My youth club setup, for anyone interested

Legionreturns

I do evening freelance work with a few different youth organisations. It's mainly confidence building / music therapy but includes some elements of basic tuition in various instruments, as well as a lot of singing to either backing tracks or full tracks of their choosing. 

In these pictures, everything there is mine apart from the PA as this particular club has their own. I own a compact Yamaha Stagepas PA which I take to sessions where they don't have their own. 

Here's the main setup, with their PA / desk


A closer look at the backline
Basic carlsboro electric drum kit
Decent mid range keyboard both through the middle amp which is a 40w drum monitor with an aux for the keyboard. 
Voicelive play to help them with vocals, and they really like experimenting with different effects / reverb and the autotune functions
Two guitar amps, Katana Head and H&K Tubemeister 5, so I can do 1:1 guitar tuition. The pod goes into the H&K, and occasionally I'll add in the Trio+ for getting them practicing our making music.
Reverse monitor to give the drummer and keys players a monitored signal that excludes them so they can play in time. 
Couple of mics with a tablet for lyrics.


Here's the view from behind the keyboard, and you can see the percussion available for playing along and doing rhythm workshops. I also have a huge bag of boom whackers that I sometimes take.



Apart from the cheap strats, the guitars and bass are mine. Nothing horrendously expensive, but I believe if they're going to take an interest in playing any instrument, the ones I put in their hands should be decent, playable and stay in tune. Particularly love the Steinberger headless bass and it's much easier for them to play. That's plugged into the PA but if I'm using mine I bring a separate bass amp. 



So there you have it. Nothing spectacular, but a decent setup that I'm happy with, and more importantly, I can get this all in my car and setup in around 20 minutes. Folding drums are a win! I have some serious cable bags and a double gig bag for the guitars. 

This may of course be of absolutely no interest to you, in which case, sorry for ruining your evening!  

Jimbro66

That's excellent Chris. Great that you put that much effort into encouraging the youngsters. If any of them achieve future fame hopefully you've already got them to sign your 40% management agreement

p.s. That gig bag looks familiar

Legionreturns

Haha yes! It's perfect for my needs as you can see so thanks for that @Jimbro66 ...you're a gent! 

I've takena while to get it just as I want it, but it's thanks to a mixture of wonderful people like you, a good accountant and an understanding bank manager who can see how much work is starting to roll in that I've been able to build it up reasonably quickly. I only started doing it in December. 

As you can imagine, with council run clubs, it's not exactly lucrative. It pays for my music related hobbies and not a lot else

DrCornelius

Yes nicely done Chris , it's great you've still got youth clubs where you are - our local council pulled the funding for them so they've all had to shut.  Bloody short sighted bunch that they are

Jimbro66

Legionreturns said: 

I've taken a while to get it just as I want it, but it's thanks to a mixture of wonderful people like you, a good accountant and an understanding bank manager who can see how much work is starting to roll in that I've been able to build it up reasonably quickly. I only started doing it in December. 

As you can imagine, with council run clubs, it's not exactly lucrative. It pays for my music related hobbies and not a lot else

Really? For a start that recent it's pretty impressive.

Maybe not lucrative but, as with your day job, a lot of the reward is in seeing the youngsters respond and develop. Can't put a price on that

Legionreturns

DrCornelius said:

Yes nicely done Chris , it's great you've still got youth clubs where you are - our local council pulled the funding for them so they've all had to shut.  Bloody short sighted bunch that they are

That particular club has been given notice that they're being closed in the summer. They have around 120 kids a week. They've already decided that they'll keep me on, but I'll have to bring my kit every evening because they'll be hiring premises. It is very short sighted, but I'm not surprised. 

Legionreturns

Jimbro66 said:
Maybe not lucrative but, as with your day job, a lot of the reward is in seeing the youngsters respond and develop. Can't put a price on that

That's certainly true of both my jobs. I'm lucky to do something I'm passionate about, and there aren't many people that get paid to do their hobby. I get paid for two or three of mine! 

Legionreturns

@Blackjack ...re the Mic mounted tablet, you can see what it looks like in a couple of these pics.