Stage Power Distro

[jswingchun]

We played a show this weekend with sound provided by a local sound company. He had what I thought was a clever idea.

He took a bunch of plastic outlet boxes and installed speakon connectors on either end of the box. Each box had a standard two plug grounded outlet installed. He then could connect to the wall power and daisy chain from one box to the next with six or eight foot lengths of cable to have power outlets available for connecting backline amps without using power strips. This was pretty handy since it was a six band show with a full changeover between each band. I didn't take any pics because I was busy, but I thought it was a good idea and I would share it here.

[LelandCrooks]

Good idea.

I have 3 50ft 12ga white cords designed for use on a construction site. there are 6 4 ft drops to a single outlet, the entire cord has a 20a breaker built in. They've been discontinued, I bought these for next to nothing.

His idea is slicker,though.

[Scott Brochu]

That is good. I am considering buying a 100' 12g extension cord and cutting it hear and there and putting in outdoor plastic boxes.
Same idea but mine would stay together. I like his idea better also.

I just am getting sick of the rainbow of colored cords all about the back line. Time to clean house

[Monomer]

Neutrik make a plug just for that purpose, it's the Powercon line of jacks/plugs

last thing you want is 120v 60Hz signal running into a cab.

[DaveK]

I looked at making the same thing, but it cost more than buying a ready-made multi-drop power cable. Check the power cord section of your local big-box store for 25 foot 12 gauge cords with outlets every 8 feet.

(However, if you really want to use Speakon power connectors, that will be a custom build. I'd just stick with Edisons for chaining the 25 foot cables.)

[Bobby Slaton]

The important things to remember here are SO cable & BLACK, BLACK, BLACK. To me nothing says amateur more than orange, yellow, blue etc. cables on a stage.

[mloretitsch]

'Round these parts...We tend to make up standard quad boxes with short 6" or so pigtails with a male on one side and a female on the other. Standard extension cords can be used to interconnect them all for backline gear plus you can drop multiple quad boxes in a row if you need lots of plugs in one area. We use cord grips instead of the cheap cord clamps, but both seem to work equally well. The grips just look nicer. Metal quad box with a metal lid that holds the outlets.

I like standard plugs better since bands can plug their own power strips into the end pigtail or I can use off the shelf stuff if I need to.

+1 for SO cord..no SJ, SO only. BLACK 12/3.

On a random search I came across these and they look sorta nice, but I bet they are pricey!
http://www.lexproducts.com/cs/entertain ... tLineId=21

[Mark Coward]

He took a bunch of plastic outlet boxes and installed speakon connectors on either end of the box. Each box had a standard two plug grounded outlet installed. He then could connect to the wall power and daisy chain from one box to the next with six or eight foot lengths of cable to have power outlets available for connecting backline amps without using power strips. This was pretty handy since it was a six band show with a full changeover between each band. I didn't take any pics because I was busy, but I thought it was a good idea and I would share it here.

Those aren't Speakon connectors, or at least shouldn't be. Most likely they are Powercons, which is the AC version. Some links to versions of the "Poor Man's Distro":

http://srforums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/m/197232/0/
http://www.padrick.net/LiveSound/BarDis ... Distro.htm
http://www.padrick.net/LiveSound/ACcables/ACcables.htm

[gdougherty]

'Round these parts...We tend to make up standard quad boxes with short 6" or so pigtails with a male on one side and a female on the other. Standard extension cords can be used to interconnect them all for backline gear plus you can drop multiple quad boxes in a row if you need lots of plugs in one area. We use cord grips instead of the cheap cord clamps, but both seem to work equally well. The grips just look nicer. Metal quad box with a metal lid that holds the outlets.

I like standard plugs better since bands can plug their own power strips into the end pigtail or I can use off the shelf stuff if I need to.

+1 for SO cord..no SJ, SO only. BLACK 12/3.

On a random search I came across these and they look sorta nice, but I bet they are pricey!
http://www.lexproducts.com/cs/entertain ... tLineId=21

Those are pricey. I have a 50ft cable with quad boxes like yours every 15ft or so, 4 boxes on the line. I like the idea of having it in sections, except for the opportunity for plugs to come undone, plus the cost of putting on that many quality connectors. I've been meaning to pickup some powercons to see if I could retrofit them with those and make it completely modular with two or three different cord lengths for different stages. The nice thing about the all-in-one is I can tell anyone to just run the cable around the stage and set boxes near where power will be needed.

[jswingchun]

Those aren't Speakon connectors, or at least shouldn't be. Most likely they are Powercons, which is the AC version. Some links to versions of the "Poor Man's Distro":

http://srforums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/m/197232/0/
http://www.padrick.net/LiveSound/BarDis ... Distro.htm
http://www.padrick.net/LiveSound/ACcables/ACcables.htm

Never heard of powercons, glad I posted and learned that. That last link is pretty much what the guy I saw had, except his were regular plastic outlet boxes with two connectors each. The one on that link is pretty cool, using modified power strips.