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GIG DISASTER - Cab meltdown today - help?

ccsfuse77

ccsfuse77

Dec 21, 2006
48
0
Chicago
www.sparepartsmusic.com
Disclosures
Endorsing Artist: Eden Bass Amplification
#1
I play an Eden World Tour 800C through and Eden 410xlt cab. Today at a festival gig, I set up my rig like any other day, plugged in, and began playing when the soundboard asked to get a level. All of the sudden my signal disappeared, then came back. This kept happening. Eventually I noticed that all lights on the head remained on EXCEPT the little green dc indicator. This would turn off when my signal disappeared (which i have never seen before). Also, when turning the amp off, the speakers would jolt forward as though I were yanking the live cable from my bass. Keep in mind, we were running on a schedule so it was quite stressful as the mc was ready to announce us, etc.. Then it got really bad. Smoke began pouring out through the the top of the cab. All I did was plug in like any other gig! Now I fear my cab is torched...Later, I plugged in the head at home and it seemed fine. When I connected it to the cab though, the speakers jolted forward and hummed very loud. Only thing I can guess is bad electricity at the festival? I wonder because during this nightmare, a bassist from another band offered my his amp. I plugged it in to the same power source as mine, and it would not turn on....any advice or thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.
 
#6
Was your amp being powered by a generator?

You should probably have a tech check out your rig before powering it on again to avoid worse damage.

Using an Radial JDI (found at many hardware stores) before plugging your amp in is a good idea.

Also, as a fail-safe against rig failure, using a good DI box like a Invalid Link Removed or a Invalid Link Removed (or at least a Invalid Link Removed or a Bass Driver DI) is worth considering.
 
#8
Was your amp being powered by a generator?

Yes, I believe so..I've never seen that dc light act weird like that, and the fact that the other guys amp was also acting funny makes me think something was up. How else could the thing be plugged in for five minutes and fry the cab completely!? I didn't play a single tune...I can only imagine what this will cost now...Its like 6 months past its warranty now. I took the grill off and the speakers are totally stiff and sort of sink in when you push them and it smells so bad I had to open a window even hours after the gig...
 
#9
Charles Fields said:
Man buy a good conditioner let it take the hit it's worth the money to save your gear and also give's you plenty of extra outlet's for and other device's you need to plug in safely.
Click to expand...

Funny thing is...I JUST downsized my rack case to a two space just for the head....thinking the conditioner is just more to carry around...
 
#10
A "conditioner" won't save anyone from a generator's poor or drifting or failing regulator. It takes something considerably more expensive and bulkier and heavier to do that. Not that I'm saying the generator was necessarily at fault, mind you.

Anyway, typical troubleshooting swap-outs are indicated to make sure what gear actually has problems now - and if the amp has problems that should be going to a qualified tech as soon as possible.
 
#11
Speakers jolting forward is from a power surge. Speakers also cannot hum (or make any other sounds) on their own. If you are hearing a hum after hooking up your rig at home it is because there is something wrong with the head. About the only thing I can think of that may have burnt up in the cabinet is the crossover. Blown speakers distort or make no sound at all. Agree that your rig needs to go to a technician to figure out what it wrong. I would not assume that because the head powers up at home that it is safe to use.
 
#12
Ya, its definitely going to the tech on monday. Im just afraid of the cost. Its like waking up and your car is on fire or something. Now I have to figure out what to do about gigs this week, etc.. I would also love to know what actually caused this and why every other band up there seemed totally unaffected by this. I thought I paid (most of) my karma dues..
 
#13
ccsfuse77 said:
Ya, its definitely going to the tech on monday. Im just afraid of the cost. Its like waking up and your car is on fire or something. Now I have to figure out what to do about gigs this week, etc.. I would also love to know what actually caused this and why every other band up there seemed totally unaffected by this. I thought I paid (most of) my karma dues..
Click to expand...

Impossible to tell from here if it was bad power (the other guy's amp not working backs it up a bit), or just your amp going down, but definitely take it in before you try to use it any more. 4x10" recones will set you back a lot of dough if your amp fries them all. So far it sounds like it's just your amp, so get that dealt with. Unfortunately for you, the 'C' version of that amp has proven to be notoriously unreliable, as has pretty much all of the newer Eden stuff. I dumped my 800B a year and a bit ago, and it felt like a giant weight was lifted off my shoulders.

And I hope for the sake of your own sanity that it's not a 'warranty' issue with the Eden...

:(

Sorry, man, but keep us posted.

Cheers,
Cameron
 
#15
Argghhh.....I will NEVER play a generator gig again. Sorry about this.
I suspect you have one or more blown output transistors in the amp, due to (probably) a low-voltage condition. The hum and speaker behavior you describe support this theory. The blown transistor(s) fed DC to your speakers, causing them to overheat/smoke. I'm afraid this will be expensive.
Low voltage can be a killer, and your conditioner probably wouldn't have helped, unless it was one of the expensive, voltage regulating models such as the Furman P 1800 AR.
 
#16
I have had a Juice Goose Rackpower 300 (Isolated Ground Power Distribution Center) in my rack for 20 years now. It has 10 A.C. outlets each of which has its own ground switch. The unit can also be set to Star Ground if the ground in the building is bad, once set to Star Ground you run a cable connecting the Star Ground terminal to a true earth ground. Has the standard RFI/EMI filtration and voltage surge/spike protection. The unit is primarily designed to deal with grounding problems but what it also has which would have helped in this situation is a ground fault interrupt circuit and fail-safe power drop-out relay. If the voltage going to the unit drops below 60 volts it trips a circuit breaker which shuts off power until the unit is reset. This is great for protecting your amp but the down side is that if there are lots of voltage drops your rig keeps shutting down until you turn it back on each time. Voltage surges and spikes are attenuated at 130 volts but it won't correct low voltage. I played an outdoor show a few years back where the generator would not supply enough power to keep my rack happy, every time I fired up my power amp the fail-safe power drop-out relay tripped. I couldn't use my equipment until they ran a second generator only for my rig. Been so long since I bought the Juice Goose that I can't remember the price but it was much cheaper than getting a true voltage regulator. If I had the bucks something like the Furman P 1800 would be the way to go, safe power with no interruptions.
 
#17
greenboy said:
A "conditioner" won't save anyone from a generator's poor or drifting or failing regulator. It takes something considerably more expensive and bulkier and heavier to do that. Not that I'm saying the generator was necessarily at fault, mind you.

it has saved me before you need a good $200 + monstercabel one but they take the hit and save your butt and your Head/cabs
Click to expand...
 
#20
dnarock said:
greenboy said:
A "conditioner" won't save anyone from a generator's poor or drifting or failing regulator. It takes something considerably more expensive and bulkier and heavier to do that. Not that I'm saying the generator was necessarily at fault, mind you.

it has saved me before you need a good $200 + monstercabel one but they take the hit and save your butt and your Head/cabs
Click to expand...


How exactly did it "save" you??? I asked this question of another power "conditioner" advocate before, and never did get an answer from him... I expect about the same results this time...



- georgestrings
Click to expand...
 

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