To connect a bass guitar to any speaker could break the speaker?

A

Adr

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A guy from an electronics shop told me that i shouldn't connect a bass guitar to, for example, a guitar amp or a home theater because it generates too low frequence and those speakers aren't prepared to that frequence, is it true? If it is, how could i figure it out to maka it work without breaking the speakers? I have to do it for my band's reharsals and i'm thinking of connecting mics, guitar, keyboard-synth and bass to a mini mixer console, then to an audio amplifier and then to a couple of speakers with 12 inch 50w rms subwoofers and 50w rms medium frequence divers, could i break them?? Thanks!
 
Adr said:
A guy from an electronics shop told me that i shouldn't connect a bass guitar to, for example, a guitar amp or a home theater because it generates too low frequence and those speakers aren't prepared to that frequence, is it true? If it is, how could i figure it out to maka it work without breaking the speakers? I have to do it for my band's reharsals and i'm thinking of connecting mics, guitar, keyboard-synth and bass to a mini mixer console, then to an audio amplifier and then to a couple of speakers with 12 inch 50w rms subwoofers and 50w rms medium frequence divers, could i break them?? Thanks!
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Its completely true. I'm a Dubstep producer, but I also Play Electric/Acoustic Guitar, Bass, and Drums. If you connect a Bass to an amp that's not appropriate for it, it could blow the speaker... meaning that it will overload it with so much bass (when it isn't made for much) that it will destroy it. If you were to do it, eventually the speaker would just make a bunch of fuzzy static noises when you play.
 
Several thoughts (and anecdotes from a long history of playing) in no particular order come to mind:

The only way you can break a speaker is if you are deliberately pushing the volume on the bass so that it is distorting - i.e. you are overdriving the amplifier and causing it to send square wave or near square waves to the speaker - this will result in excessive cone excursion and probably also burn out the voice coil.

It is still quite common for a bass player to use a fender twin guitar amp as their amp.

Add to that, I used to use a similar setup to what you describe except it was my bass amp that was providing the power and speaker cabinet for rehearsals - 50w amp with a 15" speaker - scared a PA guy more than once when turned all the way up and I was using mechanical feedback for the end of "My Generation" (his rig was 1kw and my amp was louder than the rig in this situation).

If you are rehearsing so loud that you are distorting the bass then you need to learn how to turn it all down - there is no point in killing your ears with excessive volume in rehearsal - there are plenty of ways to get the sounds your guitarist might want without blowing your ear drums out.
 
Wow, okay.. Then, how could i fix this problem to play with my band? Should i use back up? I mean, i have a 30w bass guitar amp and should i put a dinamic mic in fron of it and that mic to the mixer console and theeen to the amplifier and speakers? Or could i fix it connecting the bass guitar to my audio interface and then to the mixer?
 
Just use your bass amp and don't push it - no need to be in the mix unless you're all wearing cans (headphones)
 
the problem is that owr bass amp is only 40w rms and it doesn't get the volume of the drums :/
 
Yeah, know that problem - the day they invent a human volume control I'll invest in it and reap the rewards - seriously the drummer needs to use something like hot-rods for practice, or you need to invest in some isolation for the kit along the lines of

An interactive 3d model of a portable drum iso booth

happy to provide plans
 
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