Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[John M. Roll]

I'm curious what you guys have in your arsenals as backup in the event you have a piece fail at a gig. I'm a weekend warrior and am becoming concerned as to what I should consider having extra of. I'm running a.pair of JBL PRX635s over QSC HPr181. Things have been solid for almost 13 yrs., no failures. I have a possibility of a few.larger outdoor shows this summer and want to be prepared for the worst. Should I invest in extra amp modules for those cabs? Renting backup is a option as investing in new.cabs isn't possible right now. What do you think?
Thanks
John

[Jeff Lelko]

Hi John,

To me the notion of "backup gear" falls into two categories - things that go out to jobs as "hot spares" and things that live in my shop for repairs in between jobs.

For backup gear going on an audio job I bring my old Mackie 1402vlz3 as something that can pass audio incase my dLive acts up (which thankfully it never has).  Alternate mics, cables, and adaptors are also an obvious thing to throw in.  If there's room in the van or truck I'll sometimes bring an extra two speakers just in case something isn't sounding right or if they end up being needed for something.

As many of us say though, excess capability becomes infinitely expensive.  I'm not going to be doing speaker surgery in the middle of a gig so there's no need to bring replacement drivers or something like that nor am I bringing an entire second sound system.  Most of the on-gig issues I deal with tend to involve bad cables or venue power - not entire speakers or amps going bad.

For backup parts to keep around the shop it becomes a question of lead time.  If you only play a job every few months you should be able to get anything you need ordered and shipped between jobs, whereas if the gear is going out 5 nights a week you'll need to have parts on-hand for overnight repairs as the equipment comes back.  In my case gear goes out often enough that I keep a few spare drivers of each type for all my speakers, a spare amp for tops and subs, and a few other bits and pieces - nothing crazy.

In lighting world where the parts list for a unit is 10x that of a speaker I swap entire units out and then repair the NFG fixture on the bench as time and inventory permits. 

Where you fall between these two extremes will dictate what all you need to keep on-hand for quick repairs or for swapping entire units out.  Hope that helps! 

[Ivan Beaver]

I always like to carry spare HF diaphragms.

Especially on older gear.  They can wear out, and are the most fragile thing in your system.  Loudspeakers are mechanical devices, and as so, subject to wear and tear

Luckily diaphragms are small and pretty cheap.

[Riley Casey]

This question goes to the root of my resistance to powered speakers. A passive speaker has five, ten maybe twenty things that can fail in it and render it partially or fully unusable. An active speaker has a couple hundred any one of which can put both the amplifier and speaker components entirely out of action.  The only real answer is having a spare speaker system.

[Bob Stone]

This question goes to the root of my resistance to powered speakers. A passive speaker has five, ten maybe twenty things that can fail in it and render it partially or fully unusable. An active speaker has a couple hundred any one of which can put both the amplifier and speaker components entirely out of action.  The only real answer is having a spare speaker system.

Lose an amp on passive boxes, likely lose both your tops...lose a single powered box, still have the other side. The passive speaker still also has an amp behind it, likely a DSP too...it might not be in one piece of gear, but it's still there. Carrying one spare powered box is pretty easy insurance compared to a spare amp, dsp, and box.

For critical stuff, I bring a spare analog mixer and could limp through with one box gone. Powered box also gives me a way to get a mic and some music out if I'm doing corporate things even if the mixer tanks.

Obviously a spare or two of every cable/cord is in order as well.

[Paul G. OBrien]

Who is going to swap out an amp module in a powered speaker mid gig? It's no more likely than swapping out a blown driver in a passive speaker, yes it's possible and wouldn't even take that long but if you're the only one on the job how are you doing that while mixing the show?
The correct answer is to have another powered speaker on hand, or a passive speaker and amp capable of similar performance, something that can get you back up and running as quick as possible.

[JohnPinchin]

90% of my gigs are 4 active subs, 2 active tops, x32 etc,      I'm very very rarely pushing the subs so I don't carry a spare as 3 would be fine to get through a show, In the van I have a spare top cab and an xr18 that could be quickly swapped in if necessary - not that I've ever had to but it gives me some piece of mind.  I'll have a few spare mics and cables on hand and I'll always have two wireless mics ready to go so I can swap one in if necessary, again more for piece of mind.   

[Steve Eudaly]

In your case I'd be more likely to carry a spare small utility speaker or two (10" or 12" 2-way, whatever) which could not only help you limp through the gig if your had a failure in the mains, but will also come in handy if you need an extra wedge, front fill, delay speaker, etc.

In the case of a component failure like an amp module or driver, that's going to be repaired in the shop. In that case I usually buy two of whatever replacement part I need so I've got another one in the shop on hand in case it happens again. Waiting on parts delays or searching for discontinued SKUs is a bummer I want to avoid.

[Mike Caldwell]

I carry....
Spare amp in a rack bag with tails to make it fairly easy to patch in.
( Like Riley my mains are passive, read below) Ok 97% of the time my mains are passive.
Mixer in one form or another.
DSP loaded with all my presets, and an analog crossover.
Spare diaphragm from my mains, also works in some of my monitors.
75% of the time an extra monitor.
I always have extra cables, mics and stands on hand.
If wireless is involved, appropriate pieces for the system.

Never changed a diaphragm on location but if needed and time allowed I could do it fairly easy.

Had to use my spare amp twice in about 22 years, back about 20 years ago
slightly before the band was to arrive for sound check the high frequency amp on a
bi-amped monitor mix threw some sparks out the front.
Grabbed the spare, patched it in like nothing happened.

The second time about 6 years ago on a larger two over two main rig just about the time the first band of the day was going to start I noticed the highs were out on the outside pair of cabinets, found the amp in protect, got the band started handed them off to my helper, patched in the spare, brought up the highs, no one probably even noticed.

 

[Tim McCulloch]

The concept of spares... in modern touring systems there is probably a caddy of spares somewhere in the nose of a truck or sitting on the dock.. Inside is a small mixer of some kind, a spare amp and DSP, a couple of spare transducers for each pass band and speaker model.  This on an arena-sized rig.

On tours that use audio mixers or LX desks known to have issues (DigiCo, MA... lookin' at y'all) there may be a full spares complement of these critical items, including hot spares powered and in place or ready to deploy.  Been there, helped do that...

$20k worth of PA spares,  $700k in spare consoles.  Without getting into video village...

My arena rig designs included a spare amp on each side of the stage.  The way we built the racks allowed us to patch around almost any bad amp with an XLR cable and an NL4 and coupler.

[ProSoundWeb Community]