Solidsteel

VibeStand Guitar and Bass Amp Stands

£229 as reviewed

There has always been a crossover between the domestic hi-fi and pro audio spheres. You might be surprised how many people working in one arena jump ship to the other, so transferable are the skills. And the equipment itself often caters for both markets – as ATC, Focal, PMC, Kerr Acoustic, Amphion and Sennheiser will attest. As for me, I even use a Chord Company guitar lead in my live and studio bass guitar rig!

Even so, Solidsteel's VibeStand takes things to another level. This Italian, family-owned company has been making hi-fi furniture for over thirty years. CEO Gaetano Conti, himself a keen guitarist, spotted that Solidsteel's skills can improve the audio from guitar and bass amplifiers, cabinets and combos just as it has been doing for home hi-fi. He and his brother Manfredi experimented by putting a 2x12 guitar amp/speaker combo on an S3-A hi-fi power amp stand. Hugely impressed by the result, they duly designed and manufactured purpose-built stands for guitar and bass setups.

You can instantly spot the S3 DNA in the VibeStands (£209 for the small guitar and bass stands, £229 for large) – the rounded corners of the MDF and polymer laminate shelf and, of course, the aggressive steel spikes that sit in floor-protecting S-series pads.

In fact, the VibeStands I have in front of me – one guitar and one bass – look very much like the S3 power amp stands that have been treated to some Miracle-Gro! Other plant foods are available, by the way…

THE LISTENING

I first tested the VibeStand using what has constituted my live and studio rig for over a decade now, namely a 1991 Yamaha Attitude Limited going through a TC Electronics RS210 cab, powered by an RH450 amp from the same brand. I have performed with this triumvirate in anywhere from pizza restaurants and cafes to skateparks and four-figure capacity theatres. Naturally, for most live shows I perform, the amp is DI'd with the cab serving as a monitor. However, especially for recording, I like to have the cab's sound involved in the mix. This is where the surface that the cab is sat on can have an effect and why, to mitigate that, I often request that the upper of the two speakers is mic'd up when I record.

Comparing my rig sat on my suspended floor and the SolidSteel BS-L (bass stand-large) rated for loads up to 130kg, there was a clear improvement to the sound. Actually, I initially thought the stand had sucked out all the low end from my rig, but in fact, I was suddenly hearing my bass without the additional resonances coming from the floor in my room. Everything tightened up and became more focused, letting me dial in more low frequency on my amp without muddying what I was playing. Such newfound articulation was even more evident when playing with a dropped D or adding my Schecter Diamond Series Custom 5 with its active electronics and low B string into the mix.

I like to have some grit and growl to my sound, which is why I'm attracted to Precision-style basses, and I also add some of the amplifier's rather lovely TubeTone for extra dirt. Testing the stand in a professional rehearsal studio and a friend's smaller home studio, my sound stayed constant with only the size of the room having an effect, rather than whether my cab was placed on a concrete or suspended floor. This proved true for my 1990s Trace Elliot 1x15 combo, too.

My semi-tame guitarist couldn't believe the results of sitting his Orange 2x12, powered by a Marshall Mode 4 amplifier, on the GS-L VibeStand variant. Both clean and dirty channels benefitted from the sharper focus that the stand appears to give over having the cab booming away on the floor. Clean with a touch of chorus sounded super sweet – an odd picture when faced with a hairy biker type playing an all-black Epiphone Gothic Explorer…

THE VERDICT

The SolidSteel VibeStand is a real tone saver, as it removes the effect of the surface that the rig is placed on. Placing a combo or cab on one certainly improved the sound performance from electric bass and six-string guitars. I dare say that tube-powered combos such as nineteen sixties Fenders or Vox AC30, for instance, will benefit even more from the mitigation of unwanted vibration.

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