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Floor or on a stand, crates or chair when using one cabinet.

Bass Cabinet - On Floor or Crates/Chair?


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    81
  • Poll closed .
De-couple speakers from the floor, pretty much anytime you can. It's not just a matter of getting the cab closer to ear level. It is more a matter of getting the cab away from the floor. Floors don't do your sound any favors. professional bass cabinets, guitar cabinets...even hifi speakers.
 
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De-couple speakers from the floor, pretty much anytime you can. It's not just a matter of getting the cab closer to ear level. It is more a matter of getting the cab away from the floor. Floors don't do your sound any favors. professional bass cabinets, guitar cabinets...even hifi speakers.
Depends, really. sometimes having the floor vibrate can be nice with a smaller rig, so people can feel it, making up for lack of headroom. Sometimes feel over fidelity is the better option. If dancing is involved, especially.
 
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Depends, really. sometimes having the floor vibrate can be nice with a smaller rig, so people can feel it, making up for lack of headroom. Sometimes feel over fidelity is the better option. If dancing is involved, especially.

This is a good discussion which, I am confident, we likely have had many times here. Respectfully, I suspect that a floor can improve the sound of a cabinet only when that cabinet is not properly "tuned" all buy itself and needs the floor for sonic reasons. Even then, it would need a certain kind of floor for this. But if the cab is already properly tuned and needs no help from the floor, then the best floor for it to sit on would be one that contributes nothing. A concrete floor, I suppose.

Sure, floors can add boominess. But boominess plays tricks on the entire room. Perhaps you like the way it sounds on stage and the people in the back of the room can't hear the individual notes. I say get the cab off the floor. And yet....in practice I do not follow my own advice. ;)
 
As is so often the case, I would like to hear from @agedhorse . My question would be this: When a cabinet is tested during the design phase, is the floor taken out of the equation? Is the cab suspended or isolated for testing, or perhaps just placed on a concrete floor?
 
This is a good discussion which, I am confident, we likely have had many times here. Respectfully, I suspect that a floor can improve the sound of a cabinet only when that cabinet is not properly "tuned" all buy itself and needs the floor for sonic reasons. Even then, it would need a certain kind of floor for this. But if the cab is already properly tuned and needs no help from the floor, then the best floor for it to sit on would be one that contributes nothing. A concrete floor, I suppose.

Sure, floors can add boominess. But boominess plays tricks on the entire room. Perhaps you like the way it sounds on stage and the people in the back of the room can't hear the individual notes. I say get the cab off the floor. And yet....in practice I do not follow my own advice. ;)
I'm not thinking for on stage, I'm thinking for the audience. At times it's nice for the dance floor to feel the bass, which can be better at lower volumes when the floor vibrates, even if it's not even tones (of course you don't want madness that distracts, either). People like to listen to cd's, but for visceral reaction, often perfect fidelity has little to nothing to do with it. What I'm suggesting is not about improving the sound of the source, whatsoever.
 
Reach out to some High end Cab builders or the manufacturer of your specific cabinet. They will tell you what is recommended. I was told by several builders that the floor was best.
 
Will be playing a lot of gigs coming up. I'm old school and used to having 2 cabs stacked on stage but these will be one cab only gigs. My question is should I keep the cab on the floor or can I put on crates or a chair, etc. so I can hear better? It may just be in my head but I always liked my cabs at about waist level. Thanks!



When I do the one cabinet thing, (I usually gig with two 210 cabs stacked as a vertical 410), I just place one 210 cab in the vertical on top of a bass drum case.

Works great and I didn't have to buy anything!
 
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This is what I use to hold my 52-lb. DNS-210 cab. Solid as a rock yet folds up and you can remove the upper arms if you need to! It was not expensive and beats the heck out of chairs or milk crates.

View attachment 4469693
Got that from Musician's Friend in March of 2020. Was on sale and I had some rewards from them so my cost was $19.99. They still have it and price is $29.99. Will hold up to 150-lbs.

Here's a link to it:
Musician's Gear Deluxe Amp Stand Black
https://www.musiciansfriend.com/accessories/musicians-gear-deluxe-amp-stand/451065000001000?cntry=US&cur=USD&utm_content=451065000001000--Musician%27s%20Gear%20Deluxe%20Amp%20Stand%20Black
 
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Got that from Musician's Friend in March of 2020. Was on sale and I had some rewards from them so my cost was $19.99. They still have it and price is $29.99. Will hold up to 150-lbs.

Here's a link to it:
Musician's Gear Deluxe Amp Stand Black
https://www.musiciansfriend.com/accessories/musicians-gear-deluxe-amp-stand/451065000001000?cntry=US&cur=USD&utm_content=451065000001000--Musician%27s%20Gear%20Deluxe%20Amp%20Stand%20Black
The link is dud. It goes to a 10" driver
 
step.jpg
I use these. Holds 300 lbs. I have 11'' and 14'' height models

https://www.amazon.com/Folding-Step-Stool-Lightweight-Bathroom/dp/B014WOXB6O?th=1
 
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I can usually hear the cab on the floor pretty well with my ear plugs. Floor, crate, chair and angled back, I've done them all, but I usually prefer the sound of 2 cabs. Due to ongoing back problems I'm currently just using 1 cab. How I set up depends on the volume required at the gig.
 
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I don’t gig but I recently moved my cab off the carpeted floor of my rehearsal space onto a cheap plastic set of drawers. The sound is much richer and fuller and the volume is more apparent. Get a cheap crate and put a black cloth over it.

I did this with a 2 x 10" on a wide crate, draped a black towel over it. Same with a couple of small (six space) racks so the small mixer on top would be at a decent level.

Call me insane but I am thinking about getting one of those companies that makes covers to make a pair of covers so the entire crate(s) are covered and look spiffy. Would probably cost 10 times the cost of the crates but it would address my OCD about the way they look LOL

Analogeezer
 
I did this with a 2 x 10" on a wide crate, draped a black towel over it. Same with a couple of small (six space) racks so the small mixer on top would be at a decent level.

Call me insane but I am thinking about getting one of those companies that makes covers to make a pair of covers so the entire crate(s) are covered and look spiffy. Would probably cost 10 times the cost of the crates but it would address my OCD about the way they look LOL

Analogeezer


Frequently my job entailed playing for catered dinner parties. Typically various sizes of black table clothes were available, and we frequently used them as drapes to tidy up our stage look.