Karaoke Forums

Just out of curiousity Dr D Id be interested what gear you are using.  The power supply regulators in the units should take care of a voltage swing like that with no probems. One of Sony's first portable tv selling features was you could variac the line voltage down to 90 volts or up to 130 and the screen width would stay within 10% of full screen..

We used to have problems with half mile extension cords outside (actually I still do) but the newer stuff shouldnt be bothered as much.. Im have considered running off the rv generator at the lake but I have always talked myself out of that....

Working an old school gym once, later on in the evening, the custodian turned on a large exaust fan, without my knowledge, that was on the same circuit. The voltage drop was so bad, my amplifier overheated, after having experienced the same thing as you mentioned. A larger amp would have probably withstood the drop, but I was just starting out, with a cheaper amp. Does anyone know if a power conditioner can prevent such a problem? Should also check the voltage with everything on the circuit running....older wiring is more prone to this......hope this helps....jj

One of the best strips like this only prevents power surges and spikes and noise. In your case the voltage dropped so low the voltage on your amp outputs dropped out of specs thereby the bias changed so much as to let the outs draw excessive current.  The best thing for preventing this is a power supply with enough reserve power to compensate. It is the same concept as having 2 batteries to start an engine at extreme low temps.

That is half right. If you are getting power spikes, surges and noise, all you need is a good surge protector/power strip. However, if you are experiencing brown outs and power sags even the best surge protector will not help you. The surge protector only absorbs additional current that occurs in the line so that it does not travel through to the equipment. This along with low pass filter filters out a lot of the high frequency power, which is what the noise is.

The drop in voltage is common cause of problems with equipment not working up to spec. I have even had household appliances blow out on brown outs, even with a surge protetor. If you experience less than optimal voltage (usually less than 100 volts or so) and current dropouts, the best tool for that is the UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply), commonly used in computer world. It's a basically a battery and it holds charge and it's meant to kick in incase of power failure. However, it does provide a clean, steady current/voltage to the equipment side and will provide protection against many of the brown outs and power sags.

UPSs are usually heavy and bulky, specially large powered ones like 1000VA units, but if you are using it for just for protection, not for providing power for hours during a power failure, you can get a very small sized one, like an 100VA unit. I have seen one integrated in to a large size power strip so it's not too bad. That would be my suggestion and see how it works out.

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 Good Point Eben I really didnt think about it Even if you just had your system computer on this source it would pay for itself in the long run. I have never used one can you provide links? Thanks....

Ive got a couple of 350va units at the house. During Katrina they got tested. with a computer and nothing else on it they were good for about 20 mins. I replaced them with 1500va units, and have a 350va for the computer only at karaoke shows. I have blown a circuit before, and they will save a computer. But to run an amp off of????  I don't even think so. I have 2 2600 watt peaveys in the system.  I couldnt even imagine a ups that would power it.

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I'm Not Dead yet...... But every day Im getting Closer !

There are a lot of companies out there makes one. They are more a commodity item now days. I recommend two companies for UPS: APC and Belkin. I use both and very happy with both. APC is a leader in the field and you will pay premium for it. All they do is UPS. Belkin OEMs it from someone else and put their label on it. They sell all kinds of computer peripherals but I have been happy with all their products so far, like networking and UPS. However, you really can't go wrong now days with any company. It's a commodity item so no one makes bad quality item now days.

You can get this Belkin product for about $40 SRP. I have seen them for less than $30 in stores. APC makes similar item for about the same price as well.

You can buy all of these at your local computer stores like Fry's or Best Buy. If you are using it for your computer, I would suggest a higher end ones with USB connector. They come with software that allows you to turn off your computer safely, automatically in case of power failure. Good luck and let me know how it turns out.

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Seize the day and SING!!!

Dr. D, my recommendation for the UPS for equipment like amps is not to be used in power outage situation but for brownouts and power sags. They do work. However, one caveat is that if the UPS can not provide enough power to the equipment, it will give warning about being on battery power all the time. You can turn it off since the protection is there but it can be annoying. Buying a large UPS solves the issue but then weight and bulk can be hard to handle. Typical UPS, even 1000VA units will give no more than few mins of run time after powerout anyways if you use it with amps.

I never had to use UPS in my gigs, even private homes. However, some parts of the US may help.

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Seize the day and SING!!!

Jam, Here's something else people often don't consider.  When I played gigs, I'd often have my Half-stack on 3 at around 9.. At around midnight it'd sound like we were alot softer.... Around 11:30-1:00 many bars start filling with people. In the Northeast people wearing jackets coats muffle some of the sound when a room is full of them... Like curtains and carpeting in a room, people absorb sound. How many more people were in the venue at 11:30 compared to when you started.  A relatively empty area in front of you will enable your DB level to be higher, than an area full of people absorbing/muffling sound.


My guess is if your surrounding area was filled with people at 11:30, and was not at 4:00...  Your speakers output was the same.  You had more absorbing the sound so in order to compensate you would in fact need to crank up volume.... I always did when on stage.. The Altec VOTT cabs were pretty big... Even found a few couples making out in them  


We had all sorts of weird stuff happen.... A few times cranking up the PA did very little,  that was because someone was passed out, and curled up dozing in the bass bin ..  Or people dancing just took off their jackets and tossed them into the cabs...

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

My recent experiances with my power amp has me looking at buying  new amp.
My PV1200 has worked flawlessy for the last 5 years and I have no complaints of either the quality or the power. So my dilema is do I buy another power amp that is rated at approx 300watts x 2 @8ohms or do I move 1 step up and get somethinga long the lines of Crown CE200 (400WATTS X 2 @8OHMS) or the Peavy PV2600 (550WATTS X 2 @ 8OHMS )  OR EVEN THE BEHRINGER EP2500

The prices ranger from $330 for the Behringer upto $600 for the Peavey  with the Crown in the middle at $500.  Even though I've been running at 280watts a side for the last few years using either my Peavey SP5G or a set of Yamahas Sv15  I

I think Im' better off with some more CLEANER power.  I'm leaning towards the CROWN CE2000 - any advise on this amp????

I have 3 of the peavey pv2600 amps. they are class H amps, and I wouldn't do any other way. I love these amps.

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I'm Not Dead yet...... But every day Im getting Closer !

Great amp.  I would recommend the upgrade to higher power as well as you will get cleaner sound at regular listening levels plus more efficiency to you speakers, you run the SP5's right?

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Lonnie

Correct I'm switching between the Peavey SP5G's and the Yamaha Sv115
Both of which could use more power than the 280watts I have been using.

Nice Picture Lonnie................

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I'm Not Dead yet...... But every day Im getting Closer !

Yeah both those sets would benefit from an amp pushing at least 500 watts per cahnnel into 8 ohms.

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I like it to,  He's got that 70's Bob Segar look.

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

Nah just to cheap to get a haircut lately.  If I have an extra $20 I usually drop it in the gas tank with the damn prices these days.

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But the big question is, will that 20 get you home.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

It'll get me home, whether or not I can get back to work or not is the question.

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I have a couple of really nice bicycles.  Glad I now have incentive to ride them more... People become much too dependent on their cars. I know in rural locations, and certain burbs... There's no choice.... Yet here they can walk to do all their shopping, get paper, Mail stuff, plaza directly next door, yet not even 5% of these lazy folks walk all of 50-100 yards to shop. mail something or get the sunday paper. I bottle of soda..They've become so sedentary that rather than walk thru a path 50 yards away directly in front of their condo building (just to get the paper next door), these lazy folks drive around 1/2 mile worth of roads to get to the same place... It's ludicrous how lazy and wasteful so many become (myself included).. It's really too bad the world has changed so much too... Because hitching rides would be advantageous these days...I used to hitch rides ALL over even in elementary school.... If it wasn't such a sick world today, I'd pick up hitchhikers, and I'd hitch as well..... Yet now hitching is illegal around here...

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".