If you have no sound man, and are not micing through the PA,
putting your amp close to your head is going to leave you
little sense of it's stage balance.
If you place your amp parrallel to ( F to B),
and about the same distance and height, back stage
as the lead player is from HIS amp,
ie. you and he are parrallel
and your amps parallel behind you also,
you will have about the same level, dispursion
and frequency disapation as the lead player,
since you two are (typically) the main soloists,
this gives you parity in room volume and tone production.
Other wise you are not playing in reference
to the competeing sounds in the room.
If you hear both of you and the speaker sound has time
enough to dispurse and blend with the band, then you will
likely get closer to a the ROOM's sound at your head.
If it sounds jumbled being that far back... SURPRISE,
you just found out what you sound like out front.
Of course some stages don't allow that...
Another trick I use is;
Get a chord doubler adaptor or 2 and just
haul the steel out in the middle of the space during sound check,
and tweak your amp with a quick trot back to the stage.
(heck... bet you can use the exercise to)
As a bass player I often use a radio guitar rig for
sound check so I can tune to the room.
Anyone playing some Boowha C6
would benifit from this same technique.
Get ya butt way out front for a song or two during sound check.
You don't even need the pedal, just extend from the pedal on stage,
then teak until you are happy with the sound.
Any soundman who doesn't take a listen to your stage
sound close to your head vs the other players ,
before deciding how to mix you needs to be replaced.
Or at least asked to have a listen to your sound relative
to what YOU think is right in your listening position.
Not hard to do, and better than guessing.
If he can HEAR whay you are looking for,
he can at least try to get that in the room.
But he is less likely to if YOU don't nicely prompt him.
Also have him set your level relative to
your AND the lead players loudest SOLO levels.
He then learns how loud you want to be.
Then it's up to you to decide how loud to play during other sections.
I always do a stage walk through to hear the band as THEY DO,
before finalizing my live mixes.
That doesn't mean he must duplicate your stage sound exactly,
because YOUR stage sound is added to the PA sound in the room,
and they must be blended together for your total BAND sound.
I like stands, but they also throw your sound off axis to the audience,
just like micing from the side or dead center.
If you hear it dead center because it's angled upwards,
everyone else hears it from off axis, hence reduced highs
and muddiness.
If you hear it off axis, like on the floor and too close to you,
then you compensate to YOUR ear
and shrill out the listeners ON axis...
I prefer my top suggestion.
If the band lines up all amps the same distance back
and all line up parallel up front they ALL hear about
the same balance entering the room.
If you can't,
then pull your steel out front for sound check
or pay a soundman... or BOTH.
Cain't hurt none!