I got a great gig playing through the month of october. The Haunted Hills Hayride, to play for the kids and familys waiting in line to get scared to death on a 30 minute ride.
Camp fires burning everywhere. We were hired on a whim, and the man and his staff of chainsaw bearing gouls and aleins like our three piece combo so much, we are playing every weekend. Especially the sound, loud but not irritating
They can hear the music near and far.
We are set up in the field on two flatbed trailers under a white tent.
Now to get power to us, they use 100 foot orange extensions. My 10 guage extension rubber coted is only 50 ft.
The october evenings are cold and damp. After set up the first night,
I power on the L1 Model 1 (not the classic)
The Power and input lights began flashing in this sequence, Channel 1, channel 2, power, then out. that same rhythem repeating.
I had the staff run a dedicated line, orange
line, for the L1, Bingo! it worked flawless for 10 minutes. We were cranking it, both masters, L1 and T1 on 10. Sounded great. I powered down then on. there was that rhythem of flashing lights. Now Im thinking dew sensor…then can’t draw enough current…cold solder joints,
malseated cable?
After 5 min back in business. Great gig.
I get home, plug it in, power it off and on all night, it’s normal.
The next morning, I call Tech support,(somehow always get Adam) and ask about a dew sensor, and long lines, we figure long lines or dirty power at service.
Next weekend, set up, same thing, praying it would start, it did, and very well.
Next day, same rhythem
Power off power on, It worked again, no shut down mid song. Gigs went well.
Last night was extremely busy, lots of people.
Get throught three songs, shuts down. Power off then on nothing… replace fuse… nothing.
hooked the T1 through my effects return of my Fender 120 watt dual professional (thankfully it has compressor limiters), equalized every thing, great gig. Fender has dual vintage 30’s
so we had High end.
Got paid, this guy pays! I figured I go home start it up, It works. Yea!!!
So I call the Guy, and tell him the the L1 is fine. Of course he was concerned, he wants us for Halloween. I tell Him to run some 10 guage romex, and temp mount a box 100 ft to the Flat beds. Even though I hear dirty power. I say I needs a thousand watts. He say’s He can supply a 5000 watt generator. So I think I’ll go up there with the L1 this week and plug in directly, off stage, with out the extensions, and see if it works. Or should I just go with the generator?
Why I’m pleased, is that thy L1 is taking all of this abuse. And still working.
I start to think I can’t juice up the caps enough to get the thing started. like, I don’t want think about anything but my music.
I mean, That’s why I like the system.
I just figure I would chime in and Ask if any others have had this happen.
And engineers Please Respond!!!
I would venture a guess that the variations (inconsistencies) of the power were due to the extension cords NOT coming from a “dedicated” circuit. Something as simple as lamps going on/off on the same circuit can cause significant fluctuations out at the end of that 100’ extension.
A good generator is a nice alternative if it is far enough away and sound isolated to not interfere with the music; needs to be a “Honda” class generator, though, so that the A/C is sinusoidal, not “square”.
A SEPARATE circuit would be best (unused, or an additional breaker, on the distribution panel). Should have a local electrician deal with it to make sure local codes are followed, even (or especially!) for temporary circuits.