Members lz4005 Posted August 7, 2013 Members Share Posted August 7, 2013 At a gig this weekend I was looking at our guitar player's pedal board. He had everything velcroed to the board, as usual, but he also had metal clips holding his input and output cords down a few inches from the jacks. There was enough slack to unplug them if needed, but they couldn't be fully removed without a screwdriver. I asked him why and he said it's because he's lost $100's worth of cords during drunken load-outs over the years. Now all he has to do is coil them up on top of his pedals, put the cover of his fancy road case looking board on and he's good to go.Does anyone else do this? Or have other strategies for making drunk load outs easier?The whole thing was bizarre to me because I never drink until after the job is over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jimiv Posted August 7, 2013 Members Share Posted August 7, 2013 Well, before I switched to the Boss GT-10, I had a series of pedals velcroed to the bottom of a suitcase sized road case where the pedals were all electrically daisy chained; I also had one electric plug in strip also velcroed to the bottom. The pedals were patched together with four or five 3 inch patch dords. On long Input patch and one long output cord at each end of the case. (Drilled a hole through the bottom case frame at each end so the cord didn't drape over the edge). At the end of the night, I would simply unplug the two 1/4 inch cords and the power cord, coil them up on top and throw the road case lid on. Took about a minute...maybe two. Still bring the case with me in case the Boss pedalboard fails. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members roamingbard13 Posted August 8, 2013 Members Share Posted August 8, 2013 Call me a sissy -- but I'm never drunk enough to have any sort of trouble after a gig. I mean -- once that **** is in my car, I'm putting the keys in the ignition.I do, however, drunk proof my gear. Just from the folks in the crowd -- all of my pedal board connections are locking jacks. I also don't have anything on my pedal board that upsets me when beer/wine/mixed drinks get splashed on it, cause it's pretty much an gigly thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SpaceNorman Posted August 8, 2013 Members Share Posted August 8, 2013 I don't need to "drunkproof" my gear in anticipation of future inebriation on my part. I have however invested a significant amount of effort (and dollars!) into packaging my gear so that there's a place for everything ... and alot of time refining my setup and teardown routines so that everything makes it to it's place consistently. I don't ever lose stuff!Developing and refining a good routine is critical - as is ensuring your rig is packaged right. I always shake my head when I see guys walk in with gear in cardboard boxes, milk crates and the rest of the "I'm too cheap to find workable cases for their gear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lz4005 Posted August 8, 2013 Author Members Share Posted August 8, 2013 SpaceNorman wrote: I always shake my head when I see guys walk in with gear in cardboard boxes, milk crates and the rest of the "I'm too cheap to find workable cases for their gear. Two weeks ago I played with a guy who carries his pedals and patch cords in a big disconnected pile and has to re-connect everything on stage before he can play. After watching him twist every knob on every pedal for 20 minutes I had to tell him that he had two of them plugged output-to-output and that was why he wasn't getting any sound out of his amp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Iamthesky Posted August 8, 2013 Members Share Posted August 8, 2013 SpaceNorman wrote: I don't need to "drunkproof" my gear in anticipation of future inebriation on my part. I have however invested a significant amount of effort (and dollars!) into packaging my gear so that there's a place for everything ... and alot of time refining my setup and teardown routines so that everything makes it to it's place consistently. I don't ever lose stuff! Developing and refining a good routine is critical - as is ensuring your rig is packaged right. I always shake my head when I see guys walk in with gear in cardboard boxes, milk crates and the rest of the "I'm too cheap to find workable cases for their gear. You and me both. But then I think that might be more common among keyboard players than guitarists -- the more stuff, the more complicated the stuff, and the heavier the stuff, the more necessary is a good routine.My stage rig is five synthesizers on two stands, a mixer, plus a stand for three effects boxes, and in cases it probably weighs over 200lbs. I have hard cases for all the instruments, and the cables (and sustain pedals) always go in the same case as the instrument they come from. At a gig last month, one of us (without telling us) timed teardown: the whole band was off the stage and my rig totally packed up in under 10 minutes. You can't do that unless you have a rehearsed routine.I'm also in the category of not playing drunk, but one thing about a rehearsed routine is it becomes automatic, drunk or not. Every single time I set up or tear down my rig, even for rehearsal, I go through exactly the same routine so it's second nature at a show.(I'm about to change that routine, though: I'm going rackmount with a new line mixer, DI, power conditioner, and effects so all I have to do to set up is take the cover off the rack and pull out the well labelled cables to each instrument.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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