Band Requirements

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electricalperson said:
most small bands that play gigs at little clubs dont bring there own lighting equipment. were talking about bands that play for 50 bucks a night for the entire band not metallica.
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I have to disagree, even $50 'cover bands' usually bring some sort of lighting rig. It might be small, it might be homemade and look really bad, but it will draw power. :smile:
 
iwire said:
I know not much real difference, just the way the rules where written.
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Maybe not, but it's understanding why we do things the way we do that makes the inevitable improvisation safer and more reliable.
 
iwire said:
I have to disagree, even $50 'cover bands' usually bring some sort of lighting rig. It might be small, it might be homemade and look really bad, but it will draw power. :smile:
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well maybe you seen bands do that but the bands i see never bring anything like that. a lot of my friends play in bands and i know a lot of the more popular bands in the area and none of them have that stuff. even if they do i think 4 or 5 double duplex receptacle outlets should cover them. you can never have too many receptacles on a stage anyway. maybe even having floor receptacles is a good idea because a lot of effects pedals require a 9 volt transformer to work if they dont have batteries and having too many cords on the stage when people are jumping around can cause problems
 
Floor receptacles on a stage seems like a bad idea to me, I'm sure it's very common, but around here the stage at some bands shows can get just covered with beer
 
MF Dagger said:
Floor receptacles on a stage seems like a bad idea to me, I'm sure it's very common, but around here the stage at some bands shows can get just covered with beer
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those are the good shows. i remember seeing tiger army and when they started playing the beer started flying and the pit appeared.

only way to tell if its a good show or not is if you leave covered in more beer than you drank
 
electricalperson said:
those are the good shows. i remember seeing tiger army and when they started playing the beer started flying and the pit appeared.k
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I think I may have seen them once or twice, pssibly with Social Distortion or the Bouncing Souls.
 
LarryFine said:
Without knowing, I'd suggest a 100a panel with a board for receptacles below it.

Otherwise, I'd say a few MWBC's feeding 2-gang (or for 3-ph, 3-gang) duplexes.
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I am a musician who plays small to medium size clubs and I would say Larry's advice is spot on. NO floor outlets, beers get kicked over all the time.
 
I play the bass for a band. I have been left in charge of all PA system and powering it. We are a 3 piece band with 2 singers. Can't get too much smaller then that. All we need is 2 Double duplexes on seperate dedicated circuits. Even with that we always have room left over for the once in a while charge cell phones. We have no light and no fog machines. We have bass amps, guitar amps, Mixers, power amps and powered speaker.
 
Hoyt said:
I am working on a bar and grill type building - 5000 sq ft. The owner would like us to provide electrical in the corner of the dinning space and at the exterior patio for a band.

Anyone have any idea what a small band needs for devices / power?

Thanks
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I got a call last Friday from a customer about needing some 120V dedicated receptacles installed to serve a band/light show at a wedding.

The wedding was to be held outside the next day (Saturday), and it finally occured to someone that the one 120V circuit that fed all the outside receptacles at this private facility would not power all the equipment that would be used.
I think that they figured this out when the "accent" lighting that they had strung thru the trees tripped the only 20A breaker feeding the receptacles.:roll:
This happened when someone plugged in a leaf blower with the lights on.

Anyway, I was requested to install (2) more dedicated 120V circuits to power 20A GFI receptacles.

I was slack on Friday, so I jumped on it, and at about 3 o'clock as I was loading my tools, and getting ready to leave, the "person in charge" came driving up (I was at a very remote location with no cell phone service) and said that he had talked to the band manager, and they would require (4) dedicated 20A circuits for their equipment/lights.:confused:

I didn't have enough components with me, and I was about 15 miles from a supply store.
I asked him what time the band was scheduled to "set-up" the next day...he said 12 o'clock....and I told him no problem, which gave him instant relief.

Apparently he was pretty agitated because he had been trying to call me and leaving voice messages, which I didn't get until I left the area.
Finally he came out to the site, and there I was....duh..:smile:

I guess that the boss was on him pretty hard for not catching this problem in the first place.

I picked up the rest of the parts on the way home, and Saturday morning at 10' oclock, I was finished.

It was a hassle for me to get it done, but, I made a new customer, and the money was OK.

Back to the OP's question....I takes a lot more power than you might think to power a band's musical instruments, amps and lighting.
Install more than you think that you'll ever need, and it might be enough.

steve
 
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