Lozza Posted December 10, 2006 Share Posted December 10, 2006 Hi all, at a reasonably large venue, where the amps are racked up stage left in the wings and the desk is in the control room, what should be turned on/off first? The power switches are on a clean phase and are located in the control room, when you turn the desk on before the amps, you hear a pop/thud as normal. does it matter about the order in which you power up and down? is there a correct way. any thoughts welcome thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Hinds Posted December 10, 2006 Share Posted December 10, 2006 Amps on last, Amps off first. Avoid all the pops, bangs and potential driver replacements. Regards Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ynot Posted December 10, 2006 Share Posted December 10, 2006 Amps on last, Amps off first. Avoid all the pops, bangs and potential driver replacements.ChrisBeat me to it!ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS this order! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Gordon Posted December 10, 2006 Share Posted December 10, 2006 It seems that the OP is switching in the recommended order, but it is not clear from his post when the pops/thuds are occurring. If it is when the amp is powered up (last), is it because the amplifier doesn't have protective delay circuitry or its input levels haven't been turned down before powering up (does this make a difference?)? Alternatively, if the thumps occur when the desk is switched on (first), can spikes get through the amplifiers (into the speakers) even if switched off?Presumably it is also important that the desk output faders are at infinity? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ynot Posted December 10, 2006 Share Posted December 10, 2006 It seems that the OP is switching in the recommended order, but it is not clear from his post when the pops/thuds are occurring. If it is when the amp is powered up (last), is it because the amplifier doesn't have protective delay circuitry or its input levels haven't been turned down before powering up (does this make a difference?)? Alternatively, if the thumps occur when the desk is switched on (first), can spikes get through the amplifiers (into the speakers) even if switched off?Presumably it is also important that the desk output faders are at infinity?Good point - I posted rather swiftly earlier, so missed that bit!! Malcolm you're quite right in that with some amps, powering up with the volume up can sometimes induce a spike. However, If the pops occur when the desk is powered up but the amp is still off, that would give me some cause for concern... It's unlikely that any decent amp will have a valid path for spikes to get amp'd up with no power on the output stages. I'd tend to maybe look for another amp, maybe there's a foldback or monitor set that isn't necessarily locally sited with the main rack, and that doesn't get turned off proper, like... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Boogie Man Posted December 10, 2006 Share Posted December 10, 2006 For my rig, I turn on transmitters--recievers--desk effects--desk--faders off--post desk eqs--power amps (one at a time 3second delay)--speakers plugged in. End of gig amps first (after cooling) Now I'm off to put sticky labels on my cornflakes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roderick Posted December 11, 2006 Share Posted December 11, 2006 Although it has been hinted at by other posters, I thought it would be good to state it clearly.It is a really good practise to turn down the amp volume (at the front of the amp) before turning the amp off and only turn the volume back to the preset levels after the amp has finished its' checks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ike Posted December 11, 2006 Share Posted December 11, 2006 Does it really make any difference? Isn't the "volume" control simply an attenuator on the input and therefore wouldn't have any effect on the internal noises created during powering up, or am I missing something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djw1981 Posted December 11, 2006 Share Posted December 11, 2006 On some amps - the d&b E-PAC and D12, PS1200 you have a mute control, which mutes the amp output. Thus by muting before turning off, you ensure that no sound will reach the speaker cabinet during powering down or up of the amp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbsy Posted December 11, 2006 Share Posted December 11, 2006 Ike is right though. On the vast majority of amps, the level controls are input attenuators only, and will have no affect on and bumps and thumps happening at the output. Most amps...even fairly cheap ones...have a protection circuit to prevent these, but I've certainly encountered a good many that done. That said, I've never blown a speaker driver at switch on either, even with the noisy one. BTW, I'm with Boogie Man in terms of having my own pedantic switch on/off order. May I borrow some of those corn flack labels? Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamesperrett Posted December 11, 2006 Share Posted December 11, 2006 One thing to remember is that some amps have some hefty power supply reservoir capacitors which will remain charged up for up to a couple of minutes after switch off. If you switch off the console before these capacitors have discharged you will hear a thump. Cheers James. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackPott Posted December 11, 2006 Share Posted December 11, 2006 Something that stuck in my head from the mantra thread a while back was "SMASH", representing "Sources, Mixer, Amps..." but I never did find out what the second S and H were meant to represent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djw1981 Posted December 11, 2006 Share Posted December 11, 2006 H for Home? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMC Posted December 11, 2006 Share Posted December 11, 2006 Now I'm off to put sticky labels on my cornflakes. And they say people from the isle of man are strange... Clearly slandering your good name sir! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Boogie Man Posted December 11, 2006 Share Posted December 11, 2006 What! slandering the Manx. It'll be handbags at dawn. Not that you'd get much fight from 70,000 alcoholics clinging to a rock :D If you think my start up/ shut down routine is anal, you should see the rig itself. The signal path for each guitar is marked through each stage with it's own coloured tape and amps and speakers are numbered. even the speaker leads are marked blue and red for left and right. My next plan is to mark a large cloth with where everything goes and then lay it on the floor of the venue as I set up. :P I must get out more :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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