How big a part does the room play in your tone?

[tpwelie34]

Hey guys, I was wondering how big of an impact does a room have acoustically on your guitar tone?

When I was testing out the Dual Recto in GC's small acoustic room, the amp sounded huge and crushing. I have recently purchased the Roadster but when I try to dial it inside my room, I find it very hard to get a crushing tone like the 2010 Dual Recto solo head had.

 

[screamingdaisy]

The room can have a huge impact... as can the location within the room.

As an example, my cab sounds best on a certain spot in the floor. If I put it there it sounds great with a very full sound. If I move it to the left or right a foot or so it sounds thinner.

The floor can also affect things. If your floor is a hollow wood floor it tends to emphasise the bottom end. If it's a concrete floor it tends to suck all the bottom end out of your sound and makes it sound very thin and bright. Carpet, fabric (furniture, bedding), and curtains make the room sound more dry as it absorbs reflected waves and reduces natural reverb.

 

[cradlefish]

definitely a difference.

 

[Turumbar82]

Your room has a huge effect on any kind of sound source. Big amps don't typically work well in small rooms because there are a lot of sound waves that are pushed in a small area that things start to build up, especially bass frequencies. I personally like to play bigger, louder amps in a bigger room and smaller amps in smaller rooms.

Just like screamingdaisy said, the kind of floor effects things.

Where it sits in the room is big, if there are curtains, furniture, whatever.

If you moved your amp from room to room or played at different venues, in one place your amp can sound fantastic but at another with the same settings it sounds terrible.

 

[allphourus]

AS well as your position relative to the amp in the room.

 

[konstantine RK]

I have my stuff in the garage(ment)... concrete. And we have bambu floors in the man cave! I cannot wait to hear my **** on a wood stage!
The bambu dents easily and my fiance' would put a dent in my head if I damaged any of it.

I put my stacks halved directly across from me so I dont have to turn up.

great question to ask btw!

 

[YellowJacket]

Huge effect. Years ago, I would test gear in a music store and then bring it home and play it in the basement. It was a partially finished basement and the room dimensions simply sounded bad. EVERYTHING sounded like crap down there.

Every acoustic space has acoustic properties. Because of the various dimensions, certain frequencies are amplified and others are reduced. In fact, I would hazard a guess that many guitarists hate the sound of the room more than the sound of their amps.

 

[rocknroll9225]

to answer your question, basically yes. size of the room, amp placement, direction the amp's facing, what the walls/ceiling/floor are made of, whats on the wall/ceiling/floor, whether your speaker cab is on the floor or on casters, etc. all affect the tone youll get.

another thing that i dont think anyone pointed out, the solo head and roadster are completely different amps. the room probably is making a difference, but a roadster just plain and simple doesnt sound like the regular rectifiers. the regular ones bite a little more imo.

 

[screamingdaisy]

Huge effect. Years ago, I would test gear in a music store and then bring it home and play it in the basement. It was a partially finished basement and the room dimensions simply sounded bad. EVERYTHING sounded like crap down there.

I sold a few amps due to this. I didn't know any better at the time. I kick myself for it now.

 

[Turumbar82]

It really is amazing how much a room can make an amp sound bad or great. Most of us have extra rooms or basements for our gear. Even just alittle treatment for a room can help out. I got an auralex kit from musicians friend for 60 bucks and it helped out my room a lot. Absorption is really not what acoustic tiles are all about. It's more about diffusion or dispersment.

 

[YellowJacket]

Do you have a link for where such kits are available? We'll likely be in our place for the next 4 years so it might be worth setting up my studio. I'll likely be recording as well as practicing in there so it may be a worthwhile investment.

 

[RoadKinger483]

if your definitely using fx especially like reverb, use it sparingly if at all if ur playing a medium to large size venue. Addotional reverb to an already spacious place can really muddy things up. Read the reverb tutorial over at gilmourish.com about david gilmours tone on the pulse recordings. Very interesting and good read.

 

[michael6120]

Hey guys, I registered an account here so I could put my reply in here!!

Yeah rooms do make a noticeable different for sure, however . . . .

As years as a full time live engineer, playing and doing sound in countless 'cover band venues' (no arenas or anything hehe) across my state doing tiny rooms to 1500 capacity rooms. The only persons amplifier that ALWAYS sounded good in every room I saw was a guy that used a triple rec. After that I always thought about it... and yes every other type of amp I hear is not as room changing friendly as a rectifier. Of course yes it sounded different in each room and may require some eq'ing, but some guys with fenders and marshalls would turn up into some rooms and have to drastically change their sound . . . yet the problem never seemed so dramatic for the rectifier guy and always sounded good.

Anyway then I purchased a triple rec!

Theres no way I for the life of me my old school marshalls could sound good in a couple of rooms that come to mind . . . but I've been able to keep 'my' rectifier sound in those rooms

 

[vitor gracie]

Great question and a great read. I think and agree that Roadsters and standard 3 channel Rectos are indeed different, but not THAT different. They are aiming (essentially) to do the same types of things tone wise. I would say two amps that are totally different are something like a JCM 900 and a Recto...both gainey amps but just no where near the same. So my opinion on the matter is that you should be able to do the same types of things gain-wise and tone-wise between a 3 Channel Recto and a Roadster. The differences between them response wise and tone or gain wise will really not be vast.

A Roadster wil get plenty mean sounding, or tight, or fluid, or whatever....just as much as a 2010 Recto will. Don't base your decisions on a semi-sound proofed GC room. I promise that if you simply look at the environment your Roadster is in and adjust the room accordingly, you'll find the Roadster, in the long run, has a lot more options that you will warm up to in the months (or even for some of us) years ahead. It's really a swiss army knife. I found myself even using settings on my guitar that I normally ignore with other amps, often on the Roadster, because if delivered them so well. The channel I thought I would hate (brit mode on 2) I used all the time...and even got a pricey hand made pedal to simulate it after selling my Roadster (bad mistake) because it just introduced me to new sounds rather then me trying to make it do things I wanted all the time. I know we buy amps to get "our tone" but some amps inspire us to to do different things then we normally do on our instruments. I really believe a Roadster is that amp for a lot of people.

Go to a 2010 Recto if you simply want less "stuff" in your amp getting in the way - NOT because a Roadster's cajones aren't as big as a 2010 Recto. I would get a Roadster as my next amp, but I don't need those things a Roadster offers...I have a Tremoverb for those things. I'm not getting a 2010 Recto because they are more "brootalz" I don't think anyone really believes that at all. They are both "brootal" it's just that one amp spells it "brootal" and the other spells is "bruutal"

Just like you say "Meh-sah" and I say "May-sah"

:lol:


Good luck bro.

 

[Neptical]

This subject reminds me why I take the casters off my cabs and bring a piece of thick carpet with me (to go under the cab) for all my shows. It keeps the cab sounding nice and tight with real sweet bass response.

~Nep~

 

[Roadifier]

another thing that i dont think anyone pointed out, the solo head and roadster are completely different amps. the room probably is making a difference, but a roadster just plain and simple doesnt sound like the regular rectifiers. the regular ones bite a little more imo.

thats because the roadster has only 4 gain stages instead of 5 gain stages like the regular solo heads.

 

[TTSTWO]

Wooden barn = Good.

Cement basement = Bad.

 

[rocksalt7]

+1 on the wooden barn...

I've jammed in quite few different ones over the years and there's an "ambience" there that's hard to replicate (that's a lot of large words for someone w/ a hangover :? ). I've been looking around for one lately because of that sound quality; no luck yet. Too many "real" farmers around here I guess! :shock:

 

[ElectricTurkey4369]

I moved my Roadster into my room and out of my unfinished, concrete floored, basement, and it sounds INCREDIBLE!

I always knew the room played a role, but i forgot how much of a change it can make.

Im using no bass on my channel 4 vintage, and it still sounds bassy!