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.

roger

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.

Thanks for the input everyone.

unless you are doing some kind of 'stealth gig', you should always have AC power available

having enough juice to run a band for 3 hours would be very expensive

at least a generator would need to put out 1000+ watts

probably be $600


batteries never really work for anything
bane of my life!

also, if it is a stealth gig, how are you going to justify the $$$ for portable power, with no gig pay?

here is one for $130 though
hm


http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=generator+1000+watt&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&cid=14719197946269807280&os=reviews


wonder how clean the power would be?

would you trust your $1000 powered mixer and amps ?

not sure
many issues

but maybe it isn;t as $$$ as i thought

these may be better for refrigerators and light bulbs though, than mixers, pcs, amps, sensitive electronic stuff....


wle