Amp placement...looking for feedback from the forum

Gary Hegland · From: Washington, USA

I've had my NV112 since 2005. I've always used it on a stand and have always been pleased with the tone. Recently I got a Special 130 and put the 112 on the floor and the 130 on top of it. Now I love the 130 and hate the sound from the 112!

The displeasing tone I've had with other good amps. It is high bass that seems to wreck the sound. Is that what people call boxy, honky, Heck if I know.

I just thought this might be an interesting discussion for the forum and am looking forward to comments you all might have!

Georg Sørtun · From: Mandal, Agder, Norway

I would probably call it "boomy". Most wide-range speakers will sound like that if they're placed directly on a hard floor so they can reflect off of it. How "boomy" depends somewhat on the speaker's resonance frequency, and for the original NV112 speaker that frequency is in what I would call "high bass" range.

Unless there is a really thick carpet on the floor, I lift my NV112s about 8 to 10 inches. If I don't have a proper stand a chair will work, and as a last resort something like a beer-bottle rolled in under the front to angle it upwards – making sure it can't tip backwards – will reduce the "boomyness" to more acceptable levels.

Craig A Davidson · From: Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin USA

George try a couple of rubber door stops. They will fit in the back of your amp and will always be there if you need them.

George Kimery · From: Limestone, TN, USA

FWIW, the effect of an amp having a bass boost when placed on the floor has a name. It is called the Proximity Effect. Depending on the amp, it can be a good thing, if you don't think your amp is up to snuff in the bass range.

Georg Sørtun · From: Mandal, Agder, Norway

Fred Treece · From: California, USA

You have created a mini-stack of a sort. Just to pitch in on what others have already said, there will be more perceived highs from the speaker on top and more perceived lows from the one on the bottom. If you want a more realistic comparison, put the amps side by side and separate them a few feet. Then decide which one you hate...

I have always wondered why 1x12 and 2x12 combos donâ€™t come with Fender style tilt back legs. Maybe somebody wanted start the amp stand business.

Jerry Overstreet · From: Louisville Ky

I hate stacked amps or speakers for some of the reasons stated. I have been asked to do it, but I just won't do it anymore. There's almost always room for the 2 right behind the steel even if you have to sit them very close together. I like 'em up on stands also or tilted back. If I can get 10' or so out in front of them, floor is OK, but both on the same level.

I built a few kick back monitor style cabinets so now, I don't have to carry stands.

Steve Spitz · From: New Orleans, LA, USA

I canâ€™t count on having enough room on the bandstand to put my amp in the most optimal place. Many of the joints I play, the bandstands are cramped, and we are all shoehorned in there. Sometimes Iâ€™m at a weird angle, or a cymbal in my ear. A more important issue becomes not getting blasted by someone elseâ€™s amp. As you will be sitting down, another players amp if elevated on a stand might be blasting you, preventing you from hearing yourself.

Ive had to learn to play with my amp in any kind of spot available.

In a perfect world, about five feet behind me, tilted a bit and elevated, not directly behind me but off to the side . If I can hear my amp on one side and the bass on the other, that helps. Also important is maintaining sight lines, so you can direct traffic with other players.

Larger gigs I might have the amp a bit farther back.

Jack Stoner · From: Kansas City, MO

I have a fiber Nashville 112 case built by Danny Bentley when he worked at Bobbe Seymour's. I built a speaker cabinet for my Eminence EPS-15C speaker the same dimensions as the Nashville 112 except 1" taller to accommodate the 15" speaker. I use this as a "case" for the speaker and also as a stand to sit the speaker on.

I've almost always had my amps elevated. Elevated I can better tell what my volume is. On the floor below me I don't get the full impact of the speaker and thus can't 100% tell what my volume is and I tend to play louder and sometimes too loud.
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Richard Sinkler · From: aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana

I find that with my amp on a stand, I don't play loud enough for the band. I have to turn up really loud (ear splitting) or they will mic me only. If I put it on the ground, I can't hear my highs. Tipping back with door stops is useless to me. Using taller things makes it too easy to knock over. I may try one of those, I think they're called, Frog Stands.
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Steve Spitz · From: New Orleans, LA, USA

Mud Stand ?

Gary Hegland · From: Washington, USA

Thanks for all the great comments everyone!

Bill L. Wilson · From: Oklahoma, USA

Bandstand size dictates what speaker combination and amp head I use. But, the speakers always set on the floor. Sat. night I played thru a Fender Twin head with two separate 15â€ cabinets and JBL D-130F speakers. Great for guitar and pedal steel in a big room on a wood floor.

Richard Sinkler · From: aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana

Godfrey Arthur · From: 3rd Rock

Welcome to the world of constant changing stage size/room dimensions for the band with the least consistently monitored gear.

So many things play into what one hears on any given day/night/venue that it is almost impossible to predict what will happen next.

Power quality plays a large part on how amps react so there's that to consider.

The temperature of the room at the moment you crank up to play and then the temperature of the room if it gets filled with sweaty people or the manager fiddles with the room temperature is another variable.

Since you are dealing with the same thing happening to all the other guys on the stage with their gear, it becomes compounded.

Perhaps a closed back speaker/amp might get you a better chance at hearing yourself trying to balance the open back amp with the closed.

That you put another open back amp on top of the other there would be phase cancellations going on between the two.

A closed back amp tends to force the sound to go out the front. Enter Marshall type closed-back technology and with the angled speaker cab of the two top speakers aimed at the player's ear. But a single speaker closed back amp on top may give you better results at hearing yourself and letting the open back to fill the room with sound all over.

If you are sensitive to certain frequencies, a better amp with better EQ control might give you better control. Amp power is also another issue as when working with EQ, having enough power to turn up after some lower frequencies have been attenuated, brings back the life of the sound.

The only way to know if you are heard out in the audience is to have a sound person. And if that person is musical enough to know what to tell you to adjust is a plus.

But hearing oneself on stage and then getting it out to audience, needs help with a better sound system gear/monitoring system and a good sound person.

Failing that, it's a crap shoot unless you happen to be one of those lucky "chances are you'll go far
If you get in with the right bunch of fellows" bands.

The drummer needs to be prepared for those shoehorn stages and bring smaller crash cymbals or even the silent type cymbals, if not learn better dynamics in playing the set.

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