Do you think cab sounds better not in front of you?

[aviel]

Is it just me, is it my Cab, is it my room or my ears. i dont know.

But i find that when i sit next to the cab, but no in front of it, maybe 1 meter to the side, and a with some distance it sounds MUCH better then when you are in front of it. in front of it it just sounds phasy, like everything becomes small, the bass disappears and its becoming tiny.

i tried my cab some show rooms, its not as bad as in my room but still not good as when i am not in front of it...

cab here is legacy 412

Do you feel the same?

 

[schwinginbatman]

A little. When I'm to the side of my amp, it seems more thick and low.

 

[~BURNY~]

Absolutely. And it's true for all my cabs (Mesa, Marshall, Harley Benton, Hiwatt, Randall)

 

[KHE]

Do you feel the same?

yes.
during rehearsaals i stand sideways to the cab. But due the darker tone, i often adjust too much treble, which sounds very thin and agressiv in fornt of the cab.
i bought some "speaker diffusors" which changes the directionality of the high-frequencies, so the cab sounds more balanced in front and on the side. but i had no time in the last months to install them, so i cant tell how well it works...

cheers!

 

[aviel]

i think it has to do with the 4 speakers maybe? maybe they creat phase issues or stuff. thinking of it, even listening to music, we dont stant in front of the speaker, we are always between them

 

[MatrixClaw]

It depends on the cab, really. My Emperor 4x12 sounds great from the front with its mix of GK100s and V30s, but my Soldano 2x12 is very directional with its V12 Legends and sound much better from a non-direct listening. My Marshall with Splawn Small Blocks kinda depends on the amp, those speakers can get a bit harsh if you're doing it wrong.

 

[Ermz]

Of course. Cabs are extremely directional, and due to the 4 speakers there are massive reinforcements and cancellations all over the spectrum, depending on where you stand in front of it. Most of the time listening to a cab head-on sounds utterly awful. In reality that's what distorted guitar sounds are - shaped awfulness that you try to make some musical sense out of.

 

[Fabrice]

The directivity varies in fonction of the speaker, the higher the frequency the higher the directivity. (Under 100Hz, the human hear can not determinate the origin of the source)

So, if you move away of the front of the speaker, its roughly like a lowpass filter.

 

[MatrixClaw]

I also find the directional characters of the cab depends a lot on if the speaker is front loaded or rear loaded.

 

[Vinny]

Honestly, my 2x12 sounds better than my 4x12 ever did when I sit right in front it, so yes.

 

[Trevoire520]

In reality that's what distorted guitar sounds are - shaped awfulness that you try to make some musical sense out of.

Sigged!

 

[Derykus]

This is why you sit in front of the cab while tweaking the settings. It shouldn't sound very good when you are off to the side of the amp. You don't put the mic there do you?

 

[AudioPhile777]

4x12 cabs are ugly... and awesome. Why do you think most old-schoolers play through 1x12 and 2x12 cabs?

 

[XxSicRokerxX]

It has everything to do with the way the direction of the soundwaves are coming from. When you hear an ambulance approaching you, it sounds different when its face to face in front of you, it will sound sharper, piercing. While its moving away from you it becomes lower. If your face to face with the cab and if you tilt the cab, you'll notice it will sound much different as well.

 

[Ermz]

Not sure the doppler effect really applies in this case.

 

[Toxic_Lord]

It has everything to do with the way the direction of the soundwaves are coming from. When you hear an ambulance approaching you, it sounds different when its face to face in front of you, it will sound sharper, piercing. While its moving away from you it becomes lower. If your face to face with the cab and if you tilt the cab, you'll notice it will sound much different as well.

The Doppler effect (or Doppler shift)????

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doppler_effect

 

[coreysMonster]

It has everything to do with the way the direction of the soundwaves are coming from. When you hear an ambulance approaching you, it sounds different when its face to face in front of you, it will sound sharper, piercing. While its moving away from you it becomes lower. If your face to face with the cab and if you tilt the cab, you'll notice it will sound much different as well.

The doppler effect only applies with moving sound sources, bro.

 

[Vinny]

Ehh. Both contain one relatively stationary component and one moving component (in this case the guitar player/engineer) so it kinda sorta has the same effect.

 

[JeffTD]

Ehh. Both contain one relatively stationary component and one moving component (in this case the guitar player/engineer) so it kinda sorta has the same effect.

No, not at all. The doppler effect has to do with pitch, not tonality.

 

[Ermz]

What you're thinking about here is acoustic comb filtering and frequency-dependent transmission loss. Being to the side of the cab is a bit like a natural LPF, which as we know is essential to guitars not sounding like a buzzsaw dipped in ass. In front of the cab there are thousands of little spots containing reinforcements, cancellations etc. all as a function of the speakers interacting with one another and the room.

If you're dialing a tone for your amp, dial it while listening to that abortion-noise coming from head-on. That's what the mic is getting - that's what the crowd are hearing. If it sounds like shit to you, by lord it's going to sound like shit to them too.