Practice Room rates...

Dave_Mc

Wow that's a lot cheaper than I'd have thought. Just to check, those prices you guys have been quoting are for the whole room, not what you pay each when split amongst 5 band members?

meltedbuzzbox said:

I pay £15 and the room is mine from 6pm until whenever.

Includes all amps, full drums and PA etc. Even has a mobile aircon unit

That sounds like a really good deal. £15 and I'll have one of those rooms until 2040. Maybe I'll ask if I can pay in installments. Only fair, really.

John_BlackWolf said:

£40 gets us 4 hours in here:

Wow, say what you like about Ming the Merciless, but he has pretty decent prices.

And still not as morally dubious as buying from Amazon...

Jeremiah

Huh? What happened to my comment?

Anyway, I just replied to PolarityMan to say I don't think it was Lighthouse, but somewhere on an industrial estate behind Leith Walk.

UnclePsychosis

Jeremiah;296547" said:

UnclePsychosis said:

In central Edinburgh three hours costs about £20. For that you usually get pa, bass amp, two guitar amps, and a drum kit. Hiring cymbals and snare is extra. Think Glasgow is much the same price/kit wise.





Where do you go in Edinburgh? I've been to Banana Row and some dodgy place in Leith, and I seem to remember paying a bit more than that, at least at times when most people are able to practice (i.e. evenings and weekends.)

I don't like banana row. The rooms are too small and they've mucked friends of mine about with bookings.

We tend to go to a new place in Leith that's just opened called The Rec Room. It's not fancy but it's clean and the gear works. We paid £20 for two hours last Friday night.

Just realised I said three hours before. Doh.

NervousJohn

£15 an hour weeknights at Ivy Arch in Worthing. Basic but functional backline, PA and drums included. Weak tea is extra. Hotter than heck in summer.

Jeremiah

PolarityMan said:

Jeremiah said:

UnclePsychosis said:

In central Edinburgh three hours costs about £20. For that you usually get pa, bass amp, two guitar amps, and a drum kit. Hiring cymbals and snare is extra. Think Glasgow is much the same price/kit wise.

Where do you go in Edinburgh? I've been to Banana Row and some dodgy place in Leith, and I seem to remember paying a bit more than that, at least at times when most people are able to practice (i.e. evenings and weekends.)

Many moons ago I used to use banana row and the dodgy place in leith could be lighthouse studios?

It wasn't as far out of town as Lighthouse - it was on an industrial estate not far from Leith Walk. AFAIK it was only dodgy in that all the gear was really knackered and old and the place looked like it was about to fall apart.

Jeremiah

PolarityMan said:

Jeremiah said:

UnclePsychosis said:

In central Edinburgh three hours costs about £20. For that you usually get pa, bass amp, two guitar amps, and a drum kit. Hiring cymbals and snare is extra. Think Glasgow is much the same price/kit wise.

Where do you go in Edinburgh? I've been to Banana Row and some dodgy place in Leith, and I seem to remember paying a bit more than that, at least at times when most people are able to practice (i.e. evenings and weekends.)

Many moons ago I used to use banana row and the dodgy place in leith could be lighthouse studios?

It wasn't as far out of town as Lighthouse - it was on an industrial estate not far from Leith Walk. AFAIK it was only dodgy in that all the gear was really knackered and old and the place looked like it was about to fall apart.

daveyh

not_the_dj said:

daveyh said:

A popular one near here is £3 per hour

Blimey, that's cheap. Is that just a room, or a room with amps/pa/kit in?

Vulcan studios in Liverpool, £3 per hour, equipment is extra

Moe_Zambeek

In Edinburgh I've used banana row, verden, sound garden, groove tunnel and a few others. Mostly they are around 10-15 quid an hour. Most of them have fairly rubbish equipment ime. Groove tunnel and sound garden are the cleanest, although the biggest rooms are at verden (where the really big rooms are more expensive).

MDKV

ICBM said:

Rehearsal rooms are the toughest environment there is for gear, especially the less than full pro level stuff which is all most rehearsal studios can budget for. Basically it's going to get thrashed for several hours a day by people who don't own it and often neither know nor care how to use it properly.

It's probably worth getting cabs so they can bring their own heads too, but make sure they're capable of taking any realistic power of amp, or you'll get blown speakers.

This is probably the reason a lot of places have below par equipment. I think we'll try and go for something generic and basic.  Marshall 4x12 cabs and old DSL50's and maybe a Hot Rod DLX too. 

John_P

Most of the rooms local to me are £25 for a 4 hour session including a PA with backline available for an extra fee.

wave100

The place we use (in Glasgow) is 24 - 28 quid for a 3 hour session depending on the size of the room. PA, kit and backline included. The amps are reasonable, mostly Marshal and Peavey valve amps for guitars. Tea, coffee and bottled water 50p a pop, we go through quite a lot! It's clean enough (but not intimidatingly so) and the rooms have a PZM mic on a wall hooked up to a CD recorder so you can record the proceedings if required.

In a previous life I ran a rehearsal/recording studio but the sound proofing wasn't that great - room 101 for me is sitting between two rehearsal rooms hearing two different dodgy bands rehearsing at the same time! Also the money was shite, hence not doing it any longer!

PolarityMan

Jeremiah said:

PolarityMan said:

Jeremiah said:

UnclePsychosis said:

In central Edinburgh three hours costs about £20. For that you usually get pa, bass amp, two guitar amps, and a drum kit. Hiring cymbals and snare is extra. Think Glasgow is much the same price/kit wise.

Where do you go in Edinburgh? I've been to Banana Row and some dodgy place in Leith, and I seem to remember paying a bit more than that, at least at times when most people are able to practice (i.e. evenings and weekends.)

Many moons ago I used to use banana row and the dodgy place in leith could be lighthouse studios?

It wasn't as far out of town as Lighthouse - it was on an industrial estate not far from Leith Walk. AFAIK it was only dodgy in that all the gear was really knackered and old and the place looked like it was about to fall apart.

Could be it's sprung up since I lived there. There used to be a really dodgy place over in marchmont that was basically just a student flat converted into practice rooms.

Jalapeno

nickp said:

I think we pay about £35 for an evening in a smelly small hot little room with a dodgy PA

This.  Plus aircon that makes a breeze but does little cooling !

Kebabkid

@MDKV ; - we used this place in Sussex for a couple of SE Gearfests and I think one or two forumites from close by rehearse there too. http://www.yell.com/biz/pease-pottage-rehearsals-crawley-3412941/

It's got a range of nice, clean rooms and the biggie cost us £35 on a Saturday from 11am-6pm and has a PA in it.

Seems like your pricing is right for the area. Wifi, some sort of heating/cooling would be good and basic drinks and snacks. Possibly a supply of strings and drum sticks. Backline is nearly always expected. Non-valve amps (Blackstars ?) might be better way to go in terms of reliability and keeping service costs down.

Good luck with it!

 

Danny1969

MDKV said:

ICBM said:

Rehearsal rooms are the toughest environment there is for gear, especially the less than full pro level stuff which is all most rehearsal studios can budget for. Basically it's going to get thrashed for several hours a day by people who don't own it and often neither know nor care how to use it properly.

It's probably worth getting cabs so they can bring their own heads too, but make sure they're capable of taking any realistic power of amp, or you'll get blown speakers.

This is probably the reason a lot of places have below par equipment. I think we'll try and go for something generic and basic.  Marshall 4x12 cabs and old DSL50's and maybe a Hot Rod DLX too. 

The only thing that's blown up at my place in 4 years of band rehearsals is a carlsbro bass combo, which fried it's bridge rectifier and  power amp IC a few weeks ago. Not a big deal, I can fix it for a tenner. I did expect more casualties but so far it's people walking off with the hi hat clutchs and music stands and people leaving their own gear behind that's more problematic. 

Cost wise we don't bother competing on price because the people who use the place are more interested in quality of sound and comfort than saving what amounts to £3 each over a 4 piece band. I'm quite chuffed that once a band comes here they generally don't wanna go anywhere else. I get pre tour rehearsals from London based bands so it proves people will travel to get what they want within reason.

MDKV

@Kebabkid I'm very familiar with Pease Pottage! Just down the road from me.  I've spent many hours there...

ICBM

MDKV said:

I think we'll try and go for something generic and basic.  Marshall 4x12 cabs and old DSL50's and maybe a Hot Rod DLX too. 

Avoid DSLs. (And TSLs.)

If you must buy Marshall valve amps, JCM800 and possibly 900 are the best for reliability if you want something with modern-ish features. JCM800 MVs are probably the best overall, although somewhat basic for a lot of players.

Personally I'd probably get Valvestate 8100s or VS100s.

But you can actually get brand new Jet Citys for far less than any of the valve ones sell for used, and there's no comparison for quality.

John_BlackWolf

Danny1969 said:

John_BlackWolf said:

£40 gets us 4 hours in here:

Is that an iPhone panaramic photo ?

Photaf on Android