bass ruining guitar speakers?

[bcmatt]

So, I had another musician and recording artist from a popular band in our area over to jam a bit and try out my amps.

I had another friend playing bass through my YGL-3a into a 2x12 cab loaded with new veteran 30s. He has been using this frequently for bass.
Anyways, this musician guy made a comment about using speakers for bass ruining them for guitar; something about the bass frequencies doing something to the coil or magnet that makes them not really good for guitar again after that. Is this true, or just a silly myth? Has anyone heard of this? Should he stop using these veteran 30s for bass if he ultimately plans to use them for guitar in the long run?

[james on bass]

You don't want to be playing bass through a guitar cabinet. Unless you are playing at bedroom practice volume, those speakers are going to blow. They are not heavy enough for the lower frequencies of a bass or keyboard.
There's no harm using a guitar amp for bass if that's the tone he likes, but if he's going to continue playing bass, he should invest in a bass cabinet soon.

[Hamm Guitars]

I don't know about the whole magnet and coil theory, but driving a cabinet lower than the frequency that it is designed to go can result in speaker damage (over excursion, fatigue, blown speaker). You will pretty much hear the speakers no liking the deal.

I am using my guitar rig with floor wedges, when I use the rig for bass I keep the volume way down or I can make the speakers fart and bark.

[hollowbody]

I don't know about the whole magnet and coil theory, but driving a cabinet lower than the frequency that it is designed to go can result in speaker damage (over excursion, fatigue, blown speaker). You will pretty much hear the speakers no liking the deal.

I can tell you for a fact that it will do absolutely nothing to the voicecoil or the magnet, neither of which is affect but the program coming through them. You can fry a voicecoil with too much current, but the magnet is pretty much invulnerable unless you start taking a sledgehammer to it.

But Hamm is right, the surround of the speaker (rubber butyl usually) will stretch out too far and perhaps not go back to its original state, so you might suffer from dangly speaker. Kind of like those punk kids who stretch out their earlobes (ewwww)

[bcmatt]

Ok, thanks guys! I will stop him immediately from using that cab for bass; or at least warn him that it's a bad idea. I hope they aren't already wrecked. It's been probably less than 10 times since I bought him those Veteran 30s (what a nice guy I am).

So, you know what lead me to believe that that speakers were interchangeable was actually a catalog from "Antique Electronics Supply" which has charts for all the Jensen Speakers and in the chart has a "Bassist Description" for every speaker.
So, are there specific bass speakers to buy? or is it just that once you dedicate a speaker for bass, don't expect to use it for guitar anymore?

[james on bass]

So, you know what lead me to believe that that speakers were interchangeable was actually a catalog from "Antique Electronics Supply" which has charts for all the Jensen Speakers and in the chart has a "Bassist Description" for every speaker.
So, are there specific bass speakers to buy? or is it just that once you dedicate a speaker for bass, don't expect to use it for guitar anymore?

I've never heard of speakers being interchangeable - maybe back in the 60's or so.

Bass speakers are different than guitar speakers. The magnets and coils will be easily twice the weight (unless we're talking neodynenum) of guitar speakers and generally will be rated for 80-100W minimum. The cabinets will be larger in volume and have a closed back, usually ported, but sometimes sealed.

[dwagar]

even 'back in the 60's' we didn't let bass players destroy our guitar speakers. They will blow them.

the other way is fine, but you'll find bass speakers don't deliver the frequencies you want for guitar.

[zontar]

I used to play my guitar through my bass amp before I got my Roland, because my old guitar amp speakers were shot. But yeah, it doesn't deliver the frequencies I wanted--like dwagar said. Of course, now I don't have my bass amp at home--it's on loan. I'm starting to consider a bass practice amp. SO for the time being it's unplugged bass. (But then I'm a guitar player who dabbles in bass--so it's not that bad.)

[Hamm Guitars]

So, you know what lead me to believe that that speakers were interchangeable was actually a catalog from "Antique Electronics Supply" which has charts for all the Jensen Speakers and in the chart has a "Bassist Description" for every speaker.
So, are there specific bass speakers to buy? or is it just that once you dedicate a speaker for bass, don't expect to use it for guitar anymore?

A 'speaker' is a combination of a driver and an enclosure. What we commonly refer to as a speaker is actually a driver. Most guitar cabinets are not made to control the driver below 70Hz or therabouts so they don't fair well at low frequencies.

You could put a guitar driver into an enclosure that would control the cone's movement at lower frequencies, but it would not perform nearly as well as a driver designed for that purpose.

Low frequency enclosures are tuned to the specs of the driver to keep the cone under control. Guitar cabinets are pretty crude, which is what allows you to arbitrarily swap out drivers. The guitar drivers themselves are also made to specs that don't require much more than a baffle to allow them to deliver their intended frequency range.

[hollowbody]

A 'speaker' is a combination of a driver and an enclosure. What we commonly refer to as a speaker is actually a driver. Most guitar cabinets are not made to control the driver below 70Hz or therabouts so they don't fair well at low frequencies.

Bingo. Hamm got it pretty much perfect. A low E on a bass guitar has a fundamental of about 40hz and the sinewave for that is pretty large. In order to move enough air to make that note sound realistic, the driver has to be a) large b) have a large excursion.

Bass driver's surrounds are different than guitar drivers. They are larger and allow more travel. At the same time, the amplifier needs to be fairly powerful to get that cone moving, as well as to reign it back in (this is called a damping factor). This is why bass amps are generally higher in wattage, but don't necessarily 'sound' louder, though it also has to do with the non-directional properties of low frequency sound-waves.

[RIFF WRATH]

another option is to replace the speaker. emmenence makes a series of speakers that will work for both guitar and bass...but...I would think that you would have to be making some concessions re: real highs and real lows.
cheers
RIFF