<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" ><tr><td valign="top" style="font: inherit;">Hi Ray,<br><br>Problems? Nope. Never.<br><br>My "no tube amps" comment is a power consumption issue as you surmised. Nothing more. Fact is, if I had unlimited battery reserve, I'd prefer tube amplifiers over solid state, but that's another topic.<br><br>I powered Earth Day in Dallas in 2002 with a much smaller set-up back then (525 W PV, 4 kWh in battery, and a 4 kW Exeltech MX inverter). My equipment was the sole source of power at the event that day. The last band of the day had a 2500 watt class 'A' tube amp for (as you guessed) their bass player. It had a ~superb~ sound, but *idled* at 1700 watts. Also needed a small army to move it. They proceeded to run the 24V battery system down to 19V. Fortunately, the inverter under-voltage didn't kick in and shut things down, but it was -> <- that
close.<br><br>I'd be ok with a 100 watt tube amp at an event. This is more of a camel-in-the-tent comment. It amazes me how many performers have absolutely no clue what their equipment is rated or consumes. Let a small tube amp in, and a 3kW+ beast follows.<br><br>If you're ever in the Dallas/Ft Worth area around the end of April any year, stop in. I have a standing annual commitment to power the Fort Worth Prairie Fest. They have a Grammy award winning group as their headline band every year. I'll get you a front-row seat right next to the Shuttle.<br><br><br>Dan<br><br><br>--- On <b>Wed, 4/27/11, R Ray Walters <i><ray@solarray.com></i></b> wrote:<br><blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; padding-left: 5px;"><br>From: R Ray Walters <ray@solarray.com><br>Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] PV powered music festival<br>To: "RE-wrenches"
<re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org><br>Date: Wednesday, April 27, 2011, 11:57 PM<br><br><div id="yiv1178594605">Dan;<div><br></div><div>Your system sounds great. I'd love to hear it sometime.</div><div>Just one question: how come no tube amps?</div><div>You're going to have some guitar players screaming; most of the best guitar amps are all tube these days.<br><br></div><div>I know they waste a lot of power, but they're usually small compared to the PA system.</div><div><br>I've measured a few with a no load draw in the 20 to 40 watt range, maybe peaking at 100 watts. (Marshall 100w head)</div><div><br>I would think the Exeltech would make it sound better than they've ever heard.</div><div><br>Have you had problems?</div><div><br><div>
<span class="yiv1178594605Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div>R. Walters</div><div><a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:ray@solarray.com" target="_blank" href="/mc/compose?to=ray@solarray.com">ray@solarray.com</a></div><div>Solar Engineer</div><div><br class="yiv1178594605khtml-block-placeholder"></div><div><br class="yiv1178594605khtml-block-placeholder"></div><br class="yiv1178594605Apple-interchange-newline"></span>
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<div><blockquote type="cite"><table style="" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td style="font: inherit;" valign="top"><br>Things to
avoid at all cost:<br><br>Incandescent stage lamps. Period. (Dan from FoxFire and Jason from Fafco are 100% on target on this.)<br><br>* Tube amplifiers of any kind.<br>* Class 'A' amplifiers (tube or solid state - doesn't matter).<br> Most sound people and musicians are clueless about this aspect<br> of their equipment. You'll have to either get the make and model of<br> the amps and talk with the respective manufacturers .. or go to a lot<br> of trouble to measure idle power for each.<br><br>Dan<br><br><br>-</td></tr></tbody></table></blockquote></div></div></div><br>-----Inline Attachment Follows-----<br><br><div class="plainMail">_______________________________________________<br>List sponsored by Home Power magazine<br><br>List Address: <a ymailto="mailto:RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org" href="/mc/compose?to=RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org">RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org</a><br><br>Options &
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