Off Topic Losing tone at outdoor gig.

[shurmacer]

My band played last month at our local farmers market. The power outlet is 100 feet away.
We had 2 100 foot cords and 2 power strips. I tried to put pa and bass on one strip and
lead guitar and pedal steel guitar, stage lights on 2nd strip. I started to notice my clean
tone started to get dirty same with my partner on the pedal steel.
We are playing again this Thursday night and wanted to see if any of you guys have
had this problem. Is there something that I can add like a power regulator or conditioner
if there is such a thing?
It wasn't a bad show we made it through the sets but hate to lose that awesome tone.

Thanks guys!

 

[DrKev]

If the guiatr amps are getting dirty, I have two thoughts...

1) It's just not enough power from the outlet for what you need. The 100ft cable length and wire gauge may be part of the issue. What is the total maximum rated power draw for all the amps and PA and lighting? But remember that if the issue is the outlet/cable length, power loss would also affect the bass amp and PA and lighting too. Did you noticed the performance of everything get worse as the band got louder? If not, and the PA and bass and lighting performed as expected the problem might be...

2) Outdoor gigs often need bigger guitar amps. What works indoors on the same size stage will be underpowered outdoors. Are you simply running the amps louder than you would usually do and just be running out of clean headroom?

 

[mischi_miyagi]

How much power do you draw? Did this situation evolve / get worse with time? Are the cables getting warm? What is the fuse rated?
I think the same as DrKev, you just might not have enough power or in your specific case the cable is too long and the fuse is too slow and is not noticing that you drain too much power...had a similar situation with temperature chambers draining alot of power with a very long cable...

Cheers, Michael