Elevating Speaker Cabinets

"I can't hear myself."  It's a common complaint from guitarists and a bassists.  The infamous volume wars have their root in this statement.  I struggled to hear myself for years until I employed a simple fix by building a cabinet stand to get my cabinets up off of the floor and closer to ear level.  This has made a huge difference in not only being able to hear myself as well as the over volume levels both at rehearsals and on stage.

I looked at designs and methods employed by other bassists.  In this respect guitarists have it easier in that there are stands readily available to use that can support the weight of the typical guitar combo.  Bass rigs on the other hand are usually too heavy to employ the typical guitar cabinet stands.  This usually requires unusual approaches utilizing everything from appropriated coffee tables, milk crates and folding work stations, to custom purpose-built stands.  I tried a few different approaches before landing on building my own cabinet stand.  I drew heavily from this gentleman's design from a popular bass forum.

I liked this approach and did something similar.  My stand incorporated a storage area for cords and has a shelf where the Burgera Veryon M BV1001M bass amp is mounted.  I also mounted my Furman Power Strip on the stand as well.  I like being able to have everything in one place rather than coiling up cords and cables to put in a separate carrying case.  This arrangement saves time on load-in and load-out as well as set-up and tear-down.  I have only used this for the past three shows but for the most part I do like it. 

There are a few things I will change on the next build (yes there will be another version) to make this work a little better.  Plugging in the extension cord for my pedal board in the dark on the back of the stand which is usually pushed up against a wall is a little more challenging.  I think the next rendition will have the power strip on the front of the stand.  Another feature I have found myself contemplating is a set of fixed wheels on one set of legs (probably the side as opposed to the front or back) to make the stand easier to move around.  Lastly I would like the stand to be a little taller so that the platform of the stand would be at about waist level.  Okay I lied - lastly I will paint the next stand.