Acoustic pad under the cabinet

[Steve S]

If I'm playing in a place with wood floors and bare walls, will it be better for me to put my speaker cabinet on something? The place that we will be playing at this weekend is not too big so I'm just using one speaker cabinet. Two guitars and the drummer...

 

[flapbass]

For a long time I used the Auralux Great Gramma isopad to set my rig on. I looked like the nerdiest bass player sound geek in Phoenix, but it is supposed to keep the floor from sucking up the vibrations, and coloring your sound as much. Keep in mind every location is going to color your tone to some degree, pad or not. It is hard to tell if it worked because it is kind of the last thing I ended up paying attention to once I got to the show. I think it made a difference, but it was hard to tell, once I got my new bass head, I ended up using the pad between the head and the cab to keep the head from vibrating onto the floor! Hard wood and bare walls might make the bass tones bounce around alot, pad or no pad. Will you be on the floor or a hollow stage? That can make a difference. Will there be a lot of people there? Their bodies could soak up some of the sound. Setup exactly how you do at practice. Changing something last minute whether adding or subtracting can go horribly wrong. Setup just as you normally do and then adjust tone and volume during sound check, but only if you have to. Listen and comply to what instructions the sound guy gives you, if there is one. Good luck, have fun.

 

[Peg_legs]

I have the same situation in my basement. Echoed for days. I added foam sound absorbers from foambymail.com until the liveliness of the room was to my liking. I do have a gramma pad under my speaker cabinet, but it made no noticable difference in that room. On hollow stages that "sing" or make noise from the cabinets on them, it works great. Isolates the two.

 

[MODELL]

I've used this under my combo for about 8 years now no matter what surface I play on. It has more than doubled in price though, so you could make your own cheaper:

http://accessories.musiciansfriend.com/product/Auralex-Great-GRAMMA-Speaker-Isolation-Riser?sku=422033

 

[billfitzmaurice]

If I'm playing in a place with wood floors and bare walls, will it be better for me to put my speaker cabinet on something?

The problem with wood floors and bare walls is reflections off those surfaces. Two square feet of pad between your cab and the floor won't do anything to fix that, it can only be fixed with carpeted floors and walls covered with drapes or the like.

 

[no-logic]

I played a on hollow wooden riser once and the bass was overwhelmingly boomey. Everybody bitched. I had to set my rig on the floor next to the riser we were on. After that I bought a Gramma and wound up buying a second one. Two work great. But they were $49 at the time. You could make something similar way cheaper.

 

[Calaverasgrande]

I would worry more about the drums and guitars. Basses tend to sound good in rooms like that. Guitars and drums get overly brash and loud.

 

[Foz]

I use one of those interlocking foam floor exercise pads on top of my cab sometimes to fight rack rattle - seems to work pretty good.

Gotta agree with Bill - foam pads aint going to doing anything to room acoustics [might help with vibration control by mechanically disconnecting the cab from a resonate riser as described above - but that's different].

If you want to tame room bass reverb build these and put em in all the corners.

Invalid Link Removed

and hang a few of 4" thick cloth covered mineral wool panels [Owens Corning 703, or Rock Wool] from the ceiling and on the walls [curtains and carpet will do next to nothing below the mid band].

 

[Calaverasgrande]

I used to put my whole rig on a car tire (with no rim inside).
It did a pretty good job of decoupling it.

 

[Steve S]

Will you be on the floor or a hollow stage? That can make a difference. Will there be a lot of people there? Their bodies could soak up some of the sound. Setup exactly how you do at practice. Changing something last minute whether adding or subtracting can go horribly wrong. Setup just as you normally do and then adjust tone and volume during sound check, but only if you have to. Listen and comply to what instructions the sound guy gives you, if there is one. Good luck, have fun.

We'll be on the floor. The venue is not too big, probably 75-100 people max. We will have a sound guy so that should help.

People's comments make it sound like a pad might not be enough. I'll watch the volume and hope for the best.

 

[VinylRepairKit]

This is very interesting too me. What type of materials would you use to make one?

If you have casters on your cab does that change anything?

 

[woodsideh]

I have also used an Auralex Gramma for several years now. It really works great on those hollow wooden stages, particularly for the stage mix. If you have PA support, your sound guy will work with the room. I had forgotten how much it helped recently when it didn't make it to the gig. I have found that I does help when we are playing on a concrete floor.

Just as a side note; one club that we play periodically has the best acoustics on stage and off of any place that I have ever played. The last time we played there I was talking to the owner (who is also a bass player and studio owner) about how he was able to get the room to work so well. The club has a 2 tier wooden stage that is fully carpeted but he told me that when the stage was built it was completely filled with sand. That kind of surprised me but it really works.

 

[Calaverasgrande]

I have been to several studios that had similar drum risers. One club I used to work at we built the stage on top of tires. Sounds crazy but it worked pretty well.

 

[JimmyM]

wouldn't want to be on a stage like that. must stink like rubber.

 

[pfschim]

This is very interesting too me. What type of materials would you use to make one?

I have made a few of these myself and its pretty easy, and quite bit cheaper than any prebuilt product.

I think the key thing is to bond two foam pads with different densities. I have gotten the best results from a 1/2" firm open cell polyurethane sheet (top) bonded to a 1" very firm closed cell polyurethane sheet (bottom). I used some spray construction adhesive for the bonding and the couple of these that I made have held up great for several years.

You can get full sheets, or usually the places that sell this stuff will cut them to size for you using a heat cutter for very clean cuts.

Of course, these will only isolate your amp/cab from the floor. As has been said already, they will not help bad room acoustics.

good luck

 

[uglyrumor]

I ended up using the pad between the head and the cab to keep the head from vibrating onto the floor! Hard wood and bare walls might make the bass tones bounce around alot,


Precisely why I have never liked combo's, and always play with the head separated from the cabinets, either by placing it remotely or using a folded towell. Vibration is not your friend!