This is actually from a few months ago when our company did Saves the Day/Day 26 (very odd combination I know).

Specs are as follows (all Elation show minus front light, the Moles, and my console)
24x Opti Pars
3x RMD 620 Dimmer Racks
6x ETC ParNels
2x 2x2 Mini Moles
2x DP-640B Dimmer Packs
8x DLED 36 MHs
2x DS 575Es
2x PS 575 IEs
2x Antari X-310 Fazers
2x DMX Branch/4s
1x HES Road Hog
All DMX Accu Cable
2x Motion Labs Power Distros

First shot is FoH


Second shot is the stage from FoH


Third shot is a close up of stage


Fourth is amp land/monitor world


Me playing around


Me playing some more


And me playing even more



For the sound geeks ::coughChriscough:: out there :

12x McCauley M90
4x McCauley M120
8x McCauley SA288
2x McCauley SA422
2x McCauley CMS88
4x EV QRX 115
2x EV QRX 112
2x EAW LA212
6x Crown MA500
8x Crown MA2400
2x Crown MA1200
1x Crown MA600
1x Midas Verona 320
1x Crest HP-Eight 48
2x DBX 4800
1x DBX 260
4x DBX 2231
1x Ashly GQX 3102
2x TC Electronic M One
2x TC Electronic D Two
2x Yamaha SPX 990
5x Drawmer MX30
3x Drawmer MX40
6x Shure ULX-P Beta 58

Yeah, and I bet you were given proper time to set everything up.

I get the people who want it ALL and give me 10 minutes. "Since i don't understand it, therefore it must be simple, entire concert system with mains, monitors and lights should only take around 10 minutes to set and strike..."

Watch out the M1 has a tendency to overheat in outdoor events. Indoors, never an issue.

Yea, load in started 10 AM for 4 PM sound check. Also had 12 guys for load in. Two 16' box trucks, a 26' box truck, and a trailer for a couple of Genies.

Fans in the backs of racks. Those Macro Techs run real hot too, especially the 3600. Way too much amp for a 2 space chassis.

very nice setup. you got it goin on!

Yeah, you got someone with a clue hiring you guys.

I get the "show's at 4PM, you can get the room at 3:45" type guys usually. Help? Non-existant, yet contracted.

Crown Macrotechs have a reputation for running hot. Wasn't a matter of too much amp in a 2-space, but rather they didn't have as good airflow as later models. Just a sign of the times. People wanted less rack real-estate, damn the costs in weight. And Crown delivered.

I'm happy with my KV2 Audio rig. Sets up fast, perfect every time. No fussing with rigging.

We'll see who wants to talk to me when I am in the market for a line array.

All my gear fits into an 11-foot box truck, and that sucker be packed! I'm doing a site survey tomorrow for a show 2 weeks from now.

Very Cool pics Serra. Sorry im coming in late. was out at a few bars for a friends birthday.
Serra if im ever in your town you have to teach me your HOG! PLEASE?? haha

Sincerely,

CMBDJ, thanks.

Chris, don't have a problem with 5ks, 1200s, and 600s over heating. The 2400s can run hot if the filters are clogged, but they sound like jet engines in racks. 3600s are by far the worst. I think we only have 4 of them, 2 in racks and 2 for backups just because of how much they go down. We have something like 17 5ks now, 13 racked up and 4 spares. So that should put the numbers into perspective for failure rate. 1200s we only have 4, one in each line array rack, one in another rack, and one spare. Something like 12 2400s, 10 racked. And 600s, 5 with 4 racked. Our 'corp racks' as we call them have Crown XTi's in them. Much lighter, cooler, and quieter. Great for noise sensitive stuff, but they don't pack near the power of the Macro's.

As for the staffing/hiring of guys, that would be me actually. I wear a couple of hats. Head of lighting, head of labor and event staffing, do a bit of sales on the lighting end, some project managing, and a bunch of design and technical direction. Ever in the area and need labor, drop a line .

Jingles, thanks. I will have to drop a line/give a call if I end up in your area for a gig. Let me know if you are ever in my area as well. Can finally met face to face that way then, lol.

Edit: Corrected some number because forgot a rack.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: SerraAva,

Serra,
We used MA1202's exclusively for over 20 years (10 amps)...Switched over 1/2 of our amps to PLX 3402's about 6 years ago to save some weight. I have never noticed our MA's running hot. As a mater of fact they seem to run cooler than the PLX's. We also only ever had 1 failure in 20 years with the 10 Crowns.

Again, the 1200s don't run hot. The 2400s do with clogged filters but sound like jet engines. The 3600s run hot and sound like jet engines. The racks with 3600s in them go out the least, but they fail the most. It really needs a 3 space chassis like the 5ks so it can breath better. We have only ever had one 1200 fail on us as well, doesn't stop us from having back ups though. 5ks like to go out in waves it seems, when one goes a bunch go. 2400s again rarely go, normally from filters getting junked up. We have never lost a 600, knock on wood. We also don't have spare XTi's, because we just don't run them that hard and can put an MA in its place if need be. We have also never had the whole amp fall, meaning just one channel died/ODEPed out. That is normally enough to get us through smaller shows, and larger we have back ups with us/more amp then we need.

We are now looking to get some MAi's. The i-Techs, while really light and impressive output for size, just don't hit as hard as the MA's do side by side. They also seem to can't take as much abuse. My boss will normally run the 5ks into the red all night on sub channel mainly, hitting compression on the mids. There is also a reason why ultra sound machines still use MA 10ks (can't get them on the market) and not i-Tech's. And as for the digital processing in the amps on the i-Techs, while nice for installs (stops people from blowing them up/speakers up), for live we can just network the 4800s and do all the stuff in the 4800s that we can do in the i-Tech's.

That would be cool. if i ca i will work the gig with ya. Help set up and all that. Need the experience. THEN you can teach me the hog. or a Ma if you have it. Or if your in my area and i still have them you can add the design spot 300's to your rig for that night and play with them.
Jingles

Lol, that would be cool. I am not really a MA guy, much more of a Pig guy. The MA annoys me because you have to setup everything and it is much more complex then the Hog. Hog is very simple to use once you get it down and easy to teach. I once had my boss running a show off of it live (no written programs, just busking) while I was on another job and the most experience he has with lighting controllers is a Magic 260. The other major factor is cost. Hog costs quite a bit less then the MA, especially the MA 2. Since the bulk of the stuff I do is pretty much one show or maybe a week/weekend of shows, Pig is much quicker. If I was on tour all the time, I am sure I would like the MA a little more, but doubt I would like it more then the Pig .

ah ok. cool. I cant wait for the day Elation makes a hog or Ma like console. I'll prob do support for it And get one for free. haha. Think a console like a pig or a Ma But using Compu live software. All I can say about that is FUN! haha

That would be cool. You have to be careful though. Software to run consoles is generally optimized for computers or consoles. Hog PC for example, is a pain to use without at least the programing wing. I can also use my Hog without the touch screens if need be and without a mouse (I pretty much never use that unless you count my finger on the touch screens).

Then you get software with hardware extensions, like Horizon and its replacement, Marquee. Those really need a mouse/touch screens to work well. The hardware helps, but it is not needed.

So CompuLive, while great for computer control, probably wouldn't work so well for hardware control. It would have to be re-worked quite a bit in my opinion to be viable that way. At that point, it is smarter to start from the ground up and design something around a hardware interface that can be used on computers for offline editing and smaller, less complicated shows.