Members allexcosta Posted August 26, 2009 Members Share Posted August 26, 2009 How many of you carry your own generators and what kind of power does it have? Please mention the size of your system in watts and why you've decided to bring your own power source. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members abzurd Posted August 27, 2009 Members Share Posted August 27, 2009 You mean own one or bring one to gigs? I can't see why anyone would haul or tow a generator to a gig unless it was an extra service being provided for some outdoor event. Good grief, venues don't provide much, but the place is going to have electricity. More practical would be a distro for inadequacies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members allexcosta Posted August 27, 2009 Author Members Share Posted August 27, 2009 Yeah, I mean bring one to gigs... I haven't been in the US for too long and this is quite common in my country. Just curious if anyone here, including the non-US members do it too... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members walkerci Posted August 27, 2009 Members Share Posted August 27, 2009 Funny that you mention it. About 20 months ago, I was working in Manhattan, New York City and saw a large trailer mounted generator set on the street outside the Waldorf Astoria with massive cables running inside. AFAIK, power is pretty reliable and available in that part of town, although ridiculously expensive (as is almost everything in NYC). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members W. M. Hellinger Posted August 27, 2009 Members Share Posted August 27, 2009 Basically nobody that I know of. I take that back: I've been to a few YES and Pink Floyd concerts where they traveled with big-assed semi-trailer mounted gensets. I've also worked some back-woods gigs where the stage ran off-a band driven motorhome gensets... and some other gigs where the genset was part of the contained stage rented for the tour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members KF650SB1000 Posted August 27, 2009 Members Share Posted August 27, 2009 We own a pair of 20kW gen's. After using them for 3-4 years, they have been a great money maker for us (or to the customers a "money and hassle saver"). Anytime we have an outdoor show, at least one Gen comes out. If the customer wants a back up plan, just in case the power isn't good, we'll bring one or two. In the back up plan, we'll charge a very minimal rate for transportation, but once we fire it up it goes to the standard rental rate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members W. M. Hellinger Posted August 27, 2009 Members Share Posted August 27, 2009 We own a pair of 20kW gen's. After using them for 3-4 years, they have been a great money maker for us (or to the customers a "money and hassle saver").Anytime we have an outdoor show, at least one Gen comes out. If the customer wants a back up plan, just in case the power isn't good, we'll bring one or two. In the back up plan, we'll charge a very minimal rate for transportation, but once we fire it up it goes to the standard rental rate. I did that for awhile... till it started to become expected as "thown in" with the basic bid price (you're driving here anyway, so what's the big deal in toating along your generator?). There's some things that value adding just doesn't pencil out long term. Depending on local conditions, gensets might or might not apply. Around here, being a genset & distro contractor pays, or being a lighting contractor pays, or being a staging or backline supplier pays, or being a sound contractor pays... but trying to combine any of those turns into a pay to work proposition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Special J Posted August 27, 2009 Members Share Posted August 27, 2009 We used to have a Honda EX5500. Great genny. It provided two 20 amp circuits, enough to power a small outdoor system, but small enough to fit in a van or box truck. We most certainly charged extra for it. It paid for itself several times over. Anymore, we rent (or have the client provide) one from the local lighting company which has a great selection of show-quiet generators and is a big part of their business. I'd say we probably do 25-50 shows a year run strictly off of generator power. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Special J Posted August 27, 2009 Members Share Posted August 27, 2009 I did that for awhile... till it started to become expected as "thown in" with the basic bid price (you're driving here anyway, so what's the big deal in toating along your generator?). There's some things that value adding just doesn't pencil out long term. Depending on local conditions, gensets might or might not apply. Around here, being a genset & distro contractor pays, or being a lighting contractor pays, or being a staging or backline supplier pays, or being a sound contractor pays... but trying to combine any of those turns into a pay to work proposition. It's funny you say that, because for awhile now we've been losing a lot of our mid-sized jobs to out of state one-stop shops that will provide stage, lights, sound, backline and power. They'll usually just throw in one of the services, send a bunch of minimum wage goons who proceed to put on a half-assed production and then sleep in their trucks. But hey, the client got a free generator out of the deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members srp72ee Posted August 27, 2009 Members Share Posted August 27, 2009 Large outdoor productions in places that don't normally (or regularly) have that type of event will use towable gen sets. Most outdoor ampitheaters will have service provided by the local utility company. Sometimes the gensets are for backup only. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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