Members Vito Corleone Posted July 31, 2013 Members Share Posted July 31, 2013 I think I mentioned in another thread that we're thinking of dispensing with both our present FOH and monitor mixers and going with a single digital mixer. But I worry a bit about putting all our eggs in one digital basket. Not only do digital mixers (at least it seems to me) have less available work-arounds in case something - or - another fails in the chain, but with so much running through one unit, should it fail, then it's Show Over. The obvious solution is to keep the old mixer (or another one) in the trailer just in case. We wouldn't have the same set up or flexibility, but at least we'd be able to limp through the gig.While I've always liked having a certain degree of redundancy in the stage setup, I've never actually carried a spare FOH mixer around. (Nor ever needed one). How many of you guys do this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sweatpat Posted July 31, 2013 Members Share Posted July 31, 2013 A spare mixer saved my ass about a week ago, I had borrowed a larger mixer to do an outdoor gig, I had hired a horn player and needed to mic cabs, drums, horns, etc. 10 minutes before show time I still couldn't get the larger mixer to work. My fault really for not doing a dry run at my house. Turns out it had a small "mute all channels" button that I had overlooked. In any case, having my 8 channel board in the van saved the day, had to nix a mic on the bass cab, no overhead or Vox for the drummer but the sound was ok and the show went off without any further problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RoadRanger Posted July 31, 2013 Members Share Posted July 31, 2013 I carry a four channel (+ some line inputs) "spare" MG82CX, enough to get the vocals running and the keys and maybe the kick. I'd sure feel stoopid if my fancy-arse digital mixer went teats-up on me and I had no spare . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Potts Posted July 31, 2013 Members Share Posted July 31, 2013 sweatpat wrote: Turns out it had a small "mute all channels" button that I had overlooked. LOL... This happened to me last week with MY OWN board. Of course I was in full panic mode because I had about 15 minutes until start time. It took about 10 minutes before I realized what was up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted July 31, 2013 Members Share Posted July 31, 2013 In have an SL24.4.2 and an SL16.0.2 as a backup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jimiv Posted July 31, 2013 Members Share Posted July 31, 2013 The only time I bring a spare is when we are playing somewhere in the boonies and I cannot get to a GC or equivalent within 30 minutes of the venue. That occurs rarely. Part of my routine before leaving for the gig is finding the closest music store to the venue and its hours of operation. Our sound checks are always well before closing time of any of the stores. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Chicken Monkey Posted August 1, 2013 Members Share Posted August 1, 2013 If we had one, we'd bring it. As is, we've got a lot of spare channels on our mixer, an eletrical engineer in the fold, and we could probably run the vocals through the power amp and play instruments through the amps if it came down to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members modulusman Posted August 1, 2013 Members Share Posted August 1, 2013 Chicken Monkey wrote: If we had one, we'd bring it. As is, we've got a lot of spare channels on our mixer, an eletrical engineer in the fold, and we could probably run the vocals through the power amp and play instruments through the amps if it came down to it. Ask your electrical engineer if that would work. Without some sort of pre-amp I doubt it. I Have a little soundcraft notepad mixer 124 I bought recently from Musician friend. It was one of their "stupid deal of the day" bargains. I paid $79.99 for it. It is small enough to not take up any room and has 4 mic channels and some 1/4 inch inputs. If need be my band could limp through a gig with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted August 1, 2013 Members Share Posted August 1, 2013 sweatpat wrote: A spare mixer saved my ass about a week ago, I had borrowed a larger mixer to do an outdoor gig, I had hired a horn player and needed to mic cabs, drums, horns, etc. 10 minutes before show time I still couldn't get the larger mixer to work. My fault really for not doing a dry run at my house. Turns out it had a small "mute all channels" button that I had overlooked. In any case, having my 8 channel board in the van saved the day, had to nix a mic on the bass cab, no overhead or Vox for the drummer but the sound was ok and the show went off without any further problems. one of my main mixers has that feature. Very handy for breaks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WynnD Posted August 1, 2013 Members Share Posted August 1, 2013 We don't, but home is usually close for either me or my drummer. We both have additional mixers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted August 1, 2013 Author Members Share Posted August 1, 2013 Well, a four channel mixer isn't going to be of much use for a LOT of bands. I'm thinking I could probably get by with the Alesis 12R we usually carry in a pinch, but that's severly pushing it. More likely I'll need a proper 16 channel mixer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wesg Posted August 1, 2013 Members Share Posted August 1, 2013 Waterproof the case....strap it to the roof Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RoadRanger Posted August 1, 2013 Members Share Posted August 1, 2013 guido61 wrote: Well, a four channel mixer isn't going to be of much use for a LOT of bands. I'm thinking I could probably get by with the Alesis 12R we usually carry in a pinch, but that's severly pushing it. More likely I'll need a proper 16 channel mixer. I suppose if you use edrums and no amps that's true, or it's a large venue. I've have six mics and a acoustic guitar into my 4 channel mixer - with "Y" cords you can put two mics into each channel no problem . So, I'm curious what you have going on in your band where you couldn't limp through a gig with a four channel (plus line input) mixer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tim_7string Posted August 2, 2013 Members Share Posted August 2, 2013 When we upgraded from the powered mixer we started with to the 32 channel mixer we have now, I would still occasionally bring the powered mixer just in case the board failed. After many gigs, I just stopped bringing it, but I did bring it one other time for an out of town gig. It disturbed my drummer, because when we were packing up the van, he thought I was leaving the big mixer home and replacing it with our old powered one! I assured him I just wanted a backup in case something happened. Nothing did, so I don't bother anymore. Still, it might be a good idea to keep bringing it, since I could use either the mixer or the power amp in case either one of those goes out. It doesn't take up that much room. If all I played were gigs way out of town, I would definitely bring backups for everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RoadRanger Posted August 2, 2013 Members Share Posted August 2, 2013 In the bad old days I'd bring the six channel powered mixer to use as a monitor amp for our single monitor mix - and as a backup mixer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tomm Williams Posted August 2, 2013 Members Share Posted August 2, 2013 David I carry one on every gig, redundancy is your friend. Most gigs I carry damn near enough gear to set up two stages. Since I'm towing the trailer anyway, what's a few more pieces of gear? There has been a few times that approach has saved my butt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted August 2, 2013 Author Members Share Posted August 2, 2013 tim_7string wrote: When we upgraded from the powered mixer we started with to the 32 channel mixer we have now, What on earth do you do with 32 channels with a trio? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted August 2, 2013 Author Members Share Posted August 2, 2013 Tomm Williams wrote: . Since I'm towing the trailer anyway, what's a few more pieces of gear? that used to be my theory as well. And then the trailer got over-stuffed. Now I need a bigger trailer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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