Everyone puts up with hauling and lifting gear as a necessary labor of performing live. You'd like to think that the better you get at playing out, the more efficient you become with your gear setup and the more stripped down your musical weapons of choice become. It doesn't always work that way, though, because the more evolved your stage show, the more equipment you're likely to be schlepping around. Roadies are nice, but they're a luxury only the most successful bands can afford.
But what if you could assemble a really portable rig — one not only lightweight and easily movable, but conceived from the ground up for portability? What advantages could you gain in time saved — not to mention in reduced back strain? With a little thought and a creative approach, you can achieve great sound with a setup that's probably a lot smaller and more manageable than the one you're currently hauling around. In this article I'll outline several strategies for reducing the poundage of your onstage rig and for paring down its complexity — all while sacrificing very little, if any tone. I'll discuss each of the instrument families in the rhythm section (guitar, bass, keyboards, and drums) and address some P.A. strategies and overall band concerns.
WHY GO SMALL?
There are a number of possible motivations for reducing your rig, including avoiding heavy lifting, fitting into smaller surroundings, and presenting a cleaner, more stripped-down stage aesthetic. Let's consider just a few of the most important and practical reasons.
On the go
Having a rig you can walk around with is essential if you live in a metropolitan area (such as New York City) that is hostile to automobiles. It's nice when you can fit your whole rig onto a rolling cart that you can tote with one hand. Even if you are driving to the gig, having this level of portability means that you don't have to make multiple trips to and from the car when loading and unloading. That is important, because gear can easily be stolen when musicians leave it unattended in a vehicle.
Gravity's rainbow
You may want to pare down because the sheer weight of your rig has become too burdensome to lug around on a night-in, night-out basis.
Space saver
Conserving space is another prime motivation for a gear slim-down. Here, “space” could refer to both onstage space and storage as well as transport space (like the trunk of your car). If you're a drummer who wants to reduce the footprint of your onstage kit, you should be more concerned with how the kit measures up once it's out of the cases and fully expanded. If, however, you're trying to pack an emergency kit into the trunk of your car (along with all the other junk you carry in there), you'll be looking more at the dimensions of the kit when it's collapsed.
Powering down
Often you need to use a smaller setup because of a venue's reduced sonic requirements. Dragging a bass amp the size of a refrigerator to a gig hardly makes sense when all you use it for is to play pianissimo duets with a soprano recorder at a museum tea room. These days, guitar amps, bass amps, keyboard amps, and full-range P.A. speakers are made so efficiently that low-powered models often sound just as good as their high-powered counterparts (albeit at lower volumes).
Emergency room
If you travel a lot, or if you're thinking of joining a touring outfit, you should know that a band's equipment often travels separately from its performers. That's a good system when it works, but road mishaps occur all the time: the band members might be at the venue in Phoenix two hours before show time and learn that the truck with the gear is up on a lift at a garage in Albuquerque. That's when you have to beg, borrow, or steal — or worse, rent — equipment to make it through the gig. But if you have a rig stashed in the trunk of one of the passenger vehicles, not only do you have a working setup with you, but you have one that you're familiar with and that is tweaked to your liking. In addition, your emergency rig can double as your practice rig. That idea should appeal to drummers who are unable to keep their instruments with them as easily as, say, guitar players can.
Double the fun
While a duplicate setup doesn't quite let you play in two places at once, it does allow you to play in two places without having to break down and set up. For example, at wedding receptions, bands are often asked to play trio jazz in the cocktail lounge before going into the main dining room or ballroom to play with the big band for the arriving guests. On the road, a double setup enables the drummer to leave a big kit onstage overnight and use a reduced kit to learn new songs at hotel-room rehearsals.
INSTRUMENT WEIGHT LOSS
Now let's take a look at the various instruments in a typical band configuration and suggest ways to reduce rig size and weight while still sounding good.
Bass and guitar
If you're a bass player who jealously looks on as guitar players blithely stuff their instruments into the overhead bin of an airplane, consider that you too can enjoy that feeling of freedom by going with a headless bass or a short-scale bass as your second instrument. Highly popular in the '80s, headless basses are most notably produced by Steinberger and Klein, but lower-priced versions are available from companies such as Hohner and Cort. These headless wonders eliminate several precious inches in total length and are so narrow in many cases that the sides of the body are only slightly wider than the strings. If you score one of these modern-looking space savers, make sure that you get the fitted gig bag of the corresponding size.
Playing a short-scale bass may not be something you want to pursue long-term, but having one is better than having a no-scale (when the band truck doesn't show). You can always rehearse all the retro '60s tunes that featured that flabby short-scale sound.
Guitar players don't necessarily have to abandon a favorite axe — your instruments are already fairly portable (unless you play something really huge like the Rick Nielsen five-necked Hamer). You too, however, can opt for headless instruments (from Steinberger, Klein, Hohner, and others). Or, if you really want to go small, you can choose a short-scale travel guitar, such as the Tacoma Papoose or the Erlewine Chiquita, which is almost a foot shorter than a Strat. The Fernandes Nomad is a minielectric that includes a built-in speaker, a 5W amp, and an onboard effects processor in addition to a normal ¼-inch output jack. The Martin Backpacker, the Ibanez Daytripper, and the Taylor Baby Taylor are three popular miniacoustics that can easily be electrified. (Of course, by opting for a miniguitar, you'll be making some sacrifices when it comes to playability and range.)
If you're tired of lugging a big amplifier around, consider this: you don't even have to use an amp. One strategy you can use is to plug in to a preamp processor with speaker-modeling capabilities (such as the Line 6 Pod or Bass Pod or the DigiTech Genesis3) and feed the line out to the P.A. You would then listen to your output through a stage monitor. You'll have more success with this approach if you have a relatively sophisticated monitoring system where you can have your own individual mix. If you're all sharing a single monitor mix, it's likely that you'll want your instrument up a lot louder than your bandmates will be able to tolerate.
If it's important for you to have an amp onstage, go with a low-powered combo that's small and light and designed only for onstage monitoring (and tone production) and let the P.A. supply all the sound to the house (you could either mic the amp or go direct). This small combo amp can be tilted upward or placed on a stand so that you can hear it well without having to resort to larger, heavier, and more powerful models. Bass players should check out the Tech 21 Landmark 60 Bass Wedge (see Fig. 1), which combines the functions of a bass amp and a stage monitor in a single combo.
Combos are also the most portable type of amp. (Bear in mind that tube amps weigh more than similarly endowed solid-state models.) You can save additional space by choosing an amp that has onboard effects (compression for bass players, reverb and chorus for guitarists) so that you can forgo an outboard processor. Remember, simplicity is a desirable by-product of portability.
For those guitar and bass players who need more effects than their amps can provide, there are plenty of multi-effects processors that are quite compact. For ultimate portability you might even consider a miniprocessor such as the Korg ToneWorks Pandora PX4 for guitar (see Fig. 2) and Pandora PX4B for bass, which are each about the size of a deck of playing cards. Only slightly larger are Zoom's 505 II (for guitar) and 506 II (for bass) footpedals.
These miniature multitaskers offer multiple simultaneous effects and scores of individual effects, as well as other goodies, such as tuners and metronomes. Further, like the preamp processors mentioned earlier, these units can also be used to take your signal directly to the board, without having to go through an amplifier.
Keyboards
Although lots of neat tricks and ingenious variations have been successfully implemented to reduce the size of guitars, basses, and drum sets, it's a lot tougher to trim the size of a keyboard without reducing the key size, which significantly diminishes playability. (A few companies offer keyboards with small keys, generally in their consumer line of home keyboards. If you can get by with playing mostly simple parts, those keyboards might be an option.)
The most important size limitation is the number of keys in the action. The standard configurations are 49, 61, 76, and 88 keys; Roland's AX-7 offers a nonstandard 45 keys. One of the most important weight factors (but by no means the only one) is the type of keyboard action. In many cases, the number of keys and the action type are related, so you should consider them together.
Other factors that affect weight and size are the type of case construction, onboard speakers, and internal electronics such as a tone generator. Many companies use external power supplies to reduce the keyboard's weight. Of course, if you eschew onboard speakers and tone-generating circuitry, you have to haul a separate tone module and use some sort of monitor speaker. If you use an external power supply, you have to keep track of it.
The most compact keyboards are nothing more than MIDI controllers that contain no sound-generating circuitry. The housings of these MIDI master keyboards are often only as big as they have to be to surround the keys. The Doepfer PK88 (see Fig. 3) is one of the most compact controllers around and is built in to its own flight case. The Fatar StudioLogic SL-880 and SL76 are also good choices. Other compact controllers include Roland's A-33, a 76-note, semiweighted, battery-powered keyboard, and Yamaha's CBXK2, which has 49 keys.
If you choose a keyboard controller with few or no onboard sounds, you will need a sound module that is suitable for gigging. Depending on your musical style, you might get away with a simple General MIDI module, which provides basic sounds such as acoustic and electric pianos, organs, clavs, leads, and pads. A half-rack module with onboard effects (such as the new Roland XV-2020 or the Kurzweil Micro Ensemble) is extremely handy because, unlike most single-rackspace devices, it can fit into a gig bag and has no edgy rack ears.
However, you might be best off getting a keyboard synth with the action you want and the onboard sounds you need. Nowadays, many of these instruments are lighter and more convenient to use than the behemoths of old. For instance, Alesis's QS-series synths come in 61-key unweighted and 88-key weighted, hammer-action models; offer a reasonably good tone module and effects; have an internal power supply; and let you load your own samples and sequences using a memory-card slot. Yet the 88-key QS8.2 weighs only 48 pounds.
Most of the time, you can use the effects built in to your synth, which means you don't need a separate effects processor or an amp with effects. A full-range combo amp designed for keyboards often will do nicely. These are available from well-known companies such as Peavey, Crate, Yorkville, and Roland.
Keyboard players are also ideal candidates for going direct, because most of them don't rely on their amp for a tonal signature in the same way that guitarists do. For that, all you need is a direct box to ensure that you are sending a good, hearty signal to the P.A. Of course, even when you go direct, you need an onstage monitor.
One option is to have a small keyboard amp or powered speaker (such as the Mackie SRM450 or the Electro-Voice SX300a) for stage sound and go direct for the front-of-house sound. If you have more than one synth, you can feed the synths to the smallest mixer you can find. Forget fancy mixer features; M-Audio's tiny MultiMixer 6 tabletop line mixer, for example, gives you six input channels, volume and pan pots, L/R outputs, and clean sound, which will do the job fine. Send one feed to the house system and one to your stage amp or personal monitor, and you're done. You can work out numerous variations on these themes, of course.
Drums
Since drummers have from time immemorial had to deal with the most burdensome of all rhythm-section setups, it's logical that the most inventive and ingenious alternatives to toting a full-size trap set have been developed on their behalf. However, before delving into some of those possibilities, it should be noted that a smaller, lighter acoustic kit can often be the best all-around solution for the drummer looking to shed gear poundage. Typically, that means using drums that have thin rather than thick shells and flanged rather than cast hoops. Consider using fewer drums in your kit, as well. Four pieces (kick, snare, rack tom, and floor tom) are almost always sufficient, and three or even two are enough to gig with in many cases.
Perhaps the biggest key to assembling a lightweight kit is using lightweight hardware. Much of the hardware in use today is of the heavy-duty variety. Although it provides for better stability onstage, it tends to weigh a great deal, especially once you put it all together in a trap case.
Many seasoned pros — at least the ones who have to carry their own gear — use the lightest yet sturdiest hardware they can find. Many drum manufacturers offer a line of hardware — such as DW Drums' 6000 series — that's designed to be lightweight. It's also worth checking in secondhand stores or on eBay for the old '60s-era Ludwig stands, which are small, light, simple, and incredibly strong.
Another approach you can take that's still in the acoustic realm is to purchase a kit that's specially designed for portability. For example, Whitney Drums makes the Nesting Penguin series (see our review in this issue), in which the drums stack inside of each other like wooden Russian Matryoshka dolls. Yamaha offers a clever approach to the portable kit with its Hipgig series, which centers around a miniature two-piece bass drum. The other drums (two toms and a snare) fit inside the bass drum, and the hardware fits into the stool.
If you don't mind playing standing up, you can opt for a cocktail set — such as the Slingerland Universal Grind set or Yamaha's Club Jordan Cocktail Drum System (see Fig. 4) — in which a specially made, elongated floor tom doubles as a tom or snare on top (depending on the manufacturer) and a bass drum on the bottom. A modified beater comes up from underneath to hit the lower head. Cymbals and additional drums attach to the floor tom's shell with adjustable vertical and horizontal arms. Besides portability, a further advantage to cocktail drums is that they take up less real estate on stage.
Another nifty way to go is to use drums that have heads and rims but no shell (or bottom head) underneath, such as the Flats series by Arbiter Drums. While you might question the acoustic efficacy of such an approach, they sound pretty good, and, with proper miking and EQ, they can sound excellent. Best of all, they play like real drums, but because they lack shells, they weigh less than half as much.
There are also several electronic solutions for the drummer seeking better portability. Let's look first at electronic kits. They're certainly smaller and lighter than acoustic drums, but when you factor in their hardware, cables, and amplification needs, they're not necessarily more portable. However, if your gig calls for more than just basic drum sounds, electronic kits have a great advantage in that they allow you to trigger percussion and specialty drum sounds (and even sound effects and MIDI sequences), meaning that you won't have to lug a bunch of extra percussion with you. Some of the better-known manufacturers of electronic kits are Roland, Yamaha, Hart Dynamics, Pintech, ddrum, Drum Tech, and Boom Theory.
If you're looking to really go small with your drum setup, however, you may want to consider a pad-style percussion unit such as one of Alternate Mode's KAT series controllers or Roland's SPD-20 (see Fig. 5). These devices consist of a series of pads that you smack with sticks — just as nature intended. They have footpedal inputs as well, which are great for kick and hi-hat parts. Some, like the SPD-20, have built-in sounds, while the KAT controllers require an external sound source such as a drum machine, module, or sampler.
Smaller yet are controllers designed to be played with the hands or fingers. Examples include the percussion-oriented Roland HPD-15 and the Zendrum ZX (which is used by Béla Fleck and the Flecktones percussionist Future Man), a uniquely shaped controller that can be cradled in your arms like an instrument. (Both the HPD-15 and the Zendrum ZX are MIDI controllers, but of the two, only the HPD-15 also has its own internal sounds.)
For those gigs where the stage is tiny or the club doesn't allow drums, you could consider playing a drum machine. Naturally, you'll sacrifice a great deal in terms of playability, but with a little practice, you could tap out basic grooves on the unit's pads with your fingers. (Just don't expect to be able to play your favorite Billy Cobham or Virgil Donati fusion parts.) Moreover, many performance-based machines include one or two footpedal inputs to trigger the bass drum and hi-hat.
P.A. systems
The ultimate portable P.A., it could be argued, is one that is battery powered and that you can pick up and run with in a moment's notice (like when the cops come). For street musicians, subway performers, and intrepid buskers everywhere, there are battery-operated systems such as the Walker Labs Lunchbox or the truly street-guerrilla Pignose Lil' PA that let you plug in an instrument and a mic and wail away. The Lunchbox has four mic/line inputs and EQ, and it delivers 60W RMS into 4⌰.
One way to get around hauling a P.A. is to use a full-range amp that you plug a mic and an instrument in to. Full-range amps, typically used by keyboardists, usually have two or more speakers, each dedicated to a specific frequency range — a 15-inch woofer and a smaller tweeter or horn, for example. If you're a singer-songwriter who plays guitar or keyboards, a multichannel acoustic amp — such as the Tech 21 Bronzewood 60, the SWR California Blonde, or the Marshall AS100D (see Fig. 6) — is a great solution, especially for small and solo gigs. These amps have XLR and ¼-inch inputs, allowing for simultaneous connection of instruments and microphones.
Another way to get smaller without lugging a big mixer around is to use an ultracompact mixer (such as the Mackie 1202-VLZ Pro, the Behringer UB1204FX-Pro, or the Samson Mixpad 12) and plug the outputs directly in to two powered speakers. You can cut down on bulk by using in-ear monitor systems (Shure's new PSM 200 or Sennheiser's 300 IEM system are two possibilities) or with powered standmounted monitors such as those in Galaxy Audio's Hot Spot series. Conversely, if you want to use unpowered speakers, you can save space by using a powered mixer, which combines a mixer and a power amp into one unit.
If you play small venues at low volumes and don't need to pump a lot of bass through the system, consider a self-contained P.A., such as the Fender Passport or Peavey Escort. These systems offer portable solutions with clever designs that provide fold-up stands, small speaker enclosures, portable and stowable mixers, and other efforts toward miniaturization.
A number of plastic-housed powered speakers are equipped with basic mixing capabilities, allowing you to dispense with a separate board altogether, assuming you need only a couple of inputs. The JBL EON15 G2, for example, has three inputs (one XLR and two ¼-inch), independent level controls, and 2-band EQ right on the speakers' back panels. (Naturally, you can also use them with a separate mixer for much greater flexibility.)
Another boon to portability is the trend in P.A. speakers to be configured as a subwoofer and a pair of two-way satellites, instead of two massive three-way speakers. That approach allows the satellite speakers — the ones that handle the high and midrange frequencies — to be constructed in a smaller and more efficient manner. The subwoofer handles only frequencies below a certain threshold (called the crossover point) and are happiest on the floor in a corner, not up in the air with the satellites (which like to be in a line of sight to the audience's heads). The speakers can now specialize in the sounds they produce best, rather than trying to be all things to all frequencies.
As mentioned above, an in-ear monitor system is a great way of jettisoning heavy monitor cabinets. In-ear monitors themselves are tiny buds that fit right into your ear and don't require much power to drive. If you're used to hauling around four heavy monitor wedges, then an in-ear system will make you feel as though you've died and gone to portable heaven. An in-ear system for the whole band is a fairly big commitment — in time, money, and tweaking — but it can significantly cut down the size of your stage clutter.
LEAN AND MEAN
In an ideal world, you as the guitar player could plug a headless guitar into a card-deck-size signal processor, run the output straight to the board, and hear your guitar, your voice, and the rest of the band in a perfect blend through your in-ear monitor system. You could look over at your headless-bass player (or should that be bass player playing a headless bass?), your drummer standing tall and wailing on a TrapKAT, and your tiny-but-mighty satellite speakers pumping out your house sound. The subwoofer would be discreetly out of sight, but laying down some major low end. You and your equipment would all be assembled on a tiny stage, but you'd still have plenty of elbow room.
It's a lot to imagine that this scenario would produce the perfect vocal and instrumental mix (both in the house and monitors) and the best possible instrumental tone. Theoretically, however, it's well within the realm of possibility and not even that far-out a concept, given the current technology available and some willingness to tinker with it. But even if you can use only some of these strategies for a few of your band members' setups, you can still benefit. The only downside to striving for a more portable rig is that your chiropractor may not be able to rely on you for his boat payments. But with your new-found vigor and extra setup and breakdown time saved, you'll find the trade-off is well worth it.
Jon Chappell
is the author of the Gig Survival Guide (Hal Leonard Publishing, 1999) and won't stop working on his portable stage rig until it can fit comfortably on an airplane tray table. Thanks to Steve Oppenheimer and Brian Knave for their assistance.
Manufacturer Contacts
Alesis tel. (401) 295-9000; e-mail info@alesis.com; Web www.alesis.com
Alternate Mode tel. (877) 933-6237; e-mail info@alternatemode.com; Web www.alternatemode.com
Arbiter North America tel. (877) 553-5596; e-mail info@arbiterdrums.com; Web www.arbiterdrums.com
Behringer USA tel. (425) 673-2237; e-mail support@behringer.com; Web www.behringer.com
Boom Theory tel. (206) 378-1295; e-mail info@BoomTheory.com; Web www.boomtheory.com
Cort tel. (847) 498-9850; e-mail cortsales@cort.com; Web www.cort.com
Crate/St. Louis Music tel. (314) 727-4512; Web www.crateamps.com
Doepfer Musikelektronik GmbH/Enport (distributor) tel. (402) 398-0198; fax (402) 398-0012; e-mail enport@home.com; Web www.doepfer.com
DigiTech tel. (801) 566-8800; e-mail customer@digitech.com; Web www.digitech.com
Drum Workshop (DW Drums) tel. (805) 485-6999; e-mail info@dwdrums.com; Web www.dwdrums.com
Electro-Voice (EVI) tel. (952) 884-4051Web www.electrovoice.com
Erlewine tel. (512) 302-1225; e-mail mark@erlewineguitars.com; Web www.erlewineguitars.com/pgs/chiquita.htm
Fatar/Music Industries Corp. (distributor) tel. (800) 431-6699 or (516) 352-4110; fax (516) 352-0754; e-mail mic@musicindustries.com; Web www.musicindustries.com
ddrum/Armadillo Enterprises tel. (727) 519-9669; e-mail info@armadilloent.com; Web www.armadilloent.com/ddrum.html
Drum Tech tel. (888) 378-6832; e-mail info@drumtech.com; Web www.drumtech.com
Electro-Voice (EVI) tel. (800) 234-6831 or (616) 695-6831; Web www.electrovoice.com
Fender Musical Instruments tel. (480) 596-9690; fax (480) 596-1384; Web www.fender.com
Fernandes tel. (818) 252 - 6799; e-mail info@fernandesguitars.com; Web www.fernandesguitars.com
Galaxy Audio tel. (316) 263-2852; e-mail webmaster@galaxyaudio.com; Web www.galaxyaudio.com
Hart Dynamics Inc. (850) 654-1455; e-mail hd@hartdynamics.com; Web www.hartdynamics.com
Hohner tel. (804) (515) 1900; e-mail info@hohnerusa.com www.hohnerusa.com
Ibanez tel. (215) 638-8670; e-mail info@ibanez.com; Web www.ibanez.com
JBLtel. (818) 894-8850; e-mail info@jblpro.com; Web www.jblpro.com
Klein Acoustic Guitars tel. (707) 938-4639; e-mail info@kleinguitars.com; Web www.kleinguitars.com
Kurzweil Music SystemsInc./Young Chang America
tel. (800) 874-2880 or (253) 589-3200; Web www.kurzweilmusicsystems.com
Line 6 (818) tel. 575-3600; e-mail info@line6.com; Web www.line6.com
Marshall/Korg USA Inc. tel. (516) 333-9100; e-mail info@korgusa.com; Web www.marshallamps.com
C. F. Martin & Co. (The Martin Guitar Company) tel. (610) 759-2837; e-mail info@martinguitar.com; Web www.martinguitar.com
Mackie Designs tel. (425) 457-4333; e-mail productinfo@mackie.com Web www.mackie.com
M Audio tel. (800) 969-6434 or (626) 445-2842; e-mail info@midiman.net; Web www.midiman.net
Peavey Electronics Corp. tel. (601) 483-5365; e-mail webmaster@peavey.com; Web www.peavey.com
Pignose Industries tel. (702) 648-2444; e-mail pss@pignose.com www.pignoseamps.com
Pintech Inc. tel. (864) 288-1500; e-mail play@edrums.com; Web www.edrums.com
Roland Corp. U.S. tel. (323) 890-3700; e-mail info@rolandus.com; Web www.rolandus.com
Sennheiser Electronic Corp. tel. (860) 434-9190; e-mail info@sennheiserusa.com; Web www.sennheiserusa.com
Shure Incorporated tel. (800) 25-SHURE or (847) 866-2200; e-mail sales@shure.com; Web www.shure.com
Slingerland/Gibson Musical Instruments tel. (615) 871-4500; e-mail relations@Gibson.com; Web www.gibson.com/products/slingerland
Steinberger/Gibson Musical Instruments tel. (615) 871-4500; e-mail relations@Gibson.com; Web www.gibson.com/products/steinberger
Tacoma Guitar Company tel. (253) 847-6508; e-mail ferd@tacomaguitars.com; Web www.tacomaguitars.com
Taylor tel. (619) 258-6957; e-mail pr@taylorguitars.com; Web www.taylorguitars.com
Tech 21 tel. (212) 315-1116; e-mail info@tech21nyc.com; Web www.tech21nyc.com
ToneWorks/Korg USA Inc. tel. (516) 333-9100; e-mail info@korgusa.com; Web. www.korg.com
Walker Labs tel. (909) 866-3420; e-mail info@walker-labs.com; Web www.walker-labs.com
Whitney Drums tel. (805) 452-4163; e-mail info@whitneydrums.com; Web www.whitneydrums.com
Yamaha Corp. of America tel. (714) 522-9011; infostation@yamaha.com; Web www.yamaha.com
Zendrum Corporation tel. (404) 352-1646; e-mail zendrum@mindspring.com; Web www.zendrum.com
Zoom/Samson Technologies (516) 364-2244 info@samsontech.com www.samsontech.com
