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All the bands I have been in practiced setting up and tearing down.
Every once in a while we would spend a couple hours doing it over and over.

Derelict78 wrote: Every once in a while we would spend a couple hours doing it over and over.

TWSS

I am all about that!! I really just dig efficiency. This new pedal train case has a strap so I loaded in a little faster too

I just make sure to have everything ready to go.

Spot tune with a snark backstage.

Make sure my board is ready to go with settings, etc.

Dial in amp settings.

Take board out of case, have everything ready to go asap.

Kind of dumb, but I put pieces of colored tape/stickers near any input/output jacks, and matching tape/sticker on the end of the corresponding cables. Helps when you have to set up on a dark stage. I never spend any time wondering "which cable goes into this jack?"

Cable management is probably the biggest thing. Velcro cable ties for sure and having your power supply set up so you don't have to mess with that. Everyone's already said that though. And having stuff as near to the stage as you can and uncased as much as possible when it's your turn. It's really helped that our drummer is pretty diligent about setting up as much as he can before it's our turn. And when you're done, just focus on getting shit off stage more than getting it fully packed up on stage if you can. I'll case my guitar, but I just wrap up my cables, throw them on top of the pedalboard and move that out of the way. Then I unstack my amp and get it the fuck off stage. Once we're out of the other band's way, then I can put my head in its case and my pedalboard and put the cables where I want them. And help your bandmates when you can before worrying about off stage tasks. I'm always up for tips, unfortunately I don't think there's any magic lightning bolt besides just hustle and common sense.

Yeah I find getting stuff off stage and out of the way is more important than packing up properly when you're done. Pile everything up and move it to where gears being stored. Then you can relax, cool down (so can your amp before going back into a case if you use one!), then leisurely pack everything up neatly and wipe your guitar down if you need to or whatever. Means youre less likely to leave stuff behind in the rush of packing up too.


Speaking of gear storage! Best lesson Ive ever learned is to pile gear up neatly in a way that leaves as few flat accessible surfaces as possible. That way no arsehole is going to come along and leave their beer sitting precariously on your amp. Putting everything in a corner and blocking it off with an upright guitar case is good for this. But the ultimate deterrent is the stinky towel you just wiped your and manly self down with!

K2000 wrote:Kind of dumb, but I put pieces of colored tape/stickers near any input/output jacks, and matching tape/sticker on the end of the corresponding cables. Helps when you have to set up on a dark stage. I never spend any time wondering "which cable goes into this jack?"

Particularly nice if your instrument and speaker cables are indistinguishable.

I have the most obnoxiously bright orange guitar leads I got made for me ages ago. Can always tell which ones are mine in the mess at the end of the set.

Pedaltrain is detrimental to my live rig now. I have the softcase and I keep all my cables/power/aux pedals in it. Everything is in on convenient place. I really need a 4x4 power supply though, needing 4 outlet spots is fucking embarrassing.

Pedal train is instrumental to a fast set up for me. I made a little patch bay with locking neutrik jacks. Got cables with right angled plugs that sit pretty much flush, so the guitar and amp cable are already plugged in, all the time (even in the case). Never lose them because they can't be pulled out by accident. Power is under the board.

Need to plug in three things then I'm good to go (if the backline is in place).

ThurberMingus wrote:Pedaltrain is detrimental to my live rig now. I have the softcase and I keep all my cables/power/aux pedals in it. Everything is in on convenient place. I really need a 4x4 power supply though, needing 4 outlet spots is fucking embarrassing.

i think maybe detrimental is not the word you were looking for.

misterstomach wrote:

ThurberMingus wrote:Pedaltrain is detrimental to my live rig now. I have the softcase and I keep all my cables/power/aux pedals in it. Everything is in on convenient place. I really need a 4x4 power supply though, needing 4 outlet spots is fucking embarrassing.

i think maybe detrimental is not the word you were looking for.

Wow you're right.

I wonder how many other times I fucked that up?

Imperative. There it is. PT-2 is imperative to my live rig.

I've scaled back my live rig from an SVT and fridge + a V4 head and cab to a single amp setup. I'm no longer playing thrash metal in a band with a single guitarist so my priorities have changed a lot, but even when I was lugging two amps and cabs I was still the first one set up and ready to play.

There are lots of little things you can do to speed up your setup / teardown time. If your amp or cab has multiple outputs / inputs, tape over or otherwise mark the ones you don't use. I spent 2 minutes at a gig once trying to find the 16 ohm input on my guitarist's cab. After that there was a big ass piece of black gaff tape over all the other jacks.

Velcro ties are great, especially the ones that stay on the cables when you unwrap them.

My Pedaltrain has junction boxes on the sides for input and output. I use a wireless but the input junction box has an "insert" jack so that if the wireless fails I can plug in a cable. I keep that spare cable by my pedalboard at all times.

Know your equipment. I'm a bass player, so I made sure to get an amp with a good direct out. Rather than taking the signal off the amp input, the DI signal has all my amp dirt applied so it sounds good in the house. Bigger places will mic the cab, too but that's not always feasible with the venues we play. Knowing what you can get by with and what you can do without will help you a lot.