Portable GFCI???

[jsm81]

So I was browsing around the hardware store, and found a portable GFCI in the electrical section. Basically, its a gfci outlet wire w/ a surge protector and 4ft extension cord. Do you guys think that this would be a good tool to use to help protect my equipment?? We're just starting to get a few gigs and you never know what kind of grounding issues you're gonna face. Will this help or will it just create grounding issues???

[jsm81]

bump

[BryanM]

If you're going to be playing outdoors and don't have properly fused equipment, it could go a long way in saving your skin, but unless the outlet that it's plugged in to is properly earthed, it's gonna make no difference than shouting at the outlet as far as reducing ground hum. One thing that it might do which can be good or bad depending on how dangerously you like to tread is to trip the circuit far too often if there's a slight bit of current leak somewhere in your rig.

[JackANSI]

From my experience playing out, BryanM is right. Unless you're playing outdoors you might be inviting trouble in.

Are you thinking about this from a protection point of view or a sound quality point of view?

Protection:
Not a whole lot you can do except make sure that your rig is in tip top shape at all time. No ragged cords, making sure you're never "lifting" the ground, plugging into a different circuit than your guitarist and his tube amp, etc... If you sing and constantly get shocked you might want to think about a wireless for your rig (I highly recommend X2), heck if you're just that worried about being shocked, not being connected to anything with more than 9 volts might be the piece of mind you're looking for.

You can also check the outlet your pluging into with a multi-meter before you setup, but you WILL get odd looks from people. If you have a rack, go with a quality rackmount power distribution unit (from furman and the likes). You get what you pay for with those and the meters, while neat and reassuring, aren't required as long as you stay in one country.


Sound Quality:
I never had too bad an experience with this that couldn't be solved by not going direct and mic'ing the cab. In fact I only ever had to do that once.

For hum I bought two things. 1. Ebtech Hum X Voltage Hum Filter. 2: Ebtech Hum Eliminator. If #1 doesn't work for some reason, #2 does but you lose some fidelity. I still have not found the magic device for making a crappy sound guy better.