Amp on the floor or ?

[noahwayne]

Hi everyone,

I use a Peavey Delta Blues Amp with extension cab and it normally sounds massive. Last night I mounted them on beer crates just to get the sound nearer to the ear, so to speak and when I started playing the sound was dreadful... is this to be expected and can anyone explain? Needless to say the gig was ruined.. ..

 

[Cirrus]

When cabs are close to a boundary (Floor, wall, roof etc) they get a volume boost that's mostly weighted to the low end. On top of that, a cab on the floor will physically "couple" - bass vibrations will travel from the cab into the floor, and depending on the construction of the floor it might well resonate along with the amp. So a cab sitting on the floor will sound deeper and bassier than that same cab lifted away from the floor.

Some amps benefit from being on the floor, some don't. A lot of it is down to cab type (Open vs Closed back) and the sound you're actually wanting from the amp.

 

[gwjensen]

I have my amps on a large, heavy oak coffee table and they sound great. Maybe the beer crates are too light and flimsy. Try putting the amp on a more solid piece of furniture and see how that sounds.

 

[1955]

Resonance changes from floor to floor, carpet vs. hard wood, tile, etc. When I first started to notice this in many different places it drove me nuts. Then I realized that decoupling the amp from the floor with an amp stand gave me a consistent place to start from, and slowly I started training my ear to different rooms and venues, how bass frequencies and high frequencies react. After many gigs, although I still put my amp on a stand, (I can control my sound easier from the stage), I think I can start putting it on the floor also if need be.

 

[Rockerfeller]

Hi everyone,

Last night I mounted them on beer crates just to get the sound nearer to the ear, so to speak and when I started playing the sound was dreadful... is ..

When your cabinet is on the floor, and you stand close to it, the majority of your tone is hitting your knees and going past you. When you get your cabinet up higher, towards your ears, you start to hear how it really sounds.

It is possible that the tone you think you have when the cab is on the floor actually sounds like it did at the last gig. You could just hear it better because it was closer to your ears. A good way to check this is to go out into the house during sound check and see how your tone sounds in the overall mix of the band. I've been surprised more than once when I thought my tone was totally happening on stage, only to walk out onto the dance floor and realize it sounds like crap. I have also had the opposite experience, where I wasn't happy with my tone on stage, but it sounded great in the mix when I hit the dance floor. Anyone else have a similar experience?

 

[rokdog49]

You will always get more bass response when the cab is on the floor. Allison Acoustics (now defunct) designed their stereo speakers with the woofer at the bottom of the tower with the mid and tweeter being at the top and away from the woofer. This way the bass resonates through and across the length of the floor to the listener. These guys did the testing and proved it to be true.

 

[cleanman]

In a perfect world you would take the room/ floor out of the equation as much as possible. One of the simplest ways to accomplish this is to put the cab on some sort of spiked stand. Ideally spiked to the floor and upward toward the cab. The spikes will do two things; stop the cab from moving in response to the speaker movement and isolate the speaker from the room.

 

[H. Mac]

Amp placement - especially floors and walls - makes a big difference.

The closer the amp or speaker cab is to the floor, the greater the bass response. The opposite of this is also true - the higher the amp or speaker cab is off the floor, the less the bass response.

The closer the amp or speaker cab is to a backing wall, the greater the bass response, and the bass response lessens as it's moved away from the wall.

One of the hardest places to sound good is a flatbed: Up high and no wall. If there's a trick to it, it's placing the amps, speaker cabs, etc. on the ground in front of the flatbed and facing the audience.

 

[Mr Perch]

When I put my amp on the floor, I play too loud because I am not hearing the sound the way it is heard in the rest of the room. I use a stand that puts it up pretty high, and my tone is very consistent from room to room. I have a Dean Markley open back combo (all tube and quite heavy), and it sounds fine up in the air.

 

[gitapik]

I like using one of these when my amp's on the floor. Might work for you as it'll direct the sound to you (like a monitor) and you'll still have that extra bass from the floor vibrations:

http://www.standback.net

 

[Teleguy61]

Try experimenting with the height off the floor. This alters the decoupling effect.
I have frequently found that one milk crate is a good height-you can hear the amp better, but you are still getting some floor effect.

 

[bingy]

I usually use an available chair for a combo amp and a piece of foam between bigger, (bass) cabs and the floor.

 

[uriah1]

Or use an auralex decoupler for tile floor gigs

 

[Ed Storer]

There are tilt-back legs if you want the best of both worlds.

You hear the amp a lot better with your ears than with your knees and you get the bass coupling with the floor.

 

[thegreatwent]

I use a gramma from auralex

http://www.auralex.com/sound_isolation_gramma/sound_isolation_gramma.asp

One of the best music gear purchases I've ever made. Really levels the playing field when it comes to different venues. Makes things more predictable and consistent from space to space regarding the low end.


I used to struggle with it. One place would sound great, another like complete crap.

You should be able to find one used. New they aren't too expensive and totally worth it, or you could try and make your own.

 

[Rockerfeller]

http://www.auralex.com/sound_isolation_gramma/sound_isolation_gramma.asp

One of the best music gear purchases I've ever made. Really levels the playing field when it comes to different venues. Makes things more predictable and consistent from space to space regarding the low end.


I used to struggle with it. One place would sound great, another like complete crap.

You should be able to find one used. New they aren't too expensive and totally worth it, or you could try and make your own.

+1 I use one of these as well. It helps A LOT

 

[eugenedunn]

Suffice to say that "bass coupling" with the floor ends up being a bad thing because the excessive boominess, muddies up your overall articulation.

Best to get the speaker cab off the floor, then EQ your amp to compensate a bit for the loss of bass response......but you'll find you'll have tighter bass and clearer overall projection at the end product of this tweaking.

 

[marbleheader]

When gigging with my Mini-Merc an amp stand makes all the difference. A must have with a small amp IMO.

https://scontent-b-lga.xx.fbcdn.net...x240/1800181_10201208659641780_67002382_n.jpg

 

[Gear Grouper]

When i use closed back cabs i put em on the floor, and put my heads on a table next to them

 

[Abu Twangy]

I use tilt legs on my guitar (and bass) amps nowadays. Most of my gigs require me to play on a hardwood stage, but all rehearsals and a few gigs are done on a carpeted platform. Tilting prevents "speaker beaming" where the audience on a line directly in front of my amp were "treated" to a shriller version of my sound dominating the rest of the band.

Tilt legs help me hear my amp better in a sea of 19 other instruments. For my Blues Jr I used new-old-stock Fender tilt legs and I fabricated some for my Peavey amps out of flat stock. One of my Peaveys sounded better with a little bass decoupling provided by the tilt legs.

I took the tilt legs off my '68 Twin back in the day because I thought they didn't look "Rock" enough

Funny thing is my current bass amp has tilt legs, too. Although I thought they didn't sound great for bass with my 2 1X15" Showman rig back in the day my bass amp has a downfiring 10" as well as a front firing 10"