Guitar Gear Forum

How long is your load-in and set up, for :

A Just your stuff

B. The rest of the band (including PA if you BYOPA)

Just wondering, heading off to do ours tonight - biergarten gig, should be fun.

we usually get 15 minutes and i'm fully setup making noise in 5-10. we never have to bring the pa. our singer sets up our banners.

It take me about 15 minutes or so to get everything powered and going. We need 45 minutes to an hour to get PA set up and ready to go I'd say. Tear down for PA gear at the end of the night takes forever because no one wants to be doing it by that time

With just band gear and a backline supplied, I try to show up at least an hour before we're scheduled to go on.
If we we're bringing a vocal PA, I show up at least 90 minutes before to set up and make sure the sound/monitors are OK.

I usually play punk shows with 3-5+ other bands and a backline. We have 30 minutes between bands; just enough time for one band to get off and the other to get on.

I can get my guitar rig setup in 5 minutes, and my bass rig setup and ready to play in like 8 minutes, and most of that is trips to/from the car. Loading out is pretty much the same. I think of it all as being part of my responsibility - be on time, have bulletproof gear that stands up to gigging, and don't make people wait on you. If only everyone in the band had that same mindset.

PA setup takes my originals/covers band about a half hour, most of that is sound checking and balancing levels. Additionally, I always help schlep the PA before and after a gig, and I always help my drummers since they always have so many stands and shit like that.

1 head, 1 cab, 1 guitar, one pedal. three cables and a plug? i'm generally done and tuned inside 5 minutes.

rest of the band is similar. are you including drummer setup? 'cause most times, he'll build his kit in 20 minutes, and then whip it together right off side of stage.. but if that's not included, offstage to onstage time is literally 5-10 minutes max.

off top of my head, i've never set up a pa for my own band-- so can't speak to that-- but if it's me doing PA, that generally takes about 30 minutes to load, set up, power up, and ring out depending how complicated the rig is. Most times it's a power amp, 2 30 band eq's, and MAYBE 8 ins.

Looks like I'm about average then. 10 minutes for the bass rig, about 45 minutes for the PA - and most of that is running my power cables from whatever ridiculous location the electrical outlets are to the stage. Our keys player takes longer than the drummer. It's been a long time since he gigged regularly.

10 minutes for my bass rig and and 45-1hr for PA/rest of band.

10 min

not even 10 minutes for my rig (direct pedalboard, 2 guitars), and about 30 minutes for the PA. Even our female singers run cables and plug stuff in.

2 seconds. 1 second for me to stand up, and 1 more second for me to remember that I'm not gigging.

it's the drummer you have to wait for , always