Taking a back-up desk (and other kit) to gigs

[Al Krow]

What do folk do in terms of having back up provision at gigs?

 

I'm guessing very few of us will take spare PA speakers to gigs on the basis that worst case you could probably manage with one and, besides, not sure how many of us have spare PA speakers knocking around or the space in our vehicles to transport them?

 

What about mixing desks? Do many of the bands we're in have spare desks and do you religiously take one along in case your desk doesn't work at the gig? Or are you happy to rely on testing them before you head onto the road? What's our collective experience in terms of desks going on a gig night?

[Chienmortbb]

I used to take either a small analogue desk or one of my digital desks with my main gigging band but the singer and control freak that owns the sad little PA has a spare now so I don’t bother. However if one of his broke, I would start taking a backup to the next gig. 

[Jack]

My rule has always been that if it's necessary it has a spare. I take a spare bass, but I don't take a spare strap (I'll sit) a spare wireless (I'll use a cable) or mic (I'm not the lead singer) etc etc. 

 

In backline bands we never bothered with a spare mixer. Even though we always ran super quiet on stage and used mics/di there's nothing stopping you from going old school. We'd just turn the amps up and run the lead vocalist straight into the speakers. 

 

My last band was all iem and no stage amps so we did take a spare as without a mixer we essentially couldn't play. Thankfully I owned a mixer and so did a guitarist. 

 

Although all this is theoretical as I've never had a mixer fail on me. Fingers crossed! 

Edited December 7 by Jack

[Phil Starr]

It depends upon the gig a little, I'm definitely more relaxed about pub gigs and those close to home. I generally carry spares for everything and our PA has some redundancy built in, we use the same speakers for monitors as we do for FOH in one of my bands. We carry a little four channel mixer as backup most of the time but I've stopped worrying about mixers going down, it's just never happened. I do have a backup iPad with the mixing software loaded up and I could also use my phone at a pinch to run the mixer.

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

In 50 plus years of gigging the only spare pieces of kit I've ever used were cables and strings.

[Al Krow]

19 hours ago, Bill Fitzmaurice said:

In 50 plus years of gigging the only spare pieces of kit I've ever used were cables and strings.

 

Have you ever had a piece of kit fail on you in that time Bill?

 

[Happy Jack]

@Silvia Bluejay and I are in a good place for this, since we have a dedicated gigging vehicle - not a van but a large MPV (2007 reg) with the third row of seats tossed in a skip and the second/main passenger seats reversed to give the biggest possible load area. This means that the driver's seat and the passengers seats are back-to back but there's actually a permanent gap of just under 2' between them, tapering as you go higher.

 

I have three old hard cases originally built for pro camera gear and which I sourced cheaply on eBay, and they fit in a row across this gap on the floor. They contain a full set of spares for almost every contingency (mixer, instrument leads, mic leads, speaker cables, power supplies, tool kit, etc.) and are pretty much never touched, let alone used, but the beauty is that they live permanently in the car and we never need to think about them.

 

They also provide a perfect base on which to lay all the mic stands & speakers stands that we do use at gigs.

 

 

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

Quote

Have you ever had a piece of kit fail on you in that time Bill?

 

Not one, other than cables and very rarely a string. When I was touring I had a spare amp, but never had to use it.

Edited December 8 by Bill Fitzmaurice

[Al Krow]

2 hours ago, Happy Jack said:

@Silvia Bluejay and I are in a good place for this, since we have a dedicated gigging vehicle - not a van but a large MPV (2007 reg) with the third row of seats tossed in a skip and the second/main passenger seats reversed to give the biggest possible load area. This means that the driver's seat and the passengers seats are back-to back but there's actually a permanent gap of just under 2' between them, tapering as you go higher.

 

I have three old hard cases originally built for pro camera gear and which I sourced cheaply on eBay, and they fit in a row across this gap on the floor. They contain a full set of spares for almost every contingency (mixer, instrument leads, mic leads, speaker cables, power supplies, tool kit, etc.) and are pretty much never touched, let alone used, but the beauty is that they live permanently in the car and we never need to think about them.

 

They also provide a perfect base on which to lay all the mic stands & speakers stands that we do use at gigs.

 

Cheers Jack - I guess you've had decades of gigging experience too. Have you had any experience of PA kit and particularly desks failing during that time?

[Happy Jack]

Yes, a cheap power amp once died in a shower of sparks at a country & western gig.

 

Never had a mixer "fail" as such, but I have had to fall back on the emergency spare when the router on our XR18 just wouldn't re-connect. It was still working and the band could play, but without remote control from a tablet it was more trouble than it was worth.

 

All that said, I've had enough issues with small mixers over the years (Alesis, Citronic, Yamaha, etc - all the usual suspects) that I would never gig with one unless I had a spare readily available. 

 

My most common issue is the outputs getting fried for some reason.

[Woodinblack]

I just take the mixer, never had a problem with it, so I doubt I would. I guess if something went wrong we could cobble something together, but never been an issue,

[Al Krow]

That's really helpful, thank @Happy Jack, so sounds like plenty of instances where a desk has had issues.

 

We've never had an issue with our A&H desks over the years, or more recently with the Soundcraft MTK12. I did once get a cheaper Zoom L8 desk (my first short-lived foray into digital desks!) get knocked out during soundcheck by a power surge at the venue. Seemed to reset itself after about 30 mins, but was a bit of a shock to the system!

 

(pun intended 😄)

[Mottlefeeder]

The BL provides a Yamaha mixer/amp and PA speakers, but we often busk using event-supplied generators. 

I carry a mixer which can be battery powered, and a battery powered rig so we can continue with my mixer & amp & his speakers if the power fails (typically the generator runs out of fuel).

David

[Dan Dare]

I carry spare cables, mics and similar, but have never taken out a spare desk (and never needed one). I do take out a power conditioner for the PA in case of spikes/dirt on the mains, but whether it does anything is debatable. I suspect it's just a comfort blanket for me.

[SimonK]

On 07/12/2024 at 15:41, Bill Fitzmaurice said:

In 50 plus years of gigging the only spare pieces of kit I've ever used were cables and strings.

 

Only 30 years gigging for me but pretty similar. Thus said I've had a pint poured into a mixing desk, speakers knocked over, amps just stopping working, fuses going, a generator running out of petrol (really embarrassing miscommunication), and on one memorable occasion an extension lead melting... for me cost has been the main barrier to bringing/buying spares of things, followed by room in the van/car.