Does anyone have experience with battery powered equipment - or a good battery supply that can power 3 amps - guitar, bass and a pa amp for 2 vocals. 8-10 amps. Mixing to a drum sets acoustical level. Looking to get 2 hours. Have been doing street gigs courtesy of a few businesses who allow us to plug in - a real eye opener on how for a third of the time we can make 3 times as much as a bar gig - and be home for dinner.
Battery power would provide total flexibility to play wherever and whenever.
You will find my user name all over Talkbass threads related to this subject. In general battery powered gear is suitable for camp fire playing or low volume busking. It sounds like you are interested in higher volume, essentially keeping up with the normal level of drummer. IMHO the best solution, especially if you will regularly be playing for two hours, is to get a quiet inverter generator that meets your power requirements. Way less of a compromise, way less hassle, and potentially less expensive because you continue using your normal gear.
One bit of advice: Many of these generators have an "Eco Mode" that idles the engine when demand is low. This is intended to save gas and reduce pollution, but it's not suitable for use with a live band. When you it's time to crank up the band, the generator should be taken out of Eco Mode, so it runs at full capacity. The reason is because music places a dynamic demand on the generator and it will not be able to respond fast enough to meet demand in Eco Mode. This will starve your gear of power which can cause distortion and possibly damage.
The most powerful battery powered PAs I have seen are Anchor Big Foot and Beacon.
Beacon 2
Bigfoot 2
I have played through the Beacon system and I was surprised by the sound quality and SPL, but I suspect a QSC K8.2 will be louder and sound better over two hours.
There is also a company called Soundboks that makes speakers that look like they have potential.
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Roland makes battery powered amps. A pair of BA-330 for bass should be pretty loud. A single Cube Street EX should be fine for Guitar. IMHO don't even bother with the regular Cube Street or Bass Cube RX as their volume potential is pretty pathetic for bass. If you were using a Cube Street EX and the guitarist was using a regular Cube Street, I think that would be a decent match.
Roland - CUBE Street EX | Battery-Powered Stereo Amplifier
Roland - BA-330 | Stereo Portable Amplifier
I believe the BA-330 is a bit louder than the Cube Street EX although the Cube Street EX makes a bit more power. The BA-330 has four 6.5" woofers and the Cube Street EX has a pair of 8" woofers. The BA-330 is approximately twice as big and heavy. These amps run on AA batteries and do not have built in chargers, so I would recommend buying rechargeable batteries. I am not certain but I believe these amps can be daisy chained, so each person plugs into their amp and the sound comes out of multiple amps.
Behringer makes a small mixer that runs on two or three 9V batteries called the Xenyx 1002B.
behringer Product
Once you check the prices you will probably conclude that buying a bunch of battery-powered gear will get very expensive quickly.
You can also buy a large power station that is essentially an integrated battery, DC to AC inverter, and charger. Power stations function like a silent generator. In order to support a loud band for two hours the power station will need to be very heavy and expensive.
You can also cobble together your own power station out of separate batteries, an inverter, and a charger. This will be much cheaper, but you need to have foundational knowledge to pull it off safely and well. Probably the best batteries for this type of setup would be lithium. Be advised that lithium batteries can catch fire or even explode if handled improperly.
A final solution would be to assemble a system that uses Class D car stereo amps and 12V batteries. I have considered this option with Xenyx 1002B mixer. I am hesitant because the amp in my truck will drain the battery in my truck to below the level where the engine can start if I run the stereo at about 1/4 volume with the engine off for 10 minutes. It's a five channel amp (KX700.5) rated at 75W x 4 at 2 ohms and 400W x 1 at 2 ohms for the sub. It requires a 90A fuse, so it can really pull a lot of juice from the battery. This is an older amp so only the sub amp is class D.
