Nice bass + cheapo guitar amp = What problems?

[whyachi]

I'm going to be using a 15W Crate 112 combo guitar amp for a while until I get another amp, and I know that its rough on guitar amps to play bass though them. Besides playing at low volume, is there anything else I can do to avoid blowing this thing up and angering the 11-year-old I jacked it from?

Also, it playing it with the gain cranked so it gets all fuzzy bad on it if I'm using a bass? I haven't yet as the body hasn't arrived, but it sounds fun.

 

[Patrick from Davis]

You might want to run it through a compressor to knock off the big signal spikes that you could send towards the amp with a errant slap, or smack on the strings.  The fuzz should not be a prob, but the over treble-ly guitar versions tend to not sound quite right on a bass.  However, lots of cool sounds have been found when doing something with toys that they were never intended for originally.

 

[dbw]

If your bass has a bass knob, you could turn it down.  I play a bass amp through a guitar cab, and I turn down the lowest slider on the graphic EQ to keep the speakers from distorting on low notes.  If you can hear the speakers distorting, they are in pain!