F
farewellending
New member
hey, I am about to become a touring guitarist with my band and thought what better a thread for guitar players than to discuss their equipment they use, tour stories, and tips for a future tour.
J
jeffri07
New member
good idea. my touring equipement consisted of a marshall jcm 900 4100 head, a marshall 1960 lead 4x12 cab and usually my epiphone les paul. unfortunetly the les paul suffered a fatal guitar throw, however i still think back and feel that it was a great guitar. as far as tips go- i always had a power conditioner running my head, i think it was key because sometimes going straight into the onstage power supply can leave the amps a little "power hungry" at times, and the conditioner tended to at least appear to keep everything in check . good luck
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farewellending
New member
thanks man, i'm looking into getting a rack with a wireless, equalizer w/ feedback eliminator, sonic maximizer, power conditioner, and rocktron effects.
gbdweller
Structural Member
You will find that less is better. I run a block letter 5150 into a Marshall cab with pre Rola Greenbacks. On the floor I have a Boss tuner, script phase 90 and wah. In the rack I have a power conditioner, Roland GS6 which runs through the effects loop of the head for color, and a rack drawer that holds my mics, cables, small flashlight and survival kit. I also bring my POD now as a last resort life preserver due to a recent meltdown (see below).
Your survival kit should include a small butane soldering iron, solder, a few soldering tools a few hand tools i.e. screwdrivers, wire stripper, allen keys if applicable and a ground loop tester. If you have a tube amp, it should also include spare tubes and spare fuses. You will need all of these things. I have used every item at one time or another. As a matter of fact, my head took a crap the other night...on the second song of a 42 song night!!! It was a preamp tube. I reached into my trusty survival kit and two minutes later I was back in business. 3 songs later, the same tube took a dump!!!Once again I was in my bag of tricks and within a minute I was back in business without a hitch. If it wasn't for my trusty survival kit, there would have been a lot of un-happy paying customers.
Your survival kit should include a small butane soldering iron, solder, a few soldering tools a few hand tools i.e. screwdrivers, wire stripper, allen keys if applicable and a ground loop tester. If you have a tube amp, it should also include spare tubes and spare fuses. You will need all of these things. I have used every item at one time or another. As a matter of fact, my head took a crap the other night...on the second song of a 42 song night!!! It was a preamp tube. I reached into my trusty survival kit and two minutes later I was back in business. 3 songs later, the same tube took a dump!!!Once again I was in my bag of tricks and within a minute I was back in business without a hitch. If it wasn't for my trusty survival kit, there would have been a lot of un-happy paying customers.
Light
New member
Bring spares, for everything. Even the spares.
Bring enough strings to last four times as long as you are going to be on the road, and string winders and clipers as well. If you have a locking trem, do NOT forget to bring a few spare sets of allen wrenches. Bring spare switches, pots, caps, jacks and wire for your guitars. A couple of extra pickups are not a bad idea either, nor are spare gears, and spare saddles for you electric guitars are good too. And of course the nessicary screwdrivers, soldering irons, pliers, etc.
And bring some guitar polish. There is no reason to go out on stage with your guitar looking dull.
A couple of spare sets of tubes is a MUST have, and a extra speaker or two are not a bad idea. If it were me, I'd have a spare head as well, though I don't know that I would have a spare cabinet as they are easy to fix (provided you have the stuff to do it).
And for gods sake, don't for get to bring a box or fuses.
Don't forget to bring batteries. Yes, you can usually buy them on the road, but then again if you have any Sunday night gigs... just don't risk it.
You should have enough cables to rewire your whole rig at least twice over.
If you play slide, bring three (spares for your spares, right?). Capos as well.
Of course, every piece of your rig that you absolutly can not do without, you need to carry a spare. (Need to have that delay for your cover of some U2 song? Better bring two.)
Being me, and having built every piece of my rig, I would also be bringing spare transformers for my amps, along with spare tube sockets, resistors, capacitors, etc. for my amps and tools for doing fret work, truss rod tools, a straight edge, etc. for my guitars.
Bring lots of clean underware, and laudry detergent (for those days you actually can find a laudrymat).
But MOST IMPORTANTLY, bring a multimeter and an outlet tester, AND USE THEM EVERY DAY!!!!!!!!! Check to make sure the wall outlets are not wired wrong before you every plug in a single piece of gear. Check the voltage between hot and neutral (it should be about 120v), but also between hot and ground (also 120v), and neutral and ground (0v). Make sure that you are not pluging your guitar into two different circuits, and that there is no voltage between your mic (use your meter set to check for AC and DC voltage, touch one end to your strings, and the other end to the mic.)
This can save your life, literally.
Oh yeah, and don't forget to bring plenty of condoms.
Have fun!
Light
"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
Bring enough strings to last four times as long as you are going to be on the road, and string winders and clipers as well. If you have a locking trem, do NOT forget to bring a few spare sets of allen wrenches. Bring spare switches, pots, caps, jacks and wire for your guitars. A couple of extra pickups are not a bad idea either, nor are spare gears, and spare saddles for you electric guitars are good too. And of course the nessicary screwdrivers, soldering irons, pliers, etc.
And bring some guitar polish. There is no reason to go out on stage with your guitar looking dull.
A couple of spare sets of tubes is a MUST have, and a extra speaker or two are not a bad idea. If it were me, I'd have a spare head as well, though I don't know that I would have a spare cabinet as they are easy to fix (provided you have the stuff to do it).
And for gods sake, don't for get to bring a box or fuses.
Don't forget to bring batteries. Yes, you can usually buy them on the road, but then again if you have any Sunday night gigs... just don't risk it.
You should have enough cables to rewire your whole rig at least twice over.
If you play slide, bring three (spares for your spares, right?). Capos as well.
Of course, every piece of your rig that you absolutly can not do without, you need to carry a spare. (Need to have that delay for your cover of some U2 song? Better bring two.)
Being me, and having built every piece of my rig, I would also be bringing spare transformers for my amps, along with spare tube sockets, resistors, capacitors, etc. for my amps and tools for doing fret work, truss rod tools, a straight edge, etc. for my guitars.
Bring lots of clean underware, and laudry detergent (for those days you actually can find a laudrymat).
But MOST IMPORTANTLY, bring a multimeter and an outlet tester, AND USE THEM EVERY DAY!!!!!!!!! Check to make sure the wall outlets are not wired wrong before you every plug in a single piece of gear. Check the voltage between hot and neutral (it should be about 120v), but also between hot and ground (also 120v), and neutral and ground (0v). Make sure that you are not pluging your guitar into two different circuits, and that there is no voltage between your mic (use your meter set to check for AC and DC voltage, touch one end to your strings, and the other end to the mic.)
This can save your life, literally.
Oh yeah, and don't forget to bring plenty of condoms.
Have fun!
Light
"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
andycerrone
Banned
Always have a couple not-so-perfect guitars, cause a lot of places you'll play at are going to be fucking smalll and if you care about your "baby", you'll want to bust out that Epiphone instead of the Gibson and let that take the beating cause I guarentee you'll put some nice dings in there if you're a nut on stage like me. 