do i need a regulator or a conditioner

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JahJahWarrior

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I recently took my pod xt live in for servicing. Because of random volume spikes and such. I thought it was something else and got it fixed up under warranty. But the service center couldn't recreate the problem. They believe it was because of bad power which makes sense. However, now it seems like I have many options to choose from. I know that voltage regulators such as the furman ar-15 put out a constant 120v and would seem ideal but it is way out of my price range for now. Conditioners basically take the hit and can filter out noise such as furman pl8-II. However, will a conditioner solve my problem? Does it help keep the power at 120v? Please help I am ignorant.
 
If it's voltage regulation you want, make sure it's listed as a feature. Power conditioning doesn't always mean voltage regulation is included. The PL series only does RF filtering, I think. It definitely doesn't do regulation.

I don't find Line 6 stuff to be more sensitive to bad AC than other gear. Sounds odd that you only have problems with this one piece. Any of your other digital stuff acting up?
 
its that i just got my pod xt live back. the people did every possible thing they could to fix the darn thing. they reseated chips converters, lubed, everything you could think of. then they called line6 and line 6 told them everything they could try to do to make the unit not work and they weren't able to reproduce the problem after like 2hours of tests. so they think it could be the power im giving it. it only seems to happen when i play at churches, it never happens at home. any suggestions?
 
...it only seems to happen when i play at churches, it never happens at home. any suggestions?
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When's the last time you went to confession?? :eek:
 
Seriously now... you wouldn't gig with a longer cable... a different cable then at home??
 
Everybody seems to crack a church joke. I need help not jokes.
 
JahJahWarrior said:
Everybody seems to crack a church joke.
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I struggled with it for a few minutes, believe me.

Many old churches have crappy wiring. If there are only 2 prong outlets, that's your first sign. There may also be things like a fridge or something sharing the same circuit as the stage, causing fluctuations.

If the church can't/won't take care of the problem, try running an extension cord to an outlet in the newest part of the church, somewhere that has been remodeled recently, if it's convenient. That wiring should be up to snuff.

If the outlets on stage are miswired, that should be taken care of for safety reasons, if nothing else.
 
The thing is the church is new. Like 3 years old so I think everything is fine. What do you call that thing that you use to tesst the outlets? Is it a voltmeter?
 
JahJahWarrior said:
Because of random volume spikes and such.
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Can you say more about exactly what you mean by this?

JahJahWarrior said:
it only seems to happen when I play at churches, it never happens at home.
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This is the best clue you have right there. Does it happen at ANY church? Or is it only at one particular church? Are you the only one at the church having gear problems at the church? Just because it's new doesn't mean the wiring was done correctly. Maybe the stage circuit was wired on the same lines as the kitchen or a bathroom?

You cant go in and rewire the church yourself, so the only option you have - IF the church wiring is the problem - is to bring your own voltage regulator. If I had to choose, I'd choose the voltage regulator over the conditioner. But if you can afford something that does both, you will be better off.

You can get a little ground testing plug, plug it in and if the grounding is right the little green light will come on. A volt meter will only tell you the average voltage, not the spikes or transients (unless you have a digital meter that can do peak hold). And you would have to sit there and stare at it for a while so you could see what happens when the air conditioning kicks on, or somebody turns on the industrial microwave in the kitchen, or when the washing machine starts the spin cycle, etc......
 
By volume spike I mean that my POD just shoots up in volume by at least 10-15db. I never touch any of the knobs and I know they haven't moved. It then renders the volume and wah pedal on the xt live unusable. Whereas I would be able to turn the volume off by moving the pedal to heel poition, it has no affect whatsoever. This happens for minutes at a time and when sometimes when i reset it, it still does it. I knocked the congregation out of the pews at least twice because of the volume spike.

It happens at my home church but it also happened at a different church I played at. I know that at my church sometimes the big motif keyboards sometimes act up in a similar fashion to my problem. We also have a thing called Hearback which digitally sends us a signal so we can make our own mixes. This thing is always acting funnily.

I have one theory though. There are not enough outlets. So the head tech person put like a chain of power surges together to cover a large area. There's probably about 5 connected and I plug into about the fourth. Could that be a problem?

I would say the digital equipment always acts funny in our church. THe service center where I took my POD told me that digital is sensitive and it can act erradictly when not fed the proper voltages. Any takers on my problem?
 
Don't ask me for awnsers I only got one; that a man leaves this darkness when he follows the Son
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- Larry Norman.

I have played quite a few churches and have not had this problem but I have never used a pod.

One problem I have run into though is that on most newer constructions a good electrical contractor will receomend seperate isolated electrical runs for lighting and the sound system. Many churches believe this to be an un needed expense that could be used elsewhere and often the dimmers used to soften the lighting during worship will introduce noise into the audio and cause havoc for the sound man.

I would guess the lighting changes as well as various crossovers sending more/less power to subs etc could reduce or increase the usable electrical power available.

If some of the keyboard players are also having similiar problems and your equipment passed all the diagnostics then the church should have thier electrical system evaluated and possibly invest in an industrial size power regulator to protect your and their equipment. If the church has an electrical contractor as a memeber often members will do repair and or diagnostic consultations for free.
 
I tested the Pod yesterday worked fine at home. Get to to church today works fine for 5 mins. Then I start to hear what sounds like a constant tremelo effect, even if I chaged patches. Then shortly after I got no sound at all. I have a variax so i thought maybe it was that and switched guitars, still nothing. Tried new cables, nothing. At that point the service was starting, so i had to go direct to di box(yuck). But thank god my variax has all those nice acoustics, so i just used that and it sounded good. But my pod is pissing me off. I got home still no output. Did a software reset then everythings working at home again. So ya something in church is crapping out my pod. I think I'm going to take advantage of sweetwaters, no interest till 4/07 and get me a regulator. Should I get the AR-15 http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/AR15/
or the ar-1215
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/AR1215/
Should I save $100 dollars or just go for it?
Do you think this will solve my problems.

Convincing them to spend money is the problem although ill suggest it. Ya I think it's like you said a lot of stuff is taking up power. Just on the floor where the instruments are we have the flagship roland electronic drum set, motif keyboard, triton,my gear, and in other places a brand new 20,000 yamaha digital mixing console, and tons of powerful crown amps and big subs and speakers, dimmers, and stuff ive never seen.
 
JahJahWarrior said:
Convincing them to spend money is the problem although ill suggest it. Ya I think it's like you said a lot of stuff is taking up power. Just on the floor where the instruments are we have the flagship roland electronic drum set, motif keyboard, triton,my gear, and in other places a brand new 20,000 yamaha digital mixing console, and tons of powerful crown amps and big subs and speakers, dimmers, and stuff ive never seen.
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If they have this kind of cash for gear, the money would be better spent having someone come in and check the power at the church, and make sure the stage has it's own circuits.
 
Since other digital gear on the same stage has "issues" too, and there may be other things on the circuit besides just the instruments, and your gear behaves fine at home, then I'd say it's a good, good bet the problem is with the church power supply. That POD uses a step down transformer power supply, all it does is step down from 120vac to 9vac, so any irregularities in the outlet current will be mirrored in the POD supply.

It's difficult to imagine a church spending all that money on all that top shelf gear, and then having sub-standard wiring just so they can save a couple three thousand on the electrician. If that's the case, then somebody made a very bad, shortsighted judgment call. I hope they dont have all those power amps and house lights on the same lines with the instruments.

Be very interesting to see if the regulator fixes the problem.

One other thing......do they use wireless mics on stage? wireless anything? It's possible that some wireless device is unintentionally communicating with your pod and scrambling it's settings...... or is it possible there is an illegal cb radio operator near the church?
 
MOFO Pro said:
Seriously now... you wouldn't gig with a longer cable... a different cable then at home??
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This was the help part... do you gig with a different cable then the one you use at home? I know sounds obvious... but I've torn my hair out over worse...

Just finished the rest of the thread... never mind... doubtful it's the guitar cable...

It just seems that if you're experiencing the problem in mutiple locations then you must be carrying the problem with you... What's different in the home and location setup... anything other than the power?
 
No its not that all the same cables. ANd from my variax to the pod i use a digital cable.
 
Tell those cheap fucks at the church to get an electrician in their pronto before SOMEONE or something expensive gets fried.

Their power has issues.

My personal take, diagnosing this from 2000 miles away is a fucked neutral.

But it could also be a loose hot. Takes more current to jump a gap. That's when things start spiking.

A loose neutral can actually cause you to lose power. That is to say-- you may have 120v on the hot leg, but you don't have a complete circuit without the neutral leg.

Then the conductor cools down a bit, maybe starts making contact again.

Now you have intermittant power. :rolleyes:

Somebody needs to check the wiring on all of the recepticles around the stage area. Guar-an-teed you're gonna find loose wiring on those outlets or in the wirenuts tying everything together, or both.

And if they're smart they won't use the same clown to troubleshoot these outlets that installed them.
 
maybe god does'nt like amp modelers. you do know that god plays a strat thru a jtm50 don't you? :D

seriously, is it just me or does digital equipment seem to be much more sensivitive to power irregularities?
 
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I really will suggest it guys. I was telling them yesterday. Its because we have an idiot on sound. This kid is 19 and the only reason he's in charge of sound and everything is because he's the pastor's grandson. I swear he buys the most expensive gear for us and doesn't even know how to use it. If you're going to have someone do sound they should at least have a musical background, this kid has none. I have been recording a few years so I know my stuff. One thing that he did that showed me his incompetence was the use of the compressor. He literally had most instruments and voices anywhere from 20:1-30:1 ratio. I just cringed and said good thing I'm not in the congregation. Anyway ya its bothered me for awhile. I can tell he doesn't want to do anything about it. Just beacause it really only seems to be affecting me. Yesterday I had practice and all my suspicions were confirmed. It worked fine for 5 minutes, but the second the central ac turned on, my POD went crazy. I think its the electricity. Is there any chance that it could be my supply? someone told me supplies either work or don't work? And can the last poster elaborate on what your theory of what wrong with the electrical. Thanks everyone.
 
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