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Halfway through a set and you smell burning......


Paulgm1
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Was gigging with the blues band at the weekend at an outside charity gig and after smelling burning I turn round to notice my Roqsolid amp cover is on fire! I'd put it behind my amp but on top of a very hot bare bulb that was behind the stage. Much stamping and flapping and I managed to put it out without stopping playing! Don't think anyone in the audience even noticed.

Anyone else had similar near misses at gigs?

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[quote name='leschirons' timestamp='1498518613' post='3325262']
When I've said I can smell burning, our guitarist would always say it's probably his fingerboard. One day, I'll surprise him with a bucket of water
[/quote]

May not be enough time to fetch a bucket. Just use what comes to hand... :D

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I was late arriving to one gig, rushed in and propped the gig bag up on the seat behind the amp and cabs.

Then smelt the burning. I hadn't seen the candles on the window ledge and my gig bag was melting in the flame. Luckily I was connecting up the cabs, I guess if I'd gone back out to the car it would have ignited.

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Did a gig on drums in Italy many years ago on an outdoor stage. The performance area was covered but open at the back. There was a deluge as we were playing, and I look over to see water pouring in huge sheets off the back of the roof, directly into one of the stage boxes into which all the amps and equipment were plugged, and all across the floor of the stage while we're all playing away. Cue panic from me mid song, trying to attract the sound guy's attention and that of the rest of the band, which was quickly focussed when one of the amps went 'bang', leading to a very rapid stage abandonment!

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Played a wedding in a marquee in the middle of a torrential rain storm once. Although there were duck boards down in the marquee the boards in our corner started to sink into a very large puddle... probably due to the combined weight of our gear. I was playing sax into a mic on a stand, so I wasn't directly touching anything electrical. The concensus was that we just carried on. Them were the days.

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Years ago when I played guitar, I had a Vox AC30 actually catch fire onstage at Knaresborough Working Mens Club.
Nobody apart from myself seemed unduly worried for some reason. Was impressed that it actually kept going though
whilst the fire took hold. Sold it for 'spares and repairs' for what I paid for it, despite some charred components!

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A few years ago I was playing keys in a band where the bass player plugged his 1x15 into the return socket on the amp. The other cab was connected correctly.. The 1x15 acted as a microphone, fedback and blew the cones in his 410 and well as the amp going pop.. It happened really fast ...

Edited by markstuk
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[quote name='Merton' timestamp='1498571870' post='3325603']
NYE 2013, doing a party on a Thames cruise boat. Our guitarists Marshall started smoking, then came the flames and then a big pop and it was dead. Fun times.
[/quote]

Isn't that what you call a blessing in disguise?

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[quote name='markstuk' timestamp='1498571567' post='3325601']
A few years ago I was playing keys in a band where the bass player plugged his 1x15 into the return socket on the amp. The other cab was connected correctly.. The 1x15 acted as a microphone, fedback and blew the cones in his 410 and well as the amp going pop.. It happened really fast ...
[/quote]

Another argument, as if you needed it, for using speakon connectors!

S.P.

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[quote name='Paulgm1' timestamp='1498514430' post='3325227']
I managed to put it out without stopping playing!
[/quote]

Nice one!

I once smelt burning halfway through a gig, and turned round to find the power extension reel smoking (all stage power was being run through that reel). We hadn't unwound it. I know now: always unwind the power reel!

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Had a Marshall MB 410 combo go up in smoke at a jam night in Saxmundham. Probably the most exciting thing that had happened there that year B)

In my record company days, I was at a Nazareth gig that we were filming - Garage, Glasgow I think. Someone had decided they didn't need to bother unreeling all the cable for the lights. Had to move all the audience away and the director had to choose some careful camera angles until it had been extinguished. Band didn't miss a beat!

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Not a fire but had a borrowed smoke machine stick on at a rehearsal. The idea was that it would give a quick blast as the curtains opened and we would be stood there with smoke gently moving around our ankles (a bit cheesy but was fun gig so fitted the silly atmosphere). Sadly the switch was dodgy and instead of a three second burst it just stuck on, by the time we had managed to unplug it the entire room was filled. We thought we had got away with it but about ten seconds later the alarm went off and 150 odd people had to evacuate the building. Luckily the boss of the place was very understanding once we explained what happened. Needless to say we didn't use it for the event.

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When playing the drums I once had to stop mid song to tell the singer his hair was smoking. A cigarette end thrown from someone in the audience had got stuck in it (in the days of smoking in pubs)

Mind you smelling burning during a gig is preferable to smelling burning during a flight - that wasn't a good experience :o

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