When an amp's tone "blooms" so much....

I don't know how else to describe this...
Last night I played my first gig in many years without my Deluxe (don't ask).
I used a Crate 3212 (30 watts into 2x12).
The club manager is very sensitive to volume and I promised to keep it down.
When she was telling me it was too loud, I was telling the guys in the band to keep it down, but I didn't realize it was ME!
About 3/4 of the way through the gig I went out onto the dance floor, and my guitar was drastically louder than it was where I was standing.
I'm familiar with this phenomenon, but this amp has it more than any other I've ever had.
It's very striking.
So...when I turned down to where it sounded right in the audience, the sound I was hearing onstage was small and wimpy.
Aside from the fact that I feel like crap for promising to keep it quieter and blasting the place, do you guys/gals have any suggestions for how to disperse an amps sound so I can stand 8-10 feet from it and get more of a sense of what it sounds like further away?

Angle amp up or put amp on chair, closer to ear height. And even try the Weber Beam Blockers which really help to disperse the sound field and prevent beaming.

i have that problem in certain rooms ... i use amp stands to solve the problem. i've got one that sits at floor level and one that sits at waist level. it's hard to get too loud when your amp is blasting your head off! :mrgreen:

Yeah...I thought of a stand (chair)...probably the easiest fix.
It's already hard to get to the controls on this amp (on top) with my reverb unit on top.
The other guitar player has a '62 Pro (there ya go, Woodman!!) and his amp sounded just right from a short distance...as generally does my Deluxe.
I wonder what it is about this amp...
Any more experience on how beam blockers might help?
Wait...I wonder if I could put the amp on top of the reverberator!

Yep, aim it at your head. You'll never play too loud again.:grin:

Get a decent angled amp stand...... really.... problem solved.

Wait...I wonder if I could put the amp on top of the reverberator!

As long as it's stable. Otherwise the club owner might be complaining about a different kind of noise if your amp lands on someone's foot mid-song...