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[Steve Ferreira]

Up here they got bought or re-organized or something and are now called Encore. They're our in house AV company.

PSAV bought out FMAV maybe 4-5 years ago. 3 years ago Freeman USA sold Freeman Canada and Encore to PSAV.

[brian maddox]

Yes, in rentals, all of this is very important. It helps track what got rented as well as what came back.  If it's not a line item on the invoice, it's pretty easy to have it disappear on you.  That's a good way to lose money on rentals.

That being said, you don't need to appear as a nickel and dime rental company.  It's perfectly OK to offer SOS packages that INCLUDE everything needed as part of the package.  Most of my rentals go out that way.  An SOS Fender passport kit goes out including a mic, mic cable, a mic stand, speaker stands, speaker cables, power cord and 1/4" aux cord.  Each item is listed on the invoice as a rental cost AND replacement cost should the customer not return it. The rental package price adds up the individual rentals, then discounts for the bundle.  If someone wants to take a piece out of the bundle, then the bundle discount goes away. In other words, if you wanted to rent the fender Passport but not stands, it ends up costing the same or more as the bundle package would be.  Makes it easier to prep rentals that way.

All of this^^

Pay especially good attention to the little things. Power cables. Mic clips/bags. Power strips. Even cube taps. This stuff gets left behind quite often with dry rentals and can end up chewing into your profit margin more than you would expect.

Back in the day Systems Wireless in DC was notorious for charging a TON of money if you didn't return their stuff with every single piece of packing material they sent it with as a lot of it was custom from and such. Like Hundreds of dollars Ton Of Money. And they put notices all over the stuff to make sure you knew it. I'm sure in addition to not losing their materials this also made it a lot quicker to turn the gear around.

[Scott Helmke]

And they put notices all over the stuff to make sure you knew it.

Definitely slap your name all over everything. 

Ever wonder who buys pink hammers and screwdrivers?  Contractors!  Pink tools are easy to spot and embarrassing to steal.

[Craig Hauber]

To the OP: In my 20 years of activity, the best and fastest ROI so far has been a Pioneer dj console with Cdj2000nxs2's and a djm900nxs2 mixer that I bought used earlier this year and already paid itself off due to the incredible demand my very small rental company had this year in the "wedding party with dj" field. If you have access to that market, I'm sure buying a couple of cdj3000's (the newest model) and the djm 900 nxs2 mixer would be a smart move.

Edit / disclaimer: I live in Italy and work with dj's from abroad (mainly the Uk) who ask for a local rental of the console. This may not apply where you live. Oh, and I'm in no way associated with Pioneer.

Back when I was doing this kind of work it was DJM800, CDJ1000 with Serato boxes and SL1200's and yes they were always out working.  Definitely don't recommend going down that road unless you really love DJ gear and that whole industry because the models and required pieces are coming out fast&furious now and it's expensive to keep up.  Especially if it's tangent to your main business scope.
Along that line also was the Fender Twin, Ampeg Bass amp and an 88-key Roland.  Wasn't in the backline business but was amazed at how many calls of desperation came in at the last minute for anything we may happen to have.  I wasn't going to play the game of always chasing the exact latest & greatest -this is what I have, take it or leave it.  (and judging by current prices on those amps I guess I had ones that were always acceptable)
And all those kind of last minute performance gear pieces really opened the door for future real full-PA gigs.
I probably need to explore a couple good backline amps again, could be useful -at least around here Peavey is acceptable because a vintage blackface Twin appears to have increased a bit in the last 20yrs!

[Doug Fowler]

I was always surprised at how in-demand Roland JC120 guitar amps were.

Back when I was doing this kind of work it was DJM800, CDJ1000 with Serato boxes and SL1200's and yes they were always out working.  Definitely don't recommend going down that road unless you really love DJ gear and that whole industry because the models and required pieces are coming out fast&furious now and it's expensive to keep up.  Especially if it's tangent to your main business scope.
Along that line also was the Fender Twin, Ampeg Bass amp and an 88-key Roland.  Wasn't in the backline business but was amazed at how many calls of desperation came in at the last minute for anything we may happen to have.  I wasn't going to play the game of always chasing the exact latest & greatest -this is what I have, take it or leave it.  (and judging by current prices on those amps I guess I had ones that were always acceptable)
And all those kind of last minute performance gear pieces really opened the door for future real full-PA gigs.
I probably need to explore a couple good backline amps again, could be useful -at least around here Peavey is acceptable because a vintage blackface Twin appears to have increased a bit in the last 20yrs!

[Craig Leerman]

I was always surprised at how in-demand Roland JC120 guitar amps were.

WERE is the word as my 120s have sat on the shelf for ages.

My most popular combo amps now.

Fender Deluxe, Fender Twins, Vox AC 30s, Fender Blues Jrs

[Dave Pluke]

Ever wonder who buys pink hammers and screwdrivers?  Contractors!  Pink tools are easy to spot and embarrassing to steal.

Heh, heh. Coincidentally, the only 1/4" TS cords I carry are pink.  That'll teach those guitar players to carry their own!

Dave

[martin.skif]

I’m not starting completely from zero, even thou I’m pretty close to it.  I have some head start since I already have some gear:

Behringer x32 compact with case.
Mackie cfx12mkII ( like this model since it has switchable pre/post aux 1 and 2, unlike in the newer version where aux 1 and 2 are fixed pre )
2x Shure ULXP sm58
4x Shure beta58a
2x EV ZLX-15P
2x EV ZLX-12p
2x EV ZX1A
4 talk mic stands. 3 small mic stands. 4 speakers stands.
Bags for cables.

And lots of XLR, 1/4”, mini to 1/4” etc cables.

Are those speakers well known to get rented out ? Or better Like others already mentioned,  better getting QSC K12 or JBL PRX since more people know about those ?

[Don T. Williams]

In my experience, very few rental customers are brand specific.  They are just looking for a 12" or 15" powered speaker and EV is an acceptable brand on that level.  The people with tech rider specific models will be very few, and probably very specific.  If the EV's are tough and protect themselves against abuse, they should be good.  They WILL get abuse if rented.

[Steve-White]

In my experience, very few rental customers are brand specific.  They are just looking for a 12" or 15" powered speaker and EV is an acceptable brand on that level.  The people with tech rider specific models will be very few, and probably very specific.  If the EV's are tough and protect themselves against abuse, they should be good.  They WILL get abuse if rented.

Exactly, they just want something that works, beyond that they couldn't care less about make or model.  In the end none of them do, some think they do but if you've got a system that delivers, it delivers and that's the end of the story.  Anybody that hung up on make/model that I don't have is free to go elsewhere to find it. 

[ProSoundWeb Community]