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Amp on stand?
- Thread starter aprod
- Start date
For some silly reason every time I read the title of this thread, "Amp on stand" I think of the song "Pants on the ground"
The Jimmy Fallon as Neil Young version?
I'm a big fan of coupling - particularly on an elevated stage. Granted it can turn to crap easily enough but, it is like any other tool you use in your tone. I can't possibly be the only one who feels this way.
About those apples and oranges....
It's no surprise you would like what sounds good to you on stage. OP is questioning the merits or otherwise of raising a 2x12 at a bar gig.
His rig is providing all the sound so it better sound right. Raising his cab up a couple of feet will help him do that while providing a more representative sound on stage to what the room is getting.
The Jimmy Fallon as Neil Young version?
I'm a big fan of coupling - particularly on an elevated stage. Granted it can turn to crap easily enough but, it is like any other tool you use in your tone. I can't possibly be the only one who feels this way.
The wife seems to be more and more of a fan too as the marriage goes into it's second decade. No ampwedge there
So the Easter bunny, Santa Claus, and an accomplished sound engineer that can't make a decent PA sound better than a bass rig walk into a bar...
If you're driving a big room, do whatever you have to, but when there is PA support, excessive bass bleed is just unprofessional. Raising your cab and standing closeby is the #1 best thing to do if you want to hear more and bleed less.
If you're driving a big room, do whatever you have to, but when there is PA support, excessive bass bleed is just unprofessional. Raising your cab and standing closeby is the #1 best thing to do if you want to hear more and bleed less.
Me too. In fact, that's why I wanted to be in a band in the first place--coupling, drugs, and rock & roll. Getting coupled to floors wasn't what I had in mind though, and it's been a long series of one-night-(speaker)-stands with some rocky relationships, a few copacetic couplings and occasionally oh-my-god-yessss! Acoustically, rooms may not be like a box of chocolates but still you never know what you're going to get.
It's all about relationships. And coupling.
15" inch and 18" speakers belong on the ground, so they can rumble and make the some butts shake. Speakers smaller than 15 inches are great if you want the notes to sound clear and defined; if they are positioned a little bit higher yourbass can cut through without using too much volume.
It's sadly amusing how far these threads go to solve such a simple problem.
Get one of these
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/accessories/quik-lok-double-brace-low-profile-amp-stand
It's low to the floor, so there're no worries about the "precious" coupling, and the tilt back allows YOU to hear what you're drilling the crowd with.
Working FOH as well as in bands, I can't tell you how many times I've had this exact same discussion with players over the years. Bass, guitar, keyboards, harmonica... Heck, I don't care if you're playing a kazoo through a marshal combo, it's always the same; If your sound is blowing past your ankles/knees, then you have no real way of knowing what you're sending out front... Period! "Oh, but my amp sounds like crap when I tilt it back."
Yup, and it sounds like that same crap from where I'm sitting out front to.
Get one of these
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/accessories/quik-lok-double-brace-low-profile-amp-stand
It's low to the floor, so there're no worries about the "precious" coupling, and the tilt back allows YOU to hear what you're drilling the crowd with.
Working FOH as well as in bands, I can't tell you how many times I've had this exact same discussion with players over the years. Bass, guitar, keyboards, harmonica... Heck, I don't care if you're playing a kazoo through a marshal combo, it's always the same; If your sound is blowing past your ankles/knees, then you have no real way of knowing what you're sending out front... Period! "Oh, but my amp sounds like crap when I tilt it back."
Yup, and it sounds like that same crap from where I'm sitting out front to.
All due respect George, but the difference in driver volume between the 8 x 10 and the 4 x 10 might have a little more to do with the amount of bass than floor coupling. I can set both of my 4 x 10s on the floor, unplug one, and hear a big change in the bottom end.
Silly boy... You should know better than to believe in such blasphemous ideas as science puts forth. You should just have faith in the objective determinations we've made for your benefit.
You won't be put out to pasture just, we still have canons for you to haul.
OK, I was a little depressed earlier today but I'm over it. Happy happy happy! George is awesome, and I'm not saying that as a joke. I'm totally behind whatever he wants to do. It does sound different onstage when you have it on casters vs on the floor, and if he prefers it on the floor, that's fine by me.
Trust me, he uses SVTs and 810s whenever he can feasibly do so. I happen to know he loves them.
I use an SVT CL and an 810 and I am in a hard rock band and I push it hard when I can get away with it.
Of course I can't see any situation that would ever entice me into lifting that bastard off the ground, so I really don't know about any coupling effect. I know there are a few knobs on my amp which come in handy for adding low, mid and high, whenever I feel like it, so my tendency is to think " Coupling shmoupling", but again, I have no friggin' idea.
If my 69 SVT wasn't still making a hum after a year and a half and several trips to techs, I'd use it more often. I'm getting a Heritage when they're done making them, though.
Let me underscore both how true and how non-linear and weird this can be. As per another thread a few weeks back, I've been elevating my Drome combo for years by about 10" when I want it to be heard a little better close in, with zero impact on the bass projection. I put it up 30" off the floor one day in rehearsal, and lost so much bottom that I thought something was wrong with the amp - until I put it back on the floor.
Yeah, I think you're pretty awesome too, Jimmy - and I'm being 100% sincere when I say that... Look at it this way - any time guys our age can pay the bills by playing instead of being shackled to a day job, that's pretty awesome in my book...
I've tried the "smaller cab, off the ground" routine before, and here's how it worked out *for me*: I typically only play loud enough to be heard on stage by myself and my bandmates - but I play better when I like what I hear, can hear AND feel what I'm playing, and the feel part seems to help my drummers, too - I'm all about linking up with the kick drum... So, when I've used an elevated cab, I end up increasing my low EQ anyways - to the point of negatively affecting my DI send... I almost always run post-EQ DI to the board - that way, when I switch basses(4s and 5s), or need different tones because of the varying material I typically cover, it translates to what I have going to the FOH... I ALWAYS get out front before and during soundcheck, and usually wander out a few times during a gig(LOVE wireless!!!) - and more often than not, the four(or more) 18s in the house are having way more of an effect "out front" than my rig on stage - which is how it should be... I always ask the soundman how my send is working for him, and very rarely run into any issues with the way I do things...
I typically run my amp fairly flat, but like post-EQ DI for a few reasons - I get some of the tube warmth from my preamp that way, have the ability to alter my tone as needed for the song of the moment, and my amp's mute only works for the DI send that way... I've tailored my basses/amps/cabs as a total system that doesn't require any radical EQing to cop the tones I'm looking for, and to get the job done without being pushed hard at all - that way, I always sound good, and reliability isn't an issue...
Believe it or not, I'm considering getting out of the hard rock/modern rock/metal thing and hooking up with a working modern country band - after all, I'm not getting any younger, hahaha!!! If that happens, the PH810 will be staying home, and I'll probably use the PH215 or a RR115, depending on the job... I've already been picking up some side work with a local blues band, and the Streamliner into the RR115, tilted back a little has been a good fit for that situation...
As always, if it sounds good it is good, and whatever works for ya, I say...
- georgestrings
