Major Amp Cabinet Rattling and Room Resonances

mikoo69 · 8th September 2011

I use 2 closed back cabinets with my guitar rig, a Hiwatt 4x12 and a vintage Fender 2x12. In most rooms these cabinets sound amazing, and cause no problems.

I set up a recording session in a house yesterday that has this amazing entranceway with 40 foot ceiling dome, marble floors, and a hexagonal shape (the only parallel "walls" are the front doors and the back of the room, which are at least 40 feet apart and blocked by a staircase). It has an amazing ambiance in there so we figured it would be a fun room to record in. However, I am having a major problem.

When I hit certain notes on my guitar, my speaker cabinets rattle like crazy. When I put my hand on the back of the cabinet, it sounds like there is an earthquake happening inside.

Is this strictly the resonance of the room, causing this? Is there anything I can do to reinforce the cabinet to prevent this? Some of the screws are loose, and the wooden beam in the center of the cabinet isn't screwed into the back panel. Should I get larger gauge screws and fill every hole, to make it tighter? Will this help at all? I am not sure if this is a solution, considering the cabinets don't rattle at all when I play live, or in most other rooms (though it has happened before in my practice space when playing too close to a certain wall).

What are some solutions when you want to record in a great sounding room, but the resonance of the room causes extraneous noise? I also want to record drums in this room, I will set them up in a few days and see if they cause any problems as well.

Advice greatly appreciated!

John White · 8th September 2011

Totally frustrating. At one point I was fed up with a ringing in my music room that I eventually found was a loose air diffuser grill. It happened again later, same frequency. Checked and rechecked the grill only this time it was a bad tube in my reverb channel.

Yes, definitely tighten the screws. Should go without saying. You are probably getting resonant frequencies in that room that you didn't in your other locations. Sometimes if a screw loosens it may not reset tight enough for very long. Perhaps a fatter screw would work or else you can fill the screw holes with a small shim or piece of a wooden match stick.

Also, I had a cab that was loose and could not find a solution that didn't involve taking the whole thing apart so I just used a ratchet strap and squeezed the crap out of it. Totally ghetto, very lame, but it worked.

PS The resonance you experienced may be a clue that you might have some challenging frequencies in an otherwise great sounding room.

aaronsmith · 8th September 2011

Maybe the wood is cracked! sounds like a nightmare, i like the ratchet strap though. If it works! great.

8th September 2011	#1
mikoo69 Gear addict Joined: Mar 2008 Posts: 353 Thread Starter	Major Amp Cabinet Rattling and Room Resonances I use 2 closed back cabinets with my guitar rig, a Hiwatt 4x12 and a vintage Fender 2x12. In most rooms these cabinets sound amazing, and cause no problems. I set up a recording session in a house yesterday that has this amazing entranceway with 40 foot ceiling dome, marble floors, and a hexagonal shape (the only parallel "walls" are the front doors and the back of the room, which are at least 40 feet apart and blocked by a staircase). It has an amazing ambiance in there so we figured it would be a fun room to record in. However, I am having a major problem. When I hit certain notes on my guitar, my speaker cabinets rattle like crazy. When I put my hand on the back of the cabinet, it sounds like there is an earthquake happening inside. Is this strictly the resonance of the room, causing this? Is there anything I can do to reinforce the cabinet to prevent this? Some of the screws are loose, and the wooden beam in the center of the cabinet isn't screwed into the back panel. Should I get larger gauge screws and fill every hole, to make it tighter? Will this help at all? I am not sure if this is a solution, considering the cabinets don't rattle at all when I play live, or in most other rooms (though it has happened before in my practice space when playing too close to a certain wall). What are some solutions when you want to record in a great sounding room, but the resonance of the room causes extraneous noise? I also want to record drums in this room, I will set them up in a few days and see if they cause any problems as well. Advice greatly appreciated!

8th September 2011	#2
John White Gear maniac Joined: Feb 2011 Location: Philadelphia Posts: 222	Rattling Totally frustrating. At one point I was fed up with a ringing in my music room that I eventually found was a loose air diffuser grill. It happened again later, same frequency. Checked and rechecked the grill only this time it was a bad tube in my reverb channel. Yes, definitely tighten the screws. Should go without saying. You are probably getting resonant frequencies in that room that you didn't in your other locations. Sometimes if a screw loosens it may not reset tight enough for very long. Perhaps a fatter screw would work or else you can fill the screw holes with a small shim or piece of a wooden match stick. Also, I had a cab that was loose and could not find a solution that didn't involve taking the whole thing apart so I just used a ratchet strap and squeezed the crap out of it. Totally ghetto, very lame, but it worked. PS The resonance you experienced may be a clue that you might have some challenging frequencies in an otherwise great sounding room. __________________ -john

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8th September 2011	#3
aaronsmith Gear addict Joined: Sep 2010 Location: London, England Posts: 388 1 Review written	Maybe the wood is cracked! sounds like a nightmare, i like the ratchet strap though. If it works! great.