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Generator help needed!

Bassamatic

Bassamatic

keepin' the beat since the 60's
Supporting Member
Dec 7, 2007
5,952
4,566
Studio City, SoCal, USA
#1
We are playing a small outdoors Blues gig in a couple of weeks and we will need to rent a generator.

2 small tube guitar amps, my MarkBass amp and a small 200 Watt PA, and a couple of 60 watt lights.

How much power do we need to rent to be safe? We are looking at a 3000 Watt Honda from Home Depot.

Any other tips or suggestions?

Thanks!!
 
#2
It really depends on how many amps your equipment draws. Can you usually run it all out of one 15amp circuit? That's about 1800 watts. Do you need a 20 amp circuit? That's about 2400 watts. Two 15 amp circuits is about 3600 watts, and two 20 amp circuits is about 4800 watts.

My equipment is different than yours, but to give you and idea, we ran a digital mixer, 2 15" powered mains, 2 powered subs, 2 12" powered monitors, 2 pedal boards, and 2 small fans off one 20 amp circuit once. It worked, but we were sweating it.

Also, cheaper generators are going to be loud. If you will be using it near the band you want to pay extra for a quiet one. The louder it is, the farther away it needs to be from you.

And don't be a cheapskate. I fried a laptop once by plugging it straight into a cheap generator that had a power surge. So use surge protectors and get the best quality you can afford.
 
#5
I'd stick with a honda if you can. If you can swing it, rent the 3000 watt and try a full volume run through. Bring extra gas and fill up before the show. Don't let the person in charge of the gasoline drink. And don't spill any on the muffler. Check stats for run times for the model you are renting and make sure they are long enough. You don't want to run out of gas in the middle of your encore!
 
#6
The Honda generators have a built in surge protection circuit, some other brands don't. You can always run through an APC unit just to be safe. 3000 watts should be plenty, but 5000 would be ideal. I have my house wired with a 5500 in case we lose power. Some motorhomes have between 5000 and 10000 to live in when boondocking. House generators don't usually need all of the power all at once. Appliances don't usually all kick on at once, whereas your band will be a constant flow. Just like anything else, it takes more energy to start something in motion than to keep in going. Once everything is plugged in and running you should be okay. Hope this helps. Let us know how you make out.
 
#8
Bassamatic said:
We are playing a small outdoors Blues gig in a couple of weeks and we will need to rent a generator.

2 small tube guitar amps, my MarkBass amp and a small 200 Watt PA, and a couple of 60 watt lights.

How much power do we need to rent to be safe? We are looking at a 3000 Watt Honda from Home Depot.

Any other tips or suggestions?

Thanks!!
Click to expand...
Worst case, add up all the fuses or the power draw from the labels by the power cord.

im just guessing, but guessing likely very high:
guitar amps 200wx2, pa 400w, 60wx2, mb 500w = 1500w. Way under 3000.

Fuses:
Guitars, 2x2A, pa 4A, mb 4A= 12Amps, x120V= 1440 W+ 60x2 watt lights = 1560watts, still well under 3000.

That’s the math, substitute your actual numbers, should be even lower, my estimates are way too big as worst case.

Randy
 
#9
Bassamatic said:
We are playing a small outdoors Blues gig in a couple of weeks and we will need to rent a generator.

2 small tube guitar amps, my MarkBass amp and a small 200 Watt PA, and a couple of 60 watt lights.

How much power do we need to rent to be safe? We are looking at a 3000 Watt Honda from Home Depot.

Any other tips or suggestions?

Thanks!!
Click to expand...

That sounds like you will have plenty of power.

I believe the Honda 3000 generator has an Eco mode where it idles down when there is a low load condition, and then speeds up as more power is required. Eco mode is fine for lights and other things that provide a constant load when they turn on. But music is dynamic and the generator will not be able to respond quickly enough in Eco mode, so you will end up starving your gear for electricity which can potentially cause malfunctions or even damage. You can run the generator in the Eco setting when the music is not playing to save fuel, but when it is time to rock, turn Eco mode off so the generator runs at full power all the time.

I agree that doing a dry run is a good idea. Honda's are pretty quiet, but you should still get an idea regarding how much distance is require to make the generator unobtrusive. If you need to run any significant length of extension cords make sure to avoid the light gauge type. The longer the run the heavier gauge you need to prevent the voltage from sagging over the length of the extension cord.

Here's is an extension cord calculator you can play around with. Power Tool Extension Cord Calculator - BackyardWorkshop.com

Also, I suggest you avoid turning on all of the gear at the same time. I.E. don't put everything on a single power strip or power conditioner and then turn everything on with one switch. The combined surge of all of your gear might exceed the rating of the generator. Better to turn items on one at a time, especially large power amps and big tube amps.
 
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#10
steveksux said:
2x2A, pa 4A, mb 4A= 12Amps, x120V= 1440 W+ 60x2 watt lights = 1560watts
Click to expand...

Yeah at this load you are looking at about 13 amps for the circuit..and for that load to be on one cord coming out of the generator you need 12 gauge wire yeah 14 gauge for a 15 amp circuit but you are close and the distance factor requires an upgrade in wire size for an extension cord to get where you wanna split it up..
 
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#12
You probably should ground the generator, both for safety reasons and for noise control (in the power line). We played an outdoor gig last summer, and we were getting a lot of line noise through the amps and PA. I pounded a metal bar into the dirt next to the generator, and connected the two together with one side of a jumper cable. That completely solved the noise problem. And nobody was electrocuted, either.....
 
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