Q: Our band has been invited to play at a festival in the USA and we obviously want to take our equipment of various kinds with us. Will there be a problem of using it over there ?
The best thing to do would be to contact the organisers and check what resources there will be for you to use – unless there is a special reason, you don’t need to take all your sound equipment, for example, but you need to check everything that you need to use and see if you can hire/use it over there.
As far as taking your personal instruments and other equipment that is essential you would do well to not risk damaging stuff by trying to carry them with you – the hold of the plane may not be the safest place. It is easier to contact a shipping company advertising shipping to USA and check their prices and services. Shipping companies will come and pack your stuff carefully and allocate you sufficient space in their consignments. Delivery will be door to door but do check on delivery times and plan well enough ahead. Similarly with returning.
Generally if you are taking electronic equipment or appliance to another country you need to check on the voltage of the country or countries you are taking the equipment to, and ensure you have the appropriate voltage converter and plug adapter for specific needs. If your appliance has a label that reads “INPUT: AC 100v-240V – 1.0A 50/60 Hz, then all is needed is a plug adaptor fitting the different pin types and this item of equipment can be used anywhere in the world. For travellers moving through different countries the voltage of the various countries must be researched before travel, and in some cases there will be a need for a voltage converter as well as a plug adaptor.