I got booked to do a wedding at a big catering house thats been around for many years. Used to have a restaurant and nightclub too. I got to thinking about an old friend of the family who was a contractor during the day and a musician at night and used to work there. Back in the days when there was live music all over, and this place where he had worked for a long time, had music 6 nights a week. He mostly did a solo on Hammond B3 and Piano and RMI EP. One day the owner comes to him and says, in so many words "the place is going down, how much to leave all your equipment here so it doesn't look suspicious?" He says "10K" ( remember back then a new B3/Leslie went for 3K, console piano maybe 1K, his small sound system and RMI piano maybe another 1K ) Owner says OK !!! Joint goes down in a blaze. He replaced everything with brand new stuff exactly as he had it except now he did it all in Cherrywood. He already had the best stuff available at that time and rarely had to move his setup.

So heres the game-- make believe you lost EVERYTHING in a similiar situation and had to start from scratch. Remember you have to move and set it up all by yourself like you do now, and need to cover all the situations you do now from NH, restaurants, private parties, to big dance affairs of a couple of hundred people. But, you have a boatload of cash to spend.
What would you do? Keys, stands, sound system, computer , etc. ????

I must disqualify myself as I would first hire a roadie to carry and setup....

If there were anything better, without sacrificing weight, I'd already have it.
DonM

Without getting into details, I would need about $100,000.00 in replacement equipment to cover the variety of jobs I do.

Guitars and basses would number about 20, including uprights, electric uprights, jazz boxes, nylon string traditional , nylon string Bossa style, mandolin, tenor and 6 string banjo, Strat, Tele, Jazz and P bass, fretless. All are used often.

Keys would include B-3, Rhodes, A synth replacement for a Roland SD201, two Nord pianos, A C-1 or equivalent, An SD-5 for the studio roughs, a set of vibes (Philharmonic jobs)a Midjay plus for studio work.

Amplifiers would include a Fender Acoustasonic, a Fender Super Champ, a JazzKat Phatcat, GK bass heads (2) GK cabinets
(a 12 and a 15 with horn), A Roland Jazz Chorus, Several small powered monitors, Two small 200 watt Carvin sound systems, one large system (4,000 watt Crowns and appropriate cabinets and subs).

Add stands, mics, lights, benches, dollies and the number is very close to $100,000.000.

And that would be only about 5% of what I have now (think 312 stringed instruments). Much of the equipment (like double neck Robin guitars and double neck custom basses) are no longer made.

Man, that's scary. Never thought of what I'd have to replace before. Lots of folks out of Nashville had to face this situation after a major flood several years ago.

Better keep mailing those insurance checks. And I better update/increase some of the coverage.


Russ (pack rat) Lay

... and make sure you have fire protection - sprinkler and/or more sophisticated systems,- and have the warehouse on 'stilts' to protect from floods ...

PS we KNOW you can handle the thieves ...

Small to medium size QUALITY Grand for living room, best B3 and Leslie 122R I could find plus a Roland TD20 Electronic drum kit(for rehearsal and jamming) for the Recreation room, and a Nord C2D and Leslie 3300 for the occasional gig (as trio). Absolutely nothing else (maybe a Traynor K4 for the drum kit), no computer, no recording equipment, nothing to distract me from just pure playing. I've found that I no longer have the patience or interest to learn complex electronic gear anymore. Old age, I guess.

chas

Interesting replies. Capt. Russ definately wins the "I got lots of cool stuff" category. I'm guessing most of the guys on this forum have wha they want and would do a mirror replacement. same as my old friend. He had the best of his era too.

That's easy...I would get a Tyros4 and a Bose Compact...and I would work with an "old" man guitar player.....

But really- An Audya that works perfectly like Jims, a Korg PA3X or Yamaha T4 for when it doesn't, a bose L2 compact system w/ 2 bass modules, a soundcraft efx16 mixer w/lexicon effects, a Tascam multitrack digital recorder, Sennheiser 945, a pair of EV SB2A subs , pair of EV zx1's, a set of EV ZX3's to add on for larger stuff, a Petosa AM 1050 and Artista w/Totter Lux4 midi. For now..

Atta boy Sparky, you got the idea, go for it all. Just wondering why the Bose system and the EV's. Those ZX1's are tempting me too but I'm waiting for more feedback on the new Yamaha DXR's. I like them better because they have a built in 3 channel mixer and stereo link. But why not, get the Bose too.