Best Amp Stand

On-Stage Pro Tiltback

• Don Makoviney
• Last Updated: August 10, 2016

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The best amp stand for most people is the On-Stage Pro Tiltback. It has numerous positive reviews, and my years of gigging with one has proven it to be a reliable tool to ensure my guitar sound is at the right levels and doesn't just pass by my knees. If you need to adjust both height and angle, it's the one to get.

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Do I need an amp stand?

You’ll typically see or use an amp stand in club gigs where the PA system is less than optimal.

Amps stands generally raise the guitar off the ground and tilt it back slightly. This usually does a couple of things:

1. Disperses the sound of your amp in a more consistent pattern.
2. Helps the musician to hear it better.

Pattern dispersion

When your amp is sitting on the ground, the sound emanating from the bottom of the amp immediately gets bounced back up. Sometimes this can cause phase issues, sound cancellation issues, and sometimes not. This will often depend on your setup.

Helps the musician to hear better

When you have your amp on the ground, the sound from the amp goes right by your feet. This is why, in bar gigs, people will often have to tell the guitar player to turn down. The response from the guitar player is often, “What? Seriously? I can’t even hear it and I’m standing right in front of it.”

That’s because, for the audience watching below the stage, the amp is sitting above them and hitting them right in the face.

So, raising the amplifier up and tilting it back slightly puts it in the guitar player’s ear. This results in more reasonable guitar levels even the guitar player can hear, and overall, a better live band mix.

What makes a good amplifier stand

Guitar stands are not an exciting lot to write about. They are about as exciting as keyboard stands.

In short, you want amp stands that are sturdy, fully collapsible for transport, and can handle the wear and tear of being thrown around in the back of a van.

Our pick

On-Stage Pro Tiltback Amp Stand

The On-Stage Pro Tiltback Amp Stand is the best stand for most people, because it not only adjusts height but it adjust the tilt angle as well.

For those of us that gig often, your amplifier isn’t going to be in the same place on every stage. Some stages are cramped and you’ll have it jammed up right in front of the kick drum. Other times you might be off to the side and have plenty of room.

It’s in these situations you’ll need the ability to change the height and the degree of tilt. For these reasons, the On-Stage Pro Tiltback is the best amp stand for most people.

Other picks

Musician’s Gear Deluxe Amp Stand

Of course, you may not need all that. Maybe you have an amp in the corner of your home studio and it rarely moves. If that’s the case, spend $20 and pick up the Musician’s Gear Deluxe Amp Stand. It’s got 120+ 5-star reviews on Guitar Center, and it will do the job just fine.

Super portable

Hamilton UniStand

If you just need to tilt, grab Hamilton UniStand does just that. These are great when you need to pack light for practice. Drop this in the front of your gig bag and you’re good to go:

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Tell Me If There's A Deal For This

Originally published: January 26th, 2016

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