Horrible gig shenanigans - anyone know about electricity?

[andrew_]

So we're setting up for a show last night and have a two amps and a keyboard plugged in. Turn them on one by one, everything's on for a bit but then it all turns off. So we figure we blew a fuse. But the switch on the power bar is still lit up. We tried every socket on the stage, one piece of gear at a time, and it looks like our stuff is just fried. The keyboard and one amp don't show any signs of life when turned on now, and the other amp will only stay on for about 5 seconds - sometimes.

Does anyone with electrical knowledge know what the problem might be? If it can be fixed easily enough by a layperson we will definitely take a crack at it, 'cause there's no way we can afford bringing three pieces of gear in for repairs all at once.

So aggravating...

[beats me]

I wouldn't fuck around with electricty on gear if you don't know what you're doing. But that's just me.

I did a gig once where my "band" was mostly synths and sequencers but I also played live guitar on some songs. We had this one track that had the big drum and keyboard build before I went into slamming a power chord on the guitar. The song got up to that point and as soon as I hit my guitar chord the breaker in the building switched the power off. We restarted the song 3 times with the same result before we said fuck it and moved on.

[timeline85]

Check the fuses on the amps themselves. By "power bar" do you mean power strip? You should probably not plug all of your amps into one 15A circuit, this is gigging 101.

[mikemc]

Check the fuses on the amps themselves. By "power bar" do you mean power strip? You should probably not plug all of your amps into one 15A circuit, this is gigging 101.

+1 also, if you did this, and your surge protector light is still on, I'd say the electricity in that place is dicey. It should have blown a fuse or kicked a breaker, not fried your gear's fuses.

[bodhi71]

It's possible you lost a neutral or something similar.
....or are you saying you're equipment is f'd, then I agree not to go tampering with it then, there are things that hold a charge and at best will hurt a lot.
Get a meter and check you're voltages at the outlets, it's possible to burn a light and still not have enough power to run you're gear.
Best of luck.

[Tone Deft]

plug it in and lick the power jack.

if it tastes sweet there's not enough current.
if it tastes sour there's not enough voltage.

try wrapping 1/4" bands of duct tape around the power cables. if they're old some of the impedance may have leaked out. that's for 60Hz. if it's 50Hz this will give you cancer, don't do it.

[deepdirtydub]

plug it in and lick the power jack.

if it tastes sweet there's not enough current.
if it tastes sour there's not enough voltage.

try wrapping 1/4" bands of duct tape around the power cables. if they're old some of the impedance may have leaked out. that's for 60Hz. if it's 50Hz this will give you cancer, don't do it.

That made me laugh so hard. Nice one.