 SWR bass amp. Maybe I use that with an amp modeling pedal or preamp? However I think the chances of that sounding like shit are fairly high.
 
Have you looked into a 100 watt Katana? It’s pretty versatile and has a line out if you need to take bass direct. I’ve not run my bass through it, but I’m sure you could try one out locally at Guitar Center or whatever and see if it works. The clean channel is pretty good and it has a decent EQ section
 
The Peavey Vypyr amps do guitar and bass. I don’t know how good the sound, though.
 
A REVV D25 amp with the embedded Two Notes.
Just load the IR you need for the job.

One catch: it has to be Two Notes’ DynIR format. They have a user exchange so there are lots to choose from.

You can run the speaker and the XLRs out to FOH or to a FRFR at the same time, if you like.
The FRFR is not a necessity as you’ll get amp feel right from the combo.

Although for bass, you might want the FRFR…
 
Main prob w/a guitar amp and bass is a speaker that will hold up.
I've used my old 50w Silverface Bassman head and an old Carvin 4 ohm 1-15 bass cab.
Got my guitar OD, delay, verb etc from pedals.
It's loud & clean enough and moves enough air for for most things, at least equal to a 100w SS bass combo if not more.
Heavy tho, the FRFR and a modeler is prob easier on your back.
 
2manband said:
I want a combo amp that does....

Does anything like this exist?
Click to expand...

Many people will say FRFR... I personally hate the sound of those. Guitars need the frequency response of a 12" speaker regardless of if you use a tube or solid state amp.

At NAMM I heard the solid state heads from Orange... they have 3 different ones but I think the Tour Baby model is versatile enough that I think it could do bass or guitar. $599 new.

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The biggest difference with Bass cabs and speakers is the level of the transients.... those huge metal strings vibrating through a bass pickup can send a spike that will shred a guitar speaker, so if you have 12" guitar speakers, make sure that they have at least twice the power capacity of the head.
 
Welp, I figured out the solution to my dilemma. It was to buy a new guitar amp and keep using the bass amp for bass.

2 instruments, 2 amps. Go figure.

I tried a few ways to play guitar through my bass amp and they were all pretty mediocre.

I also tried some FRFR + modeler setups but couldn’t really bond with any of the modelers. It’s always too much; life is busy and I don’t have hours and hours to spend building useable patches. And I don’t need 342 different options, I just need 2 that sound good.

So today I bought a Mesa Boogie F30. It’s the right size and weight and I was pretty impressed by the clean channel. I always figured those were an afterthought on a mesa amp but this one sounds really nice to my ear. And strangely that’ll probably be what I use most. Tried it out at practice tonight and it sounded great. The clean is CLEAN. Not edge of breakup. Not greasy blues. Not “roll off the volume pot on your guitar and it’ll clean up”. Not “a little saturation”. Clean. And plenty loud to stay clean at “I’m a drummer but I also have a mortgage” volume levels. And for what I’m playing right now, that’s perfect.

So I guess I answered my own question and the answer was I shouldn’t have asked the question.
 
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