I'm going on tour..

[TomKent]

Hello Chaps!

Been a long time since I've posted but, it's been a hugely busy year.

Anyway, to the purpose of this post:

In a month or so, I'm jetting off on tour with an artist called Maxim (piano/electro/dnb stuff). This is the first time I've had to deal with some logistics within a tour, usually the management organise all the flight cases (well they have on previous tours) - so I've decided it's probably best to sort it all out myself.

[b]First thing:[/b] I've got a 5-string Jazz bass, currently living its life in a Mono case, however there's a huge chance it'll have to go as hold luggage (as we're flying to South Korea & China/Hong Kong), [i]unless someone can advise me on how to get in as carry on guaranteed?[/i] Anyway, what's the best hard case that's affordable and extremely durable?

[b]Secondly:[/b] My pedals - this is the first tour I'll be using ANY pedals on. Can I just use a basic adaptor and get my transformer to do all the work, or do I need to buy a specific transformer for each country?

Any other tips etc would be massively handy, all my previous tours have generally involved tour buses from the UK and almost zero planes.

Thanks in advance!

[BigRedX]

1. No matter what anyone tells you, including the airline, there is no way of [i][b]guaranteeing[/b][/i] that you will be able to take your bass as carry-on luggage. Get a decent flight case for it. A Hiscox LiteFlight would be the minimum I'd consider.

2. Pedals, if the mains supplies are the same as Europe (230V, 50Hz) then all you should need to do is hard wire the relevant plug for the local sockets to the end of your mains distribution. Don't use an adaptor as it's one more thing that could fail.

For 110V you should be able to get away with a step up transformer. However the thing to watch is 60Hz supplies as they can cause havoc with some digital units. I had a digital delay that had been converted from 110V to 240V but because it was expecting 60Hz rather than 50Hz the delay time display was always wrong by 20%. I'd check with the manufacturer of each pedal to be safe.

Edit: Looking at Wikipedia, China and Hong Kong are both 220V 50Hz, and South Korea is 220V 60Hz. If all your pedals run off PSUs supplying DC voltage you should be OK. For any that are directly mains supplied or which have PSUs outputting AC you should check with the pedal manufacturer.

Edited July 31, 2014 by BigRedX

[blue]

[quote name='TomKent' timestamp='1406841369' post='2515304']
Hello Chaps!

Been a long time since I've posted but, it's been a hugely busy year.

Anyway, to the purpose of this post:

In a month or so, I'm jetting off on tour with an artist called Maxim (piano/electro/dnb stuff). This is the first time I've had to deal with some logistics within a tour, usually the management organise all the flight cases (well they have on previous tours) - so I've decided it's probably best to sort it all out myself.

[b]First thing:[/b] I've got a 5-string Jazz bass, currently living its life in a Mono case, however there's a huge chance it'll have to go as hold luggage (as we're flying to South Korea & China/Hong Kong), [i]unless someone can advise me on how to get in as carry on guaranteed?[/i] Anyway, what's the best hard case that's affordable and extremely durable?

[b]Secondly:[/b] My pedals - this is the first tour I'll be using ANY pedals on. Can I just use a basic adaptor and get my transformer to do all the work, or do I need to buy a specific transformer for each country?

Any other tips etc would be massively handy, all my previous tours have generally involved tour buses from the UK and almost zero planes.

Thanks in advance!
[/quote]

For your pedals i would get the transformer from Voodoo Lab with a 3 pronger.

Blue

I wish I was going on tour. At 60 years old,these 4 hour bar gigs are killing me

[discreet]

Another vote for the Hiscox Liteflite here.

[Jimryan]

I've just returned from a tour in that area and will be heading back out in a few months.

As for case and flights, I took a bass-safe. Mainly for the convenience of leaving the case at hotels and using a gigbag in-between. Not one flight would allow my bass as hand luggage. In the case this was understandable, but on the way home the airline told us one policy regarding checked instruments and went back on it at check in. Even in just a gig bag they refused it as hand luggage. The bass-safe, even with my doubts, did it's job. Problem with mine is that the latches don't stay closed, so I relied on duct-tape for the flights. SKB are looking into a solution for me though.

As for pedal power, I found a travel adapter worked fine. No need for a transformer at all. A lot of the nicer venues out there have extension leads that will take any type of plug (including a uk one).

Hope this helps

[Cosmo Valdemar]

[quote name='TomKent' timestamp='1406841369' post='2515304']
[b]First thing:[/b] I've got a 5-string Jazz bass, currently living its life in a Mono case, however there's a huge chance it'll have to go as hold luggage (as we're flying to South Korea & China/Hong Kong), [i]unless someone can advise me on how to get in as carry on guaranteed?[/i] [/quote]

Steve Howe used to buy an extra ticket so his guitar could sit next to him.

[paul_5]

TAPE THE CATCHES DOWN ON YOUR FLIGHT CASES!!!!

[TomKent]

[quote name='Cosmo Valdemar' timestamp='1406895755' post='2515686']
Steve Howe used to buy an extra ticket so his guitar could sit next to him.
[/quote]

Not sure how the management would take this, haha.

[JTUK]

Buy/hire a proper flight case.... as long as you travel, you'll need one
as bags are for self loads into cars only.

[EBS_freak]

Tom - http://www.skbcases.com/music/products/proddetail.php?f=&id=13&o=&offset=&c=84&s=75

Hiscox - I am a fan but not for flights necessarily. Ive known somebody lose a headstock whilst in a Hiscox.

Pedalwise, what you running? All 9v?

[EBS_freak]

Worth also stating duck tape around the case and the latches. I've also used cable ties. Also put tape and cable ties in checked baggage as opposed to carry on to avoid problems with the authorities. They don't seem to like that kind of stuff as carry on. :-p

Ps don't always think flight cases are the end all. Great when in bulk but I've had a full on flight case pierced and whatever pierced it narrowly missed the bass neck.

Oh and flight cases are so heavy if you are responsible for carrying them. At least with bass safe you can use a gig bag when you need.

What I would say, get a 5 strong Squier jazz so you don't have to worry. I know a good few players that now do this. At least you won't be heartbroken when the airport monkeys lose or destroy your bass.

Enjoy your trip!

[jazzyvee]

I got my flight cases made at flight case warehouse.
Also take the batteries out if you are travelling with an active bass. I travelled with an active guitar to the states and even though I paid to have the guitar case checked, scanned and wrapped so that it would not need to be opened during transit, it still got the wrap cut off, opened , the back taken off the guitar and a us customs tag inside to say it was opened. And no they didn't re-wrap the case either so money for nothing.