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Do you'se guys? ... trailer/gear questions & ideas


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I'm re-thinking how i do gigs. Normally i load up what is needed, plus some redundancy, and go do the gig. Often I am double booked and have a couple systems out or there was some need to piece together a small rig during the week, help someone at their gig or play a gig myself. So, it seems my stuff is in some state of disorganized flux. I organize at the end of the week, make the piles and load up night before or day of..

This weekend i had a fun Octoberfest gig on a perfect day. QSC 153 over 2x 181 subs(mainly for height). 5 wedges, side fills, SL2442 mixer, a 12 ch mix. 13 hour day but easy mixing, nice band, good food...good $ too. 

Anyhow, i was thinking of upsizing to a bit bigger trailer and taking almost everything I own to every gig....not literally everything but two scalable systems, all my monitor wedges, stands, amps, a few mixers.  I have cases for most things. Then I simply choose what i need. The only caveat to that idea is when I want to do a small gig...do i want to take a bigger trailer?  maybe I should put together a small active rig that can literally go in my truck, like 2 x 10" DXR, some stands, cords, AC, small utility box loaded with stuff.

what do you guys do? what am I missing in this line of reasoning? 

for the trailer types, what sizes and features have you found useful? side doors, more inside height, ramp, etc? 

 As more backstory, I just went from a Ford E150 to a Ford F150 short bed truck, On bigger gigs i would put a tailer on the E150. Since, I've borrowed and rented a few trailers. 5 x8 typically. I was thinking I might load in half the JBL rig, 2 x 725 over 2 x 728. The QSC rig, 2 x 153 over 4 x 181. about 8 wedges, amp racks for the JBLS and monitors, my rolling trunk i got from Michael Buble which has 3 compartments for AC, mic and speakon. 12-16 mic stands, 16 mics, EZ up, 3 mixer boards. tables. two snakes, misc cases of stuff. Sounds like a 6 x 12' to me??

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A. Tie down thingy, whatever those are called, like strip looking mounts to the frame of the trailer, you want to keep your gear safe and in good condition.

B. Ramp. Rolling is always better than lifting.

C. Side doors sure would be nice, trailers are big and bulky and you don't always have someone to steer you in so better access makes it a better tool.

D. Higher the better (cons is harder to store indoors if you have a standard garage height)

E. If you have that much stuff, double axe trailers drive much better than single, however two more tires to keep going.

These are the things I wished I had after owning a trailer a couple years and will definately be in the scope when upgrading down the road. I leave main rig in the trailer for the big shows, B rig I keep in garage or office for personal use/testing, small short notice things which I can always throw in back of SUV if I don't want to drag the trailer.

 

Curious as to what others post!

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This is where scale able gear is so valuable. Everything works with everything, just roll off what you need. My largest system is double my medium system and 4x my smallest system or the extra wedges 712m's with or without subs make really nice smallest systems. Everything is biamped, everything works together, just pick a console and go, I used to use a monitor console for a b system mixer but with the smaller digital consoles this is made even easier on the fly.

I used a trailer for everything and the trailer backed right into my shop bay.

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+1 for scalable gear! I try not to keep gear in a vehicle since its easier to steal. By midweek I know what's going out a d plan on spending a few hours or more loading etc. Sunday or the next day things get put back in place be the things that need attention set aside and fixed.

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I have a 5x12. I have my typical full sound rig inside

 

4 YX12's

2 YX15's

2 Unity15's

2 LS800p's

 

Power:

IPR3000 & Unity crossover in a case

2 - IPR1600's in a case

1 IPR1600 & Elite Crossover in a case

2 line 6 Wireless mics in a Case

Mac Mini, Extreme Airport router, CD player and DMX splitter in a case

All the light power and DMX cables in a case.

 

Then I have 4 small trunks

A/C & Speakon

Long & short XLR

Misc and short snakes

Misc

 

The last misc case is basically set up for DJ gigs. Couple XLR, couple A/C, couple speakons, an SM58.

 

In my garage are a pair of YX15's and a pair of YX12's. I can grab those for any small SOS gigs along with a QSC CX404 which has enough to power all 4 speakers if I need to.

 

For me the thing that changes is if I need DJ lights, bands lights or nothing. I store them in the garage and load them when I need to. I also park my trailer in the garage.

 

5x12

Ramp door

2 rows of E-Track

Side door

Single axel.

 

If I had to do it again I'd get a double axel but at the time there wasn't an endless supply of money. With a full load I'm 200lbs under the limit so it still works out.

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I worked out of a van or truck for years thinking that a trailer was too much trouble or too hard to drive. I was WRONG! The trailer has made my life so much easier. You definitely want a ramp door. Everything on wheels, just roll it in. I tow with a full size, all wheel drive, V-8 Chevy van. After the gig, I unhitch the trailer, and the equipment is safely stored ready to go. You get used to towing a trailer pretty quickly and it's not bad at all. The only exception I run into is gigs in the city where it is almost impossible to find parking for a trailer. There I transfer the minimum equipment needed for the gig into the van. I have a portable wheel chair type ramp for those situations. Same for smaller gigs, so most of my equipment just lives in trailer.

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At first I wanted a 5x10, since my light truss at the time were 10' sections. I asked how much a V-Kose would be, and the salesman said it was a $200 add on. Then he said "you know, for the same $200 we could go with a 5x12 instead, and have the full 2 extra feet instead of the V-Nose" he did say the v-nose would help on longer hauls but if than wasn't my main use, the extra space would be more useful.

 

And he was right. Definitely go for the ramp if you can. My ramp is torsion assisted, so there's no cables down the sides. Like others have said, you can roll everything on and off by yourself. I measured the heights I wanted for the E-Track. I believe I went with 18" and 42" centers from the floor. It makes strapping everything in pretty easy.

 

I'm able to load all my PA & lights into it all in one load.

http://i1187.photobucket.com/albums/z398/robare99/E89C7A90-A076-43DA-9040-2986EFB9E5F3-30123-000013FCDCC801DD_zps0c73ea36.jpg

 

http://i1187.photobucket.com/albums/z398/robare99/F4F9FEF0-DBE0-4B35-9DA8-0A3671E19566-18292-00000C5FD26A47E9.jpg

 

It fits in my garage and stays loaded between gigs, ready to go.

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To the OP:  It sounds like a 6 X 12 might do it,  but suggest trying the following.  Mark out 6 X 12 on some pavement to see if you can pack everything in this area.  Personally, I would like to have a little extra space for potential expansion instead of cramming everything in so you can barely shut the door.  Good luck!

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7x14 that's a beast! If I ever get that big I'll be renting a bay somewhere to store the trailer and I'll be going with a 6.5" interior headroom.

 

I'm doing 3 - 6 gigs a month, so the 2 hours saved per gig by leaving the trailer loaded definitely makes life easier. I've thought about getting a canopy for my new truck. Others say screw it, drag the trailer to every gig, take what you need and leave the rest in the trailer. That's what you bought it for...

 

 

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Whatever you do, make sure the contents are insured. It doesn't take much for someone to see you loading, then drive away with the rest of your gear. Gone in 60 seconds.

 

The AFM has manageable rates for instruments and I assume PA gear is covered too. IIRC they charge 2.7% of the replacement value per annum.

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That's why I suggested joining the union and going through their group policy...it's about the only place we CAN get insurance. Although in fairness, I have to be a member to get paid on some gigs, so I have to join anyhow...that underwrites some of my costs.

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BTW - I checked in with the lady who does the insurance for the union in Canada, and posed a couple of important hypotheticals -- mostly importantly, if I am an AFM member, have a policy through them which includes PA gear, and I am working a club gig doing only sound, is my gear covered? She said, yes, it's covered, it's an "all perils" policy; basically the only thing they don't cover is acts of God, nuclear war, floods, that kind of thing. Oh, and if you lend it to a known felon and he steals it, that's not covered either.

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http://afm.org/ will get you most of the information you want.

 

In my understanding, you're expected to charge minimum fees for a musical performance, but I have never heard of that being enforced around here. Our local scale is $30/hr, 2 hr minimum.

 

I have never heard of "venue approval" and I play with both union and non-union players all the time.

 

You need to give the AFM a one-time initiation fee of $65, and often there is a local initiation fee of around $30. Then there is annual dues, which is $154 here. You can find the fee schedule for your local on the website.

 

http://afm.org/why-join/canadian-benefits

 

Wes

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