Robben Ford Discussion

[Aeolian]

I was thinking recently about how Robben always has his effects rack and amp sitting on what looks like the road case for the speaker cabinet, with the speaker sitting alone. Earlier Daved commented that Robben likes the sound of the cabinet unencumbered by things sitting on it, and that this also allows Daved to stick something under the front to tilt it back.

It would seem that this also helps isolate the head from the cabinet vibrations. Much better for the tubes. And there's probably some degree of microphonic feedback that always occurs, so this might lessen that.

To this end I started making a folding stand (like an "X" keyboard stand) to put my amp on. My son is learning welding in shop so it's a fun project for him to help. I'll get this finished this weekend before playing JJ's again next week so I'll have a familiar baseline to see if I can tell the difference.

But, the more I thought about this, there are a couple of other things that might be going on here that I wonder if they are deliberate.

The case will reflect the sound out of the back of the cabinet. With all the different stages all over the world, this would give some consistancy instead of having back walls 5 to 20 feet behind the amp.

Also, the case is a huge resonant box. Many years ago I had a Boogie combo with a road case. Aside from lifing the bit in and out of the trunk, I found that not only did the case set the amp at a great height, the sound improved compared to setting it on a stool or table at the same height.

Daved, are these considerations in the way you set up Robben's amp? Have I stumbled onto more secrets of the touring pros? Most of us weekend warriors have the clubs we play in pretty well figured out, but you folks have to deal with all kinds of different set ups. Maybe I'll make up a little folding box like magicians use. Maybe even sell it as a "magic" box.
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[Bill Morgan]

[tonemaster2_11]

OK This is uncanny. I had just had my Fender Dual Professional down in my basement in the middle of the room as I was doing some tweaking here and there. As a guy who has ALWAYS played through closed back cabs I was a little surprised at how much I HATED the sound of my amp with no WALL behind it! I had been thinking about buying a road case for it just to make it's 80lbs easier to move around and I thought... Hey I can use the top section of the road case behing the amp when there's no wall available! Curious.
For the record when I DID play through heads and cabs I never set the head on top of the cab. I had convinced myself that isolating the tubes from the vibrations lends a little more detail and presence to the sound. I'm sure any audiophile would agree with me but it may just have been all in my head(actual head, not my amp).

[Aeolian]

I haven't had a chance to paint the thing yet, but here's some pictures of the stand I made up, in use at last nights gig. The new owner of this club is really riding folks on volume so I didn't get much of a chance to open the rig up much. Maybe wishfull thinking but I believe it was a taste clearer and fatter. Someone with Robben's ears and hands would probably notice any differences more readily. I'll keep trying it and see if it prolongs the tube life.





Funny, I never noticed that little sign at the corner of the stage. That's the front window behind the curtains, but this is where I always put my rig, so rear boundary support is the same. The cab has larger feet on the front so that's why it's tipped back like that.
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There are no such things as wrong notes, there's only the look on your face.
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[StratCat]

I'm not sure if this is along the same lines or not, but I remember speaking to Tommy Emmanuel some years ago about something similar.

He was using a red knob Fender Twin at the time and used to mic up both the front and the back of the cabinet so he could capture some of the sound from the back of the cab. Really helped with the fullness of the sound and for someone who used Teles almost exclusively meant that he could get some good Tele twang going without taking your head off.

(Note that the rear mic had to have the phase reversed for obvious reasons!).

For the onstage sound it was then just a matter of balancing the front vs rear signals in his monitors to get the sound he was after. Most of use don't have this luxury though so proximity to the back wall is important!



Chris
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[jazzyblues]

Aeolian -
Cool stand, but it's the same as a keyboard stand. I hope it didn't cost you more than $20 to make.
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[Aeolian]