Saturday night sound problem [Archive] - Mobile Disco Directory Forum

steveparadox

18-05-2009, 08:27 PM

I had a gig in a Burton on Trent pub on Saturday night with an early setup time. So I arrived and set up at a steady pace and did my soundcheck, everything sounded very nice then noticed the right speakers had stopped working. So i turned down and checked my cabling and everything was still connected, i noticed that the signal was getting from the mixer to the eq as the bars were flashing on both sides but not on the bass processor and the amp so I changed both leads from eq to bass processor then to amp and the problem went away. So by 7:30 the guests start to arrive and I play some background music and got progressivly louder to before the buffet. After about an hour in I noticed the right side had gone off again, now with there being quite alot of people in the room at this point I didnt want to just switch off and fault find. I spoke to the customer and asked if during the buffet if it was ok to turn down for two minutes and rewire bypassing the eq and bass processor. This was ok with him so I pulled the leads out the back of the eq and put them straight into the amp and tried it. Everything worked fine and I ran it like that all night and it sounded pretty good.
I have now got to test the eq and bass porcessor at home to see if I can get it to fault again and try and diagnose the problem, I dont think its cables as I changed them during the soundcheck. Iam just wondering if it is heat related or maybe a dry joint somewhere. Although I am now wondering if I actually need them as it sounded good without them it just gives me more control and I use the bass processor as a cossover for my HZ sub.

Sorry for the long post,
Steve

spin mobile disco

18-05-2009, 09:10 PM

Intermitant faults can be very hard to isolate unfortunatly. As you changed lead it can almost be discounted as a connection problem. Dry joints are more common these days since the change away from lead based solder. Also check for dirt on the contacts on the sockets of the unit as sometimes a stray hair or piece of dirt can cause havoc.
An eq is really only needed if you have feedback problems or a room with accoustics you are trying to adjust for. If it sounds good without than you may wish to leave it at home and save a bit of space. Or yuo can try to recreate the problem to help track it down.