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My rig smelled like burning rubber at a practice today- ideas?

R

RayO5421

Jan 15, 2007
608
1
34
Toms River NJ
#1
Hello all,
I'm using a 4ohm Avatar 410 (rated at 1000W) with a GK-1001 (480W at 8ohms and 700W at 4ohms) so thats 700W going through a cab rated at 1000W. I can't be sure but I think I had the tweeter turned up kinda high (anywhere from 80-100%). I connect the cab and amp using a 1/4 to 1/4 cable. The EQ on my amp isn't anything drastic; the most I've got of anything is contour and presence at about 80%. Master, woofer, and boost volume are at 50% (12 o'clock).

This was the first time I ever brought it out to play with anyone and the first time I played with this guys. They're into metal so I tuned to drop D and just played what they told me. We probally played for about 20-25 minutes and the drummer stopped and said he smelled something burning. I went over and immediately decided it was my amp and turned it off. Didn't really do much investigation and just decided I'd start a thread here because I'm a rookie when it comes to rig stuff.

What do you think this could be? Bad cab? Bad head? Should I be using a Speakon to Speakon cable rather than a 1/4 to 1/4? Could I have over worked it?

Please help me out, if something needs replacing I want to get it done right away because I'd like to be playing through my own gear when I've acctually got a show to play.

Thanks everyone,
Ryan
 
#2
RayO5421 said:
Hello all,
I'm using a 4ohm Avatar 410 (rated at 1000W) with a GK-1001 (480W at 8ohms and 700W at 4ohms) so thats 700W going through a cab rated at 1000W. I can't be sure but I think I had the tweeter turned up kinda high (anywhere from 80-100%). I connect the cab and amp using a 1/4 to 1/4 cable. The EQ on my amp isn't anything drastic; the most I've got of anything is contour and presence at about 80%. Master, woofer, and boost volume are at 50% (12 o'clock).

This was the first time I ever brought it out to play with anyone and the first time I played with this guys. They're into metal so I tuned to drop D and just played what they told me. We probally played for about 20-25 minutes and the drummer stopped and said he smelled something burning. I went over and immediately decided it was my amp and turned it off. Didn't really do much investigation and just decided I'd start a thread here because I'm a rookie when it comes to rig stuff.

What do you think this could be? Bad cab? Bad head? Should I be using a Speakon to Speakon cable rather than a 1/4 to 1/4? Could I have over worked it?

Please help me out, if something needs replacing I want to get it done right away because I'd like to be playing through my own gear when I've acctually got a show to play.

Thanks everyone,
Ryan
Click to expand...


Instrument or speaker cable?
 
#4
Also new GK amps seem to have a bit of a pungent odor, sort of like hot rubber, which is normal. I believe its the white material between the transistors and the heat sink. When you are really jamming the fan will kick on and blow that odor around. I can see how it would easily be mistaken for something burning. Again its normal. Mine still smells a little bit like it after a year. It fades eventually.
 
#6
How long have you had the Avatar? I read on another thread that somebody who had a brand new Avatar B410 like yours was playing for the first time at a gig and had a similar experience. He also mentioned that his cabinet seemed to be getting louder, dont know if that's your experience or not tho. He said by the time the gig was over, the smell was gone though, probably about 2 hours later.

Anyways, somebody chimed in on the thread and said that the smell is from the crossover of the Avatar "burning in". I guess there's some chemical coating on the big exposed mylar components of the cross over that burns off over time when you put some juice through it. The dude said it was totally normal though. I remember somebody else saying something about how Dave at Avatar speakers told them to play through the cabinet quite a bit at near full capacity to get the most out of it, or break it in. Dont know first hand, I have played through an Avatar 212, but only for about 20 minutes before they closed the store haha.
 
#9
metron said:
Also new GK amps seem to have a bit of a pungent odor, sort of like hot rubber, which is normal. I believe its the white material between the transistors and the heat sink. When you are really jamming the fan will kick on and blow that odor around. I can see how it would easily be mistaken for something burning. Again its normal. Mine still smells a little bit like it after a year. It fades eventually.
Click to expand...

I gotcha, it was just unexpected because its my first real amp setup and it freaked me out because I just invested
$900+ into it.
 
#12
metron said:
Also new GK amps seem to have a bit of a pungent odor, sort of like hot rubber, which is normal. I believe its the white material between the transistors and the heat sink. When you are really jamming the fan will kick on and blow that odor around. I can see how it would easily be mistaken for something burning. Again its normal. Mine still smells a little bit like it after a year. It fades eventually.
Click to expand...
+1

The QSC2402's here did a similar thing the first few gigs of running them above "household" volume. They didn't do that at home(one's 6 inches from my left elbow) but they're run much lower.

It remind me of a fresh car or motorcycle engine "cooking" the paint and gasket glue in or a central heater burning off dust when 1st fired up for winter.
 

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