Rig Soaked

[godofthunder]

 At last Saturdays outdoor gig we go soaked big time. The sound stage is a pretty pro set up by Audio Images, top and back cover but no side cover. Scattered Thunderstoms predicted, 30% chance.  long story short we got hit by very high winds 50-60 mph maybe stronger and rain, the rain was going side ways of course coming in on my side of the stage. My rig, basses and pedals got soaked even under tarps, I am still kicking myself for not putting the basses in their cases. We were watching storms to the NE and this came up from the SW, the wind came up just like that, no warning. It could have been much worse.  I have three pedals that are not functioning I have them opened up and in a container of rice, they were wet inside. I hope drying them out helps but if not I can take them to Whirlwind to be fixed, Thanks to my brother inlaw Michael the founder of Whirlwind. I had my Hiwatt DR201 and Sound City 200plus on stage The tarps kept most of the water out but I am sure not all, they are drying out at the moment. I am petrified to fire them up. Should I pull the tubes from the sockets to make sure they dry out? Any advice would be welcome.

[patman]

Had that happen to an Acoustic cabinet maybe 30 years ago (maybe more)...the tolex was applied with a water soluble glue, and it all peeled off...

[Highlander]

Spilt a pint in mine once - blew the fuse - dried her out, did a megger check and ran her up (from the other side of the room)...

Get a professional insulation check done Scott - we go through this life just the once...

[Psycho Bass Guy]

Pull the tubes, dissassemble them, and put the amps and head cabinets separately in front of box fans on high for a day in a position where any liquid will drain out. If nothing arced or smoked this should be all you need to do.

[godofthunder]

 Thanks! Nothing arched or smoked, power was killed early. On a brighter note one of my pedals came back to life after sitting in rice all day. I'll check the other pedals tomorrow.

[dadagoboi]

Hair dryer works better on the pedals than rice.  Low temp.

[lowend1]

 
Good thing you don't have any a-them Fender amps with the components mounted on cardboard, Masonite - or whatever they used).

[Freuds_Cat]

Good thing you don't have any a-them Fender amps with the components mounted on cardboard, Masonite - or whatever they used).

Heh yep I remember that floor tile kind of vinyl stuff they used and the more cardboardish (grey/blue) board. Musta been cost effective I guess  

Hope its all good for you Scott. I've only had my gear get wet like that once and I just took the tops of the rack components and pulled the tubes and used 2 normal house fans to blow on the gear for about 2 days. I was still too scared to put it back to gether for another couple of days but fired it all up on the 5 day which was the day before my next gig. Had no problems luckily.

[Psycho Bass Guy]

If you get to them quick enough with low-temp air, it's not a big deal, but I've seen them ruined by people trying to dry them out with heat guns and hair dryers by scorching the boards which makes them carbonized and hence, conductive.

[godofthunder]

 My Ibanez bass Tube Screamer came back to life just fine. My two Whirwind pedals (tuner and The Bomb) Had to go in for repair. My Electro Harmonix micro POG was un affected. Both amps are still drying out, I'll wait till Friday to fire them up.

[Lightyear]

Back in 1980 we had a major flood down here and a buddy of mine lost all kinds of stuff under 8 feet of water.  It was amazing to see most of it come back to life with some minor disassembly, lot of time in the sun to dry out and some tuner cleaner.  His Marshall cab even worked - looked like caca though

[Freuds_Cat]

- looked like caca though

is that a technical description? 

[Psycho Bass Guy]

is that a technical description? 

ABSOLUTELY! And you can trust me on that because I'm an engineer.