Mostly smoke particles are attracted to high tension supplies, so a
television for example, attracts a lot of smoke into itself. While this is
unsightly, and rather smelly, it doesn't adversely affect the components
themselves. The issues to watch for are the muck getting into the pots,
clogging heat sinks and vents, and forming potential leakage paths between
components.
If you have access to an air compressor, it helps to blow the equipment out
every so often.
Ken
>I've been playing in some really smoky bars lately and I'm getting
>concerned about what the smoke is may be to the electronics in my gear
>(I see no effects as of yet). I'm not a gigging veteran - I have played
>mostly in church up to now (where smoke is not a problem, as the
>building we rent is "smoke free".) I've seen the effects of cigarette
>smoke when we bought our house and cleaned several years worth of brown
>nicotine off the walls - I was surpised by how nasty and gooey the stuff
>was. So I guess what I'm asking is: how harmful is cigarette smoke to
>electronic gear, and what do people do to protect their gear? FYI, I'm
>playing a jazz bass through an Ampeg BA115 (solid state amp), and a
>Yamaha Motif and P200 through a little Behringer mixer and into a Peavey
>powered mixer/PA system (monitoring through a little Roland personal
>powered monitor). My partner is playing an acoustic guitar straight
>into the PA - and we use dynamic mics. I know some of you "old guys"
>used to play out a lot, back in the days when smoking was not
>politically incorrect, and so I'm guessing you have some experience with
>this. If I can deal with this issue, then all I have to do is figure
>out how to keep people from spilling beer on the keyboard - some girl
>came within about 3 inches last night and didn't even notice it - doh!
>
>Apologies for the slightly OT nature of this post - though obviously it
>may be very relevant for those who gig their MOTMs. I wonder how some
>TD covers would go over in the Irish Pub... :)
>
>Thanks,
>Larry
_______________________________________________________________________
Ken Stone
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