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Has anyone's band played in a parade on a float?

mrpackerguy

mrpackerguy

Gold Supporting Member
Jul 3, 2004
4,694
3,192
Madison, Wisconsin
www.whozplaying.com
#1
If so, how'd you do it power-wise & equipment-wise? We have an opportunity, but we're worried about using a generator as one of the guys feels instruments and keyboards don't play well with generator power.

I have one prior experience with a generator at a city festival - everytime the ferris wheel started up, our sound cut out completely! No joke!
 
#6
if you and your band folks all use low wattage solid state amps, the generator will be fine.
I do the generator thing all the time at a lot of city sponsored events where there is no direct line to power, or there are too many people to run extension cords everywhere.

I use a small 1200 watt generator that has worked fine for several years now. I run a roland KC350, a Fender Blues Jr., 2 JBL EON 10 speakers, and a couple of flood lights, and never have a problem.
 
#7
Does a marching band count?

If you use a gennie try and find a good quality one. I install these things in vehicles and some of the cheaper gennies and inverters have the ugliest waves ever seen on an oscilloscope! Looks like a square wave with a chunk bitten out of the top corner...
 
#9
rent a stable/quiet Generator. it will work fine as long as you get a medium model. 6500W will assure you plenty of power. make sure you govern it to between 110 and 120 Volts Try to find a friend with a Voltage meter. You are risking ur equipment and some gear might auto shut down if the voltage drops below 100V (I am assuming you are powering a few speakers -dual 15's perhaps with one or two power amps for mains and monitors plus a few guitar amps and bass . maybe a mixer and some effects)and dont forget to buy extra gas and have someone on the float to refill it if its a long parade. -we ran out the last 1/2 mile.
 
#13
I played on a float last year where we used some sort of inverter that was hooked up to the batterie of the truck that pulled the trailer. We were using a powered PA head running 2 peavey sp-2s. No amps, bass an guitarf were plugged into the mixer.
 
#14
Yes, and it was one of the most frightening experiences of my life. Several years ago my country band played a local July 4th parade. We loaded everyone and a PA on to a flat-bed trailer. Just loading it scared me. The trailer bed was convex to begin with (I guess to compensate for heavy loads) and I felt like everyone was going to roll off one end or another. We had to duct tape the heck out of the PA tops to keep them in place. I ended up sitting on the top of my amp. This was all powered by a generator that was put on a lift-gate on the back end of the trailer. Just as we were pulling away from the sponsoring restaurant, the generator died. It took another ten minutes to get it started again. That made us late for the parade line-up. The driver figure the best way to make the start time was to, and I kid you not, take the freeway south for two exits. I was nearly soiling myself sitting on top of my amp (just a Walkabout 15 combo) clutching my bass in one hand, my hat in the other, and my feet anchoring a PA top that didn't stick too well despite the copiuos amounts of duct tape as the truck and trailer began to move down the street. Then, the truck turns and proceeds over the freeway on an overpass. I already feel like I am way too far off the ground for safety. Then I look over the side and see we just added another fifteen feet between me and a very busy roadway. And, yes, I am afraid of heights. Then the driver enters highway 680. I was freaking out! Now we are going over 50 miles per hour for about a mile. The last thing I remember saying to myself before my brain went into circuit overload was, "Boy, I hope there are no police around to see this!" Just as I finished thinking it, a CHP motorcycle officer rolls up next to us and gives us one of those "now I've seen everything" looks. He "escorted" us to the offramp. The parade itself, which we barely made, turned out to be very long and slow. We ended up playing the four songs we had planned at least three times before it ended. That was the last time I have played on a "float."
 
#16
lustersilk said:
Our music school (Los Rios Rock School) plays in the largest non-mechanized parade in the U.S.A., the "Swallows Day Parade" in San Juan Capistrano, CA. We have two floats, and use boat batteries, inverted to 120. We've got two guitars and a small P.A. on one and bass and drums on the other. It's much better than using a generator (loud and smelly).
Click to expand...

Much better only if one plays in a "non-mechanized" parade every year. For a one-off gig on a float that was mechanized to begin with it would be a pretty expensive solution, I would think?
 
#18
O.K. my band is looking to do the same thing. 4th of July parade. Drums are acoustic, no power there. I'm figuring running my Hartke 3500 bass amp; a 200 watt powered mixer head for vocals, will try to see if my guitar buddy will use my crate acoustic amp rather than his Fender tube amp. Maybe it wont be much diff?

What sort of concerns should I have about securing the gear to the truck? What do people ususally do?

We will probably be Guitar / Bass / Drums and possibly keyboards.

thanks,

J
 
#19
jefff100 said:
What sort of concerns should I have about securing the gear to the truck? What do people ususally do?
Click to expand...

We use those moving straps that you can ratchet down tight. Very cheap (Home Depot, Lowes, etc) and really did a good job.

jefff100 said:
We will probably be Guitar / Bass / Drums and possibly keyboards.
Click to expand...

The keys will be top heavy if they are on a stand. Scissor stands are not the most sturdy things and all I can say is I'd pay close attention to them not falling over with stops and starts.

Have fun :)
 

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