Amps on the Floors?

Most gigging guitarists I know elevate their amps, unless they have a 2-cab stack. Back in my pre-digital days, I always put my amp on a chair.

The whole idea is to get the speaker(s) in a direct line with the audience's ears. But it really depends on what kind of music you play and where you play it. A quiet coffee house is a lot different than a noisy bar.

You might get more bass with the amp on the floor or against a wall. It may sound better when you stand next to it, but it *MAY* not sound good to someone listening from a distance. I say 'may' because room acoustics are tricky. They vary from place to place and change depending on how many people are in the room. What sounds good at a sound check in an empty bar sounds different when the room is full of people.

Question- do you have a drummer? It's doesn't sound like you're struggling to be heard. In my last band, I used a 70 watt tube amp (a vintage Fender Pro Reverb) and had to turn up fairly loud to be heard over our frantic skin-pounder. He really played way too loud (we were a surf band, not metal). Elevating the amp really helped me project to the audience.

- Rich Johnson

Hello Mikey,

For home or rehearsals, position your speakers so that they are not parallel to the opposing wall. That way, you keep Standing Waves from occurring which can clamp/prohibit your speaker's movement.

Best regards,

Rich

FYI a vintage Fender Pro Reverb is a 35 watt amp. I often elevate my guitar amp but never would I elevate my bass amp. The extra thump you get from having it on the floor is essential, imo.

I saw the Eagles in concert last night. Not a single amp (of their dozen or so) was elevated. ALL were on the floor.

Imho, amps were designed to have their bass response improved by having them on the floor, because, when they were designed it was EXPECTED that they'd be on the floor.

If you elevate your amp closer to your own ear level, the result, again in mho, has no relationship to what the audience hears because of the dispersion of the sound waves over a distance. Remember that, in general, bass and treble fall off faster than mid-range tones in any sound system.

Just a few thoughts of my own on the topic. Probably, there's no single 'right' answer.

I play through a Marshall 4X10 that sits on the floor. I used to have problems hearing myslef until I started cranking my clean channel to the point of power tube overdrive. Now it's clear as a bell. (I have lowered the wattage of the amp as well).

You can buy special amp stands that get the amp off the floor and aim the amp at a 45 degree angle.

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I put my amp on top of its road case pointed as much toward me as possible. Twice (once was this weekend) it was pointed PAST me, and toward the singer, who then had trouble hearing herself over me. Oops.

Anyway... When I started doing studio recordings, I found I had trouble getting un-mucky sounds when the amp was on the floor. Once I got them up onto something else (milk crate, road case, toilet, leslie cabinet, amp stand, other amp, etc) this problem has almost totally vanished with very rare exceptions.

Now several things I discovered about having my speaker cones facing my head are that:

* I will play quieter, which gives the sound engineer an easier time making the mix sound good.

* My tone is smoother (less harsh), since I'm not listening through the backs of my knees.

* I get more compliments.

Since I want the mix to be great, my tone to be great, and the compliments to keep coming, I'll keep my amp off the floor.

That's what works for me.

-dave

The silverface Pro Reverb I had was a 70 watt amp. I know they also made some 40 watt ones. But 35? Are you refering to the earlier blackface version?

Maybe I shouldn't have said 'vintage'. Do silverface Fenders qualify as vintage yet? Mainly I wanted to differentiate it from the recent Pro Reverbs (50 watts into one 12). Those are nothing like the silverface models.

- Rich Johnson

There's a rational that says you raise the amp so that you the player can hear it in the stage mix, as was mentioned earllier, amps tend to need some room to open up, and when the amp is at your feet, players tend to get loud cause they are not hearing themselves well in the mix. If you are stacked, there is no need for a chair or box as your amp is also elvated .

Rehearsals, try putting your equip,ment in a semis or full circloe. In that fashion, we all heard and hearing is .

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If you are the eagles or someone like that, playing on stages/rooms like that...i think this discussion kinda goes away. it's all the monitor mixes when you are playing an arena rig and there are 20 monitors on stage. it's the smaller stages/rooms where the rest of us play that this is key.

having said that...i think there is no clear answer to this question. depends on the room, the band, the amp, the guitarist...etc. find what works best for you, and be ready to experiment a bit in new rooms.

I think that you will find that once the amp is off of the floor you will hear yourself better and not have to turn up as loud. But do whatever works for you, there is no 'right? answer.

you might have one of the late 70's models with the ultralinear OT . Some people like 'em but they're not very highly valued in the vintage amp marketplace. I mean. what does 'vintage' mean, anyway? If it means 'old' then, yeah, it's old. My '66 Blackface pro is 35 watts into 2 jensens. It's like a twin that you can pick up without groaning (almost...). Sounds pretty damn good too...