Do you store your gear...

[flyfisher]

Indeed . . . or boiling kettles, or cooking, or running baths/showers, etc, etc.

[rogerstodge]

I keep my cabs in a plastic garden storage box with a padlock. (you know the thing i mean, with the lift up lid and 2 outward opening doors on the front). Been stored like that for 20 odd years, not had any problems with em, maybe thats why they sound crap?

[TimR]

It has very little to do with cold surfaces. Warm air holds more moisture. As the warm air cools, the water literally 'falls' out of the air and lands on anything, regardless of it's temperature. Cold surfaces will make the air cold which is why you get condensation on your beer can. Anything kept outside will get damp regardless of its temperature to start with.

Strangely it's more a problem in the summer when the temperature drops in the evening and not such a problem in the winter when the ambient humidity doesn't change much. Try playing a tuba at a summer evening concert!

Leave a cardboard box with some nails in it out in your garage and see the state it and the nails gets into, then think of your cones and amplifier.

Taking a cold object into a warm room will make the air around the metal cold and water will condense out of the air onto the metal. That shouldn't be a problem as pretty soon the water will evaporate as the metal becomes the same temperature as the room. The converse shouldn't be a problem either, taking a warm object out into the cold as nothing will condense anywhere. The big problem is the damp getting into capacitors. They go bang!

Houses tend to stay damp free because they stay above 12'C which is around the dew point at sea level, or the point that the water tends to fall out of the air.

Edited November 1, 2012 by TimR

[BottomE]

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1351757127' post='1854909']
When I had a Marshall 412 I kept it in the boot of my car. I figured, at 50kg, even if someone broke into the car, unless they had a vehicle, they wouldn`t be able to steal it as it was too big/heavy.
[/quote]
When my car was broken into a few years back they nicked everything except the cab

In answer to your post I'd be delighted if some of the band would carry my gear about for me. If you can crank it up at home you might miss it - if not let your mate do it.

[KingBollock]

Our garage is quite large, with a footprint that could hold two estate cars. It's just breeze block wall, covered in pebble-dashing, and corrugated zinc roof. Over the winter it gets incredibly wet in there, not just damp, everything in there gets sopping wet. Go in there at night and look up and you can see huge drops of water hanging from the ceiling. There's a lot of stuff stored in boxes (so much stuff that we don't park the car in there because there isn't room) and we've had to cover everything in tarpaulins to keep it dry. I have no idea where it all comes from. One thing, though, is that it doesn't freeze, even though there's no heating (or lighting or electricity supply of any kind) in there. I wouldn't want to leave any gear in there.

Edited November 1, 2012 by KingBollock

[Musicman20]

Personally, I wouldn't do it. I understand the issue with the cab, but I've tried that cab myself and its a total powerhouse considering its size and weight. I'd stick with the NY122 and get a good cover, and a decent £25.00 trolley off Amazon, (I've moved house with a trolley three times, and I've put EVERYTHING on it...it has a vertical floor, not a tilt one) and its still going strong. One 50lb or so cab won't even make it flinch.

Edited November 2, 2012 by Musicman20

[KingBollock]

My first proper cab was a 60s Marshall 4x12 that, my little 13 year old self could only lift about 6 inches off the floor. I "acquired" a heavy duty stock trolley from the local Co-op that was flat and only about 6 inches high, and had incredibly squeaky wheels. Every week, for band rehearsals, which, fortunately, were held in a youth club about 100 yards from our house, I would roll the cab, end over end, out of my bedroom, down the stairs, through the house and into the back garden where I kept the trolley. Then I would wheel it, wheels protesting at ear splitting volume, up to the youth club. Then do it all in reverse once rehearsals were over.

[Floyd]

My amps live in the living room and my guitars are always on stands or on the wall. If they are out I play most days, if they were hidden away I don't think I would.

[lojo]

Whenever I've brought new cabs they always are wrapped in plastic within thier boxes

Who knows where they are stored when they are shipped

But the plastic should keep out damp air, cold in itself I can't see doing any damage ?

My concern in the outhouse situation would be not the damp as that can be protected from, but what else is in there and who else uses it, is someone gonna lob a load of tools on it or the like,

Edited November 3, 2012 by lojo

[dmccombe7]

[quote name='KingBollock' timestamp='1351808199' post='1855800']
Our garage is quite large, with a footprint that could hold two estate cars. It's just breeze block wall, covered in pebble-dashing, and corrugated zinc roof. Over the winter it gets incredibly wet in there, not just damp, everything in there gets sopping wet. Go in there at night and look up and you can see huge drops of water hanging from the ceiling. There's a lot of stuff stored in boxes (so much stuff that we don't park the car in there because there isn't room) and we've had to cover everything in tarpaulins to keep it dry. I have no idea where it all comes from. One thing, though, is that it doesn't freeze, even though there's no heating (or lighting or electricity supply of any kind) in there. I wouldn't want to leave any gear in there.
[/quote]
Metal roofed garages are notorious for dropping out moisture droplets because of the differance in temp between outside surface and inside. Think of double glazing. You tend not to get condensation on 2 skinned surface with even a minimal air gap. Single glazing will condensate very quickly in comparison. You could install a lowered ceiling and even insulate which would help.

Dave

[dmccombe7]

I know many pa hire companies leave their gear in vans rather than unload / load every time they are used.
Some larger PA's are stored in warehouses although they may have a background heater.
My garage has our oil fired boiler in it so always get some heat in garage even when we had -22 C 2 yrs ago the garage still seemed warm.

Dave

[Westie9]

I'd be asking myself, can I afford to replace it if it gets pinched? Us fussy bass players here - nobody looks after our gear the way we would like them too...

It's already been suggested, but yes, get yourself a sack truck and use it for as much as the ferrying about as possible. I had a Mesaboogie 410 and the last thing i wanted to do was carry it up the stairs after a gig....