Making an Amp Stand

By Guest Post

October 1, 2005

Hearing yourself clearly makes you play easier and better. Here is the tool: a homemade amp stand.

The problem…

Probably every guitar player knows the problem, especially on jam sessions or on jobs with non-professional musicians: You are standing on a small stage or in your practicing room, the band plays well and as loud as they can, the mood and the feeling of the song reaches heavenly highs. The volume knob of your electric guitar is already on 10 and the pedal of your volume pedal is pushed to its maximum already. The speakers of your amp are almost bleeding sweat and tears. You’re not able to control your tone nor the feeling of your notes anymore, playing gets harder and harder and your hands are turning to stone. All you can hear is a wild mess of way too much drum, along whit some misty basslines and your guitar solo disappears into the background of a bad sound mix. Frustration pure for guitar players. Could it be that you have placed your amp in the wrong spot?

Another problem…

Another problem with amps (especially with Fender style amps) are certain high frequencies. They cut through almost everything like a knife cuts through butter. When you’re on stage and you have put your amp against the crowd, people sitting or standing directly in front of your speaker will suffer an unforgettable highs experience that drops out of your amp. Don’t need to mention the problems of the sound engineer to mix a smooth, fine sound out of a band, when certain units/frequencies on stage are louder than the P.A., especially on smaller gigs.

One solution…

Of course, I have seen different amp stands in music stores before. But for bigger ams (like my Fender Bassman), I could not find anything that was sturdy enough or easy to transport. I did not wanted to change the look of my priceless amp by putting some amp holders on it’s sides, which means to drill holes in the side of the amp. I wanted a system I could use with different amps without having the problem of the size or weight of the amp. It had to be sturdy, even on the sometimes unstable stages of small outdoor concerts.

Another solution…

My solution was an easy to build, self-made amp stand. It’s made out of 3 wooden boards and 4 movable angles. Since I use this construction, I always can hear myself properly, which makes playing much easier of course. My engineer (on live gigs) does not have troubles anymore with the sometimes extreme highs, because the speakers look upwards now. And, most important, I can use any of the three amps I own, without changing the look or diminish the worth of my amps by drilling holes.