Playing amp in very cold room - didn't sound great

[phoenix 7]

Was about 50 degrees fahr. in the drummer's garage last night. Amp just didn't sound great all night. Is it possible that the tubes didn't warm up to a nice temp.? Or maybe it was the wrong pedal/guitar combo....

[rob2001]

My band room is a heated garage but it takes a while to get up to temp. For me, it's partially the gear being cold but it's also me being cold! My fingers just don't move that great anymore in cold weather.

[quinnamps]

Temperature effects vibrations.
Maybe it's not the amp or tubes but the sound in the air?

[Aaron Smith]

Have you played in that room before? It might just be a bad sounding room, at any temperature.

[QRSS]

Have you played in that room before? It might just be a bad sounding room, at any temperature.

and/or different wall voltage.

[Analog Assassin]

and/or different wall voltage.

I was about to suggest that also. Not to mention that garages aren't the best sounding places in the world.

[trailrun100s]

and/or different wall voltage.

Ive always wondered about that...Some times my amp sounds soooo different, on different days plugged into the same outlet...

[buddastrat]

Maybe humidity and relating to speakers movement. I notice on hot humid days the amp sounds quite different.

[Trout]

Cold and humid or cold and dry?

Besides the frozen finger factor, I find my main geetar goes out of intonation fairly badly in the cold dry rooms.
My guess is humidity variations contribute to the temp factor by 2X

[dallasblues]

Sooo.... tone is also subject to shrinkage?

[Greentone]

Honestly, you were probably just cold and miserable. You would be hard pressed to get me to practice in a cold room!

[eschoendorff]

Try playing a wind instrument in a cold setting. That is just murder!

But, yes, in my experience, temp has a lot to do with how things tend to sound. So does humidity.

[phoenix 7]

Cold and humid or cold and dry?

Cold and normal humidity - 40%-ish. Yeah, I've played in that space many times and I've gotten some pretty good sounds, but I was set up in totally different part of the room last night. And I wouldn't be surprised if the voltage was funky. Probably a combination of all the above factors.

It was definitely about 50 degrees -- fine for power chords, but I hate trying to play challenging stuff in the cold. Good thing we had plenty of beer.

[dividedsky]

Sooo.... tone is also subject to shrinkage?

Like a frightened turtle.

[stephen sawall]

Many pedals sound horrible when cold, try going direct with no pedals..... believe me I lived in the UP of Michigan for years. 50*F is not very cold. Humidity and temperature can have a pretty big effect on sound and gear. From my experience humidity has more effect on sound ..... and temperature has more effect on some gear.

I have a few pedals that just sound horrible when cold.

[panhead5]

Ive always wondered about that...Some times my amp sounds soooo different, on different days plugged into the same outlet...

I second that after living in 2 old houses in old neighborhoods .Took me a while to figure out it was not the gear .

[Sizeofanocean]

I hate playing in the cold, my room gets very chilly in the winter, and my guitar seems to resonate a lot less in that environment, and the sound seems worse too. Could be all in my head because of my frozen fingers...

[mentoneman]

cold tubes cold speakers cold guitar string/wood cold ear drums = bad times

[FFTT]

Part of it is the guitar strings and neck expanding with the warmth of your fingers, then
contracting again .

When the guitar warms up you go flat, when the strings are cold and contract, they
go sharp.

So it's kind of like a tug of war brought on by temperature changes in the room.

[rob2001]

Part of it is the guitar strings and neck expanding with the warmth of your fingers, then
contracting again .

When the guitar warms up you go flat, when the strings are cold and contract, they
go sharp.

So it's kind of like a tug of war brought on by temperature changes in the room.

Yep. Tug of war is a good way to put my bands recording process when it's really cold outside (I'm talking zero degrees outside). I turn the furnace off for noise reasons but within 10 minutes the cold starts setting in. I'll heat it up to 75 or so, shut down the furnace and hopefully we'll get what we need to get before it's below 60. Otherwise we get cold and tuning goes to heck. And IME, tuning issues will make a great sounding amp/rig sound bad no matter what the temp is.

[cap47]

I always find a difference when temperatures vary! It is nothing new and nothing is wrong with the amp or equipment! Play on, it will warm up someday! :) Air density changes with the temperature!

[Gordon]

Temperature effects vibrations.
Maybe it's not the amp or tubes but the sound in the air?

I always find a difference when temperatures vary! It is nothing new and nothing is wrong with the amp or equipment! Play on, it will warm up someday! :) Air density changes with the temperature!

I live at a high altitude, 6000 ft. I can always tell the difference in sound when we get a little rain or moisture in the air. The extra water in the air improves the transfer of vibration from the speaker to the listener's ear. I prefer the sound of the denser air. The lower temp will also make the air denser.

[mentoneman]

I live at a high altitude, 6000 ft. I can always tell the difference in sound when we get a little rain or moisture in the air. The extra water in the air improves the transfer of vibration from the speaker to the listeners ear. I prefer the sound of the denser air. The lower temp will also make the air denser.

cans of dense air available at NAMM 2011 for $103.27:D

i agree. i have settings on our house sound DSP for winter and summer.

time to go set up an outdoor PA for an outreach our church is doing to feed/clothe/haircut/footwash/find jobs/give legal advice/dental inspection/physicals/entertain the homeless in the community for thanksgiving

should be pretty cool!

[deltaboy]

were giving to much credit to our ears, which aren't that great, and will definitely not be that great in cold air.

[JJman]

My Boss compressor pedal becomes a bad distortion pedal when very cold, probably from condensation on the inside. It also needs time to recover.

[kramerxxx]

Tube amps are notorious for being sensitive to A/C voltage. I'm sure the temp could affect that and don't forget speakers work better once the voice-coil is warmed up.
I've found that it takes 30 minutes of playing at volume for my amps to settle in to the sound I am going to get. If it is cold, that could take longer

[Tuberattler]

Cold air has a harsh tone with a sharp shimmer on the higher registers. Warm air is plainly.. well.. warmer sounding thicker and richer..so warm but not to hot then the tone tends to melt.. well that's the weather center for now on the TGP.. back to our thread..