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Are two basses REALLY needed to bring to gigs?

#281
Bluesbob said:
I'm on the road next week (all the way to Connecticut-LOL). I really don't know what to do. If I bring the back-up, will Murphy's law take over, and something else will go wrong? If I don't bring the #2, will everything be fine, like it has been since June of last year? I'm in a quandary :help:
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Bob I'm out on the road for the next three weeks (at least)

Here is my road-rig ...

Two cabs a 2x10 and a 1x15 (I made them and they have been tested but ya never know)

In the Samsonite roller cart are ...

Two Mark Bass LM IIs, a Radial JDI, 4 instrument cables, about 6 speaker cables, a small tool kit, two tuners, two tiedown straps, and extra batteries.

My two "Road-Dawg" Jazz Basses in a Levys hemp double gig bag, with two sets of extra strings and an extra strap.

It all packs down pretty small so it fits in the trailer.

RoadGear.jpg
 
#282
Bluesbob said:
So what happens? The set-screw on my volume knob decides to loosen and I have to play the entire second and third sets with no knob. Now you might think that's not a big deal - but I use the position of the set-screws on the barrel knobs to tell me what position the pot is at. And to top it off, I had left the Jazz bass in the car, out in the parking lot.
Anyway, I'm on the road next week (all the way to Connecticut-LOL). I really don't know what to do. If I bring the back-up, will Murphy's law take over, and something else will go wrong? If I don't bring the #2, will everything be fine, like it has been since June of last year? I'm in a quandary :help:
Click to expand...

Why didn't you get the Jazz bass in between sets...?
 
#284
savit260 said:
I don't think using Dunlops would have cured the problem unless their screws are somehow unbreakable. ;)
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I broke one trying to gorilla it into a hole that should've been drilled out first, other than that I've never seen one of their screws break. Seriously... and I've dealt with a bunch of them.

Here's what happened... Did a song and a half soundcheck... Everything is cool. Opening bands play... Grab bass... tune up... on stage and get the go ahead from the sound guy... Guitar player starts talking on the mic... I'm getting myself ready to start the first song, and the bass starts traveling towards the floor. The screw sheered clean off while just standing there.

Now as for Dunlops... Guitar player uses them as he prefers them to Schallers, BUT during a show one time the C shaped "snap ring clip" on the his Dunlops had apparently worn just enough where it slipped off and sent his Gibson to the floor, mid song snapping off the high E string tuner.
Glad he had a backup too. ;)
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:confused:

With the pressure on those C-clips that is very surprising. Matter of fact, since the C-clip holds the big washer on the inside of the strap, that's flat out bizarre. You don't need a C-clip to keep the strap locked on so I'm curious as to just how he got a guitar to fall off a locked button.
 
#285
Brad Johnson said:
I broke one trying to gorilla it into a hole that should've been drilled out first, other than that I've never seen one of their screws break. Seriously... and I've dealt with a bunch of them.



:confused:

With the pressure on those C-clips that is very surprising. Matter of fact, since the C-clip holds the big washer on the inside of the strap, that's flat out bizarre. You don't need a C-clip to keep the strap locked on so I'm curious as to just how he got a guitar to fall off a locked button.
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Maybe the little locking balls or whatever spring pushing them out was worn as well. I do distinctly remember that the C clip had come off and lost all of ist's springing ability to stay clipped in place. It was a few years back, but what was clear as day was....

The Flying V hit the stage with a thud about half to three quarters of the way through the show with a mighty, tuner breaking THUD followed by a horrific noise out of the amp. ;)

Jeff uses Dunlops on all his guitars, and I use Schallers on alll my basses.

His Dunlop failure turned out to be far more expensive than my Schaller failure. ;)
 
#286
savit260 said:
Maybe the little locking balls or whatever spring pushing them out was worn as well. I do distinctly remember that the C clip had come off and lost all of ist's springing ability to stay clipped in place. It was a few years back, but what was clear as day was....

The Flying V hit the stage with a thud about half to three quarters of the way through the show with a mighty, tuner breaking THUD followed by a horrific noise out of the amp. ;)

Jeff uses Dunlops on all his guitars, and I use Schallers on alll my basses.

His Dunlop failure turned out to be far more expensive than my Schaller failure. ;)
Click to expand...

Well, no system is completely safe, but I had LOTS of problems with Schallers, and have had exactly zero failures with Dunlops in the 10 years I've switched over to the Dual Designs.

Just last month, one of the guitarists I gig with almost had a Stratastrophe because of Schaller. As is usual for that system, the nut and washer came undone, allowing the strap to fall off of the lock.

You couldn't pay me to go back to Schallers. I'd rather use the Dunlop Dual Design button without the lock.
 
#288
savit260 said:
Maybe the little locking balls or whatever spring pushing them out was worn as well. I do distinctly remember that the C clip had come off and lost all of ist's springing ability to stay clipped in place. It was a few years back, but what was clear as day was....

The Flying V hit the stage with a thud about half to three quarters of the way through the show with a mighty, tuner breaking THUD followed by a horrific noise out of the amp. ;)

Jeff uses Dunlops on all his guitars, and I use Schallers on alll my basses.

His Dunlop failure turned out to be far more expensive than my Schaller failure. ;)
Click to expand...

One of my Schaller's fell off my Marleaux JB Deluxe 5 on a gig. Fortunately I was holding the bass at the time.

Like I said it couldn't have been the C-clip on your friend's guitar. That kind of thing could only happen on a Schaller which is secured from the wrong side of the strap. If the three ballbearing system actually failed on his Dunlops then you'd think he'd know that.

I've been using Dunlops regularly since 1980 with zero failures. I used my main Levy strap with well over a dozen basses through a ton of gigs without a hint of any problem. They go on and don't come off until I take them off. About the closest I could come to a failure would be to not make sure it locked into place... user error. I know that's happened with other people before and that's clearly not a Dunlop issue.
;)

I honestly don't get the appeal of Schallers. A system that you have to orient a certain way that is prone to loosening that can lead to the strap coming off the lock just doesn't make a lot of sense security-wise.
 
#289
Fuzzbass said:
Well, no system is completely safe, but I had LOTS of problems with Schallers, and have had exactly zero failures with Dunlops in the 10 years I've switched over to the Dual Designs.

Just last month, one of the guitarists I gig with almost had a Stratastrophe because of Schaller. As is usual for that system, the nut and washer came undone, allowing the strap to fall off of the lock.

You couldn't pay me to go back to Schallers. I'd rather use the Dunlop Dual Design button without the lock.
Click to expand...

You'd think after all this time they'd redesign them so they'd secure from under the strap (between the strap and guitar) instead of outside of it. Put a lip just under the button and use a big washer that couldn't pull through any strap hole and it would be a huge improvement. Just one of those "duh" things I don't understand them not addressing yet.
 
#290
Brad Johnson said:
One of my Schaller's fell off my Marleaux JB Deluxe 5 on a gig. Fortunately I was holding the bass at the time.

Like I said it couldn't have been the C-clip on your friend's guitar. That kind of thing could only happen on a Schaller which is secured from the wrong side of the strap. If the three ballbearing system actually failed on his Dunlops then you'd think he'd know that.

I've been using Dunlops regularly since 1980 with zero failures. I used my main Levy strap with well over a dozen basses through a ton of gigs without a hint of any problem. They go on and don't come off until I take them off. About the closest I could come to a failure would be to not make sure it locked into place... user error. I know that's happened with other people before and that's clearly not a Dunlop issue.
;)

I honestly don't get the appeal of Schallers. A system that you have to orient a certain way that is prone to loosening that can lead to the strap coming off the lock just doesn't make a lot of sense security-wise.
Click to expand...



Brad, this happened a few years back, so my memory is a little cloudy, BUT what I can tell you definitifly is that A. The failure was of Dunlops, because Jeff doesn't , and has never used Schallers, only Dunlops B. That particular set of locks was discarded because they no longer worked C. Weather or not the C clip was the cause of failure(probably not) it was still worn to the point where it fell off. D. The Gibson Fly V that was attatched to the locks hit the stage hard enough during a song to break off the E string tuner midway through a set.
 
#291
Brad Johnson said:
I honestly don't get the appeal of Schallers. A system that you have to orient a certain way that is prone to loosening that can lead to the strap coming off the lock just doesn't make a lot of sense security-wise.
Click to expand...

The appeal is that if the "locking" portion of the lock fails, the bass probably won't fall off and hit the ground.

Lock-tite solves the nut backing out issue.

Yeah, the nut securing the strap part isn't the greatest design but it's an easy fix.
 
#292
A funny. I used to be in this cabaret band and our guitarist was a total w**ker.
He turned up with his 3 tired guitars and superiority complex.

He hated that I had more basses than he had guitars. We played a party for his
brother and so his family were there including his creepy little boy, who he sent
over to me to ask me why I had to have 4 basses on stage (while he lurched in
the distance, grinning at his apparent mischief). Without missing a beat, I looked
down my nose at him and said "because I left 15 at home". His Dad nearly had a
**** on the spot. Brilliant.
 
#295
:hmm:

What if the backup fails...and then the backup's backup fails...and then the backup to that fails...etc., etc., etc.

Everyone should really take at least 100 basses to a gig.

Then maybe you'll make it through the night.

:ninja:
 
#299
mongo2 said:
:hmm:

What if the backup fails...and then the backup's backup fails...and then the backup to that fails...etc., etc., etc.

Everyone should really take at least 100 basses to a gig.

Then maybe you'll make it through the night.

:ninja:
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...And what if terrorists attack the stage and blow you all to kingdom come...?...:rollno: Answer: ain't gonna happen.

But equipment failures do happen, at least occasionally. If you want to rationalize that you got through your last gig without an issue, and use that as an excuse for no backup, well, as others have stated, that's up to you. Speaking for myself, I like to take the stage knowing that Plan B is waiting in the wings, should something happen to Plan A. No one can plan for every possible scenario (does the band...or the venue...have a backup generator in case of a power failure?) but a player who takes his role in a band seriously will make sure his butt's covered in every way he can. ...IMO...
 

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