In her famous rendition of the classic show tune “Second Hand Rose,” Barbra Streisand describes her hand-me-down clothes and shoes, lamenting that she has never worn a thing “that ain’t been used.” Even her curls, she claims, are second hand.
For some groups of teenagers, sporting second hand and “vintage” clothing is nothing to complain about. In a tribute to the sixties and seventies, these mods and nouveau hippies pay top dollar for fashions that may well have lived through Woodstock.
Buying used gear, needless to say, is a lot different than purchasing garments that were first worn by real hippies. It’s easy to spot missing buttons, broken zippers, and flaws in the material. Things aren’t so simple when you’re dealing with audiovisual equipment, however. It may appear to be in good condition on the outside, but the components inside could tell a very different story.
“If you are buying speakers, when you get them and plug them in, they might appear to be working, but there could, in fact, be slightly damaged components inside,” illustrates Tom Young, principal consultant at Electroacoustic Design Services in Danbury, Connecticut. “When you are buying used equipment, one of the things that you should do is perform a series of tests to determine that it performs to specifications.” Buyers beware, however: some problems may not make themselves immediately known: intermittent failures are more difficult to diagnose.
Still, many churches may choose to consider the purchase of used equipment, either for budgetary reasons or for the novelty of owning a special piece of vintage gear. In either case, it’s important for the members of the technical ministry to be aware of what they are getting into. “A lot of times you don’t know what you are getting, or how well the equipment has been taken care of,” says Stan Shilliday, live audio manager at Belmont Church in Nashville, Tennessee. “There is a liability, because you don’t often get the warranty, so you are taking your chances.”
Young cautions churches that don’t have the technical expertise on hand to troubleshoot and repair audiovisual equipment that, due to its age and history, may require more maintenance than systems that are brand new. “In my experience, buying used professional audio equipment can be a good buy, but you obviously must make sure that you have a way out of the purchase once you have had the chance to evaluate it,” he advises. “Because you have bought a piece of used equipment, you have to be prepared to deal with the possibility of there being problems. Most houses of worship do not have the staff on board with those skills.”
To address this issue, Young suggests that churches cultivate healthy relationships with the local audiovisual equipment vendor or retailer. “As a consultant, and as a participant in church sound, I strongly advise churches to establish relationships with nearby contracting firms and professional audio retail outlets,” he says. “Having a warranty [if the used piece of equipment still has one] and being able to send the product out to be repaired is wonderful, but it’s never going to happen overnight. To cover yourself for the following week, it’s good to have a strong relationship with a local provider that has a service department that can turn the device around more quickly, or, if they are willing, lend you or rent you a substitute device.”
Some vintage gear has increased rather than decreased in price over the years, Young notes. “Some devices are selling for several times what they originally cost because they have proven to have exceptionally good circuit designs and are somewhat rare, or a hot commodity,” he observes.
At Belmont Church, the audiovisual systems are comprised of a combination of new and used equipment. Shilliday explains that for him, sometimes the purchase of used gear is more cost effective. “In some situations, rather than paying for a new piece of gear, it’s worth waiting when you know that in a couple of months it’s going to be half price [used] and just as good.”
What can present extra challenges to the technical ministry is if components are purchased piecemeal, rather than all at the same time, warns Shilliday. “If you don’t do everything all at once, you may find yourself rewiring and changing patch bays, and that is a lot of extra work.”
Shilliday notes that churches may consider purchasing big-ticket items used, such as audio consoles. It’s important, however, to know what the console has been through before it reaches your facility. “There are specific places where I look for used gear. If you are buying a [used] console from a sound company that toured with it or used it for corporate gigs, you know that it has been taken care of and serviced properly, depending on the company,” he says. “You can do research on how busy the company is, and whether they are able to take care of their gear like they should. When you know these things, you are in a better situation because you are going to be paying 50 to 70 percent less than you would if it was new, because it is used.”
Churches should be aware of the demands that are placed on equipment that is used for touring. Charles Kitch, president of Sound Productions, Inc. in Dallas, Texas, advises buyers that are considering secondhand equipment to purchase systems that were previously used in permanent installations. “Knowing the history of the gear is critical,” he says. “The equipment you want to look for is the equipment that might have been used in an install at another church. You don’t want to buy equipment that has been used for touring. A lot of times, mixing consoles that have been used for festivals and rodeos have been exposed to rain and dirt – there is a lot of wear and tear.”
Tim Ranson, owner of Delta Stage Lighting in Nashville, Tennessee, notes that some products are quirkier than others. “When you purchase a moving light, for example, it is very difficult to predict what your problems are going to be,” he explains. “Moving lights are the biggest offenders – they have moving parts that break. It’s not ‘if’ they break, it’s ‘when’ they break. They are not maintenance-free.”
Ultimately, Shilliday emphasizes, churches must take the time to properly research their purchases before reaching a final decision. “Don’t just run out and buy something that is used. You want to spend some extra time on research to make sure that you are getting something that is in good condition, and is going to be well worth it,” he says. In some cases, purchasers may opt to contact the manufacturer to obtain the service history of the device in question. “The manufacturer can take the serial number and find out if the equipment has been sent in for servicing and, if so, how many times and exactly what was wrong. All of these things you can do fairly easily, and the money that you are saving will more than cover the couple of hours that you have to spend on doing research.”
Carolyn Heinze works from her office in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (carolyn@churchproduction.com).
