Those little 'middy' amps..

[Faithless]

1. So, I just bought an Ashdown "After Eight' amp - 15watts, 8"speaker, to practice in flat..

What I discovered about these little amps, let it be Ampeg, Ashdown, Laney, whatever, is that their sound, to my ears, at least is sooo middy (excessive with mids), that it's crazy..

I have a Line6 FX processor, so I could cut out exact mids range out of my amp, but I don't know, which one..

Anyone could help there, so that my amp sound would be as pure as possible?

I do think, that there is something to do with high mids, right?..




2. BTW, how do I fight with boominess in a flat, so that my neighbours don't go mad?
I lifted my lil amp into about 1 meter high, so the sound goes, more or less, 'to my ears' (I sit on a high chair, when practising..), so I don't need lots of volume to hear me, and amp doesn't boom as much, as it would do, when lying on the floor, right..

I do try not to add any bass to my sound, and.. Oh, and not much volume from amp.. Anything else, that I could do about getting enough sound from amp, and not bothering neighbours?



Any info would be greatly appreciated,
Faith

Edited June 24, 2010 by Faithless

[dannybuoy]

Try putting it on a pillow, this will stop it vibrating through the floor so much.

And don't worry too much about the neighbours unless they complain - I've been playing pretty loud lately with my new amp, so I asked the neighbours if it bothered them and they said they never heard it. So now I play even louder!

[Faithless]

Huh, maybe you're right about volume

The thing is, as I've said, I've put my amp in about 1 meter height (it's standing on two chairs now..), so the vibration isn't the problem anymore..

BTW, I'm living in the first floor, so I don't have any neighbours 'underneath' me, but I do have some next to my room wall..


cheers
Faith

[umph]

those little amps aren't gonna be low end monsters, try using some headphones.

[dannybuoy]

Raising it off the floor by 1m will kill the low end - bass speakers like to be close to solid surfaces for 'boundary reinforcement':

[url="http://barefacedbass.com/technical-information/understanding-room-acoustics.htm"]http://barefacedbass.com/technical-informa...m-acoustics.htm[/url]

Try putting it on the ground, near a wall or corner. A pillow or layer of foam will help reduce vibration through the floor if that becomes a problem. You can also tilt it back slightly to point towards your ears for a clearer sound. You should be able to control how boomy it is by moving it closer to or further from the corner of the room.

[Stylon Pilson]

Regarding the frequency response, if you tried putting 15W through an 8" speaker with a flat frequency response, then it would be very quiet - either the amp would reach its limits, or the speaker would reach its maximum excursion, long before you got any decent volume up. Which is why little amps like that are designed for a middy sound - most of the low end is sacrificed for the sake of volume.

Regarding your post in general, I have to agree with umph and say that headphones are the solution to both of your problems, if you can bear them.

S.P.

[Phil Starr]

I use a little 4 channel mixer with some decent headphones for most of my practice. (it was actually designed for dubbing sound into videos and cost £10) You get the cleanest sound you will ever hear so it is great for highlighting any technical problems and you can mix in an iPod or a drum machine. It isn't like playing live but it is like studio work and you can practice for hours whilst the family watch the TV if you need to. Headphones.

[Faithless]

I did use headphones for practice for more than half a year, but, even being quite expensive, they're were too boomy, as I discovered after a few months..

Also, there's not that much clarity when practising with amp, as it is with headphones, so it's also an issue, that put me towards an amp..

Thirdly, practising with headphones for long periods, makes me tired a lot faster than practising with an amp, if you know, what I'm saying..

Wattabout amp boominess - it's on two chairs now, and a pillow is under it - I gotta admit, I can't feel the lack of low end..

I think, I'll need to practice with amp for a few more days, to get used to it, cuz now I can't fully concentrate on practice - it seems, that at the times the amp is too loud..


Thanks for input, guys,
cheers
Faith

[umph]

[quote name='Faithless' post='877246' date='Jun 25 2010, 11:23 AM']I did use headphones for practice for more than half a year, but, even being quite expensive, they're were too boomy, as I discovered after a few months..

Also, there's not that much clarity when practising with amp, as it is with headphones, so it's also an issue, that put me towards an amp..

Thirdly, practising with headphones for long periods, makes me tired a lot faster than practising with an amp, if you know, what I'm saying..

Wattabout amp boominess - it's on two chairs now, and a pillow is under it - I gotta admit, I can't feel the lack of low end..

I think, I'll need to practice with amp for a few more days, to get used to it, cuz now I can't fully concentrate on practice - it seems, that at the times the amp is too loud..


Thanks for input, guys,
cheers
Faith[/quote]
you tried eqing the headphones? cut some low mids etc.