I've been asked about providing sound for a local five piece band at an outdoor mall ... where the venue has committed to providing generator power. I'm a little concerned they (the venue, and the band, for that matter) think that means digging up a utility generator out of someone's garage and running a long extension cord. :roll: Can't say I'm very excited about the idea of hooking up my equipment to some random power supply.
Years ago I had a little Honda eu1000i generator and really liked it. Suffice to say I'm familiar with the product line and why it's desirable for a PA setup.
What I'm not really confident with, is *how much* generator do I need? I did some research here, and closest I could come with a guideline was 2x your PA's rated output.
I have a Behringer EP2000 (power consumption says 1600W, presumably max), a QSC GX5 (specs. say 6A at 1/8th power, so I'm figuring a max of 1200W), plus two guitar amps, a keyboard, bass amp, X32, laptop, and some miscellaneous items (ex: wireless mics. talkbox, fx pedals). I've run the whole works through a Kill-A-Watt, but even when the amps begin to clip (playing 80s rock), it seems like it barely hits 800W. That just seems surprisingly low.
With 2800W in amp draw alone, I really expected to need a 3000+ Watt inverter generator to safely power this setup.
I'd like to be reasonably prepared when the venue emails back with what they're "offering" for us to use.
-- Mitch
E2A - Forgot to mention that the band will also have four Alto TS112's (as monitors). While they don't give a power usage spec, they're rated at 800 Watts peak output. If one uses the 2x rated power requirement, that's another 3200W of generator!
Years ago I had a little Honda eu1000i generator and really liked it. Suffice to say I'm familiar with the product line and why it's desirable for a PA setup.
What I'm not really confident with, is *how much* generator do I need? I did some research here, and closest I could come with a guideline was 2x your PA's rated output.
I have a Behringer EP2000 (power consumption says 1600W, presumably max), a QSC GX5 (specs. say 6A at 1/8th power, so I'm figuring a max of 1200W), plus two guitar amps, a keyboard, bass amp, X32, laptop, and some miscellaneous items (ex: wireless mics. talkbox, fx pedals). I've run the whole works through a Kill-A-Watt, but even when the amps begin to clip (playing 80s rock), it seems like it barely hits 800W. That just seems surprisingly low.
With 2800W in amp draw alone, I really expected to need a 3000+ Watt inverter generator to safely power this setup.
I'd like to be reasonably prepared when the venue emails back with what they're "offering" for us to use.
-- Mitch
E2A - Forgot to mention that the band will also have four Alto TS112's (as monitors). While they don't give a power usage spec, they're rated at 800 Watts peak output. If one uses the 2x rated power requirement, that's another 3200W of generator!