Who Takes Vintage Gear to Gigs?

Moonglow: I will occasionally take my (mint) Prophet-5 (Rev 3 with MIDI) to a select gig. Usually the requirement is a large, elevated stage, where it is less apt to get knocked over by some wandering drunk or band mate. Of course, I always transport it in an Anvil case and handle it exclusively. However, I find the stress associated with the hyper-vigilance needed to monitor it in less than ideal circumstances is just not worth it, and this becomes an overly distracting factor.

dalpozlead: I stopped moving my DW-8000 after the energy went down in our rehearsal studio. Panic . . . I’ll never carry this baby around. Now I think that for live gigs or rehearsals, the best thing is to go with basics, even if it won’t sound as good as with the vintage gear you have or with your truly loved ones.

Bill H: It’s fun if it’s a gig where other knowledgeable musicians will notice it. Once in a while. I wouldn’t use it live a lot. I’ve taken my much less valuable but still high profile JP-6 out of the house a handful of times in the last ten years, just to show it off. It was fun. I was going to lug my CP-80 to a large street dance a couple of weeks ago, but didn’t follow through. A good thing too — it was several bands shuffling gear and total chaos in the areas surrounding the flatbed stage. I’ll do that one sometime, though. CPs really get attention these days.

Strategery: Too scary for me. Back in the ’80s, I had a friend play a club one weekend, and the place burned to the ground between Friday night and Saturday morning. He lost a damn expensive Les Paul and very nice tube amp. I can see the lure, but man, I don’t know. Once it’s gone, it’s gone.

Phat fingers: I still have my old ’67 Vox Continental. I always thought that, if I had a chance to play a gig that was a retro costume party type thing, that’s what I would use. I would have to go all Spinal Tap, though: “Don’t even look at it. . . .”