Club Electricity??

[gatom21greyhound]

Played a club and when I plugged in my Dual Recifier and G Major I got a massive hum even with the noise gate turned on in the G Major. Is there a piece of equipment that I could purchase that I could plug my gear into the would regulate electricity flow and eliminate hums.There were also numerous TV's in the vicinity...
Thanks

 

[disassembled]

It was probably a grounding problem. You could go to your local hardware store and pickup an outlet tester to see if the ground has any voltage across it. There are certain tools used to measure ground potentional and probably would be worthwhile if you are constantly playing at different venues. You could fabricate a grounding if you had access to some piping in the facility, a clamp, and some wire.

 

[AMP-BLACKOUT]

you probably already tried this, but did you try all 3 setting on the back for gound (A, Normal and B) ?

 

[ylo]

You could run your rig through a Furman power conditioner. These are not cheap though, and you could still have ground loops between your rig and house sound system.

 

[Guitarzan]

+1 to power conditioner. If you want to save your amps, invest in a PC.

 

[JamesD]

Yes. Power Conditioner is a good investment. Hard for me to say much, but i will be purchasing one very soon when we start giggin in a few months.

 

[KoolAIDMan]

Is just power conditioning enough - or is voltage regulation more important?

 

[Russ]

They sell units that do both.

 

[cvansickle]

Peter Stroud wrote a good article about this topic in Musician's Hotline (now called Premiere Guitar) last year. He recommends a Variac to keep the electricity levels at their best. This doesn't mean running the voltage too high, this means running it where it is supposed to be. Most clubs tend to run too low.

 

[disassembled]

A variac will not help you in a brownout which is what will hurt your equipment. A good investment would be something like a UPS (uninterruptable power supply) that also regulates voltage. This probably won't be a rack piece but it will allow you to shut your amp down in case of a severe power drop without damaging anything.

I don't think they run much more than $150 which is a sound investment when compared to the cost of your equipment.

Greg

 

[t0aj15]

I use two units to clean and regulate power, one for current and one for voltage:
http://www.furmansound.com/product.php?div=01&id=PF-PRO
http://www.furmansound.com/product.php?div=01&id=AR-1215

 

[Guitarzan]

A variac will not help you in a brownout which is what will hurt your equipment.

Yeah, but a Variac will also amplify and not attenuate any spikes that come through the line. Be careful.

 

[nomad100hd]

A Variac and POWER FACTOR PRO POWER CONDITIONER by furman would work great. I had some of my effects gear hum to do to much voltage. Nice thing about a variac is if you have older gear that requires 115 instead of 120 you can get it.

 

[Maury]

Hopefully this isn't a hijack, but I have a similar concern. I played an outdoor gig yesterday with my LSC and one Bose L1 PA system. We had to run 100' of extension cord from the building to where we played, and my amp (and the Bose) seemed weaker than ever. I know outside its much harder to get "coverage" but is there a chance a power conditioner (of some kind) could have helped?

 

[Russ]

The best thing you could have done is use a very heavy extension cord. I would say at least 10 gauge or heavier. It allows the power to come across without as much resistance. Lighter extoension cords can actually restrict the amount of power you are receiving and can heat up and possible melt then causing a fire if the breaker doesn't trip fast enough. I work construction on large projects where you need power taken over long distances and usually end up pulling a heavy 6 gauge extension cord to a spider box that feeds everyone on the job. If I power more than 1 tool at a time over 100ft I tend to use at least 10 gauge extension cords. It keeps the tools happy. Anything less in intense use causes brushes to go bad and cords heat up. Eventually that causes damage to armatures from heat. Figure your amps and the rest of the gear is pulling similar wattage and amps.

 

[Maury]

Thanks Russ. We used what I would call "average" outdoor extenseion cords - about as thick as a good speaker cable. We'll try and be more careful in 2 weeks when we return to this same gig.

 

[Russ]

Just don't forget that you also have to tweak your settings some if you are playing outdoors vice inside. It is always best to do a thorough soundcheck. Outside you will be less affected by bodies filling the building but you will have no walls to keep your sound where you want it either. Playing outside requires lots and lots of power and massive amounts of volume to sound good.

 

[Maury]

True. We were supposed to set up against the building and face the parking lot ... at least that would have helped. Instead we were 100' from the closest wall, and 200 yards away from anything else in every other direction. I never heard a 100-watt Boogie sound so wimpy

 

[Russ]

I played a couple outside shows and found out that 100 watt heads are kind of wimpy outside. You really want to be mic'd and have a huge PA unless you can afford the wall of sound.

 

[Guitarzan]

That's why I tote my JCM 2K 50W slaved from the DR to it's own Genz Benz cab when I go out live.