Let's face it...it sucks no matter what you do. Oh sure, one or two pedals is easy, but any more than that and it sucks.
First big problem is deciding which ones to bring. This weekend I'm flying and I'm doubling on rented upright, and our band is doing our own sets as well as backing up several artists from the early 60's over two nights. That means I'm locked into using wirelesses on each, so that's 4 boxes just in wirelesses. Fortunately, they're pedal sized, but then I have to bring a tuner, an AB switch, and an EQ for the upright at the very least, but I also have to have a couple kinds of distortion for some of our songs, and I like having speaker simulation in the PA for electric. I can probably use one larger pedal to knock out everything but EQing the upright and tuning, but that's now 7 boxes at the minimum (one being large), plus a power supply and a board of some sort (I bring a small scrap plywood board). And don't forget the cords.
And now I have to think how I want to tote them while being mindful of schlep issues, extra baggage charges, and static from TSA guards. Do I want to wrap them up individually with my shirts and pants and stick them in my suitcase? Do I want to assemble them on the board and carry them like a laptop? And oops...got to remember to put the spare batteries for the wirelesses inside effects or in my checked bag or else TSA freaks out. And speaking of checked bags, I can only check one for free and then it costs $25 for a second bag. Do I check a bigger suitcase with pedals that are easy pickings for thieves or do I check my bass in an SKB Bass Safe and gigbag and try to jam all my pedals and all my clothing for the gigs plus personal clothing for 3 days into a carry-on sized suitcase and a laptop bag? I usually check the bass when I fly as I hate carrying it in a gigbag around airports, but the suitcase I bring will either be too big to carry on or I'll have to wear the same clothes all weekend long to make a carry-on case work.
And this is just for the minimum amount of pedals I need. God forbid I'd want to bring anything else for fun. It's times like this I wish I liked digital multis. A small multi and my mini AB switch and I could have whatever effects I wanted. Of course, the tradeoffs are that I would only be one box down from the 7 I'm already bringing, and I'd have to deal with inferior tones and kludgy footswitching. Fortunately, the only effects I truly need are distortion-based, so I haven't had to resort to that. It's times like these that I feel bad for guitarists, since they generally use more effects. I don't think I could be a guitarist who flies and not resort to a multi.
Of course, not every gig is this pedal-intensive. A week and a half ago, I did a fly gig and all I needed was my SCR-DI, a clip-on tuner, and a couple cords. But when your fly gigs require more than that, it becomes pretty challenging to accommodate your gig needs, not spend any extra money on baggage charges, and not make your treks through the airports a giant PITA. I don't think it can be done.
First big problem is deciding which ones to bring. This weekend I'm flying and I'm doubling on rented upright, and our band is doing our own sets as well as backing up several artists from the early 60's over two nights. That means I'm locked into using wirelesses on each, so that's 4 boxes just in wirelesses. Fortunately, they're pedal sized, but then I have to bring a tuner, an AB switch, and an EQ for the upright at the very least, but I also have to have a couple kinds of distortion for some of our songs, and I like having speaker simulation in the PA for electric. I can probably use one larger pedal to knock out everything but EQing the upright and tuning, but that's now 7 boxes at the minimum (one being large), plus a power supply and a board of some sort (I bring a small scrap plywood board). And don't forget the cords.
And now I have to think how I want to tote them while being mindful of schlep issues, extra baggage charges, and static from TSA guards. Do I want to wrap them up individually with my shirts and pants and stick them in my suitcase? Do I want to assemble them on the board and carry them like a laptop? And oops...got to remember to put the spare batteries for the wirelesses inside effects or in my checked bag or else TSA freaks out. And speaking of checked bags, I can only check one for free and then it costs $25 for a second bag. Do I check a bigger suitcase with pedals that are easy pickings for thieves or do I check my bass in an SKB Bass Safe and gigbag and try to jam all my pedals and all my clothing for the gigs plus personal clothing for 3 days into a carry-on sized suitcase and a laptop bag? I usually check the bass when I fly as I hate carrying it in a gigbag around airports, but the suitcase I bring will either be too big to carry on or I'll have to wear the same clothes all weekend long to make a carry-on case work.
And this is just for the minimum amount of pedals I need. God forbid I'd want to bring anything else for fun. It's times like this I wish I liked digital multis. A small multi and my mini AB switch and I could have whatever effects I wanted. Of course, the tradeoffs are that I would only be one box down from the 7 I'm already bringing, and I'd have to deal with inferior tones and kludgy footswitching. Fortunately, the only effects I truly need are distortion-based, so I haven't had to resort to that. It's times like these that I feel bad for guitarists, since they generally use more effects. I don't think I could be a guitarist who flies and not resort to a multi.
Of course, not every gig is this pedal-intensive. A week and a half ago, I did a fly gig and all I needed was my SCR-DI, a clip-on tuner, and a couple cords. But when your fly gigs require more than that, it becomes pretty challenging to accommodate your gig needs, not spend any extra money on baggage charges, and not make your treks through the airports a giant PITA. I don't think it can be done.
