backup basses

[Hnz]

I voted 'Carrots' and now I'm obliged to explain ;-)

In my #1 band I play my trusted 1978 Pbass. It has never ever failed me and so I don't bring a back-up anymore.
In an other band I play a fretless jazz and a fretted Warwick Streamer. In case one breaks down (never happened) I use the other.

Fwiw: In all the years I play bass I have never broken a string. I standard bring an extra set of strings, just in case though.

 

[RomanS]

In 35 years of playing I have never even once needed a backup bass - so I don't bring one.

 

[chris_b]

To the "I've never had a failure" guys. . . . your luck might run out one day and that's the day you let everyone down.

I've never had a bass fail on me, but I've had amps and cabs fail and been on gigs where the guitar, keys, drum kit and PA have failed. I've been called to sub at an hours notice when another bass players car broke down.

2 weeks ago I got my ear plugs out of the case to discover one of the filters had fallen out and was missing! I reached for the back up.

I'm not going to be the guy that lets anyone down, so I bring 2 of everything!!

 

[KohanMike]

Since starting to play bass uke in mid 2014, I've been through about 60, all very different from each other, even conversions from short scale guitars. Than a couple of years ago the nerve damage in my neck spinal cord from radiation treatments got me to settle on one model that's most comfortable, the RondoMusic Hadean 21" scale violin/Hofner Chinese knockoff. I also decided to configure them exactly the same, having Eric's Guitar Shop in Sound City (THAT Sound City), Van Nuys, CA, replace the floating wood bridge and wonky piezo pickup with a high mass fully adjustable bridge and neck mini humbucker pickup. I use Kala/Galli flatwound strings, and HipShot license lite tuners on all of them.

I also have them finished to look different from each other, which allows my creative juices to flow, done by Pat Wilkins, near Eric's shop. So now I don't have to warm up to a different style bass, they're all exactly the same. In all this time, I only brought one bass to a gig, but once in a while, it would have a problem, so now I'm thinking of being better prepared. My entire rig is fairly compact, as shown in the photos below.

All my previous bass ukes/mini bass guitars, 21" up to 24" scale:

My current set of Hadean violin/Hofner style 21" scale"

My rig:

 

[GrayGoesBlack]

I voted 'one bass'. Of course I have many more, I'm not an idiot, but I just bring 1 to a gig, with a spare set of strings, battery and some basic tools in the bag. If anything happens, I'll rely on my improvisational skills and/or the community. But nothing has ever happened, my basses are solid instruments.

 

[Hnz]

To the "I've never had a failure" guys. . . . your luck might run out one day and that's the day you let everyone down.

I've never had a bass fail on me, but I've had amps and cabs fail and been on gigs where the guitar, keys, drum kit and PA have failed. I've been called to sub at an hours notice when another bass players car broke down.

2 weeks ago I got my ear plugs out of the case to discover one of the filters had fallen out and was missing! I reached for the back up.

I'm not going to be the guy that lets anyone down, so I bring 2 of everything!!

Who's driving the second car?

 

[pepj]

I'll take 2 out of 3. So, pick from LM5, LG5 or RA5.
The rest of my basses collect dust until I get to sell them.

 

[Wyrdlow]

I carry a double gig bag with a fretted Ric and a fretless Sire as a rule. If one failed I could cover the gig using the other. Not denying it might sound pretty weird - but hopefully I'll never find out! If I didn't need the fretless, I'd probably take my Squier CV50s P as back up.

 

[chris_b]

Who's driving the second car?

The backup bass player, of course!!

 

[2saddleslab]

One tuned standard, one tuned 1/2 step down are either siblings separated by 70 years or evil twins.

 

[Steve88]

I don't have a bass that's "the backup bass". I just bring the main bass I plan to play, and whatever other one I feel like grabbing (which may be determined by "oh look that one's in a case and ready to go"). Mine are all at least a little different (rounds/flats, active/passive, 4string/5string, black/red, etc.)

On more than one occasion I've set up and decided the "main bass" wasn't floating my boat for whatever reason and was glad I had something pretty different on hand to try.

 

[Stewie]

Never brought a back up, but I bring an upright and a Pbass to every gig.

 

[Slade N]

Voted twins for long cover gigs. Short original gigs just one bass

 

[Polfuste]

I'm more a one bass man: as soon as i've a #1, it's my main bass, and she's used for all band playing. Now that my #1 is the Sire U5 i've previously bought for playing only at home, my #1 will now be the main for all playing. And i will take any of one of my three ex-#1 as a backup for gigs or rehearsals far from home.

 

[Gervais Cote]

Main : p bass with s/s rounds as per my avatar picture

Backup : p bass with nickel rounds, Fender natural wood

Sometimes, my backup will be a jazz with s/s rounds for "quieter" music.

 

[bigdaddybass12]

Nah on bass failing. You have a bigger chance of an amp failing. Do you bring a 2nd one?

 

[climber]

Gigging for 61 years. Own 3 basses. Have always only taken 1 bass to any gig. Toured US and Europe and only brought one bass. I do carry spare cable, battery, strings and small tool kit.

 

[lug]

This goes on every gig....sometimes as the backup, sometimes as the prime.

 

[sleddogn]

This topic comes up every few months here and there are 2 camps, obviously. My last gig was 2 hrs from home. During soundcheck my main bass started shorting out. I had recently soldered in a new pickup and apparently one of the joints wiggled loose, so guess what? I had a backup that saved my butt....how would you single bass slingers deal with that issue in a time crunch?...yeah, you'd be f'd

 

[BrianVengeance]

Nah on bass failing. You have a bigger chance of an amp failing. Do you bring a 2nd one?

I actually do! Mesa D-800+ fits conveniently in the cable slot of the hard case for my Super Bassman.