A QSC story

[jefffluker]

Hey!

Outside Halloween gig Friday evening, running on a generator provided by customer. Flipped power switches on the three PLX 3602 amps. Blue LEDs, no sound. Turned them off, turned them on again, listening for the "click" and fan "whir." No click, no whir. Hmmm...

I hadn't experienced this before. I got the multimeter and checked the outlets in my gang box--only 80 volts! Checked the generator outlets--80 volts, again.

A backup generator was brought in, which produced a stout 116 volts. Amps fired up just fine.

By design or by chance, the QSC's told me "something is wrong." Good little amplifiers!

Jeff
[email protected]

[joeybutts]

Re: A QSC story

Hey!

Outside Halloween gig Friday evening, running on a generator provided by customer. Flipped power switches on the three PLX 3602 amps. Blue LEDs, no sound. Turned them off, turned them on again, listening for the "click" and fan "whir." No click, no whir. Hmmm...

I hadn't experienced this before. I got the multimeter and checked the outlets in my gang box--only 80 volts! Checked the generator outlets--80 volts, again.

A backup generator was brought in, which produced a stout 116 volts. Amps fired up just fine.

By design or by chance, the QSC's told me "something is wrong." Good little amplifiers!

Jeff
[email protected]

Good to hear no damage and smart to check logical things out! I have a used QSC CX902 and that sucker is like Joe Pesci, takes a beating and comes back for more.

[wg_ski]

Re: A QSC story

Generators often have floating neutrals on the 240V twistlock sockets. Turn on one amplifier, nothing. Turn on the seocnd, and they both come on. As long as the load is balanced between them. Might not work out so good with switch mode supplies, or with two amps on one phase and one on the other.

[Paul O]

Re: A QSC story

There is no way I would plug anything into a generator without metering it first, I'm even leery of provided distros. Count your lucky stars nothing was damaged and make it a policy to measure first from now on.

[Sydney]

Re: A QSC story

Like Paul - I'd exercise the same caution. Multimeters are cheap and preliminary measuring takes little time.
One of the design considerations for true professional amps is fault tolerance on mains supply and load connections.
Consider that such amps are often attached to a multitude of power sources that can vary in quality and tolerance; and often connected in haste, by less than attentive individuals. :rolleyes:

[spasticteapot]

Re: A QSC story

My QSC is cooked. Anyone know a place I could just send the boards and get 'em fixed?

[kblackmore]

Re: A QSC story

Be sure you send it to a place that uses QSC parts. I had an older amp that kept cooking an op-amp in it and I finally just got rid of it. I sold it to a friend who went to a factory authorized shop and they changed out the same op-amp with a factory replacement. He used it for several years later and never had an issue.