How do you guys handle large boards?

ibanez_dude · 02-01-2012, 06:45 PM

I have a fully loaded PT Pro in the hard case, and it weighs 60ish lb's in the case. Even though the case has wheels on it, I still have a bad back, so it makes me want to transport my gear a lot less, to the point where I'd just leave it at church for a couple of days sometimes. How do you guys handle this? My gear sometimes wouldn't even make it up the stairs to my bedroom during the week, cause its so heavy, so it just wouldn't get played. Now I'm on a hiatus from playing on the worship team, so I leave it setup in my room, but I'm trying to brainstorm solutions. Thinking of possible splitting to two smaller PT boards, that are light enough to use the soft carry case. Either two smaller gigging boards, or a drive board and a modulation/ambience board. Thoughts? I know some of you have/had pretty large size boards. I'm not interested in downsizing, cause I use everything on there as part of my normal playing. There's nothing I can really stand to get rid of, especially since I started stacking OD boxes. Now I use 3-5 at a time pretty regularly. Plus being a delay junkie. Adds up to a ridiculously heavy board, that hurts my back just taking it out of the case sometimes.

Almost Enough · 02-01-2012, 10:57 PM

Consolidate.

For reals.

I'm doing that right now. I just pooled money with the guys on our worship team for a POD HD500, and we're going to run it into a stereo power amp and through a mic'd Marshall 1960b cab. For my other band, I've found that I only really use a tuner, fuzz, equalizer, delay 75% of the time, and modulation and reverb the other 25%. I can deal with tweaking on the fly. So, I'm consolidating. I'm going to TRY to make it all fit on a PT Mini. We'll see.

I was in the same boat you were. I didn't want to hook up my rig, or transport it because of the size. It didn't bother my back so much, but it is a pain to load and unload into a Jeep Wrangler. I started just playing straight into the amp more often than not, and just realized I don't want to deal with lugging around a big pedal board anymore. Not that I don't NEED it, or WANT it, or anything like that. I just didn't want to carry it. Laziness.

**thesteve** · 02-01-2012, 11:49 PM

Do you need the hard case? That's what,15 or so pounds right there.

***BillSPrestonEsq*** · 02-02-2012, 02:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ibanez_dude

I have a fully loaded PT Pro in the hard case, and it weighs 60ish lb's in the case. Even though the case has wheels on it, I still have a bad back, so it makes me want to transport my gear a lot less, to the point where I'd just leave it at church for a couple of days sometimes. How do you guys handle this? My gear sometimes wouldn't even make it up the stairs to my bedroom during the week, cause its so heavy, so it just wouldn't get played. Now I'm on a hiatus from playing on the worship team, so I leave it setup in my room, but I'm trying to brainstorm solutions. Thinking of possible splitting to two smaller PT boards, that are light enough to use the soft carry case. Either two smaller gigging boards, or a drive board and a modulation/ambience board. Thoughts? I know some of you have/had pretty large size boards. I'm not interested in downsizing, cause I use everything on there as part of my normal playing. There's nothing I can really stand to get rid of, especially since I started stacking OD boxes. Now I use 3-5 at a time pretty regularly. Plus being a delay junkie. Adds up to a ridiculously heavy board, that hurts my back just taking it out of the case sometimes.

I have a huge board. Mine possibly weighs 20. What is so dang heavy on yours? I have two eventides and 8 other pedals.

**jamforchrist123** · 02-02-2012, 08:22 AM

I went through a long time where all I had was drives once my m9 died (still dead sadly), so I really started discovering what I ACTUALLY needed during my different places played.

I'm by no means saying take pedals off, but I think I would lead towards the 2 gigging board route. With multiple drives and delays, you should be able to get two pretty sick boards that have only what you need for that playing application and will allow it to be much lighter.

Or get a lighter case.

ibanez_dude · 02-02-2012, 02:35 PM

My board is heavy enough that the softcase wouldn't be sturdy enough. I'd love to get rid of the hardcase, which is 30ish lbs, but there's no way

ibanez_dude · 02-02-2012, 02:38 PM

@Bill: my board has 16ish pedals on it, and TWO PP2's. Those suckers are heavy. Plus a Sennheiser G2 wireless rig

tdk8709 · 02-03-2012, 07:25 AM

I put my loaded pt pro hard case on top of my ac15 amp case and push it that way.

**thesteve** · 02-03-2012, 08:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tdk8709

I put my loaded pt pro hard case on top of my ac15 amp case and push it that way.

Something like this, or a hand truck, would be the next suggestion.

Bushman · 02-03-2012, 09:46 AM

I've been looking at a small foldup cart so I can make one trip from the car at gigs. Maybe that's your solution.

Either that or a roadie.....

metropolis4 · 02-05-2012, 10:39 PM

I know it's not really an answer to your question, but I remember a time when I had a huge pedal board with 27 pedals on it. It took up so much space (I think it was about 5'x3') and was super heavy too, but at the time I swore I needed every single pedal on it...

Turns out I didn't. My solution was to consolidate. Now I usually use a board with three pedals on it that is small enough (about 7"x4") to throw in my gig bag along with all my cables. I couldn't be happier.

ibanez_dude · 02-06-2012, 11:17 AM

See, I legitimately use everything on it. About half of it is always on, I use all 5 gain stages, and I'm a sucker for delays

**thesteve** · 02-06-2012, 12:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ibanez_dude

See, I legitimately use everything on it. About half of it is always on, I use all 5 gain stages, and I'm a sucker for delays

Hmm. Would it be feasible to put all of the always on stuff in a separate box, or would that not work with the effect order?

LWatford · 02-06-2012, 12:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by metropolis4

I know it's not really an answer to your question, but I remember a time when I had a huge pedal board with 27 pedals on it. It took up so much space (I think it was about 5'x3') and was super heavy too, but at the time I swore I needed every single pedal on it...

Turns out I didn't. My solution was to consolidate. Now I usually use a board with three pedals on it that is small enough (about 7"x4") to throw in my gig bag along with all my cables. I couldn't be happier.

I know it's not the solution for everyone, but that's what I've been working on doing!

metropolis4 · 02-06-2012, 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ibanez_dude

See, I legitimately use everything on it.

Yeah, I legitimately used everything on my huge board too. I used to say the same thing. For me there was a lot of freedom to be found in simplification. It allowed me to start concentrating on what my hands were doing and what I was actually playing and stop thinking so much about the equipment; it forces you to be more creative too.

If you really must have it all though, I don't think there's any way to avoid lugging around big heavy equipment (unless you're willing to consolidate some of those pedals into something like an m13). The two just kinda go hand in hand - more gear = bigger/heavier