From eslawson@juno.com Thu Dec 13 18:52:20 2001
Subject:Mobility


On Thu, 13 Dec 2001 23:05:05 "Dan Pothaar" writes:
> Funny to hear you guys and gals confessing about your "mobile unit
years"
>

While on this topic, I'll share an interesting "mobile" rig that I used
for about 10 years and still take it out from time to time. One lost
night at a frat gig in the late eighties, I decided that I wanted to be
in more than just one place on stage. I was never really into the
guitar-strap keyboards, so I came up with Rev1 of my mobile rig. This
consisted of a Roland JX8P duct taped onto an Anvil guitar amp case with
wheels, and a long artery of power, audio and MIDI cables trailing
behind. It was stable enough to hold the keyboard, but a little top
heavy. If it got rolling good, it would have the propensity to flip and
this created some interesting drama. I used this for awhile but then I
designed Rev2 which was an XB2 on and Invisible stand u-bolted onto some
2X4s with wheels. From there I went to Rev3 which was a custom built
L-angle wrought iron beast which was tough as nails but very heavy. Rev4
was the final and best version of the rolling keyboard rig.

Rev4 consisted of the same XB2 on a QuikLok double-braced X stand
u-bolted to a heavy-duty furniture pallet with 4" wheels. I put some
sandpaper grip tape on the pallet so I could jump on and roll without
slipping off. I build a shelf on the pallet which held my volume pedal
and Leslie fast/slow footswitch. I made some cables that were about 40'
long and tied them all together so I could ride the stand all over the
stage on the gig. The XB2 was velcroed to a board that was hinged on the
X stand so not only could I roll, but I could also tilt the keyboard up
to a 90 degree (or greater--close to 180 was possible) angle and play it
sideways. Sometimes I would roll right up to the front of the stage
during a solo and our singer would grab the end of the keyboard and pivot
it up in the air and I would lean into the audience to play while the
crowd tried to play the keys. It was a lot of fun and I still use it
from time to time. It was a simple rig to use live as it was just the
XB2 going through a CLS222 and a Roland JV880 sitting offstage for piano,
strings, clav and EP sounds. The fact that the stand was mobile made it
very simple to get it out of the way for opening bands etc. And during
the gig, I was never bored since I could start out on stage left and in 2
seconds I could be clear over on stage right etc. The only trouble was
that the 40' artery got in the way sometimes. Our monitor tech would
come reel me in to help get the cord out of the way.

This might sound strange but it was really cool and different. Keep in
mind that at the time, I was playing in a crazy original ska band and it
was silly high energy all night. I would not try to pull this off in a
more mellow setting. I had a couple of accidents from speeding up and
down and all over, including a complete topple down a short set of
concrete steps. Other than some scratches on the keyboard and a bent
patch cord, I grabbed it and kept on playing.

I have some photos of the different rigs and also some live shots of the
tilting/rolling keyboard action. If I can track them down, I'll post
them on the CloneWheel site.

Regards,
Eric