Anyone bring a spare MIXER to gigs?

rockdoc11 · #1 05-18-2009, 07:30 PM

Here's what I realized after a recent gig. We have lots of back-up and redundancy in my band's gear.

If a main speaker goes out, we still have the other, plus we can turn a monitor around.

If the mains power amp goes down, I keep a Crate Powerblock in my car. Plus I only use half of my bass rig's power amp, so there's back up there.

We have several monitors, so we could lose one with little problem.

We've got extra mics, so no problem.

We've got extra cords and cables of all sorts, so no problem.

The only critical gear we have for which there is absolutely no back up is . . . the mixer. I realized today that if the mixer crapped out, we'd be screwed.

I've got a little baby mini six channel mixer that I'm going to start throwing in the car now that I've scared myself!

Does anybody else approach my level of "gear crap-out" phobia?

bomofiglio · #2 05-18-2009, 08:04 PM

if you are playing a gig for drinks, or for a few hundred bucks, I dont see the need. But If you are serious, playing out as much as possible, and really have the need for your gigs to go super smooth no matter what, then the more gear the better

Steve · #3 05-18-2009, 08:11 PM

Not me. I'm from the school of buy good stuf, take care of it and it will take care of you.

The last time I broke a string was about 35 years ago. I've never fried and amp or blown a speaker...never had a battery die on me, never had a cord go bad...

Had a car blow a radiator hose on the way to a gig once...

You do have spare vehicle parts with you...don't you?

modulusman · #4 05-18-2009, 10:44 PM

I own 2 mixers and my band has 4. We always carry a back-up in the trailer. We have a gig 70 miles from home every Thursday during the summer where we leave the other 2 mixers along with one of our 3 PA rigs, bass amp, guitar amps, and a drum set. We carry spare EVERYTHING.

JimmyM · #5 05-19-2009, 12:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve

You do have spare vehicle parts with you...don't you?

I have a spare tire...or what passes for spare tires these days. Maybe a couple fuses.

The good thing about a mixer is that it's so rare that anything goes out to where you can't still use it. Maybe you'll lose a channel or a send or something, but it's rare that you can't work around it. I've seen mixers have problems, but it's rare I've seen the entire mixer go out. Maybe in the event of a catastrophic event like a direct lightning hit or a wiring mishap. But that's extremely rare.

Still, it doesn't hurt to carry a small backup just in case if you have room.

jtrow · #6 05-19-2009, 12:41 AM

We always carry a spare mixer with us, but we've never needed it. When we bought our new mixer we just kept the old one in the trailer, just in case.

JimmyM is right on about an entire mixing board going down, extremely rare.

Better safe than sorry.

GregShadoan · #7 05-19-2009, 06:36 AM

Most consoles I use have redundent power supplies, but probably not the same type of consoles you might be using.

adam precision · #8 05-19-2009, 06:49 AM

One of my bands uses active pa speakers, if the desk did go we can plug a mic straight in one and daisy chain to the other speakers.

**baba** · #9 05-20-2009, 03:01 PM

I'm always amazed at how much crap, spares and otherwise, people bring to gigs. No, I don't bring an extra mixer to gigs. Then again, I was never a boy scout.

georgestrings · #10 05-20-2009, 06:56 PM

Yeah, my main mixer is a Soundcraft fx16, but I also take an F1 16.2 along, "just in case"... I know people say it's rare for a whole mixer to go down, but most Soundcraft mixers use external power supplies, so if that bit the dust the mixer is done, too...

- georgestrings

Zooberwerx · #11 05-20-2009, 07:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jtrow

JimmyM is right on about an entire mixing board going down, extremely rare.

We use a Behringer 2442. Be afraid...be very afraid! We use an old Yorkville powered PA mixer for our monitors. In a pinch, we could tap that console and limp thru the night.

I don't take credit for this but "two is one, and one is none."

rcarraher · #12 05-20-2009, 07:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rockdoc11

Here's what I realized after a recent gig. We have lots of back-up and redundancy in my band's gear.

If a main speaker goes out, we still have the other, plus we can turn a monitor around.

If the mains power amp goes down, I keep a Crate Powerblock in my car. Plus I only use half of my bass rig's power amp, so there's back up there.

We have several monitors, so we could lose one with little problem.

We've got extra mics, so no problem.

We've got extra cords and cables of all sorts, so no problem.

The only critical gear we have for which there is absolutely no back up is . . . the mixer. I realized today that if the mixer crapped out, we'd be screwed.

I've got a little baby mini six channel mixer that I'm going to start throwing in the car now that I've scared myself!

Does anybody else approach my level of "gear crap-out" phobia?

My idea of a spare mixer is a swizzle stick and a small bottle of 7UP

liltommyg · #13 05-21-2009, 12:20 PM

I carry a soundcraft Gigrac in my car just in case - have never had to use it as a spare but do use it all the time at rehersals and when we play as a three piece ( guess who's missing that we can come down to the soundcraft vol's ...... yep the lead player)

dcr · #14 05-22-2009, 09:50 PM

I use a Mackie 1604 in my FOH rig...but there's a Mackie 24-4 in the trailer.

dcr

Zooberwerx · #15 05-23-2009, 08:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dcr

I use a Mackie 1604 in my FOH rig...but there's a Mackie 24-4 in the trailer.

dcr

After hearing about your latest "wildlife altercation", I wouldn't be surprised if you had 120 lbs of venison and a full antler rack in the trailer.

Riis

dcr · #16 05-23-2009, 08:15 AM

It could happen. I also carry a BIG flashlight and a .45 with me too........

dcr

Bassistman · #17 05-29-2009, 04:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dcr

It could happen. I also carry a BIG flashlight and a .45 with me too........

dcr

I too have spare....change. Wasn't there a song that went.....BACK THAT AMP UP or something like that?
I always carry a back up rig and back up board for pa as well as a back up amp and B/U speakers & cords, but If you do not have the room or a trailer to do so then it's understandable. I was on a multi-band gig not long ago and the main mixer just shut down for no reason, so I went to my trailer and took mine out and was a hero that night. So you never know what might happen, but it's very good for us BASSists to be heros.

jazzbass_5 · #18 05-29-2009, 04:55 PM

I live in Northern NY State and it's colder than a witch's....Well you know. Anyway, we had a gig a few months back and it was 15 below for a few days before hand. We unloaded and set the amp rack up and when we opened the rack the amps instantly started to FROST UP! (the equipment is stored in our trailer, outside). We got a fan on it for about 45 minutes but had to start our sound check, as soon as we fired up the rack the sub amp, a Peavey GSP3500, and 2X18s went POP!!! Yeah, we carry xtra stuff, (we had 2 backup 15" subs and a few xtra amps) It's almost a phobia not having backup stuff.