Equipment hauling

[keymandoguy]

Has anyone found the perfect thing to haul your equipment? mando,amps mikes ? I am currently using a baby buggy with tray and seat removed. Book sachel goes in first that holds books music stand mike and cables small amp on top of that then mando goes in front of amp and flexible mike stand on top. Best thing is buggy folds up for storage in trunk. Only negative its kind of a tight fit for everything. Anyone found the perfect hauler? and where did you find it ? http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

[Big Joe]

Roadies http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif .

[mandopete]

A Ford Focus ZXW.

[MikeEdgerton]

Most everything I have is on wheels. They sell these cheap black storage chest on wheels at Bed Bath and Beyond around this time of the year for the kids going back to college. My mixer and all my other gear besides speakers and stands fit in that case. I have a rolling case that was built for my speakers. They fit side by side in the trunk of my Jetta. The mic and speaker stands are in a canvas bat bag I bought from a sporting goods store. I can get that entire system and a guitar or banjo in the trunk, freeing up the back seat for my mandolin and cowboy hat.

[Tillmanator]

Well, I would say that a Ford Mustang and a bass playing husband are NOT good choices...LOL. We have a lot of portable racks and such that we haul our gear in for gigs. But we carry LOTS of stuff,.... three pianos, three basses, flute, piccolo (not much space needed for that), doubleneck guitar (Ovation... matches my mando) and my Ovation mando. Oh, and two of those Bose speaker/stand system things.... and various assorted other stuff. It's a real pain and we have to rent a van.

So, there's no real easy solution for me.

[MikeEdgerton]

Are any of those Grand or Baby Grand Pianos?

[fredfrank]

I have a deal with the band that I set up and tear down the PA if the rest of 'em haul it all in to the gig and out to the truck.

[Tillmanator]

Are any of those Grand or Baby Grand Pianos?
I guess I should have said keyboards... pianos is indeed a bit misleading.

:-)

[mandroid]

Tony's Gig O Matic was described previously by T,
himself, Archived in Equipment section.
a couple fridge dollys welded up with rackmount rails,
and tiedowns for speakers and stands.

my Roland AC 60 and an instrument case fit in my bike trailer.
a 2 wheel Burley 'flatbed'.

[JeffS]

I saw a band use a fishing cart once. You can put a lot of stuff in one, heavy stuff too. They have big inflatable wheels so they can go anywhere.

http://www.fishing-carts.com/

[JeffD]

Roadies http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif .
Sherpas of the music world!

[allenhopkins]

In order of increasing load capacity:

[1] Straps. Walking into most gigs with a banjo on one shoulder, along with a Musicians' Friend gig bag, a guitar and a a uke over the back, mandolin in the other hand.

[2] Small, cheap hand truck and bungee cords. Can get the Fender Passport PA, cases for mics and cables, two speaker stands and a mic stand all bungeed on, and wheel it most places.

[3] Honda Element. Pull out the seats, and it holds the big PA, bass fiddle, all the stands, mics, cables, plus six or seven instruments. Not as roomy as the ol' Dodge Caravan, but adequate.

[jim simpson]

My Honda Element (with XM radio).

[TonyP]

I think, as you can see, everybody has their own solution. It's what we call in the biz, "engineer to stock". Basically using what you have on hand, or can make out of what's lying around. Sounds like your solution works for you. Mine definitely works for me, but I have a small pickup and we don't use inst. amps, just the PA and mics. So my rig doesn't fold up to fit in a trunk or a small car. Which in certain way is limiting if my truck goes down.

[jim_n_virginia]

When I used to haul a big PA around I used a pickup truck with a camper top and a dolly.

Now that I mostly use the BOSE PAS system I can fit everything in my SUV and used a small foldable handcart.

[Tim2723]

Engineer to stock, yup. It's nice to hear how others do it. It gives you new ideas.

We play 90% of the time in small bars and clubs of about 100 people so we get away with a small PA (a pair of 12" cabs on stands, an eight-channel box mixer, small monitors, a couple of mic stands and a box-o-wires. The whole set up lives in my vehicle 365 days a year. I never unpack when I get home.

Sometimes we just have to carry everything by hand, so we've gone for lighter weight cabinets and minimal gear. There's two of us, and we can have everything moved in three trips to the car.

When we're playing a larger venue or an outdoor show, there's sound provided, so we are more of a plug-and-play operation then.