Sound Fading In and Out / Overheating ER?

[vkaxeman]

Last Saturday our band had an outdoor gig and the sun was pounding the ER for about 4 hours before our band took the stage. Mine is in an SKB 6 rack space portable rack. A couple of hours before we went on, I covered the rack/ER up with a black sheet after touching the ER chassis and noticing it was hot enough to cook eggs. We took the stage around 9 pm and at this point the sun was down and it was dark. While playing several times my guitar sound starting fading out and getting thin and then would come back again. Wondering if I fried my ER, literally? Anyone else play outside and subject their ER to Sun pounding and have any problems?

[zedhed]

Was the 11R switched on for any amount of time during the 4 hours in the sun before you used it?

Not sure if it's been fried, but next time you might want to try a white sheet instead of a black one or better still somehow provide shade with air circulation. No electronic gear is going to like being directly exposed to sunlight for any amount of time.

[Hotcrazyfruit]

Sound fading... hmmm could be a tube problem? Maybe it needs Biasing

Seriously though Why did you put a cover over it if it was getting hot?

Nick

[vkaxeman]

The ER was on while we were doing our soundcheck in the blazing sun. After our soundcheck while the opening act was setting up is when I noticed the chassis was extremely hot. Surprised the knobs or Screen did not melt or get screwed up. Unfortunately, Black Sheets were all that was available to cover amps and drums, etc for our equipment since we were the headlining act. I used what was available to try and block the sun as much as possible from my rack with the ER in it. I powered the ER off after I covered the rack with the black sheet. I also covered my Ground Control Pro with a black sheet and it seemed to fair OK. Doing extensive testing now on the ER and so far it is not doing it anymore? Weird!

For Chris or any other Digi Techs: are these ER's made to withstand Sun scorch heat at outdoor gigs? Or do they need to be put in racks with fans, moved offstage in shade, etc?