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Author Topic: Generator power for our rig?  (Read 22310 times)

g'bye, Dick Rees

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Re: Generator power for our rig?
« Reply #20 on: April 23, 2013, 08:39:47 AM »

Home Depot rents a Briggs & Stratton 2000 watt inverter generator. One would most likely fit your needs, but I would rent two of them and put the PA on one and the amps on the other.

These have been proposed before and debunked.  The product has a disclaimer regarding the safety of running computers and sensitive electronics.  IOW, the "inverter" is not of the quality and capability necessary for our use in sound.

Avoid them.

I am hoping to get time this summer to run a 'scope on the various "home owner" generators often discussed here so we can actually see the pictures.
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Benjamin Gingerich

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Re: Generator power for our rig?
« Reply #21 on: April 23, 2013, 09:55:49 AM »

I am hoping to get time this summer to run a 'scope on the various "home owner" generators often discussed here so we can actually see the pictures.

Dick if your interested in making it a psw thing I would be happy to put some time in on it. I can run a scope on a few bigger (15k to 60k) electronically governed computer safe generators and then compare to the 4500w Briggs & Stratton I have for power tools/work lights (if I can get it to run:)
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Benjamin Gingerich
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Tommy Peel

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Re: Generator power for our rig?
« Reply #22 on: April 23, 2013, 11:31:30 AM »

Ok.. My logic may be flawed so correct me if I'm wrong but wouldn't using 2 generators on system that are or may become interconnected dangerous? I know that there have always been extensive safety measures to make sure that all power on the shared grids of the US is synchronized. Why should it be any different for generators?

I don't think we'll be using more than one. If we have trouble tripping the breaker on the generator I'll make the band ditch one or more of the instrument amps and just run direct into the system(the bass is already running direct and the electric guitar amps are mic'd but I have extra DIs).

This is one situation where our small rig will come in handy.  ;)
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g'bye, Dick Rees

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Re: Generator power for our rig?
« Reply #23 on: April 23, 2013, 12:02:16 PM »

I don't think we'll be using more than one. If we have trouble tripping the breaker on the generator I'll make the band ditch one or more of the instrument amps and just run direct into the system(the bass is already running direct and the electric guitar amps are mic'd but I have extra DIs).

This is one situation where our small rig will come in handy.  ;)

You'll be better off over all by using the amps at a reasonable (for the gig/power) level and the PA for "vocals only".  Your system will not reproduce an electric bass well at all and the power the bass will draw will short the power for the vocals and such.
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Tommy Peel

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Re: Generator power for our rig?
« Reply #24 on: April 23, 2013, 12:24:55 PM »

You'll be better off over all by using the amps at a reasonable (for the gig/power) level and the PA for "vocals only".  Your system will not reproduce an electric bass well at all and the power the bass will draw will short the power for the vocals and such.

Sound advice; we're used to running in a small church for a weekly youth service. In that room we always have headroom to spare; outside we'll probably run out of power much more easily. Usually at church I run the bass amps preamp out into a DI; how much I put into the main speakers depends on how loud the amp/player is on a given week(we have a few different people who play bass with varying degrees of enthusiasm). I'll make sure the amp is plenty loud so I can avoid putting it through the mains.

On the other hand they may not want us to be very loud and we'll have plenty of headroom. I do know that they want us to do our faster/upbeat songs(Chris Tomlin, David Crowder Band, Switchfoot, Needtobreathe, etc... covers) so I suspect we'll be running pretty loud.
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g'bye, Dick Rees

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Re: Generator power for our rig?
« Reply #25 on: April 23, 2013, 12:29:42 PM »

Sound advice; we're used to running in a small church for a weekly youth service. In that room we always have headroom to spare; outside we'll probably run out of power much more easily. Usually at church I run the bass amps preamp out into a DI; how much I put into the main speakers depends on how loud the amp/player is on a given week(we have a few different people who play bass with varying degrees of enthusiasm). I'll make sure the amp is plenty loud so I can avoid putting it through the mains.

On the other hand they may not want us to be very loud and we'll have plenty of headroom. I do know that they want us to do our faster/upbeat songs(Chris Tomlin, David Crowder Band, Switchfoot, Needtobreathe, etc... covers) so I suspect we'll be running pretty loud.

Just keep in mind that you'll only be able to cover a small area in front of you.  Do not fall into the trap of trying to project your sound farther than about 40'-50'.  To get the same "presence" as indoors, you'll need 4x the system for outdoors......and 4x the power.
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Tommy Peel

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Generator power for our rig?
« Reply #26 on: April 23, 2013, 01:40:16 PM »

Just keep in mind that you'll only be able to cover a small area in front of you.  Do not fall into the trap of trying to project your sound farther than about 40'-50'.  To get the same "presence" as indoors, you'll need 4x the system for outdoors......and 4x the power.

Understood, should I setup FOH at around 50'? That way I can mix where it sounds good there; I'm sure that most of the people really wanting to listen to the band would end up in between the stage and FOH.

Another question, how far apart should I setup our speakers? They are JBL MPro 415s and our amp puts out around 300 watts per channel at 8 ohms.


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Keith Humphrey

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Re: Generator power for our rig?
« Reply #27 on: April 23, 2013, 03:49:09 PM »

If your event is similar to those I have done with my band you will need to have two or three areas.

In the area where sign up and donations are handled they typically want the music at background levels so they can attend to business. Then you will have a middle ground which I have found is where the kids usually play and a louder area near the stage. If you don't have room for this I would try to set things so the sign in area has background music levels and let the folks closer to the band not be as loud.

Another thing to consider is if they plan to use your PA for announcements and speeches. I have found for this the sponsors usually want the full area to be covered at decent volume. For this I have started using a delay speaker to cover the back areas for announcements and speakers. I leave it turned down for music. You might be able to use a monitor channel for this. While it won't be time delayed it is probably adequate for a one time event.
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Tommy Peel

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Re: Re: Generator power for our rig?
« Reply #28 on: April 23, 2013, 04:19:21 PM »

If your event is similar to those I have done with my band you will need to have two or three areas.

In the area where sign up and donations are handled they typically want the music at background levels so they can attend to business. Then you will have a middle ground which I have found is where the kids usually play and a louder area near the stage. If you don't have room for this I would try to set things so the sign in area has background music levels and let the folks closer to the band not be as loud.


This probably won't be too hard to accomplish depending on how they want us to setup.

Quote

Another thing to consider is if they plan to use your PA for announcements and speeches. I have found for this the sponsors usually want the full area to be covered at decent volume. For this I have started using a delay speaker to cover the back areas for announcements and speakers. I leave it turned down for music. You might be able to use a monitor channel for this. While it won't be time delayed it is probably adequate for a one time event.

We don't have any additional speakers we could use as delays so we'll just have to hope that our mains do an adequate job. I do have a cheap, not good for singing but okay for speech, wireless handheld mic I was planning to bring for announcements(with a wired mic at FOH for backup).

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Tommy Peel

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Re: Generator power for our rig?
« Reply #29 on: April 23, 2013, 06:07:37 PM »

Found an EU2000i in Athens(45min from Tyler) and have it reserved to pick up Friday afternoon.

Thanks for all the help.

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Re: Generator power for our rig?
« Reply #29 on: April 23, 2013, 06:07:37 PM »


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