1 (edited by Grah1 2024-05-19 15:20:48)

Topic: Equipment failure

First  time   this   has  ever  happened    in over  50  ys .I  was  booked  to  play  a  big  charity  gig   in Blackpool  recently , I  was   last  to    play    and  every thing  had  gone  well. Problem   with  events  like  this  is  the  limited    sound  check  between  acts  ,so  I  decided  to  play   through  the  events  PA  and  not  take  my  amp . Big mistake.
I  plugged  into  the  mixer  as  I  have   done   at  many  other  venues  ,one  channel  for  my  guitar  the  other  for   my  looper which  had all  my  backing  recorded on it .
12 bars  into  the  first   song   the  PA  shuts  down   . We  try  again same  problem  so  I   speak  to  the  sound  guy   who  thinks  its  my     gear  at  fault  ,No     there  is  no  fault  with  any  of  my  kit  ,I've  been doing  this  too  long   to  run with  faulty  gear   and  I'd  used every thing  the  night  before  anyway .
So   he  then thinks  its  the  mixer  channel   so  we  swap  things  about   change  leads  etc   still the  fault  is  there . He  then wants  to  plug  direct  into  the  power  amp  , still  the  system shuts  down .
So we sack  it  as his  back ground  music system works  so   he  finishes  with  a  DJ  set    . I  pack up  and  go  home  where  I  plug  everyy thing  in  to  my  system  .
Guess  what  ? yeah   it  all  works   no  problems .
My  own conclusion  , The  power  amp  may  have  an input signal   limiter  which   was  switched  on   and  the   signal  from my   loop  was  to   high . Had  there  been more  time  or  if  I  had  taken a  big  amp  then I   could  have  played   .Every  one  understood  and  audience  members  came   up  and  said   they  would   have  loved  to  have  heard   the  show . but  understood   tech  problems  happens.

Re: Equipment failure

What a bummer     

The King Of Audio Torture

3 (edited by Peatle Jville 2024-05-20 05:03:01)

Re: Equipment failure

That must have been very frustrating? I went to an outdoor concert once where there was a power outage so they switched over to a diesel powered generator that was so noisy that it ruined the show sound for me in the audience. The other people with me didn't think the generator noise was a problem just me.

Re: Equipment failure

Maybe you were sitting/standing too close to the genny Pedr?

Grah, I know the feeling when your equipment let's you down. I played a gig one night no probs,  next night one of my expensive FBT speakers decided to give up the ghost, very annoying! I had to buy a new pair of speakers, cheapie of course, but not the same quality. I had a new driver put in a while later which cost more than I expected, but I got the sound I want back. I've had various mics  and pedals conk out mid show, always carry spares.     

Ask not what Chordie can do for you, but what you can do for Chordie.

Re: Equipment failure

One of the disasters I recall from my years of playing concerts happened in the state of Washington I was playing lead guitar for a rock band "High Voltage" the gig was on a large floating barge on a lake and on the way the roadies mishandled one of my Fender cabs and it fell into the lake (I was re-reimbursed) that left me with one so we micked it and fortunately it worked that amp is still in Davy Jones's locker LOL smile     

"Growing old is not for sissies"

Re: Equipment failure

Phill Williams wrote:

always carry spares.

The  fault  was with   the  sound  guys  kit   really   Phil . but   next  time   I'll  take  a  decent size   amp  with   me  as  back  up     

Re: Equipment failure

Very wise Grah.     

Ask not what Chordie can do for you, but what you can do for Chordie.