Why do some people tilt back amps?

[Andre S]

?

[SHO]

So that the sound is projected more up towards your ears and less into your knees.

[Andre S]

So that the sound is projected more up towards your ears and less into your knees.

ah

[NeoConMan]

If your amp is on the floor and space is tight onstage, all you'll be able to hear is bass (it goes everywhere) and drums (because they're so fxcking loud) so the tilt-back thing lets you hear yourself without blasting the crowd.

 

Also, guys with loud amps will tilt them to direct sound toward the ceiling to diffuse it some.

[MojoRedFoot]

Another interesting sound, turning the amp so it faces a wall, not up against it thought. the sound projects off the wall and there is a decent sound coming out the back. I did this w/ my Line 6 Spider 2 (1x12). I was standing behind it for some reason and liked the sound. I have not tried the same w/ my stack. I stand to the side of it more. Some how much heavier and really feel and hear the all tube power.

[Riverside]

Why do some people tilt back amps?

 

1) Because there can be a negative interaction between the floor and the bass response.

 

2) So they can hear themselves in the mix (when mic'ed)

 

3) To keep the ice-pick effect from slamming folks in the front row.

 

4) Because it's just so darn cool to show off your $35 Musician's Friend stand.

[Izzy]

Another interesting sound' date=' turning the amp so it faces a wall, not up against it thought. [/quote']

 

I saw this before.

Is the method effective with both tube and solid amps?

Does it sound better with one or the other?

[MojoRedFoot]

I saw this before.

Is the method effective with both tube and solid amps?

Does it sound better with one or the other?

 

Probably best w/ an open back practice amp. I only have a tube stack and I've not tried turning it aound yet. But my lil Line 6 is solid state.

[NeoConMan]

I've done it at home with my Marshall - out of sheer necessity.

Turn that baby to the wall so I can rip it up without deafening myself.

 

Helps with feedback too, especially on semi-hollow guitars.

[Riverside]

I've done it at home with my Marshall - out of sheer necessity.

Turn that baby to the wall so I can rip it up without deafening myself.

 

Helps with feedback too' date=' especially on semi-hollow guitars.[/quote']

 

Well, there IS the "turn it to the wall (lay it face down on floor), put your jacket over it" school of attenuation, too!

[MojoRedFoot]

 

Helps with feedback too' date=' especially on semi-hollow guitars.[/quote']

 

Makes sense.

[NeoConMan]

Semi hollow + Marshall = "body honk" like you wouldn't believe.

 

Helps to have hairy arms.

You'll feel the wind coming out of the F-holes before you hear it.

 

Once you figure that one out, you'll keep a finger near the volume knob at all times.

 

Ask me how I know....

 

:- [scared] [scared]

[charlie brown]

We used to turn our amps toward the wall, to diffuse the sound, and be able to turn up to the "Sweet spot"

without killing the audience/dancers, in a small club/bar environment. Most effective, with closed backed amps,

but with open backed amps, it will still help. Fender put the tilt back legs on most of their larger amps, for

projection, and so you could hear (better) what you were playing, too. It's one reason I bought an "amp stand,"

for my Blues Junior, and HR Deluxe. They don't have tilt back legs, and the amp stand takes up less room, than

a chair, in most instances. Some players use a Plexiglass "L" shaped baffel about 10" in front of the amp, to

diffuse the sound, that way. One end slips under the amp, leaving the other in front of the speakers, to do the

sound baffling.

 

CB

[stevef]

Fender Tremolux amp came with "tilters". Here's a '66 (closed speaker cabinet, tubes). (I used one with a Farfisa keyboard, bass keys in a small room buried everything).

[Andre S]

 

4) Because it's just so darn cool to show off your $35 Musician's Friend stand.

 

 

Ha! as if, I used 2 45 degree pressure tested pipe joints and a t joint to try it. I was surprised, it sounds a lot clearer, the pipe stays.

[FirstMeasure]

Think of sound wave as "Ball Shaped", that is they come off the Speaker in spherical waves. If your amp is on the floor, the "bottom" of the waves are compressed and reflected off of the floor, causing Peaks and Troughs which will cancel some frequencies right out.

[EVOL!]

Why do some people tilt back amps? So you can play at the required volume and not have the milquetoast singer whine that you're too loud.

[Murph]

I bought Fender legs for my Prosonic. Used em' a few times. I prefer having combos on a flight case (like I do the Boogie), or stand. I saw Charlie Daniels use a Marshall 4;12 cab almost laying down on the stage in front of him aiming back at him once. He was playing a white Strat through his old Boogie combo. I don't know what was going through the Marshall, Bruce maybe?

[milod]

My big old combo - 120 watts, 2 12-inch speakers - has a built-in tilt device.

 

If you look at the way sound waves come from a speaker, especially for those playing straight through the amps rather than miking them or otherwise running through a PA, tilting it puts more of the sound into the environment instead of bouncing or losing volume/quality sound off the stage floor...

 

Imagine little semicircles from the speaker more or less up and down given the shape of the speaker itself. See how much of a 12-incher at floor level gets bounced and what that might mean to the sound overall?

 

Playing small saloons with my little amp, and I've seen some jazz guys do the same, I'll use a bar stool that has a seat back to hold the amp off the floor. That also puts the sound into the audience instead of the floor. In larger environments even the little amp works quite well if its near enough the front of a stage to project the sound straight out. That's worked for me in a 5-600 seat theater and a little 10" speaker 35-watt solid state amp.

 

It's not a matter of volume, but sound quality, btw. That's why some of the jazz guys will have their amps "high" or "tilted" so they don't have various freqs absorbed or overly echoed/reinforced from the environment.

 

As I look back at my old days of rock and country, we tilted or used chairs to lift the amps. The 4-10 speaker cabs were placed vertically rather than horizontally; my Deluxe Reverb sometimes went on a chair, sometimes was tilted. Always we had less room between the amps and the front of the stage than I see today.

 

m

[NeoConMan]

We used to turn our amps toward the wall' date=' to diffuse the sound, and be able to turn up to the "Sweet spot" without [b']killing the audience[/b]

Didn't you say you once had a Marshall Major?

 

Ooooohhh....

What I wouldn't give for one of them babies.....

 

Just because.

 

 

 

I understand they only made a few hundred of them, is that so?

[Super24]

Another added benefit of tilting an amp that hasn't been mentioned yet is that it makes the controls easier to see.

[DanvillRob]

Dang!

 

I used to tilt my Bassman back so the damn lead singer wouldn't put his spit-filled harmonicas on top of it!!

[Californiaman]

Great Topic.

Good Read.

[NeoConMan]

the damn lead singer wouldn't put his spit-filled harmonicas on top of it!!

Where did you keep your beer?

 

 

One side effect - a big tube amp will warm up a cold beer before you know it.

Blech...

 

Wait' date=' you guys across the pond don't chill beer anyway, eh?

 

[DanvillRob]

Wait' date=' you guys across the pond don't chill beer anyway, eh?

 

We English car owners always say, "The reason the English drink warm beer is because Joseph Lucas builds their refrigerators."