Head vibration!

[davegriffiths91]

Hey folks.
Recently aquired a new cab from a fellow basschatter, genz benz 1x15 focus to be precise.
I'm running this with a genz benz shuttle head and took it for its first gig outing last night. I absolutely adored the sound I was getting from it however I did encounter a problem.
All that volume and vibration has made the head move around a little and I am worried that in the heat of the moment it may fall off the cab and damage it!
Has any body experienced this and does any one have any fixes for it?

[JapanAxe]

Non-slip mat.

[LewisK1975]

Yep - get some of that non-slip stuff that you can put into kitchen drawers and cut it to size. Works a treat.

[stevie]

The real question here is: have you got a faulty one or are these just a crappy design? Because this should't happen with a properly built bass cab. Unfortunately, a lot of lightweight and cheaply made cabs suffer from this problem. I haven't heard any bad reports about these boxes but only someone with hands-on experience can tell you for sure. The fixes already suggested might stop your amp from falling off the cab but who wants a cabinet that vibrates like a snare drum?

[Beer of the Bass]

I've seen similar issues with a whole range of cabs, from meticulously designed and extensively braced lightweight cabs to a 30kg Peavey which nearly vibrated an 18kg valve head off the top of it mid-gig. In all cases a bit of extra friction from replacing the amp feet or using a mat has sorted it. Are there really cabs out there which are immune from this, as I'm not sure I've encountered them yet?

[mcnach]

[quote name='davegriffiths91' timestamp='1454275138' post='2968208'] Hey folks. Recently aquired a new cab from a fellow basschatter, genz benz 1x15 focus to be precise. I'm running this with a genz benz shuttle head and took it for its first gig outing last night. I absolutely adored the sound I was getting from it however I did encounter a problem. All that volume and vibration has made the head move around a little and I am worried that in the heat of the moment it may fall off the cab and damage it! Has any body experienced this and does any one have any fixes for it? [/quote]

I fixed that for my Shuttle by replacing the feet: they were hard plastic with no grip. I put rubber ones and no more issues. I made a thread about it:

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/231593-replacing-feet-on-a-genz-benz-shuttle-92-with-pictures/page__p__2396357"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/231593-replacing-feet-on-a-genz-benz-shuttle-92-with-pictures[/url]

[Lozz196]

I bought some non-slip matting from Amazon and stuck it to the top of my cabs. Works a treat.

[stevie]

Replacing the feet certainly looks like the ideal solution. That's a very useful thread, McNach. You have to wonder why Genz didn't fit rubber feet in the first place. If that doesn't do the trick, the cab's the problem.

And yes, BotB, there are plenty of cabs that are reasonably immune to this kind of problem, but the current trend is towards cheap and lightweight - and the lighter you make the cab the more difficult it is to stop it vibrating. Similarly, if you make your cab out of cheap shuttering plywood, as many companies do, they are also going to suffer from this problem.

[jazzyvee]

I have the same problem with my Mesa Boogie walkabout head on top of their walkabout cabs. To stop it, Gaffa Tape is your friend.

[chris_b]

The mat will stop the amp moving on top of the cab but it won't stop the vibrations shaking it about.

Since I had my Mesa Boogie 400+ (16 ish valves!) I've put my amps on foam blocks. I made mine from the packing foam which used to be used in PC boxes. These stop the amp moving and protects it from being shaken to bits.

The other thing I'd be concerned about is those vibrations are the cab sucking the life out of your sound. My experience is that cabs are always made to be as rigid as possible, so the vibrations don't wast your tone. I don't understand why your cab is vibrating as much as it is.