San Diego County-based Power Plus Sound & Lighting Inc. (PPSL) returns to the production services business after a five-year hiatus. Reopening its doors in January of this year, PPSL already boasts a serious inventory of pro audio products, including five large-format Soundcraft consoles – two pairs of Series FIVE house and monitor desks, and a new dual-mode MH4.
Power Plus President and Owner Lane Rickard says his decision to make a substantial investment in Soundcraft was an easy one. “I’ve been buying Soundcraft consoles since the late ’80s and have a tremendous confidence in the product, particularly the Series FIVEs,” he says. “Since January, I’ve employed the front-of-house and monitor desks on national acts, symphonies, large corporate clients and major league sporting events, all with a flawless track record.”
Rickard has also been pleased with the increasing number of rentals to other production companies thanks to the desks’ proven high level of user acceptability.
PPSL recently put a FIVE Monitor in front of Jim Staniforth, Paul Anka’s monitor engineer. “It was his first time on the desk,” Rickard notes, “and although we had a whole rack of outboard EQs for him, he never touched them. He only used the parametrics on the board and could hardly believe the control he had!”
One of the FOH Series FIVEs was also very recently used on the San Diego stop of the Rockin’ Roadhouse Tour featuring Mark Chesnutt, Joe Diffie and Tracy Lawrence. Aside from the console, Power Plus provided a full Worx Audio PA rig powered by Crown MA-5002VZs, as well as all of the staging, top, trussing and lighting.
Soundcraft, a leading British manufacturer of high-end mixing consoles serving live, broadcast, theatre and recording markets, is distributed in the US by Harman Pro North America, a subsidiary of Harman International.