Bad... Just bad

tahbass · #1 04-21-2011, 11:47 AM

Played a show this weekend on Saturday (April 16). Good turnout and it's a really exciting show. We hit the first note and it's just great, people cheering, a lot of good energy... until the power goes off about 2 minutes into our first song. And then again during the second song... Again the third song. Fourth song was great, had no issues and I start getting optimistic. Then the power goes off for song five and six too, just to hammer the nail into the coffin of my irritation for the evening as a whole (which also included some obscenely arrogant sound guy criticizing my gear for being "too big" on several occasions before we played then subsequently complimenting how good my tone was after he actually heard my setup; there was also another guy - an audience member - who got super drunk and mistook me for someone in the crowd that punched him in the face during the last song of the set and literally tried to pick a fight with me (with his equally drunk buddy), insisting that I was in fact the person in the crowd that punched him)

This did not occur for any of the other four bands that played that night. It only affected myself and the lead guitar, rhythm guitar and vocalist had no power issues nor did any other part of the venue (lights, pa, etc.). I found that the power outage was due to a faulty surge strip, whose power button flipped spontaneously. No one was messing with the strip but each time I went back there to see what the hell was going on, the power had been flipped. This leads me to believe that it was perhaps just very very old and the switch broken to the extent that it could not stay in place.

To further my disdain for the entire ordeal, I went to practice last night and fired up my rig. Something is wrong - the volume is not at the level it normally is, and I double, triple, and quadruple checked that the settings didn't get screwed up. I went into the board at first, went direct in, checked that pedals and speakers were plugged in properly and it's just not doing what I loved before. My guitar player and I check the bias on the amp and it's only putting out .75-.77 when it should be putting out .100. So I guess the surge jacked up my power tubes and I need new ones. FML.

Thoughts/condolences from the TB community are appreciated. I am bummed/pissed/irritated/multitude of emotions, most of which are negative.

Texan · #2 04-21-2011, 12:42 PM

I feel for you, been in similar situations. I hope you find the issue with your amp and hope that it's minor. Things WILL get better, hang in there.

southgabass · #3 04-21-2011, 06:07 PM

you could have had a power surge that was tripping the breaker in your surge strip... thats what they are there for =D.... kinda like when your "fuse box" at home trips and you just turn it on and back off... those surges could have led to a little seeping in and smacking your tubes around...

sorry for your issues... I've had quite a few here recently too

and as for the sound guy... next time you have one comment on size just ask why he is so defensive and smirk.... lol

tahbass · #4 04-21-2011, 07:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by southgabass

and as for the sound guy... next time you have one comment on size just ask why he is so defensive and smirk.... lol

this.

selftitled907 · #5 04-21-2011, 07:42 PM

Keep your head up. if you had the crowd cheering on the first note you guys played....this will only be a small hinderance. just get new surge protectors. hopefully that will solve the problem, or in this case new tubes/surge strip. i had a similar problem once and actually had the crowd communicating with the bar to help to fix the problem. and if it does happen again, you now know a good spot to start looking as surge strip problems can dmg your gear when not functioning properly.

and as for the guy in the crowd trying to fight you, get the rest of the crowd involved weather its making him look like a total douche bag or getting him tossed out the door. forget who said it in another thread but something along the lines of comedy is a good diffuser for drunk patrons that are getting mean.

tahbass · #6 04-22-2011, 08:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by selftitled907

Keep your head up. if you had the crowd cheering on the first note you guys played....this will only be a small hinderance. just get new surge protectors. hopefully that will solve the problem, or in this case new tubes/surge strip. i had a similar problem once and actually had the crowd communicating with the bar to help to fix the problem. and if it does happen again, you now know a good spot to start looking as surge strip problems can dmg your gear when not functioning properly.

and as for the guy in the crowd trying to fight you, get the rest of the crowd involved weather its making him look like a total douche bag or getting him tossed out the door. forget who said it in another thread but something along the lines of comedy is a good diffuser for drunk patrons that are getting mean.

Thanks for the advice. I'm actually going to buy a surge protector for my amp that will come with anywhere and everywhere I play so this doesn't happen again... lesson learned. New tubes are on the way, found a matched sextet of JJ's on eBay. Good news is that the same band has two more shows in May and the dudes in the band are taking any money we make from the show and putting it towards the price of the tubes I just ordered. Probably one of the nicest gestures ever; thanks bandmates.

As for the drunk guy, I wish the crowd was still there. However, he and his crony followed me down two flights of stairs as I carried one of my cabs out to the car to load it back into the truck after the gig then tried to pick a fight with me in the parking lot... Away from any other people. Luckily my girlfriend noticed them harassing me by the car and hurried to get the dudes from my band to come over and prevent something from happening.