Extended use of Orange AD30htc in a live setting (risks?)

[thehoj]

So there's a bit of a band jam locally coming up, I think maybe 8 or so bands playing over the span of about 4 - 5 hours. I know most of the bands playing, and for the most part trust that they are all fairly stand-up guys (and gals).
Anyways, The organizers don't want to have to change all the gear for every band, and have to do tons of sound checks, so they want to share amps.
I'd be heart broken not to play on my orange at this event , so I offered to use mine. The organizers are good with that, and suggested that I be the "amp tech" so to speak for my amp, for all the bands.

The amp is a newer Orange ad30htc (not exactly sure of the year), and I don't believe there are any issues with it. I've gigged with it before, and played up to an hour set with the volume up pretty good.

The more I think about this though, the more scared I get, thinking about running this thing for up to 5 hours straight. It's not like it would be pushed really hard, it'll be mic'd obviously, but should I be concerned about this? Is it a bad idea?

Maybe I should just suck it up and play on whatever other amp they end up securing for the event... I'm particular about my tone though (aren't we all?), and I'd hate to get monkeying with whatever I'm provided with and find out I can't get any of the sounds I want..
I don't play with many pedals, so I rely on the amp itself for a lot of what I do.. In fact I could make do for a whole set plugged straight into the amp and no pedals (other than the channel switcher).. Anyways, I'm getting into rambling mode.

I'm interested to see what you other Orange enthusiasts think about my predicament.

[Nork]

i'd say it should be fine, as long as no one's friggin' with it, really. but there shouldn't be any reason she wouldn't be up to the task - as long as your tubes are good and there's no issues with the amp.

[bclaire]

I think you should suggest to them that they provide a 4X12 cabinet and every guitarist brings their head. You aren't alone in that everyone would prefer their own head and would probably be willing to compromise with a different cab. Switchout takes all of about 4 minutes, and would keep everyone happy. They can have the cab mic'd up and be all ready for each change.

Don't offer up your amp is my advice...

[thehoj]

I think you should suggest to them that they provide a 4X12 cabinet and every guitarist brings their head. You aren't alone in that everyone would prefer their own head and would probably be willing to compromise with a different cab. Switchout takes all of about 4 minutes, and would keep everyone happy. They can have the cab mic'd up and be all ready for each change.

Don't offer up your amp is my advice...

Yea.. I'm leaning towards this option. Problem is, I know many of the bands use combo's. It's an event for new bands (without much gear) and old bands (with lots of stuff).
Maybe I can see how they feel about a few different people putting up amps.. So the workload is shared a bit more.

[sunshine_killer]

I've shared my AD30TC combo out a few times (three if I remember correctly) to other bands during shows and haven't had any problems at all. The longest it was on was probably 4 hours, some of that on standby in-between bands.

My biggest concern would be people mistreating it, say using it as a coaster for their drinks.

[Nork]

Yea.. I'm leaning towards this option. Problem is, I know many of the bands use combo's. It's an event for new bands (without much gear) and old bands (with lots of stuff).
Maybe I can see how they feel about a few different people putting up amps.. So the workload is shared a bit more.

if you do the tech side of things though, you might be able to run the combo's through the 412. though, 16ohm isn't a widely popular as 8 it seems, so it might be a little tougher to co-ordinate.

running several different amps might not be a bad idea. if you have the major ones available (say fender, marshall, mesa and orange) you should be able to cover all sorts of ground. i played tons of shows when i was a new band running whatever was on stage - i was just glad i had a gig, i didn't care what i played through. maybe get the older bands to help the little guys?

i know you're not the event co-ordinator, just throwing it out there.

thinking back on your first post, i'm with billy. i think the amp itself could handle the work, but it's the human factor you wanna rule out. people get stupid when they don't own the gear - i'm nervous lending my stuff out for that reason. even powering it up without plugging in the speaker cab (as possibly some of the combo guys would do without thinking) can mean problems down the line.

[OrangePaul]

Its all wear and tear on your valves at the end of the day, but if you can live with that i wouldn't be overly concerned. Switch the amp to standby between change overs and that will cut out any annoying noises too.
+1 on the drink coaster concern though

[a.hun]

Its all wear and tear on your valves at the end of the day, but if you can live with that i wouldn't be overly concerned. Switch the amp to standby between change overs and that will cut out any annoying noises too.
+1 on the drink coaster concern though

And +1 again. That is the biggest risk to your amp, apart from stupid or ignorant people who might go messing with the speaker connections.

These things (valve amps) are designed to be run long and hard. Unless the valves are either brand new (when any weak ones will tend to fail), or else really old, the chances are they'll probably not choose those few hours to pack in on you.

However to be honest not everybody is going to get on with using that one amp. (Great sound but not everyones choice or style of amp). I'd say if the organisers want you to be 'amp tech' and keep an eye on your amp for the whole event that suggests they aren't willing to take any responsibility and would rather put it in your lap. Personally I'd insist on having at least one or two alternative amp choices which would also give some backup.

Of course the amp would (/ will) likely cruise it without problems. IMO that isn't really the point though.


Andy.

[bclaire]

Another idea would be to use your amp but have them shell out $$$ for a set of replacement tubes.

[thehoj]

I talked about it some more with the organizers, and they've said that they are going to have a few different amps on stage ready to go. So my amp won't be used for every band. I think I'll be okay with that.

Thanks for the all the input on this, it's an interesting subject for me.

[nguideau]

Totally agree that the biggest risk is ignorance and/or carelessness of the other people using it. If used properly, I see no reason it shouldn't handle 4 or 5 hours of rocking. You just have to trust people will keep drinks away from it and stay away from the speaker outputs.

[brianr0131]

Every multiple act gig I have ever played was set up like this:

community bass rig

community drum set (almost always bring your own snare.... sometimes cymbals)

Guitar players bring their own rigs. Usually they are kind of staged in a way that promotes timely changeovers. Most guys can set up in about 5-8 minutes including micing up the speaker on combo/cab.

I have done a few shows where there is one constant (Rhythm) guitar rig though. But, for the most part, lead players want their own sh*t.

[tony_clifton]

If it's miked, you can maybe "hide" it at the back of the stage and provide a circuit breaking cable? I don't know how you call those things in English but I've seen cables with a small switch so you can even unplug the guitar-side without popping.

Again +1 on abuse being the main concern, if you can manage nobody touching the amp and no popping I'd feel comfortable cranking it for a week. The speakers probably won't even heat up (it's a 30 watt amp into 140 watts of speaker), and I don't believe in tube wear by only one day of cranking.


That being said, I finally found the amp I love (a Princeton Reissue -> can do anything I want with the right pedal) and because those things are awfully overpriced I'm treating it like a baby -> zero risk policy