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[Fraser Moffatt]

Hey good folks of LAb Lounge.

I've recently retired from gigging with my band of the last 9 years and after a 30 year odyssey gigging in numerous bands. I'll get my musician jollies in smaller doses and different formats, BUT...

I have a nice little PA rig that I own and that's fully paid for - and it's paid for itself over the last couple of years. It owes me nothing and I guess there's about $3K in equity in it.

 Is there any rational reason why I should NOT liquidate this system outright - keep it to either provide modest SR in the lower end of the market OR rent the thing out on occaison? My former band doesn't seem to want to use this system ("too complicated") - they're going back to the mixer in a box paradigm (ugh). 

My system consists of: Mackie DL1608, 2x EV ZLX15P, IEM (wired) rig, stage snake, some nice mics, all the stands anyone would need, half decent LED lighting rig.

Pitfalls? How to assess whether my local market could support this? Just a bad idea/not worth it?  Just sell it and move on?

[Chris Grimshaw]

I don't know enough about your situation or area, but I'd weigh up the following:

- Is cash important right now?
- Is space important right now?

If the answer to both of those is "No", then keep the equipment. Since you're retiring anyway, you can be choosy over the gigs you take. Although you might end up doing them cheaply, you can hold out for the nice gigs, with lifts and loading bays near the stage, sensible stage volumes and somewhere nice to mix from.

If you need the cash and/or space, it's probably time to sell.

Chris

[Don T. Williams]

Just a quick but serious warning about renting your gear.  Rental gear get lost and stolen . . . a lot.  You can (possibly) prosecute and/or sue the person that was "responsible" for the loss, but don't ever count on getting the gear back or recovering any money.  I still rent gear, but I'm very careful about who I rent to, and, every couple of years I still get burned!

[Debbie Dunkley]

Also ... where I am located for example, bands require subs. Duos, singles and bands in VERY small places might be OK without. Those small acts or bands don't earn very much (heck, the bigger bands in the better places don't earn much either) so  you would be charging very little - so is it worth the risk?
I say keep the gear though because you will need it at some point if only to jam with your buddies. The Mackie might become old technology over time but if it works, keep using it till it doesn't.

[Paul G. OBrien]

I think exposure to theft is much higher with dry rentals, that is the main reason I don't do those at all. I deliver, setup, and strike every piece of equipment and so far over about 7yrs of business I have only lost a couple cables. That represents a sizeable time investment of course so if you aren't interested in doing that you may want to just drop the idea.

[Rick Powell]

Hey good folks of LAb Lounge.

I've recently retired from gigging with my band of the last 9 years and after a 30 year odyssey gigging in numerous bands. I'll get my musician jollies in smaller doses and different formats, BUT...

I have a nice little PA rig that I own and that's fully paid for - and it's paid for itself over the last couple of years. It owes me nothing and I guess there's about $3K in equity in it.

 Is there any rational reason why I should NOT liquidate this system outright - keep it to either provide modest SR in the lower end of the market OR rent the thing out on occaison? My former band doesn't seem to want to use this system ("too complicated") - they're going back to the mixer in a box paradigm (ugh). 

My system consists of: Mackie DL1608, 2x EV ZLX15P, IEM (wired) rig, stage snake, some nice mics, all the stands anyone would need, half decent LED lighting rig.

Pitfalls? How to assess whether my local market could support this? Just a bad idea/not worth it?  Just sell it and move on?

I don't know about your area, but there is a glut of used equipment on the market in my area. When I tried to liquidate some monitors and our old mixing board, I found I could get little for it locally, and didn't want to deal with the hassle of shipping it to a far away buyer, so I just upgraded our rehearsal PA with our old gigging gear. 

[Steve Oldridge]

Also ... where I am located for example, bands require subs. Duos, singles and bands in VERY small places might be OK without. Those small acts or bands don't earn very much (heck, the bigger bands in the better places don't earn much either) so  you would be charging very little - so is it worth the risk?
I say keep the gear though because you will need it at some point if only to jam with your buddies. The Mackie might become old technology over time but if it works, keep using it till it doesn't.

DANG.. wish we had a "LIKE" button on here... 

And to the OP..  Keep it..  It's relatively new !!
I have roughly $25K work of PA gear including amps, passive tops, passive/active subs, consoles, mics (vox, instr, drum), DI's, stands, cables, lighting, etc.  sitting in STORAGE.
Why? because
a) I make more $$$ showing up to run church on Sun am on THEIR PA  than I do renting out my PA locally - along with me to run it!
b) It ALL still WORKS, but the resale value is non-existent, and I don't want to GIVE IT AWAY!
Plus, I'd have to part everything out to sell it and ship it to bfe.  PITA.

For example: I have a 24x4x2 A&H console that from evilbay searches MIGHT bring me $400 (w/ included doghouse). I've listed it on there and CL. NOi buyers. NOBODY wants a boat anchor anymore.. not when a small church can get a 12-ch digital console with wireless remote that fits in a shoe-box for $200 more! 

[Fraser Moffatt]

Thanks for your thoughts on this everyone.

To sum: don't need the cash, have space but could certainly use that space for other things. 

Like Steve O says, the stuff is relatively new and, as such, still has some market value today. Might not be the case in 3-5 years. But on the other side of the coin, I can hang onto it for my own jam space and that would work almost indefinitley.

So, given that it's not likely that I'll want/need to shop my system out for a bit more profit, I'm either better off getting rid of it for it's current cash value OR hanging on to it indefinitley in the case that I might need it. In fact, I could continue to use half the system for other needs (all the racked components) - I'd just be looking to unload the mixer and mains.

[Luke Geis]

Renting out I say no, running the systems as a vendor I say yes.

The not so fun part of the SR world. Money is not abundant. I have literally had bands ask for full size PA systems with 4 monitors and subs with every member mic'ed up and then laugh at me when I tell them that will be $800 ( A STEAL OF A DEAL WHERE I'M AT ) and then say they only have $150 to pay........

The truth is, that you will likely get the undercut gigs at local bars and social events where you get $150 to perhaps as much as $300 and you have to lug the gear, set it up, run it etc. etc. What is your time worth? I was one such member of that world myself when I started. I don't get off my couch for less than $500 anymore unless it is a very small PA system and or a good charity organization. It took a LOOOOOONG time to get to the point where I can pick and choose and demand the $$$$ I WANT. Is it worth it for you to simply make a few bucks here and there for as long as you wish, or would you rather have a lump sum of cash that you spend on something else?

[Fraser Moffatt]

Yeah, considering the lack of decent return in providing and running sound for lower tier events and given my propensity to flip gear (I've gone through dozens of guitars and amps over the years), I don't see much requirement to hang on to the gear while it still has some market value. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something in making this decision. I've got a couple of older boards that have not much market value (Studiomaster and Presonus) that I can still use for jamming as well as some older PA speakers. Time to liquidate the current stuff!

Thanks all!

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