The thread of "how long with your arranger" gave me an idea for this topic.

Mine has to be back in the day with my custom B3/Leslie with Pedals/Rhoades Piano on top/ and an Arp String Ensemble on the side. Later for a "more portable setup" it was an Ensoniq Piano with a Roland U20 over it, Korg Bass Pedals and a Roland Drum Machine on the side. Many other configuarations but these are what stick out in my memory. Wish I would of taken more pictures of my "toys" through the years.
BTW, I almost always had two of everything. I'm a belt and suspenders kind of guy, even now.

Funny ting you can pretty much find all the old gear and make any setup combo you like if that's what you need. back in the day you never missed what wasn't available at the time period.
One of my favorites was my KORG M1 & Roland RA90 Real Time Arranger w/ the "Supercard" installed.

Korg PA3X, with two Bose Compacts. It does what it took two keyboards, several modules, mixers, compressor/limiter, equalizer, effects units, vocal harmony unit, numerous pedals, laptop (or stack of books with cheat sheets) etc., to do "in the old days". Not to mention huge speakers, sub, stands, and dollies, leslies, pedal boards, etc., depending on the other gear.
Nostalgia is nice, but who wants to haul around tons of gear these days, when it isn't necessary.
PSR S950 is second, because of new sounds, weight, great speakers and many of the above-mentioned items.
If there were a more ideal setup for me, I'd probably have it.
DonM

Don

Maybe I should of added "not counting your current stuff" I don't long for the old days of all that heavy stuff and complicated setups. Todays instruments are way ahead of anything we had back then. I remember saying to a salesman "so whats with this MIDI thing and who needs it" HA!
Just a nostagia thread about where we all came from musically. As with Don, once I jumped form drum machines to arrangers I had my run with the RA90 tied to a 61 key Ensoniq synth. Worked pretty good as I remember - now why I did I switch from that ?? HA! Who knows.

When I owned my own club, I had a Technics KN1000, later 2000, then 5000, then others, on bottom with DX7 on top. Midied to Yamaha FB01 and a TZ something or other. Used a 16 track Alesis mixer, with external dual effects unit, plus Alesis drum machine. I used a Yamaha processor for pitch shift, with a Peavey foot controller. I had two volume pedals and a sustain pedal.
I had two subs, and two big Peavey speakers powered by 1000-watt digital power amp. The rep from Peavey came in and helped e.q. the room and set up the sound.
Didn't move a thing, or adjust much for close to seven years, other than to replace keyboards as newer models evolved.
DonM

When you get older, hopefully, you get smarter. While that's not always the case, I would hope that is what I've experienced. I like my current setup better than any I've used or seen over the past several decades.

Last night I performed with several other musician/entertainers, they had wires running everywhere, some had traditional sound systems with big powered mixers and monster speakers, speaker and mic stands were all over the place, and you had to be real careful where you walked. I have one wire leading from my rig - it goes to the power outlet. Setup time is just 7 to 10 minutes, depending on whether or not I'm in a hurry, which is never these days. The other groups spent just over an hour setting up and doing constant sound checks. I NEVER will go back to the old days, and as for the nostalgic aspect - NAH!

Good Luck,

Gary

OK, if the PA3x is not in the running ... I'll go WAAAAAAY back to the 80s when my go-to rig took 2 hours to set up (ugh), a van to haul it and a youthful, strong back to load it all in:
Roland Rhodes 88 key piano with Roland D70 on top - SR16 or Yamaha RX17 drum machine off to the side and a midi patcher that made wonderful setups and patches between the 2 kbs. All run in stereo with massive powered stacks of Peavey speakers with subs and a powered hot spot vocal monitor.
My best rig in the 70s (when I didn't have to play bass) was the Clavinet D6 with a Rhodes on top (hanging off the back with the extender legs keeping it level) and an Elka string ensemble on top. Phase shifter on the Rhodes (of course) and an auto wah on the clav. (we didn't have a guitar player)

With all that said - I'm with Don - the PA3x replaces them all with no compromises, and gives me the best vocal processing I've ever had on stage, next to the TC vocal live touch (witch was WAY cool)

It seems that you missed the point. While we all think our "current" setup is the best I was just wondering what we really liked in the past, especially before arrangers. No, none of us miss the old stuff or we'd still be using it.
As far as the PA I still use a powered mixer/with speakers. A Bose Compact would never carry some of the gigs I do nor would I spend $1K on one. Maybe the guys you played with are in the same situation. Gotta be prepared for more than a Bose can cover. Thats a lot of cash for convience and limited situations.

O1wfd with dx7 on top in a live band.cant beat that mojo.

Hammond M102 with a Micromoog on top.