Can You Use A Guitar Amp For Electronic Drums?

By Mitch Bonham

In most cases, when you don’t have an amplifier for your electronic drums, the chances are high that you might have a guitar amplifier lying around. While you are tempted to try it out, you should adequately understand how your drums can use guitar amps. Guitar amps are designed to produce sounds that are different from the standard electronic drum specifications. However, if you understand how to regulate the volume properly and mix the sounds, you might have a decent experience using the guitar amp to your taste. Whether you can use a guitar amp for your drums or not, the answer is yes, but with conditions. In this article, we look at how you can use a guitar amp for your electronic drum.

Recommended Guitar Amp

While the guitar amp can be used for electronic drums, it is pertinent to note that not all guitar amps can withstand the pressure from your electronic drum. Most don’t produce the range the electronic drum requires, causing distorted sounds or, worse, damage to the amp. However, of all the guitar amps available, the bass guitar amp has been adjudged the most compatible with the electronic drums. The bass guitar and the electronic drum share similarities in their volume and frequency, meaning that the bass guitar amp is built to meet the electronic drums’ standards.

Reasons why you can use a guitar amp for your electronic drums

  1. Your Guitar Amp can work with electronic Drums

If you are lucky to have a bass guitar amp in your possession, you will be pleased to know that you can use it for your electronic drum. Both instruments produce low octave sounds, causing them to possess similar sound demands. Therefore, in most instances, your bass guitar amp is often equipped with the exact sound standard to meet the electronic drum’s low equality pitch.

  1. Your Guitar Amp can produce a decent sound For Electronic Drums

Since your bass guitar and your drums share similar frequencies, the guitar amps can produce proper tones for your electronic drums. However, it is pertinent that you understand the respective settings that can give you a fair sound. First, you should understand the amp settings and find an acceptable sound range to play. You should always see that you strike a good balance between your guitar amp and your electronic drum.

If you seek to manage your amp sound settings, you can follow the steps below:

  • Always keep the volumes at a moderate level: To get the best out of your amp when using it for electronic drums, it is pertinent that you keep the book down. You don’t need to tune it to blaring levels, not to cross the amp threshold. Since bass guitar amps are designed to meet the bass guitar range, maintaining a volume out of this range can cause significant damage and distort the sound. Therefore, while your drum may achieve higher sound levels, you must keep your electronic drums within the scope of your guitar amp.
  • Always observe the speaker cone to detect a strain in your amp quickly. The moment you notice excessive vibration to the cone, there is the possibility that the amp speaker is being strained. So, once you observe this and other distortion in sound, it is advisable that you slowly turn down the base volume on the amp. Furthermore, it would help if you always supervised kids when attempting to use the guitar amplifier for your electronic drums.
  1. If you want to use pedals, thread with caution

Using pedals can take its toll on the amplifier if you are the type that uses the pedals frequently in your drumming. Therefore, it is pertinent that you use it properly so as not to damage your amp. Since the guitar amp is not designed to recognize sounds emanating from a pedal, you might want to step on it with caution when you use the pedals. If you must use the pedal, you must always watch the volume level.

Conclusion

There is no harm in using your guitar amp for your electronic drum. However, as it is not explicitly designed for drums, its use comes with many caveats. First, not all guitar amps can work with your electronic drum, as most produce sounds out of the drums range. However, you can use the bass guitar amp to achieve desired results, as the bass guitar and the electronic drum share a wide range of similarities.

Whether you can use a guitar amp for your drums or not, the answer is yes, but with conditions. In this article, we look at how you can use a guitar amp for your electronic drum. If you want to get the best amp for your electronic drums, you can check out this link: https://thenationalparksmusic.com/best-amp-for-electronic-drums/