Isolation pads

[dtothec]

I understand the benefits of using an isolation pad to separate your cabinet from the floor. I've heard that you should also use one between a cabinet and a tube head, because the affect that the vibrations can have on the tubes (shorten the life, shake them loose). Thoughts?

[gtrguy]

My 02 cents worth:

I don't believe in any of that stuff. I also put pads under my studio monitors and noticed nothing.
Personally I like to have my bass speaker as connected to the floor as possible.

[hieronymous]

Did you see the GRAMMA review in this thread? http://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=23455.msg235575#msg235575

[StephenR]

I have to politely disagree with the concept of "connecting the bass speaker to the floor (stage)".  Agree that having my speaker sitting on a resonant stage sounds great to me on stage but it makes the job of the FOH house guy a lot more difficult if it contributes to standing waves coming from the bass. I always put my cabinets on a simple, cheap dolly to limit how much they couple with the stage. I have yet to invest in and try an isolation pad so I can't speak to whether the extra expense for one is justified.

No experience with using a pad under a tube head. I have used rack-mounted  gear since around 1981 but when I did own an Ampeg V4B bass head it always sat on the cabinet and it never created problems for me. YMMV...

[keith_h]

I use a Gramma pad between my racks and cabinet. I only have my own experience to go by which isn't a large enough data set to determine if it reduces equipment failure. I can say the rack rattles I use to hear when playing notes that would resonate in the racks no longer occur. Based on that I say that it works as advertised in isolating equipment from whatever is below it. An added benefit is the pad provides a firmer surface for my racks to sit on as it forms around the oversize stacking corners on the cabinets. 

[mario_farufyno]

Since I don't trust my light class D amp will not be thrown down while I'm playing, I use a piece of foam between head and cabinet just to keep it steady. I just think about decoupling cabinet from floor, only if the room resonates in a bad frequency. In that case I usually just raise it a little, in a chair, case or a crate (and/or move it away from corner).