10 Ways to Simplify Your Live Guitar Rig

Simplifying your live guitar rig doesn’t have to mean making compromises with your gear — sometimes you just need a smart solution to save yourself an extra trip to the car or a way to use the gear you already rely on more efficiently. We asked guitarists at Sweetwater for tips on how any guitar player can simplify their live rigs, as well as aid setup and tear-down. Here’s what we came up with.
Get a rugged equipment bag

When you head to a gig, you probably take along many items that don’t have their own dedicated case — a mic or amp stand, spare cables, set lists, tape and markers, and so on. Instead of cramming all of it into other cases, like your guitar gig bag or your pedalboard case, consider consolidating these things in an equipment bag like the Sweetwater Deluxe Overnight Bag. Use its assortment of compartments to organize all your odds and ends, and you’ll spend less time searching random cases and compartments for those small-but-crucial items.

Invest in a dual-guitar gig bag

Ask any experienced live performer, and they’ll tell you having a back-up guitar and amp are essential. And it’s far easier to bring along that extra guitar when you have a dual-guitar gig bag, like the MONO M80 Dual Electric Guitar Hybrid Gig Bag. Load in your guitars, strap it on your back, and you’ll be able to bring two guitars into the venue while leaving your hands free for other equipment. If you need both electric and acoustic guitars for your performance, the MONO M80 Dual Acoustic & Electric Hybrid Guitar Gig Bag will do the trick.

Use a dual guitar stand

While we’re talking about having multiple guitars, a dual guitar stand like the Gator Frameworks GFW-GTR-2000 Double Guitar Stand is a smart buy for any guitarist. Using this double stand instead of two individual stands reduces the number of individual items you need to take with you, which means you’re more likely to return home with all your gear at the end of the night. When you’re trying to slim down your guitar rig, every single piece matters, and a dual guitar stand is just one more way to make your stage experience better with a minimum amount of gear.

Get a cart that can make it to any stage

We’re talking about how to simplify your live performance rig, and what could be simpler than rolling it all right up to the stage in one trip? Get a quality cart like the Rock N Roller R12RT All-terrain Multi-cart, and you’ll never want to gig without one again. While Rock N Roller makes a wide range of carts for all budgets, we’re highlighting the all-terrain model here due to its large, capable wheels, which are a must if you’re playing outdoor festivals or moving gear through grass or gravel areas. Rock N Roller carts also feature an ultra-convenient stairclimber feature that helps you get up stairs with a loaded cart — unless you only ever play ground-level gigs, this will likely become your favorite feature.

Label your gear and settings to make your life easier

For labeling everything from power supplies and equipment cases to mixer channels and effects settings, it’s hard to beat the versatility of the StageTrix Setting Saver marker. It uses highly visible fluorescent ink that you can see clearly in sunny or dark environments alike, and even wipes away completely clean with no residue left on your gear.

Skip the amplifier, and go direct with your pedalboard

If you rely on your pedalboard to craft your guitar tone, consider ditching your amp altogether by adding a speaker cabinet emulation pedal at the end of your pedal chain, like the Hotone Binary IR cab simulator. Simply plug it into a direct box, and you can go direct to the mixing board without ever setting up a physical amp. You can tap into 100 different cabinet models, mess with 11 studio microphone simulations, and explore eight power amp simulations — you can even load third-party impulse responses if you wish. Especially if you already use a preamp pedal or amp-in-a-box–style pedal, you may find that a good speaker simulator like the Binary IR is all you need for great tone in any venue.

Go all-in with amp modeling, multi-FX, and speaker emulation

It’s hard to think of a simpler live rig than a guitar and a floor processor like the Line 6 Helix guitar multi-effects floor processor. Giving you access to all the amplifier models, cabinet simulations, and effects types you could ask for, Helix also gives you impressive flexibility in how you go about creating and managing your own custom presets. It has multiple outputs, allowing you to send your tone direct to the mixing board while also splitting off to a powered monitor. And even if you only ever use the same single amp model, cab sim, and handful of effects, the premium sound quality and ultra-compact nature of the Helix floor processor makes it a worthy consideration for any gigging guitarist that wants to minimize their guitar rig.

Use a loop switcher to simplify your pedalboard

It may seem counterintuitive that adding something to your pedalboard could simplify it, but that’s the case with the BOSS MS-3 Multi Effects Switcher. You can integrate your favorite effects pedals with three separate loops and create custom patch configurations that can be recalled instantly, allowing you to switch multiple pedals in and out of your signal path simultaneously without tap dancing. And because the MS-3 Multi Effects Switcher also features over 100 built-in effects, you’ll probably be able to remove a few pedals from your board and use the MS-3’s effects instead.

Get a cordless pedalboard power supply

Pedalboard power supplies are a huge convenience for guitarists, allowing you to use a single power outlet to power your entire pedalboard. Nothing could be simpler — unless you eliminate the need to plug in at all with the Pedaltrain Volto 3 rechargeable power supply. If you’ve got a board full of analog 9-volt stompboxes, Volto 3’s 6,200 mAh battery will give you all the power you need, even for long gigs. It’s built to last and includes all the power cables you need to connect your pedals.

Treat your cables better with rugged cable ties

You’ll spend less time untangling cables when you have some quality cable wraps like D’Addario Planet Waves Elastic Cable Ties. We like these cable ties because they clamp securely onto the cable. They keep things tidy, help you identify your cables among others, and work great for the power cable on your amplifier as well as your instrument and mic cables. It’s so simple that it’s easy to overlook, but wrapping your cables properly makes dealing with lots of cables more enjoyable.

Every little bit helps
When it comes to simplifying a complex rig like your live performance equipment, anything you can do to streamline things makes a difference. For myself, it was getting a dedicated equipment bag for amp stands and other random things. By packing a bit smarter, I am now able to make one less trip between the stage and my car at gigs, and for those of us that gig in the Midwest in the winter, that’s a really big deal. Even if you don’t see a need for most of the items on this list, if just one of them leads to a simpler live guitar rig for you, then we’ve achieved our goal. Are you looking to simplify your guitar rig but don’t see a solution for your specific needs in the list above? Just give your Sweetwater Sales Engineer a call at (800) 222-4700 — we’re gigging musicians too, and we’re always happy to help!
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