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[Scott Holtzman]

I manage a regional company with enough inventory to do an arena gig and a theater / ballroom gig on the same day, with stuff left over.  All purchase decisions are about what will be used most often, not what I like.

I don't want to show off (to some) or bore others.  We have grown thanks to the generous advice offered here and some smart acquisitions and marketing.  Same deal as Tim, we (used to and hope that market comes back) do corporate events that featured numerous break out rooms for training, seminars etc.  We can easily cover the main ballroom, break out rooms and a national act if they do big entertainment.  We have pallet racks of KW, ELX, SRX, STX and HK 12" 2 ways and a few smaller.  quite a few powered 18" subs to go with them.  We have done a zoo bar crawl event with 12 side stages and main stage with material lifts and 6 Muse 210's a side.  We have 16 of the Muse's and can rent more about 50 miles down the road, it's our largest rig.  We take it out with up to 12 Meyer 650R2's, Meyer B2 (I think) processors and Lab Gruppen FP 6400's.  Next down is our VRX Rig, we have 8 942LA's and 6 STX 828S powered by the more of the FP6400's and a Venue 360 processor.  Have another STX point and shoot system same power with DVX 260 processor.  Last but not least on the midsize is the HK Projector horn loaded system, have 4 top boxes and 8 subs. 


This doesn't even begin to count the big projectors, small room projectors, fast folds in all sizes, StageRight and Wegner staging, ETC Congo JR lighting console with wing, we have a bunch of lights too but nothing remarkable.  Heavy velour drape and banjo cloth, shit loads of pipes and bases.  Material lift, chain falls, flying frames, crank stands from big to small, couple hundred feet of soffited truss. 


My 2 favorite purchases though were a box truck with a lift gate and our new warehouse came with a towmotor.  That felt like we were growing. 


I am at the same point as Tim, buy gear that is going to provide the returns we are looking for.  New gear has to bring tangible value to the customer or better operating economics for us.  We have decent gear and great techs and hands that make is sound "best in class". 

[Steve Ferreira]

At my day job we have countless warehouses all over North America, not to mention hotels all over the world. Sometimes I get a say in what we are looking at to purchase.

My side gig (weekend warrior) I have the following
Speaker & amps:
2x SRX 725
2x SRX 728
6x SRX 712m
2x PRX715
2xPRX 718
Crown Itech 8000s or XTIs

Mixer
Soundcraft Si Expression 3 with router and Ipad control
32ch digital snake

Mics
Lots of Shure and Senheiser in various flavours. Both wired and wireless
Different sized in K&M stands

Lighting
Chauvet LED moving lights
Various LED Par cans
Radiance hazer
Le Maitre G-100 smoke machine
Led effects lights for dance floors
LED bars for uplighting walls

Cables
Most cables are all Digiflex (XLR, speakon etc)
200' 24x8 analog snake

I have some truss and bases as well.

Why do I do it?
It all started as a joke many years ago. I was helping out friends and working for 1 of the largest production companies in the Portuguese community. One thing led to another and I started a company. Didn't expect it to last this long, 20 years later and we are still going at it.

Transportation
I use a 2014 Chevy Express extended van

I do have a client that I have provided for, for many years. The event started with a small stage and it ran for 2 nights, very easy. It has grown to a 4 day event with mobile stage, LED wall, line arrays, multiple bands etc. For this event I have a very good working relationship with a local company which I rent all equipment, and have them provide the labour for setup and teardown. It's a win win for everyone involved.

[Jerome Malsack]

Weekend  small band out side or larger room.

Behringer X32 rack with S16. 
Crown xls 2500 xls 2500 and xls 1500  tri amp  drive rack Pa.   
behringer Inuke 4-6000 for monitors  4 channels

crown xls 1500 spare for drum monitor or wide fill. 

old scoop style subs with emminance kappa 15 for the subs 1200 watt peak.
old EV Pim 122 rebult with HP64 horn 2 inch throat pyle pd752 driver
12 inch carvin neo driver. 

one jbl jrx monitor
two EV QRX 112/75  as floor monitors
one no name floor monitor been upgrading to better speakers internal as they have blown

one back up  emminance kappa in base guitar cabinet for drummer as sub.  for bi amp with 12 inch monitor.

sold the 2 jbl mrx 818 and 2 yamah s215v.

down sizing and leaving the work behind.
   
used a jeep liberty and trailer to move.  and was easy to bring in and out of venues.  Most weights were down around 100 lbs to move.

[Tim McCulloch]

Right Tim, companies like yours don’t fit in here.

Wow.  Inspected, de-tected, se-lected, and re-jected!  It's a tough room...

I've taken the same approach to my personal equipment inventory - something has to be a stand-out item or have incredible sentimental attachment for me to own it without it having some kind of potential economic productivity.

I have about 90 70 mics in my inventory, almost none of which are common in typical small biz sound shops - C-535 and C-391 (AKG), Beyer M-69, Oktava MC012 and MK219, Crown PCC160, AT 853 and AT4041, Shure SM86... and have at least 6 of each model.  Ditto for owning Radial J-48 and Countryman FET85 DIs.  I had to sell off part of my mic collection to pay bills last year.  I hope those who got them are using them to their fullest.

I still own my first digital mixer, a Yammy 01v (plus an 01v96ii), X32 full size and rack, and a Behry Flow 8 (for Zoom / conferencing).

And a pair of Yammy DBR12 (thanks, Mike Pyle).  If I need 'real' speakers I'll rent from my boss.

The Retirement Sale starts in 2023...

[Brian Jojade]

I manage a regional company with enough inventory to do an arena gig and a theater / ballroom gig on the same day, with stuff left over.  All purchase decisions are about what will be used most often, not what I like.

Bingo.  And from a simplicity standpoint, having more of identically the same is usually better than a variety of similar.  Eg, you could have a variety of brand or line of speakers that are slightly different, or you could just get a whole bunch that might be overkill for some smaller jobs, but then you don't need separate inventory.  You could have a few lines of wireless mics, but if you need to put them all together for a big show, that becomes more difficult, etc.


As far as what I run for primary rig:

10 space amp racks that contain power distro, 3 iTech 5000 HDs an X32 rack an airport express, and a 16 port POE switch.  I have multiple identical of these.  One unit can cover most shows. 2 or more can be rolled in for the bigger events.

For speakers, I use the JBL SRX 700 line.  Lots of 712m because, well, they are small and light weight, and awesome.  718's and 728s for subs. Can be used interchangeably, depending on what is easier to load for the particular event.  722f for tops.  Great boxes that cover the size of events that I primarily do.  715's for the random satellite speakers needed.  More of the iTech 5000HDs in 2U racks for drop in place amps.

Mixers are all X32. Racks, compacts, full size.  The price point and flexibility when I got into it was the deciding factor. I've tried to like the X-air, but can't stand the interface, so got rid of all of those.  Now I have more X32 racks in 3U boxes ready to go.  Slightly larger, but packs easier in the truck and can be used with the others in the system no problem.

Mics - Shure QLX-D.  These have been hands down the most worry free mics I've ever had.  All are the same, so I can go with a single unit, or multiple units, no problem.  Systems are in the same 3U racks that the X32s use, so stacking together a rig is pretty painless.

Transportation: Chevy volt.  That carries me around. When I do a show, I rent a truck.  At $30/day, it's way cheaper to rent than to own for the number of shows I do.

[Brian Jojade]

C’mon everyone, need suggestions for renaming this thread.

Thanks.

Taco Bell. Love it or hate it??

[Scott Holtzman]

Taco Bell. Love it or hate it??

Run for the border (or the facilities).  Before I started eating reasonable my taco bell order was 3 crunchy beef supremes, 1 burrito supreme and 2 orders nachos and cheese with 9 fire sauces.

[Tim McCulloch]

Run for the border (or the facilities).  Before I started eating reasonable my taco bell order was 3 crunchy beef supremes, 1 burrito supreme and 2 orders nachos and cheese with 9 fire sauces.

That's a heart attack in a bag! 

[Doug Fowler]

That's a heart attack in a bag! 

Only Beef Supreme for me is when I’m watching Idiocracy.

I wouldn’t even know what to order at Taco Bell.

[David Morison]

C’mon everyone, need suggestions for renaming this thread.

Thanks.

McCulloch's Microphone Menagerie.

Holtzman's Heartburn Headaches.

Small Sound Co Rig Rundown & Rationale

[ProSoundWeb Community]