Musician Gear & Tech Discussion

There are stands that get the guitar amp off the floor. Why don't they make guitar amps with speakers that are tilted up 45 degrees?

Most of the time, there is little room at the gig. The guitar player puts his amp against the wall, and his head is over it. He turns it up blasting the crowd. To him, the mix sounds great, but in the crowd, it's all guitar. This is fine if it's a 3 piece band, but if you have other instruments, you don't hear them.

The other problem with suggesting a guitar stand, is some amps are too heavy for them. So the amps stays on the ground blasting the crowd.

If the major amp companies are reading this, please make a gigging guitar amp that is light weight, 100 watts, and has the speakers pointing up at a 45 degree angle.

Thanks for reading.

45 degrees doesn't always work, either, that's why there are adjustable stands - I just got the OnStage one that adjusts angle and height.
The real solution - you don't need umpteen watts when playing live if all the amps are mic-ed into the PA system.

I added tilt legs to all three stage amps. It's the only way to go if you prefer to travel light and still want that great interaction between speakers, strings and tone woods. 20 quality tube watts is all you need with this setup for a enough stage volume to run with a drum kit. I just mic it for large venues.

A simple rifle sling swivel and an adjustable bi-pod from Wal Mart and you can mount you amp anyway you feel froggie

Be a hell of a lot cheaper than anything you get from "music stores".


My amp does not make a sound as I use it's internal attenuator and a direct line out feed the PA.
With a four monitor feed to front back right & left I play in surround sound no matter where I am on the stage.

This is the one I got:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/accessor ... -amp-stand
I certainly would not put anything heavier than a Twin Reverb on it, but I'm using a 1x12", so no problem for me.

Very similar to the ones we utilize in JERICHO MARCH.

I only do this so my head is in easy reach for Soak and tone adjustments.

LOL, mine do tilt up, its called a monitor!

That's great everyone agrees with me and wants to use a stand. I'm writing the manufacturers asking them to make an amp with a built in stand.

Here's an example of what happens when the guitar is too loud.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8ecLDMkzVk

To the guitar player, the mix sounded great. Yet I can't use the video because he's too loud. It's a shame too, because the song sounded great.

To me all that needs to be done is too turn up the vocals some, everything else sounds good to me, especially the guitar, but Im a guitar player so what do I know?

The horns need to be hotter too, maybe you can ask the guitar to turn down some.

Skiguy, I was watching some of you guys videos and I love that Chicago, Beginnings, you guys sound great, in that video you put the video camera at an off angle from the guitar so its not so loud, mght be the way to do your videos if the guitar player wont cooperate.

Opps one of you horn players just went a bit flat!

If the problem is only for your videos, record the audio from your board, and synch it to the video, instead of using the audio from the camera's built-in mic.

Thanks for the kind words. The problem with recording from the board, is
1. We don't have access to it, someone else runs sound.
2. A mix from a board can be completely different from what is heard in the crowd. There's effect issues. I tried taking a signal from a board once and it didn't turn out very well.

I have written the manufacturers. Fender makes amps with built in stands. '65 Twin Reverb®, '65 Twin CustomTM 15, Custom Vibrolux® Reverb, Vibro-King® Custom, Super-Sonic™ 60 Combo (Black/Silver),
Super-Sonic™ 60 Combo (Blonde/Oxblood), Super-Sonic™ Twin Combo (Black/Silver), Super-Sonic™ Twin Combo (Blonde/Oxblood), AcoustasonicTM 150 Combo

We had a rehearsal and I asked the guitar player about the amp. He wants it on the floor, but tilted back. The problem is, his amp doesn't have tilt back legs, and there usually isn't room at the gig to tilt the amp back. Look at this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_XKiUAowAQ
At the 01:19 mark, the guitar player goes to make an adjustment, and has to bend over. If the speakers were pointing up, and the knobs on top in a recessed panel, then he could make quick adjustments. There is no room to tilt the amp back, it's against a wall.

Look at the keyboard player (me), I've got a JBL EON PA speaker pointing up at my head. I could hear everything great, yet I'm barely in the mix. The guitar player (who was running sound) admitted he should of turned me up more.

These videos are shot with a Sony HDR-560VX and a Rode NT4 Stereo Mic plugged into the camera. It's the best mic I've found for recording live videos.

I liked the Beginnings video, too - haven't heard a band do that since high school days/daze! And as JW said, the sound was better on it due to the side position. Unfortunately, if you can't use your board feed (the post-effects sends should sound the same as the PA speakers), you are stuck with what you get.
Setting up the camera and mics further back (in the 'sweet spot') would help.
The Fender amps mentioned really dont' have 'stands, just tilt-back legs. If the stage set-up doesn't allow tilting the amps back, you're out of luck with that approach. There are a number of small amps out there with controls on the top - Fender Blues Junior, Hot Rod models and the small Mustangs; Marshall, Vox, Roland Cube, Orange...

If you are looking for better sound on videos to use as promotional material, get into a tv studio. That's what we are doing next week - multiple cameras, 24-channel soundboard, all recorded (and being broadcast live) so we can edit it down then use the video and audio on our website. With an audience, too, so it won't sound totally sterile.

To SKy I have a smaller combo amp and I bought a stand for it, works great, I dont have a picture of it, but it doesnt take up anymore space than the amp.

If your guitarist is interested look up amp stands at GC online, I dont think it was that expensive. Having it tilted back would cut some of the blow you get from the front of an amp.

Back when I used combo amps the rest of the band loved it when I got a stand. Most guitar players play at about half the volume when they use an amp stand. If we don't we'll be deaf in no time!