My 50 pound E9 rig

Stew Crookes · From: Paris, France

Here's a long post to share some thoughts on my current gigging setup - it's obvious that weight is a major consideration for many of us these days, and what was 'relatively' light two decades ago now seems prohibitively heavy...

Two years ago I decided to start playing out again after relocating from Toronto to Paris. It was immediately clear that I needed to seriously lighten my load. I set out to rehearse for the first time with my S10 EMCI, Boss Katana (already downsized from a NV112) and pac-a-seat on a hand cart. I couldn't take the subway, as I couldn't carry everything up and down the two flights of stairs by myself in a single trip. So I took two buses, which was doable but not easy. When I arrived I discovered it was a 7th floor walkup. With 140lbs or so of gear...

The next day I started my quest for the lightest, most portable rig that I could find.

Here's what I've since put together:

Guitar - Excel Robostar in wheeled case - 32lbs total. I chose it because it's the lightest professional S10 that I could find, and I love it! Sounds killer, no broken strings in 15 months of constant playing, stays in tune - it's a great guitar... The only fault is that it scoots around a bit on hard floors with the knee levers... On a carpeted stage it stays put perfectly but for rehearsals / gigs on concrete or tile floor, or a wood stage it's manageable but much better on a drum carpet or similar.

Amp - Quilter SuperBlock US, weighs 1lb (PSU is under the pedal board). Sounds fantastic direct to PA. Though with a speaker it's not loud enough to use confidently in a band setting without support from the PA, so it does not 'fully' replace a conventional amp but I still like it a lot. I think of it primarily as a direct tool that comes with a useful bonus amplifier - it's super versatile and a great device.

Speaker - Vox BC108, only 8.5lbs. Sounds quite good for an 8" cab, but that's still not great. It's SUPER light though, and it fits in my shoulder bag. At home the Quilter through my 12" cab sounds as good as any amp I've ever played but this little 8" cab was a necessary compromise for portability and only becomes a liability when there's inadequate PA. There's a fairly pronounced resonance around the lowest F# note (on standard E9) that bothers me, but overall it's "good enough" for rehearsals and for casual drum-less gigs. I also point it back at myself for stage monitoring when the venue doesn't have enough wedges to go around.

Pedals & tuners - Rockboard board, 4 pedals, 2 PSUs, Moyo volume pedal - total around 8lbs. The EHX delay pedal can loop 30 seconds of playing so I can walk out to FOH and hear exactly how I sound in the PA while my steel "plays itself" without me. Wish I figured this trick out years ago! A cheap Flamma mini modulation pedal handles all kinds of modulation effects in a tiny package and does them quite well. It has a few annoying quirks but it's tiny and untouchable for the price. For recording I mostly use other pedals, but this little guy covers a lot of ground live. I wanted the full size Ego compressor, as I felt I needed the controls that the mini version has on switches, but this mini Rat sounds exactly like a normal one so the smaller one was the obvious choice here
My Stroboclip is great at setup time but it gets 'confused' with the full band playing. I keep a little korg tuner handy for mid-song tweaks but rarely need it as the Excel is very stable.

Pac-a-seat - the biggest concession - I don't bring it anymore... BUT most rehearsals I'm doing are in 'professional' rehearsal studios with supplied backline, and at MOST venues I can request a drum throne or adjustable keyboard bench. When I can't, I have one of these inflatable cushions in my case: https://amzn.to/3P5ETv2 They're meant for children, but I squeak in at the top end of the 165lb limit (for now haha). This lets me get to a proper height on any normal café / kitchen chair and it weighs basically nothing. Not as stable as a proper seat and definitely not ideal, but for maybe 10% of the time I can live with it.

Here's some photos set up - I made most of the cables custom length and for the speaker cable I have a locking 1/4" turnaround adapter in the bag in case there's an amp (like a Fender) where I may want to use just the speakers powered by the Quilter. Or I might go from the Quilter headphone out into the effects return of a bigger amp. Or go direct, with or without my 8" cab. Lots of options! Everything is powered on one IEC power cable zip tied into place under the board (a 'Y' power cord for the Quilter PSU and the pedals PSU).
The ergonomics of the pedalboard are good, and I can strategically hit pedals with either foot. I can also tweak some settings with my feet (I always play in socks) and I can reach every setting easily from seated.

And this is the total pack for the steel, pedals, amp, speaker & booster seat - everything in one wheeled case and one bag, around 35 and 15lbs respectively, and even lighter when I skip the speaker cab and just bring the steel and the pedal board.

I can (and often do) take this up and down as many as 20+ flights of stairs by myself and walk a km or two on a single return outing, and ride easily on subways, trains, trams, and buses needing no more space than a traveller with a suitcase and a backpack (of which there are plenty in Europe so I blend in).

So to summarize how this is working out, it kind of depends on the day... When the venue has a suitable bench or throne for me, a proper PA, and a good tech, I'm 100% as happy as can be and there's not a single thing I'm missing from my previous setup - absolutely nothing about it feels like a compromise and some things I like better than before. But in situations with insufficient PA and normal chairs, I absolutely miss my more powerful amps and pac-a-seat and need to constantly remind myself that at least I won't have to carry those things home after the gig either... I don't currently see a way to get things any lighter without losing capabilities that I need but I'll keep looking for small improvements! I've even thought of removing the LKV change as it's not critical to me but I don't imagine that would save much weight.

I know this rig wouldn't work for everybody - I don't need to make big clean C6 sounds like some of you do, I don't need my amp to compete with drums and two guitars without help from the PA, and the average venue I'm playing here is run a bit more professionally than the equivalent sized ones I was playing in North America from 2005-2015 so it might not have even worked for me in my old life...

It took a lot of slow deliberate refinements to get to this point and basically everything in this setup has been carefully considered including which pedals would be mini and which wouldn't (I even went to a slightly lighter bar) so feel free to ask anything if you're interested in my choices, and please share your thoughts on how you've lightened your rig!

Thanks for reading all the way to the end Smile

_________________
Music mixer, producer and pedal steel guitarist

stewcrookes.com

Troy Engle · From: Pennsylvania, USA

Very cool! I love traveling light! What is the case you have? I'd love to have something like that. Thanks!

Doug Taylor · From: Shelbyville, Kentucky, USA

Looks like you have it fine tuned pretty well!

Frank Freniere · From: The First Coast

Good food for thought.

Stew Crookes · From: Paris, France

Greg Forsyth · From: Colorado, USA

Stew,

Cool. You must be very strong to be able to carry your rig up to 20 flights of stairs. Shows your love & compassion for your music!

Stew Crookes · From: Paris, France

Bobby D. Jones · From: West Virginia, USA

Bon Jour Stew.
If you are having trouble with the knee levers moving the light guitar, When engaging knee levers.
You may want to consider lengthening travel on the knee lever linkage.

By making the travel on knee levers longer, It takes less pressure on knee levers to reach stop and proper note.

Don't want the guitar waltzing across the Seine, Engaging the knee levers.

Stew Crookes · From: Paris, France

Troy Engle · From: Pennsylvania, USA

Thanks! I think they'd sell a bunch of them if they offered them.

Steve Lipsey · From: Portland, Oregon, USA

I swapped the Williams road case for a Kevin Hatton light case - huge difference in weight, fits perfectly, has wheels, perfect for around town gigs.

Hatton 17 lbs, with Williams keyless total is 43. The Excel surely is the lightest, but the Williams isn't bad...

It is tweed over wood, I wouldn't necessarily want to see what happens if it dropped off a truck and bounced down a hill (probably fine, but not a road case), but it has survived quite well for a decade so far...

http://www.hattoncases.net

His reviews are great, except for the one guy who wanted to change his order AFTER receiving his case....
_________________
https://www.lostsailorspdx.com
Williams S10s, Milkman Pedal Steel Mini & "The Amp"
Ben Bonham Resos, 1954 Oahu Diana, 1936 Oahu Parlor

Forum Index > Pedal Steel		Next oldest topic :: Next newest topic

All times are GMT - 8 Hours	Jump to: