good gig last night, but bad power supply at venue

we had a chacking gig last night, we took the new small wheel in rig but used our geni light as the small rig normally goes out with light weight led lights.

30 years wedding aniversery playing around 3 bands all doing 45 mins each, so loads of action on stage, all was going well untill the bands started swopping gear around and then POWER OFF, someone blew the trip, turned back on load up a new play list quickly, it happened again 10 mins later, we had a chat with the band to leave ours socket alone or i'm going to have to baseball bat you, well to cut a long story short it happened 4 times, last time my amp surged and blew both of my tweeters, ok no probs i have a set of seperate ones in the back of the car, rush out and grab them and the party goes on.

last night cost me 1 bulb 2 tweets and a packet of calms tablets.

i might look into a UPS just for the amp mixer and pc to run off so only the lights and smoke mics etc go off.

i need a sign or something to go on my plug in the future.

gaffer tape....

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Originally Posted by addoaddo

gaffer tape....

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the last guy that unplugged me and the 4th time in one night nearly got beaten up gaffer taped and thrown on my car boot

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Originally Posted by addoaddo

gaffer tape....

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Would Forum members please be aware that there will be no prizes for the best suggestion as to where to apply the aforementioned item, no matter how funny they are, or how much you'd feel justified in doing so. ;) :D:D

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Originally Posted by mkindy

well to cut a long story short it happened 4 times, last time my amp surged and blew both of my tweeters,

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Serious note: If power's going on and off ( particularly if it happens repeatedly ) get the volumes down on the amps, or better still, switch them off at your end. You don't want the laptop continuing to input the latest banging choons to the mixer, and restart at full whack instantaneously into an amp with the throttles wide open.

With separate amps, it's not too hard to shut them down quickly, but actives might pose more of a problem. The two edged sword answer may be to have a switch at your end controlling only the PA, but it leaves you open to inadvertently doing the same thing yourself.

This might be very naive of me but would a simpler solution not be to add surge protected sockets in to your setup? Since I started using all surge protected sockets and extensions I haven't had a single lamp blow on me. We use various Belkin and Masterplug devices and, whilst not as cheap as regular extensions, they have definately saved us money over the years.

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Originally Posted by DazzyD

This might be very naive of me but would a simpler solution not be to add surge protected sockets in to your setup? Since I started using all surge protected sockets and extensions I haven't had a single lamp blow on me. We use various Belkin and Masterplug devices and, whilst not as cheap as regular extensions, they have definately saved us money over the years.

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Obviously, that's good practice, but wouldn't help with the scenario I outlined. We're not trying to curb the incoming mains supply, but more its effects on an amp with the gains turned up full. In the old days, the CD players would stop and need resetting to provide a signal. Nowadays, the laptop keeps on going, and as soon as the power returns, wallop, the amp(s) send everything they've got into the drivers. From anecdotal evidence, actives really don't like such treatment.

What's needed is an NVR ( No Volt Release ) device that doesn't reconnect the power automatically after an outage. Such devices are common on industrial machinery, so that it doesn't restart without warning, and injure someone. I'm not sure that domestic ones exist, but if they do, I'm sure someone will tell us.

in those circumstances I find the best answer is to switch off everything, PA wise before the power comes back on and then turn things on as you would at the start of the night, I had a venue with a flaky power supply back in June and that is exactly what I did and no harm was done thank goodness.

I am right in saying from you post that that it was the band(s) the were unplugging your kit if that is the case I would make them, the client or the venue pay for the damage