Fair price for rental of small PA system

DrFroggies

Hi guys,

I'm thinking of renting out my PA for small events or solo/duo artists playing small venues or lectures etc but not sure what a fair price would be...the PA is just a small Yamaha Stagepass 300 (great little 300 watt PA with a fantastic reputation but not at all suitable for large venues or full band gigs) and I'd be including Shure mics, leads and Quicklok stands etc might include myself to engineer on the night too if people want (I'm not a sound engineer but I know my PA inside out and know how to get the best out of it live...and I certainly wouldn't be expecting to be paid professional engineer prices) so just wondering what would be a fair price for the following:

A. PA & Mics, leads, stands etc alone (including delivery and collection by me)

B. PA & Mics, leads, stands etc with myself on sound duties (including delivery and collection by me)

I appreciate any tips or suggestions you guys have on this.
Thanks
DrF ;-)

off.the.walls

€150 for option A €200 with option B

Its cheap but thats 50 for fuel each night, 100 for pa hire and then 50 for engineering duties.

unclebill98

You can get a dynacord PA tops and bins, Inc mixer, two mics and all leads delivered in the Dublin area for €150. That was back 2010. Will not post supplier but their rates are advertised on their site and cheaper again if you collect yourself.

Just to give you an example.

DamagedTrax

again i wont mention names but you can get a 500 system (inc set-up & collection) fo 75 euro a night.

if someone mentioned 200 to me i'd politely hang up the phone cause they obviously havent a clue.

Squidgy Black

See you have to think about the kind of people who'd be renting a kind of PA like this. With so few xlr inputs, and very little power, you're talking a very basic set up for small venues. Band's playing venues like this aren't going to have much money to rent a PA, and most venues already provide a PA.

I'd be looking at 50 a night for the full set up.

Manning the system is a different story altogether. A lot of people will have a friend or whatever that will do it, but if not, just leave it as an extra. I'd be surprised if many people opted for the engineer as well as the PA.

DrFroggies

Thanks lads!! Appreciate the advice. Seems to be a fair auld disparity between different co's offering the service - I've seen some offering similar equipment without delivery or collection for €90 and another offering the same for €60 add to that the companies offering rates from €150 down to €75 that you've mentioned here, and it seems some of the pricing they offer is almost arbitrary...anyway I reckon i'd need to be offering down at the lower end if i wanted to get any kind of interest but gotta say don't think as low as €50 would be worth my while even doing it (petrol costs alone if i was covering the whole of Dublin including Co Dublin would make €50 unworkable) so would you say the following is fair enough?

A. PA & Mics, leads, stands etc alone (including delivery and collection by me) = €65

B. PA & Mics, leads, stands etc with myself on sound duties (including delivery and collection by me) = €85

I'm trying to guage the most likely price to be competitive whilst still being worth doing based on the feedback you guys have given...what do you think?

Gel

Don't want to put a damper on it but you will also have to consider insurance.
I used to hire PA years ago and some of the stuff I've seen is scary..amazing what some guys will do with a few jars!

off.the.walls

I suppose with the recession and all you will be looking at lower prices, but a full rig, bins tops desks, leads, mics, transport and stuff €75 is really selling it short of the mark and its no wonder that a lot of these places are going under i know two sound hire companies that have gone under in the past year because of this undercutting of prices. I think its fair to say for transport a engineer and the gear its fair to be up around the €100-150 mark depending on your system

Savman

€65 incl delivery and collection for a bog standard Yamaha rehearsal PA? I'd expect to go out of business pretty much instantly.

Never mind the well established AV companies who offer Dynacord and Nexo rigs for not a whole lot more, fuel is soaring above €1.50 per litre and VAT is now 23%, you will be left with about €30 net profit per rental.

Great if you have 100 PA's being hired per day, not so much if you only have 1.

DrFroggies

Gel wrote: »

Don't want to put a damper on it but you will also have to consider insurance.
I used to hire PA years ago and some of the stuff I've seen is scary..amazing what some guys will do with a few jars!

Yeah was thinking about that - it's my one concern...do you remember how much insurance cost when you were doing it by any chance?

Savman wrote: »

€65 incl delivery and collection for a bog standard Yamaha rehearsal PA? I'd expect to go out of business pretty much instantly.

Never mind the well established AV companies who offer Dynacord and Nexo rigs for not a whole lot more, fuel is soaring above €1.50 per litre and VAT is now 23%, you will be left with about €30 net profit per rental.

Great if you have 100 PA's being hired per day, not so much if you only have 1.

Well i should be clear here...I'm not looking to start up a business out of it - just an extra little occasional earner. Also I'd be looking at local community market rather than people who regularly hire from AV Co's or what have you...the Stagepass is fine for that and for small acoustic gigs (I've used it and larger rigs and it's fine for solo/duo work...in fact the less bells and whistles for people who like to plug in and play the better in my experience) but as i say i'm thinking more community stuff raffles etc and I gotta say even if i got 3 rentals a month the extra €90 would be grand for me...I mean that's if there's even enough demand within the narrow market I'm chasing to get three bookings?

Gel

DrFroggies wrote: »

Yeah was thinking about that - it's my one concern...do you remember how much insurance cost when you were doing it by any chance?

Well, to be honest it's a long time ago and I was hiring 4-6K rigs, lights etc.
but I was paying a couple of grand a year. I never had any accidents happen
but I can remember a few very close shaves!

I'm sure you can get it much cheaper nowadays but it's more I'm saying "be careful, accidents do happen!"

It doesn't matter how small the PA is, you still need cover.

Best of luck with it.

DamagedTrax

off.the.walls wrote: »

I suppose with the recession and all you will be looking at lower prices, but a full rig, bins tops desks, leads, mics, transport and stuff €75 is really selling it short of the mark and its no wonder that a lot of these places are going under i know two sound hire companies that have gone under in the past year because of this undercutting of prices. I think its fair to say for transport a engineer and the gear its fair to be up around the €100-150 mark depending on your system

unfortunatly it doesnt matter whats fair and the market dictates the price. going in at 100-150 is pricing yourself out of the market. its simple economics.

Owen

In the last 2 weeks I've hired a 2k Turbosound rig, 4 Mics, Leads, Lights, Dynacord Desk for 80 Euro each time. I've subsequently bought my own 2k rig, but 80 is the going rate for this stuff.

off.the.walls

Owen wrote: »

In the last 2 weeks I've hired a 2k Turbosound rig, 4 Mics, Leads, Lights, Dynacord Desk for 80 Euro each time. I've subsequently bought my own 2k rig, but 80 is the going rate for this stuff.

And what would you charge for the night ontop of the 80 euros that you spend on hiring the gear?

DrFroggies

Gel wrote: »

Well, to be honest it's a long time ago and I was hiring 4-6K rigs, lights etc.
but I was paying a couple of grand a year. I never had any accidents happen
but I can remember a few very close shaves!

I'm sure you can get it much cheaper nowadays but it's more I'm saying "be careful, accidents do happen!"

It doesn't matter how small the PA is, you still need cover.

Best of luck with it.

Thanks mate and cheers to all for the tips and advice