Acoustic Bass and Acoustic Amp Compatibility?

[L20A]

My bandmate just got a Guild Acoustic Bass and now needs a wat to amplify it.
I have an Acoustic brand 60 Watt Acoustic Amp/PA.
Can the Bass be played through the amp without damaging it?

Can the acoustic bass be plugged directly into a PA system?
Will it need to be run through a DI box?

Is the best solution to just get a normal bass amp?

[nostatic]

to quote my attorney ex-wife, "it depends..."

Bass typically requires more power as the low frequencies need more oomph. It also depends on what kind of sound you're looking for, and what kind of bass amp you're considering. Typical "bass amps", especially inexpensive ones, tend to have a single driver and you won't get a lot of high frequency sound. If you want the "acoustic" vibe of the acoustic bass to come through, part of that is the high frequency sheen. But it also can get downright annoying depending on the details, so a dedicated bass amp with some built-in rolloff can be a feature not a bug.

If you're playing at low volumes, the Acoustic amp could work. When you risk damage is trying to play it too loud and start sending square waves to the driver which it may not appreciate, or ask too much of the amp which may give up depending on how well it is designed.

Probably better to get a dedicated bass amp (again, depending on how you're using it) - I doubt the Acoustic would cut it much above talking volumes. You can plug it directly into a PA but probably would need a DI (and maybe some eq) to get the best sound. That is unless your PA has a dedicated high-impedance 1/4" input. But even then you'll likely need some eq, and more than the mixer likely affords.

[L20A]

So if I understand this correctly, we can use the Acoustic Amp at practice and we can plug the Guild Acoustic Bass directly into out PA system for our shows.
Is this correct?

[lkingston]

Coincidentally, the new Spark Live will do electric or acoustic guitar and bass at the same time, each with their own separately adjustable preamp.

[Zandit75]

Another option could be a keyboard amp.

[lkingston]

Originally Posted by Zandit75

Another option could be a keyboard amp.

The Spark Live will do guitar (electric or acoustic), bass, and keyboards (through the unprocessed inputs pair) all at the same time!

[Groberts]

For what it's worth, my duo uses a Bose L1 Pro 8 tower. I plug my 5 string bass directly into the 2nd channel. Granted, this is essentially a line array PA with a subwoofer. But it works great.

On the other hand I would risk farting out my Fishman Loudbox Artist acoustic amp with its 8" speaker. it's just not designed to handled those loss frequency transients.

[PapaLobo]

I've played my basses through both my Fender Acoustic 100 and Mesa Rosette 300w with no issues , including my actives.

The trick is to keep the volume low and let the PA handle it via the DI