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Always bring a backup bass!

#142
I bring backups, as much as is practical – cables, strings etc... If my amp goes, my DI will suffice. I only gig upright, and needed backup just before a silent movie performance and a kid knocked over my bass caving in the top. Rushed off to the banjolele player's for his bass. A bit impractical to bring a spare upright, but I'd always bring backup if I gigged slab.

I broke a string on my upright and played the rest of the gig, no one noticed. Even my bandmates didn't notice the broken string until I pointed it out at the end of the night.

For the people who can't understand breaking a string, or Murphy's Law, a little story.

Took an interprovincial trip with a friend (an anal-obsessive over-prepared type) after we'd rebuilt his '75 Celica's motor. Halfway through the trip in the Kootneys the motor starts to miss. Luckily, my aunt lived nearby. Emergency pit stop into my Aunt's place for the night. Next morning pull apart the head, check the gaps, re-insert spark plugs yadayada. Still can't figure out the misfire. Nothing's open, it's a public holiday. Luckily Canadian Tire opened in the afternoon.

Mechanic tells us #3 spark plug is dead. "Can't be, they're all new plugs," says my friend. Mechanic says "Yeah, but about every one-in-a-million new plugs is defective." A new plug and an expensive diagnostic bill later and we were on our way again.

My friend always carries a spare spark plug in his car now, a tested good one.

It's wonderful that people have gigged for years, decades even, without a single mishap. :hyper: Bully for you, I hope your luck holds out.
 
#143
I never bring a backup bass. I do bring backup strings, a CruzTools multi tool, adjustment allen wrenchs, a spare cable and a spare strap. All my basses have strap locks so I keep the original strap pegs in the bass case. I also always take a spare IEC power cable and speaker cable for the amp I am using.
 
#144
JimmyM said:
Once I could afford a backup, I got a backup and used to carry it. 10 years ago I stopped because it had been a very long time since I had a problem on a gig. In the last few months I've had a couple close calls but I fixed them before the gig. Have considered bringing a backup again because of it. Still very undecided, though, because I hate switching basses during a gig and I hate dealing with everything involved in having two basses onstage...the extra stand, the extra weight of a double gig bag on my back, bringing an upright and more than one electric bass, too...

But despite taking the time to type this, I don't really care what any of you think of my professionalism since I do it for a living ;)
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So fate is sending you messages and you choose to ignore them? Not a good plan!

Of course "backup" depends on the situation. You know I HATE changing strings in the middle of a gig. I hate everything involved with it. I hate carrying them along, I hate pulling the old pieces out of the bridge and tuners, I hate feeding the new one in through the holes! That's why I took all the spare strings out of my bass cases! NOT!

Sure changing strings in the middle of a gig IS a pain. But still better than playing on three strings. And it's not just playing rough as some have suggested. I've had a new set of strings that were just plain brittle. I recently had TWO strings snap at the same time (were NEW GHS pressure-wounds). (luckily was before a gig and not during)

I agree that two basses on stage are a bigger pain. That's why I only do that when I WANT two basses there to play (eg. fretted and fretless etc.)

But "backup" to me says "What do I do If "this" happens?" For me that's things like change a string if it breaks (from other set in case, each bass has a spare set of strings used on THAT bass), Grab spare cable from case (each case has spare cheapo cord in there), make necessary adjustments or install new battery, (each case has set of allen wrenches and cheap multi-tools to do ALL screws etc. on THAT bass). And it includes trying to have basses that do passive-active switching (not all are like this). Also included in "backup" are basses, straps, cords etc. you can borrow from other bands, guitar player, the venue etc. just depends on each situation.

But of course the ultimate is a whole 'nother bass. Personally I don't worry about having a backup on stage. For me, a junk bar-bass in the truck is close enough. And let me say that I HAVE had to drive home for another bass and is it NOT professional, and really makes the band look bad. A trip to the truck, however, is just a rescheduling of a break or some other cover. Same goes for the DI carried for amp failures. Sure using the PA for bass is often less than optimum, but certainly more optimum than no bass at all! I've had to use that DI a couple times too!

Point is once the crap is in my bass cases, I don't need to think about it again unless disaster strikes. Same for bar-bass in truck. Having had my nose rubbed in "what if" a few times, I'm not about to see how far I can press my luck. Maybe Bowser doesn't care if his bass player takes off to deal with some problem, but while most people understand that things can go wrong, I've found they are much more understanding if you immediately deal with the problem and get the show back on the road.

Say wait a minute! You are bringing an upright and an electric? Well then you ARE bringing a backup bass! So why would you need two electrics unless you really want that for the tone difference?
 
#145
I remember one incident about seven years ago in which I broke my E-string during the first song of a set. It was a total disaster! But truth be told, it's a pretty great memory. Me wrecking my string was only one part of the disaster. We were playing at this bar which had a really, REALLY crappy second stage set up in the basement. We were playing, and moments after my string broke (unraveling at the bridge), the high-hat stand started to fall over, knocking the crash over in the process. It turns out the stage had been built in a hurry, and was pretty much an empty wooden box with insufficient bracing running through it, so the weight of gear and people on the stage caused the stage to dip downwards to one side, causing the drum-avalanche.

Anyways, I didn't have a bass, an extra bass, and needed to borrow one from another band. Totally embarrassing. A backup bass comes in handy when you need one.
 
#146
bassbenj said:
Maybe Bowser doesn't care if his bass player takes off to deal with some problem, but while most people understand that things can go wrong, I've found they are much more understanding if you immediately deal with the problem and get the show back on the road.
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I have to fly to the vast majority of Bowzer gigs, and while there was a time I brought two on flights, I would be suicidal after walking through airports, not to mention the problems I had carrying on a bass bag and gettig gate checked or having some old lady slam a 100 lb. carry-on bag on top of it. So I have no choice but to bring one on his gigs.

Say wait a minute! You are bringing an upright and an electric? Well then you ARE bringing a backup bass! So why would you need two electrics unless you really want that for the tone difference?
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DUH!!!
 
#150
I used to use my fretless as a backup for the fretted and vice versa, but in my new band I have to sing as well, and then I am not able to stay focused enough on the bass to stay in tune on the fretless. Gotta have frets when I sing. So now I am getting a fretted backup bass.
 
#151
malthumb said:
I bought an SX to donate to one of the churches I play at. Played it on the Sunday before Christmas. Decided that since it was there, I wouldn't have to bring any of my basses when I played there. I could travel light!:D

For some reason I took my fretless with me the next time I played there. I think I took it just in case one of the songs we were doing that day was something I preferred to play fretless.

Long story short (too late!), the input jack on the SX had crapped out. It was unplayable. I would not have had enough time to go home and grab a bass and get back before service started, so it was fretless all the way that Sunday.
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Thereby proving that there is a god, and he's on your side.
 
#152
I know a lot of TB'ers like to jump in these threads and brag about how they've gotten by with one bass for so long. They go to great lengths to impress us with stories of their technological prowess and how they can fix anything that might go wrong with their one bass, they bring spare pots and soldering irons, nuts and output jacks, etc. Very impressive indeed.

My question is always: What about the time factor? It takes time to fix a broken bass, even a broken string. Do your gigs really provide you that extra time routinely? Do your band and audience really accept lengthy vamping and stupid banter or portions of songs played without the bass? Because, even in the darkest stinkiest dives I've played over the past 35 years, that is considered unprofessional and somebody would be giving me the hairy eyeball (or worse) if I tried it. Maybe you can get away with it in the garage or throw-away gigs, but at almost any other gig (i.e. a performace where you are expected to provide a high standard of entertainment) it would be patently unacceptable.
 
#153
electracoyote said:
I know a lot of TB'ers like to jump in these threads and brag about how they've gotten by with one bass for so long. They go to great lengths to impress us with stories of their technological prowess and how they can fix anything that might go wrong with their one bass, they bring spare pots and soldering irons, nuts and output jacks, etc. Very impressive indeed.

My question is always: What about the time factor? It takes time to fix a broken bass, even a broken string. Do your gigs really provide you that extra time routinely? Do your band and audience really accept lengthy vamping and stupid banter or portions of songs played without the bass? Because, even in the darkest stinkiest dives I've played over the past 35 years, that is considered unprofessional and somebody would be giving me the hairy eyeball (or worse) if I tried it. Maybe you can get away with it in the garage or throw-away gigs, but at almost any other gig (i.e. a performace where you are expected to provide a high standard of entertainment) it would be patently unacceptable.
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I guess since I've never had a problem with a bass I've not been too worried about it. When I was younger I only had one bass so didn't have a choice. Today I have a choice, but since I usually play passive Fenders & Rics the worst thing that could happen I guess is a string breaks. I keep a set of strings in my case.
 
#157
electracoyote said:
I know a lot of TB'ers like to jump in these threads and brag about how they've gotten by with one bass for so long. They go to great lengths to impress us with stories of their technological prowess and how they can fix anything that might go wrong with their one bass, they bring spare pots and soldering irons, nuts and output jacks, etc. Very impressive indeed.

My question is always: What about the time factor? It takes time to fix a broken bass, even a broken string. Do your gigs really provide you that extra time routinely? Do your band and audience really accept lengthy vamping and stupid banter or portions of songs played without the bass? Because, even in the darkest stinkiest dives I've played over the past 35 years, that is considered unprofessional and somebody would be giving me the hairy eyeball (or worse) if I tried it. Maybe you can get away with it in the garage or throw-away gigs, but at almost any other gig (i.e. a performace where you are expected to provide a high standard of entertainment) it would be patently unacceptable.
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THIS is exactly why I bring a backup. Yes, I carry extra strings/cords/allen keys/etc, but I do my changes in between sets. Doing them in a set is just sloppy & unprofessional.

To those of you who have NEVER had a problem: May your luck continue to hold. But, just because you've never had a problem doesn't mean the rest of us are stupid for carrying a backup. We're better prepared to continue on without looking like a schmuck, if something does go wrong mid-set.

Snarf said:
Must be nice to be able to put multiple basses in a car. I take the subway, so I'm sticking with the one-bass approach.
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Get a double guitar case with dual shoulder straps. :)
 
#160
I haven't broken a string since the 70's, and as a repair tech for 35 years I can repair most problems on the spot. I bring a backup bass and a powered PA head as an all purpose backup as well as a Sansamp BDI if I need to use the PA amp for a bass amp. Anything can happen before or during a gig. A spilled glass of water took out my GK one night (it wasn' on the amp.) I had a car accident one night that broke the neck off my main bass. the backup, a Steinberger Spirit only had a big chip. I use 2 cabinets, in case one goes down. I used to use one, until one night the speaker failed and I had to plug my bass amp into a monitor for the weekend.
 

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