Manfreds bag, made in Australia

It is a real hassle for overseas groups coming to Australia if they have much more equipment than a transistor radio.  The original figure for the transporting of 4 tons of sophisticated equipment, plus a few simple instruments to and from Australia was 1,400 English pounds (approx. A$3,500).  Manfred Mann's Earthband decided to have 3 tons of it built here.
Mick Rogers, Earthband's guitarist knew that Bill McCarthy at Strauss so custom built gear including a stereo PA system and a collection of 200 watt amp stacks (one for every instrument) was prepared.  The Earthband's roadies, Jim Louis and Jeff Newsom arrived three days ahead of the band to test the Strauss gear and arrange transport details for it.

A collaboration with TAA has produced an operation rather like and American airlift.  With some performances on consecutive nights in cities often hundreds of miles apart, a complicated schedule involving trucks, vans and lorries and planes has been devised.  It's hard to be here today and gone tomorrow when you've got 4 or 5 tons of sensitive equipment in your travel pack.
At Earthband's performances, the sound will be mixed at the rear of the audience by Jim Louis at a console.  It is a reduced version of a studio mixer and handles 12 channels picked up by 13 studio condenser microphones.  He doesn't wear cans as he prefers to mix it as the audience hears it.
None of the equipment is standard; almost every little part has been modified in some way or other.  All good roadies have their own contacts in the electronics world to perform the touches of wizardry needed to get a particular sound.  In England it is those little touches that make one band's equipment better than anothers.  The PA specially built by Strauss is rated by the roadies amongst the finest they've ever heard.

Manfreds Hammond Organ was acquired from the old Alan Price Set a few years ago and since that time has had its private parts extensively tampered with.  The bottom half now houses large chunks of the Moog Synthesizer's electronic, magic making devices.  The organ itself has been modified to give it a dirty, gutsy tone; you could say it sounds almost smutty, but how would you feel if your lower areas were packed with… By playing the organ through ordinary amp stacks (instead of the customary Leslie speakers), this grimy tone is accentuated.
The Moog Synthesizer is a small version of the one which Keith Emerson has started using now that the impracticality of touring with his 15 oscillator model has become apparent.  All the electronic details are too confusing for the normal muddled brain, but apparently the bigger they are, the easier they fall.
The sound the audience hears will be in balanced stereo.  The effect is not so noticeable with the instruments as each one has 200 watts of its own.  But with the vocals and in particular the Moog, the quality of the sound is stunning.  The band has up to 1,000 watts of clear, crisp sound at its disposal.  On the outdoor gigs the band will probably supplement the system with a few extra PA horns.  As Jim Louis said, "I wouldn't exactly call it a quiet acoustic band."