In this instructable, I'm going to show you how to build a nice little kickback amp stand for your guitar/bass or keyboard amp that will cost you literately between $15 and nothing.

As regular performing musician, I'm very picky when it comes to the placement of my amplifier on stage. I have to make sure that I can hear it well and also that the sound guy is happy with the FOH.

I wanted to be able to toss my amp on a stand and have it automatically be the right height and angle degree. But I also wanted the amp stand to be small and portable, and not cost me an arm and a leg. That my friends, is what this instructable accomplishes.

Step 1: Materials You Will Need

Speed Square (I used an 11" one for this application but a small one will work all the same)

a couple pieces of 3/4" plywood

Speaker box carpet (or anything similar for a finish)

Heavy duty 14" continuous hinge

Drill & Drill Bits

2 1/2" recessed head screws (I used button heads when I did this, (as seen in the picture), because it was all I had at the moment.)

Staple Gun & Staples

Spray Adhesive

Construction adheasive

Step 2: Determine the Angle You Want Your Amp to Sit at

The first thing you will want to do is lean your amp against a wall as if it were on a stand. Be sure to kick a pedal box or something under the front of the amp so it doesn't come crashing down if the angle gets too steep!

Next, fire that amp up and start playing. Position yourself just as if you were on stage and keep adjusting the angle of the amp until it sounds good to You. Remember, if your standing right on top of your amp, your not getting a true depiction of your tone. Step back a bit. You'll notice that the tonality of your amp will develop greater, the further away you are from it.

Step 3: Make the Template

once you find the angle you like, you'll need to find the height and length before we can mark it all out on the plywood.

The height and length of your stand will vary with the degree of the angle, so everyone's numbers wont be the same. The stand should be no smaller then 3/4 of the size of the amp that is going on it, just as a reference point.

here's my numbers: my amp is 27"x21" and my preferred angle is 44 degrees, so my stand ended up at 21"x15" I know there is a formula for figuring this out, but I couldn't tell you what it is.

Now, with the Length, Height & Angle, were ready to draw it up on the plywood.

Now mark it out on your plywood and cut it out with a circular saw.

Remember, measure twice, cut once! ; )

Step 4: Duplicate Your Template

Now that you have one side of your amp stand cut out, you need to make the other one.

Simply trace your newly made template onto your next piece of plywood and cut that out.

You should end up with 2 Identical pieces. They need to be very close to the same size. Too much of a variation could cause your amp to rub and ware in spots. We don't want that.

Step 5: Attach the Hinge

Next, You'll want to attach the hinge to the wood.

Stand your two pieces up and hold the hinge where it will go. Use a sharpie to mark out the holes. You will want to pre drill before screwing anything.

Now, because we are screwing the hinge into the end grain of the wood (which has little support) we need to make sure we do 3 things to insure its stability:

1. use long screws (2 1/2" or so)

2. Place a heavy bead of construction adhesive between the hinge and the wood

3. Use at least 4 screws per side. The hinge I got didn't have the holes where I wanted them so I had to drill some new ones here and there.

Step 6: Carpet the Stand

Last but not least, I wanted a quick cover over it so it didn't scratch my amp up any worse then it already is.

I used speaker box carpet from my local car audio store in this one, but you can use anything. I have even made some out of nicer woods that are stained and finished to a shine.

I sprayed the wood with some spray adhesive before laying the carpet to help cut back on the material moving. So far so good, I've used this one with no problems for about 6 months now on a 3x a week basis. Apologies if the carpet job looks kinda funky, that's not really one of my top skills. But it works!