1 bass or 2 for gigs

[KimGT99]

To me, even if i understand the idea, there is not différence between a pub/bar show and a bigger one: i treat all of them the same way:

+1 That was and still is a guiding principle to me.
I don't know why a bar audience would be less worthy of my care and attention, and performance of course.

 

[sleddogn]

To me, even if i understand the idea, there is not différence between a pub/bar show and a bigger one: i treat all of them the same way: if my stuff create a problem, it has to be solved the quickest way. So spare bass, câbles, and a préamp to run direct in PA in case of amp failure.

yeah, not sure whats up with deciding when to bring the extra or being ok driving 15 min to get a spare if your 1 bass went down at gig, why wouldn't you then just bring 2 if you have them? odd way of thinking....once again, you do you

 

[Zooberwerx]

I typically just bring one. As stated above, I usually have whichever “main” I’m using out during the week, either at a jam or at home.

I joined a new band later in the year last year. They perform quite a bit away from home. I have a Gator dual bass bag. Might be an excuse to use that more often. It’s not much more trouble to throw in an extra stand into my duffel bag.


I live where the Angels are stationed. Truly magnificent machines and team. I’m spoiled watching parts of their practices during the week!

My office sits within a stone's throw from the runways at Oceana Jet Fighter base. The BA's show every September for the air show. We throw open the back bay door, pull out a couple office chairs and watch the routine...Susan loves it. We're also pretty much in the crash zone.

Parking is no problem for the majority of our gigs...I have no issues toting a spare. I imagine the metro scene is more of a challenge.

Riis

 

[OkayistBassist]

My office sits within a stone's throw from the runways at Oceana Jet Fighter base. The BA's show every September for the air show. We throw open the back bay door, pull out a couple office chairs and watch the routine...Susan loves it. We're also pretty much in the crash zone.

Parking is no problem for the majority of our gigs...I have no issues toting a spare. I imagine the metro scene is more of a challenge.

Riis

We lived in the Midwest. My FedEx route bumped up to an airfield where they held an airshow every year. The Angels would be present every other year. I made friends with a bunch of my pick up stops and one of them would get me a couple of passes in to see them.

My wife took a job here in Pensacola. We moved here two and a half years ago. It’s been a blessing seeing them here.

It’s funny. I moved here from a larger city. Parking is more of a pain here than it was there!

Any opportunity I have to not drive, I take it!

 

[shirojiro]

When I was gigging a lot, I generally only owned one bass so, that was the one I brought. I took meticulous care of it though, and while I didn't baby it, I changed the strings often, and cleaned it, and checked the pots and wiring on a regular basis.

When I had more resources, and I had more basses, I specifically bought a double gig bag to bring a backup bass to gigs. That gig bag got very heavy, very quickly, and I think I brought two basses to gigs only a handful of times.

It really is all about how you manage your gear and your sense of risk. My SansAmp BDDI is a pretty decent backup for an amp, if there's a PA, and I bring extra strings, a Leatherman, some Allen wrenches, batteries, and a headlight wherever I'm playing, even at a friend's house for a jam, so I feel like I'm reasonably prepared.

When I first got active basses, I had batteries fail unexpectedly at first because they weren't on my radar for things that I had to watch. Now, if I have a gig, or a recording session, I either make sure I have extra batteries, or if changing the battery requires tools, I change the battery before hand. It's cheap insurance IMHO.

 

[sleddogn]

he shirojiro, love your avatar..... i have a 2018 urban g/s myself....go to the motorcycle thread in the off topic section if you haven't already..

 

[Geri O]

I’ve been kinda negligent on bringing 2 basses on gigs for the couple of years. And my gigs aren’t throwaway gigs that if, say, a catastrophic failure (tuner breaking, preamp dying, etc) and I have no second bass, the boss says, oh, well. I’m likely losing that gig if I can’t finish the gig.

I don’t buy the “depends on what the gig pays or how far away it is” kind of thinking.

If you value the gig and want to be called back, having no instrument at some point during the gig because of a failure is a sure way to lose that gig. Yes, it’s likely quite rare and improbable to happen, but how many times does it take?

I bought a Mono Dual Bass case just for this purpose, and this is a reminder to start bringing 2 basses to gigs (they are all mission-critical).

And as they are a Lull Jazz-style and a Stingray, I can swap them out during the gig if I get the urge.

 

[dougjwray]

I always bring two. Usually, one with roundwounds and one with flatwounds, to give me flexibility with the venue's acoustics. The side benefit is that one can be a backup, in case of equipment failure. In 55 years of playing, I've had three incidents of that. And two were on the same weekend! (Circa 1984.) But a lot of the gigs I play are concerts, where everything CAN'T stop while the bass player changes a string, for example.

 

[steveinohio]

I always take 2. I don’t want to be dependent on someone else’s stuff If mine has an issue. Just the same I’ve really only had to use the backup maybe 5 times in 20 years. Mostly I like having a choice.

 

[eddiditfirst]

I play relatively lightly so i just bring the one bass, but there’s a lot of other stuff that can go wrong. I always bring a backup Tuner, DI, lots of cables, spare strings and string winder/cutter- and bring a multi-adapter wall plug

 

[Miles_ONeal]

I take two basses, amps, and cables. Only one pedalboard, because it’s not crucial to what I do. I tend to over-engineer. It’s mildly annoying at times but overall has served me well. Redundancy and flexibility are our friends.
It’s unlikely anything will happen, but if it does, the bass sounds won’t be offline more than 15 seconds or so. And the odds of two separate failures in a disastrous combination are astronomical.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

My Dad (RIP) played professionally for years. He taught me that (1) amateurs practice until they get it right, while professionals practice until they can't get it wrong, and (2) failing to prepare is preparing to fail. I prepare for bass failure by taking a backup bass, and it's always a copy of my #1. It's come in handy quite a few times over the years as I've had tuning machines, controls, and output jacks fail, strings break, bad batteries, and so on.

I prepare for failures of my DI by carrying a spare DI. I prepare for failure of our backing tracks iPad by carrying a copy of that iPad. We prepare for failure of our mixer by making sure the sound guy brings his. We have a backup amp in the rack. We have extra mic cables and power cords on the reels. I have extra strings, patch cords, mics, mic clips, power strips, batteries, picks, drumsticks, ears, ear amps, iPad cords, tools, etc. in a small stage bag. The drummer brings an extra snare. The guitarists bring extra guitars.

Things we're using multiples of on-stage, like keyboards, toms, lights, speakers... we can get by with an individual failure that wouldn't kill the show. So, we don't being additional spares of these. But we do have plans on how to work around failures.

For outdoor gigs, our weather can be extremely hot, windy, and stormy without warning, so we have to plan for that too. So, we bring extra tarps, bungees, weight bags for the canopy, sunglasses, sunscreen, hats, fans, drinks, etc.

When someone has to miss a gig, we have a list of subs, and we could also cover them in backing tracks if we can't get a sub.

To be clear, preparing for failure doesn't necessarily mean having a physical backup piece, many times it simply involves having a plan.

I've had my share of failures over the years. There have been a few late starts and brief disruptions, but with a reasonable level of forethought, planning, and preparation, they have been kept to a minimum and I've never had to cancel a gig because of an equipment failure or a missing person.

Our early attempts at failure planning went through several preparations. Preparations A through G were progressively better. But our current plan... Preparation H... really does a great job of saving our butts!

Well said! I don’t personally carry spares for everyone else but I do have an SM57 and SM58 and several length mic cables, a spare power cord, mic stand, extension cord, etc.

I seldom go through FOH but my preamp pedal and both amps have a DI just in case.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Anybody who wants to bring two basses to your gigs should, by all means.

If you have it in your mind that you need one as a contingency against failure, I’d ask if you carry redundant copies of these other things that are all way more likely to fail than a bass:

- cables
- strings
- batteries
- pedals
- power strips
- an amp head
- a speaker cabinet
- your car

Also where are you leaving your spare bass? Does it occupy some of the 4 square feet of stage you get? Does it sit in a case leaning against the wall near the door? In your car out on the street?

Again, you do you. I just take one. Been at it a while. Bunch of guys just have one.

First off a spare bass covers the spare strings. Second, I do pretty much all of that except pedals (I can live without them) and car, since I can only drive one and there are easier, cheaper backup plans.

I take a dual-bass stand which takes up very little more space than my single-bass stand.

 

[chris_b]

The "fingers crossed" method of preparing seems to be popular. Ho hum!

 

[sleddogn]

^^^
Yessssss, but they'll argue all day on it, odd bunch as i've mentioned. Just don't get it.

 

[Geri O]

^^^
Yessssss, but they'll argue all day on it, odd bunch as i've mentioned. Just don't get it.

Let ‘em. It’s their cross to bear.

And you and I are as likely to change their minds as they are likely to change ours…

 

[Jugghaid]

Always 2 basses. Sometimes 3 if I bring a fretless. Also my pedalboard has a DI if my amp has an issue, so I can still go to FOH. If I bring a tube head, I have my darkglass in the gig bag too as a backup.... Spare cables, batteries, etc are mandatory as well.

 

[sleddogn]

yeah, i keep saying, you do you, lol....

 

[sleddogn]

Would love to know the real breakdown between those who play in original only bands vs cover bands. I'm in the original only camp, thus it really matters to me how it goes off.....guess when you pop a string or battery goes dead during mustang sally, you just take another shot, walk off stage and drive home.

 

[Norwegian_Wood]

Wedding band here: I bring 2 minimum. One in standard and one in Eb. Sometimes if we have a set of drop D tuning I’ll bring a third but that’s overkill lol I can’t imagine on my end causing issues at someone’s “big day” because I didn’t want to carry a second bass to the gig. Even when we do short gigs or fly gigs it’s always 2.

Also always bring a wireless unit with 2 packs and have a wired in cable ready to go. I gig with a fractal fm9 and always bring a tiny board with tuner, compressor and sansamp just to be safe.

I personally feel that is the minimum for a gig. Now for rehearsals one is fine and you can retune all day and if it craps out you’ve just wasted everyone’s time but at least you haven’t wasted a customers time and money.