DigitalDon
New member
I'd love to hear others experiences (especially if you're the sound guy). I have a couple so I'll start.
We had a parking lot gig outside a local club. One other band and a bikini contest would go on before us. A sound company would be coming in to provide PA and lights. That is, before the sound company cancelled a couple of days before the show. The club manager knew we had a complete sound system and lights so he offered us the same pay as the sound company to provide PA and lighting. Whoa. We get paid to play and to use our own equipment? Don't see that everyday. Anyhow, we got there several hours before the gig to set up. Power would be from a 70 kilowatt (yes 70KW) generator. Enough to power the club and us! We got the equipment set up and went to plug into this monster generator. Uhhhhhh, where are the 120 volt outlets???? There are none. Oh yeah, the first band goes on at 5:00. That's one hour from now and the band is setting up for sound check. The only outputs at the generator are 240 volt bus bars. Quick call the generator guy! It's Saturday so it takes 45 minutes for him to get there. I ask him where's the distribution box? He says the sound company guy told him he had his own. The generator guy heads off to find a distro box and I head to Home Depot. I figure if nothing else I can build my own (I do some electrical work too). When I get back the guy is back with the distro box. A really high tech looking one. We're already 30 minutes past start time now. He plugs in the box and says it's ready to go. No, first I want to see the voltages on your multimeter. Murphy's law surfaces. All outlets are 240 volts, not 120. Just imagine what that would have done to all my equipment! He starts tearing open the box and I start building my box. Damn, I didn't get cable. Don't even think about an extension cord for a distro box. Sent someone back to my house (10 miles away) to get the cable because I'm not going to pay $2 a foot for cable.
The club manager has stopped pacing. Actually I don't know where he is at this point since he quit asking when the show would start. No, there he is. Uh oh. He's carrying extension cords plugged into the club. 14 gage, 100 foot cords no less. I explain to him that the cables won't handle the current not to mention the voltage drop. He insists on using them anyhow as he has $100 tables front row at the stage. At least the first band is just a 3 piece and it's still light out. We get halfway through the second song and everything shuts down. Both guitars are acoustic so they keep playing and the singer keeps singing. At least the $100 tables can hear them.
Here comes the generator guy. The box is ready. I check the voltages, plug in and power up. Everything works. The rest of the night goes without a hitch except for the girls in bikinis with high heels tripping across the stage. Actually that wasn't a bad thing either
Our play time was cut by an hour but the band got paid and I got paid. Life just doesn't get any better.......
Sorry this got so long. Who's next?????????????
DD
We had a parking lot gig outside a local club. One other band and a bikini contest would go on before us. A sound company would be coming in to provide PA and lights. That is, before the sound company cancelled a couple of days before the show. The club manager knew we had a complete sound system and lights so he offered us the same pay as the sound company to provide PA and lighting. Whoa. We get paid to play and to use our own equipment? Don't see that everyday. Anyhow, we got there several hours before the gig to set up. Power would be from a 70 kilowatt (yes 70KW) generator. Enough to power the club and us! We got the equipment set up and went to plug into this monster generator. Uhhhhhh, where are the 120 volt outlets???? There are none. Oh yeah, the first band goes on at 5:00. That's one hour from now and the band is setting up for sound check. The only outputs at the generator are 240 volt bus bars. Quick call the generator guy! It's Saturday so it takes 45 minutes for him to get there. I ask him where's the distribution box? He says the sound company guy told him he had his own. The generator guy heads off to find a distro box and I head to Home Depot. I figure if nothing else I can build my own (I do some electrical work too). When I get back the guy is back with the distro box. A really high tech looking one. We're already 30 minutes past start time now. He plugs in the box and says it's ready to go. No, first I want to see the voltages on your multimeter. Murphy's law surfaces. All outlets are 240 volts, not 120. Just imagine what that would have done to all my equipment! He starts tearing open the box and I start building my box. Damn, I didn't get cable. Don't even think about an extension cord for a distro box. Sent someone back to my house (10 miles away) to get the cable because I'm not going to pay $2 a foot for cable.
The club manager has stopped pacing. Actually I don't know where he is at this point since he quit asking when the show would start. No, there he is. Uh oh. He's carrying extension cords plugged into the club. 14 gage, 100 foot cords no less. I explain to him that the cables won't handle the current not to mention the voltage drop. He insists on using them anyhow as he has $100 tables front row at the stage. At least the first band is just a 3 piece and it's still light out. We get halfway through the second song and everything shuts down. Both guitars are acoustic so they keep playing and the singer keeps singing. At least the $100 tables can hear them.
Here comes the generator guy. The box is ready. I check the voltages, plug in and power up. Everything works. The rest of the night goes without a hitch except for the girls in bikinis with high heels tripping across the stage. Actually that wasn't a bad thing either
Our play time was cut by an hour but the band got paid and I got paid. Life just doesn't get any better.......Sorry this got so long. Who's next?????????????
DD
