Half- vs Full-Stack

[Simon Dorn]

Sound difference, pros and cons (not the obvious carry-thing), personal impressions, regarding sound. Classic A/B-Stack.
I heard someone say: Halfstacks sound bigger. What's your take on it?

 

[griff10672]

Sound difference, pros and cons (not the obvious carry-thing), personal impressions, regarding sound. Classic A/B-Stack.
I heard someone say: Halfstacks sound bigger. What's your take on it?

I run two 4x12's ....99.99 % of the time ........... the more air I move the more fun I have ...

I don't stack them ..... they are about 6 feet apart ..... I don't run stereo

 

[BeZo]

Running half stacks makes you turn up louder to get the same perceived volume as full stacks. Nobody listens through their knees, so having a stack helps you hear the rig when the cabs are stacked. Plus, when you stack them, it takes up the same space as a half stack in a tight stage.

Plus, no two speakers are exactly identical, so the more speakers you have, the more full it will sound beyond the volume standpoint. Both are loud enough for whatever, but stacks just look and sound better.

 

[Geo]

The only time I ran more than one 4x12 was to do a wet/dry thing.

Otherwise, the only time you need more than one would be to play a big venue.

 

[Solarflares]

I would always put a single 4x12 on a 9” or more rostrum.

 

[BeZo]

The only time I ran more than one 4x12 was to do a wet/dry thing.

Otherwise, the only time you need more than one would be to play a big venue.

My experience has been the exact opposite. The days of running full stacks to fill a stadium are long gone. Big venues have big sound systems. You can get away with silent stage easily on a big stage and nobody would know. A 1x12 combo is fine for a festival show. It's the tiny bars where having the stacks makes a difference. All of the venues where I have to fill the room with guitars thar aren't in the PA are tiny dive bars with tiny PA setups. Sure, you still have to turn down and suit the mix, but it helps having more coverage in those situations. Especially when there are no monitors.

It's the smaller venues that need the big rigs, not the big stages. Big stages have the PA and monitors to handle any rig. Small venues benefit from bigger rigs.

 

[DanTravis62]

My experience has been the exact opposite. The days of running full stacks to fill a stadium are long gone. Big venues have big sound systems. You can get away with silent stage easily on a big stage and nobody would know. A 1x12 combo is fine for a festival show. It's the tiny bars where having the stacks makes a difference. All of the venues where I have to fill the room with guitars thar aren't in the PA are tiny dive bars with tiny PA setups. Sure, you still have to turn down and suit the mix, but it helps having more coverage in those situations. Especially when there are no monitors.

It's the smaller venues that need the big rigs, not the big stages. Big stages have the PA and monitors to handle any rig. Small venues benefit from bigger rigs.

This. The reason you need stacks in the modern day is small venues with bad PAs.

Ironically, it's the same reason modelers are shitty for small venues.

Having the whole band be able to do basically any volume you need is a life saver when you have no monitoring.

Sometimes even if you do have monitoring, it's extremely helpful with the PAs headroom to only use mics for vocals and drums, even if you could technically mic the guitars.

Most of the time that sounds better in a small room anyways
As long as you can either angle the amps a bit towards the drummer, or even better have them behind the drummer, you can power through those no/bad monitor situations - with a small amp you are basically fucked.

 

[MadAsAHatter]

My experience has been the exact opposite. The days of running full stacks to fill a stadium are long gone. Big venues have big sound systems. You can get away with silent stage easily on a big stage and nobody would know. A 1x12 combo is fine for a festival show. It's the tiny bars where having the stacks makes a difference. All of the venues where I have to fill the room with guitars thar aren't in the PA are tiny dive bars with tiny PA setups. Sure, you still have to turn down and suit the mix, but it helps having more coverage in those situations. Especially when there are no monitors.

It's the smaller venues that need the big rigs, not the big stages. Big stages have the PA and monitors to handle any rig. Small venues benefit from bigger rigs.

This. The reason you need stacks in the modern day is small venues with bad PAs.

Ironically, it's the same reason modelers are shitty for small venues.

Having the whole band be able to do basically any volume you need is a life saver when you have no monitoring.

Sometimes even if you do have monitoring, it's extremely helpful with the PAs headroom to only use mics for vocals and drums, even if you could technically mic the guitars.

Most of the time that sounds better in a small room anyways
As long as you can either angle the amps a bit towards the drummer, or even better have them behind the drummer, you can power through those no/bad monitor situations - with a small amp you are basically fucked.

100%.
Back when I was in bands it was mostly playing small bars with a vocal PA at best. You needed a big enough wall of sound to fill the whole area. Unless you had your own full PA setup half stacks were the minimum requirement. Any bigger or outdoor venues usually provided decent PA support and you could get away with something smaller, but most people still used their half stacks anyway. I'd imagine PA support is still pretty similar today. This is why I laugh at the tan pants who say a 15 watt combo is all you need these days. Good luck with that when you show up and have to provide your own volume.

 

[DanTravis62]

This is why I laugh at the tan pants who say a 15 watt combo is all you need these days. Good luck with that when you show up and have to provide your own volume.

This is because the people on TGP aren't playing actual club gigs like real musicians play. They pretend that's what they are doing, but they are fudging the truth.

"I take my 15 watt combo to the slam poetry/open mic night at the coffee shop" is an entirely different universe than playing real venues and they know it's bad optics, and will reveal they don't know what the fuck they are talking about.

Unfortunately for them, the "grab n go" amp thing is the most reliable tell in the universe that they:

1. "gig" at open mic nights where most of the other "performers" are doing comedy routines and juggling
2. Play at the county fair once a year where the PA is going to be massive/overkill, and not one person there is to see you play
3. Are literally a rockstar and can use whatever amp you want because you have your own sound reinforcement in your tour bus

And simply through occams razor, you know that 99.9999% of those guys are number 1.

Yes, some small clubs will have reliable PAs and monitoring situations, sure, but literally any gigging musician will know that's playing with fire to depend on the venue having it.

 

[RaceU4her]

I used full stacks in small halls and bars to get the guitars dispersed over the people in the front blocking, and of course to look cool

 

[Solarflares]

This is because the people on TGP aren't playing actual club gigs like real musicians play. They pretend that's what they are doing, but they are fudging the truth.

"I take my 15 watt combo to the slam poetry/open mic night at the coffee shop" is an entirely different universe than playing real venues and they know it's bad optics, and will reveal they don't know what the fuck they are talking about.

Unfortunately for them, the "grab n go" amp thing is the most reliable tell in the universe that they:

1. "gig" at open mic nights where most of the other "performers" are doing comedy routines and juggling
2. Play at the county fair once a year where the PA is going to be massive/overkill, and not one person there is to see you play
3. Are literally a rockstar and can use whatever amp you want because you have your own sound reinforcement in your tour bus

And simply through occams razor, you know that 99.9999% of those guys are number 1.

Yes, some small clubs will have reliable PAs and monitoring situations, sure, but literally any gigging musician will know that's playing with fire to depend on the venue having it.

You forgot my category…

4. Like Solarflares, you are so fucking famous that the whole audience loudly sings your entire guitar parts from start to finish, and you can do any gig with a Spark Go in your pocket.

 

[rstites]

I don't see any reason for a full stack anywhere now. The entire reason we ever had them was just to get enough low wattage speakers to manage the 100W amps of the 60's. There's no doubt the 4x12 sounds different than a 2x12 or 1x12 with the same speakers, but even there you end up with a mic in front of just a single speaker.

Yes, if the PA sucks, you need that volume, but again a single 4x12 will handle it fine.

 

[DanTravis62]

You forgot my category…

4. Like Solarflares, you are so fucking famous that the whole audience loudly sings your entire guitar parts from start to finish, and you can do any gig with a Spark Go in your pocket.

You know it's just a matter of time to where the latest TGP fad thread is "if you bring any more amp than a Spark Go to the gig, then you have a small pee pee"

The whole "grab n go" phenomenon was such a rude awakening for me - I was under the assumption that most of these people were actual guitar players who played in actual bands, and had actual experience playing music.

And the logic is inescapable and inevitable; if you think 15 watts is "enough" for most club gigs, you are lying about playing club gigs.

 

[rstites]

Unfortunately for them, the "grab n go" amp thing is the most reliable tell in the universe that they:

I always thought of my Mesa III 1x12 combo as a grab'n'go. Is that ok? lol

 

[Solarflares]

Well, I bought 4x12’s basically because I hated wallpapering.

 

[DanTravis62]

I always thought of my Mesa III 1x12 combo as a grab'n'go. Is that ok? lol

That's only a grab n go if you're Arnold Swarzenegger

 

[Solarflares]

You know it's just a matter of time to where the latest TGP fad thread is "if you bring any more amp than a Spark Go to the gig, then you have a small pee pee"

The whole "grab n go" phenomenon was such a rude awakening for me - I was under the assumption that most of these people were actual guitar players who played in actual bands, and had actual experience playing music.

And the logic is inescapable and inevitable; if you think 15 watts is "enough" for most club gigs, you are lying about playing club gigs.

That’s the internet for you.
Fuckwits with a voice.
In my day, fat and ugly people, along with thick cunts - they stayed home at night.
Now they live online, and attract other fat, ugly, thick cunts - until the internet is a stinking seething mass of putrid, shit-encrusted, puss-ridden spew.
True artistry dies through sheer weight of mongoloid numbers.
It’s particularly galling when the cunts now own Friedmans, Soldano, Diesels, and the like - and they’re gathering dust in their playrooms/bedrooms/showrooms, as they tell pioneering professionals like me that I have no idea.

Not one good, honest callous between the lot of them.
TGP is even worse. “Oh yes my Timmy Tonex Rat Muff gigging rig has a spare slot on the board. What overdrive do I get?” Fucking get your wife to drive over your fucking head you cunt.

 

[Solarflares]

That's only a grab n go if you're Arnold Swarzenegger

He was misquoted.
He actually said “Aaaw my back”.

 

[MadAsAHatter]

Unfortunately for them, the "grab n go" amp thing is the most reliable tell in the universe that they:

1. "gig" at open mic nights where most of the other "performers" are doing comedy routines and juggling
2. Play at the county fair once a year where the PA is going to be massive/overkill, and not one person there is to see you play
3. Are literally a rockstar and can use whatever amp you want because you have your own sound reinforcement in your tour bus

4. Like Solarflares, you are so fucking famous that the whole audience loudly sings your entire guitar parts from start to finish, and you can do any gig with a Spark Go in your pocket.

5. doing an outdoor gig in the back yard for their kid's bouncy house play date. You can push the volume, but got to be careful no one calls the HOA on you for rocking out too hard.

 

[DanTravis62]

5. doing an outdoor gig in the back yard for their kid's bouncy house play date. You can push the volume, but got to be careful no one calls the HOA on you for rocking out too hard.

Crazy how most of those "live performance gig videos" on TGP are in some dudes backyard with the bouncy house conveniently just out of the shot

Jesus christ man, why don't they just say they wanted to jam outside for their family for the 4th of july or whatever the occasion was? It's so obnoxious, because it's not hard to find video if you actually have a band that plays actual gigs.

But then when the evidence of the "gig" turns up, it coincidentally is in their backyard. Ya don't say.