Wondering if any of you folks use any type of portable power for gigs and, if so, what you use?
Also, do any of you use a portable battery power unit, sort of like could be used to jump start cars, but with more ooomph. WOnder how clean/smooth the power is coming out of the inverter on those, and how big of a unit do you need to play for 4 hours with 2 amplifiers, for instance? Or maybe powering a sound system?
we have a few buskers here in town that use car batteries and an inverter to power their amp combos...
they seem to have two or three batteries total on hand, swapping one out when the power level gets low... seems to work for a few hours per each battery
but i am betting that issue will be a determinate based upon your amp's power draw and the efficiency of your speaker (ie how much "juice" is required to maintain the levels you are after)
I know that the local techno guys use a generator or two for all night mountain parties....
*edit* found a link for portable busking power, and considerations for setting one up, based upon performance goals (link 1)
The guys on here convinced me by suggesting a Roland AC33 battery powered amp with AC adapter plug and it works great . Costs about 260.00 on e-bay.
Chuck from Kentucky
the farmer's market in woodstock NY used to employ a solar unit which powered a PA system. i noticed that last year the solar cell in the unit wasn't working anymore and that instead they were using the plug in option. it's a peavey product so probably not very long lasting.
I use my own voice and my little accordion, that's all.
No equipment whatsoever.
That's as portable as you can get.
Even then, sometimes I get complaints that I'm too loud!
That's what we've been doing, but when trying to record it, the levels are off. I can sing loud too, but, the balance between all sound sources is off.
We have been recording our practices but ran into the same problem as Dwight. Volumes levels all jacked, so we came up with the solution. A mic interface for the computer. we use these little audio technica condensor mics. we put one large condensor in the middle and then use 3 audio techinca mics to mic us individually. We run the mics through an interface and into the computer. That way we have all the mics on a seperate track when recording. We adjust the volumes accordingly after the fact, mix it down, and burn it to a cd. We do this for our practices and the three of us each get a cd of our practice session, really helpful tool for improving your playing.
if you are playing where there is no power source, outside in a field for example, I would use a generator that can put out a little more than the wattage you need. I see guys in New Orleans all the time with Generators on the back of their vehicles to run their PA systems. The generator at our camp runs the electricity for the camp real smooth, the alarm clocks never go out. Just got to keep oil and gas in that bad boy and it'll keep truckin.
The little hand carry Honda generators are the quietest ones I've seen. They work great. Just get 1.5 times the maximum capacity you think you'll need. That way you'll always have enough power for whatever.
Dwight,
I do a picnic gig every year for the past 7 years that lasts 4 hours with two deep cycle marine batteries and a power inverter.
I run a complete PA of 2 EON 15s, three EON10s, Fender twin tube amp (or equiv), 1000 watt bass amp, 4 vocal mics, accordion and sometimes keys and have never run out of juice.
The trolling batteries are cheap at Walmart, the expensive part is getting a good power inverter. A full sine wave inverter can be expensive.
I use a Cobra "modified" sine wave inverter(cheaper) and it works fine, but you get a little buzz in the guitar amp.
I very first year I only used one battery and did not run out of juice, but the battery was completely out at the end so I got a second one to be sure.
I use a Craig TX15 portable amp. It has 15 watts output which translates into 105 db at the speaker at 1/2 volume. In other words this little amp cranks. It has a built in rechargeable battery that lasts for 4-6 hr on its own. You can plug in the adapter and it will either charge the battery or run on AC current. For $250 at Guitar Center, you can't go wrong. It is a small compact little amp with a surprising amount of volume. Check it out.