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Tilting back/raising combos


LITTLEWING
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I'm looking at somehow tilting back my combo to hear better when we're playing but can only find stands for sale which will raise it off the ground. I know the normal practice is to have a cab as much on the floor as possible, but is there REALLY any discernible loss in bass and 'good' tone if it's up in the air somewhat ?

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Depends on the cab and its design. Some cabs work much better when 'coupled' to the floor and others aren't as reliant on this.

Some cabs actually sound different if you stand them horizontally rather than vertically and there are even some specifically designed to do this.

In general terms most cabs will deliver more low end when on the floor though.

Of course, this isn't always a positive thing. Some cabs in some situations can sound horribly boomy on the floor :(

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I imagine if it's tilted back there's not going to be as much still coupling the combo to the floor, the edge of two feet or back edge of the unit itself? I know one way to purposefully decouple a hi-fi speaker from the floor is to raise it on spikes so maybe tilting would achieve a similar effect? This might mean you may as well try a tilting stand (to see the difference in tone maybe start with it on a something like a sturdy chair or similar).

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[quote name='gjones' timestamp='1421703179' post='2664193']
This looks like it might what you're looking for.

http://www.markbass.it/product_detail.php?id=61
[/quote]

These do work remarkably well on MarkBass cabs and combos but, ideally need a nice carpet type covering to adhere to. You can get around this by fixing something similar to a cab but it would probably need to be glued on so could affect longer term value if it leaves nasty glue marks.

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How big and heavy is it?

A standard guitar combo stand should work if it's not too bulky or heavy. A good quality one with latching, rather than gripping, arms will work fine.

If it's too big and heavy for a stand, just lean it against the wall or a table or something. Hopefully the design of the combo makes this easy and painless. I remember seeing a dude that used a length of wooden broom handle to prop it up with, just had to make sure it was anchored properly and job done.

Truckstop

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I recall Alex from Barefaced explaining on BC how placing a cab on the floor enhances the bottom end. He even camE up with a formula to calculate the cutoff frequency based on the distance from the floor.

Edited by JapanAxe
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The Tecamp Puma solution is quite neat - a steel rod is supplied which you stick into a little socket on the back of the amp. It then tilts back so the end of the rod and the edge of the cab are incontact with the floor.

There's a picture of the XS112 cab which also has one here. http://www.talkbass.com/threads/tecamp-amplification-club-is-there-such-a-thing-yet.617564/page-21

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I am a keen user (and unwitting promoter, it seems) of tiltback set ups. I started with two GK RB700 combos - great pieces of kit, apart from the castors disintegrating. They're all the amp anyone is likely to need. Having the cabs pointing directly up at me, rather than having the mids and highs blasting past my knees, was a revelation (especially with fretless). However I had to give them up after having back issues.

I then went to a lightweight solution but noone at the time was making tiltback lightweight cabs. Stands were an extra item to carry and didn't prevent the cabs from walking while in use. I had a look at old Trace and SWR tiltback design cabs but wasn't too impressed by the specifications of either.

However recently I've purchased a pair of fEARless F112 tiltback cabs and power them with GB shuttle 6.0's. Great solution so far although not cheap and I have yet to give them the full beans.

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[quote name='ratman' timestamp='1421849790' post='2665727']
I used to use one of these, they're great.

http://www.standback.net
[/quote]
I was just about to suggest one of these, with the caveat that it might not work with deeper cabs. I started a thread about them some time ago and somebody mentioned that the centre of gravity on his cab was too far forward for it to rest on the stand properly.

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inspired by the arrangement on my EAW Wizzy 12,
I have used strategically located spring loaded Flight case handles
as props to tilt the cab back.
I haven't found the de-coupling effect on tone to be significant ...
I'll try and post pics later.

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[quote name='LITTLEWING' timestamp='1421701190' post='2664171']
I'm looking at somehow tilting back my combo to hear better when we're playing but can only find stands for sale which will raise it off the ground. I know the normal practice is to have a cab as much on the floor as possible, but is there REALLY any discernible loss in bass and 'good' tone if it's up in the air somewhat ?
[/quote]

LIfting it from the floor will remove quite a bit of the low end. Tilting it but leaving it low, not so much and the mids/top end which are directional can reach your ears better, so it may be a better option... However, although the extra bottom end feels nice, if you're mic'd or DI'd and your combo is only really a monitor, then the primary objective is for you to hear what you're playing. In that case, lifting it and bring it closer to your ears will probably be best. You may not get the same deeper lows onstage, but you'll hear better and might even be able to lower the stage volume, which is not a bad thing.

Just try it :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

This is what I am using and I've not noticed any loss of bottom end, in fact there's loads of bottom end

[url="http://s927.photobucket.com/user/Delberthot/media/20150131_204241%20Large_zpstio2efjf.jpg.html"][URL=http://s927.photobucket.com/user/Delberthot/media/20150131_204241%20Large_zpsgbtffmmw.jpg.html][IMG]http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad111/Delberthot/20150131_204241%20Large_zpsgbtffmmw.jpg[/IMG][/URL][/url]

Edited by Delberthot
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