Do you gig with a backup amp?

DI to FOH as backup. I had a couple of amp failures and once forgot my amp at home. I have a DI on my board. Problem solved. Marines make do. Full disclosure: I am not a Marine.

 

I’d just go straight into the board. I used to do that at rehearsal before I bought an amp to leave there.

In 20 years I’ve never had an amp hint at failure, in the shed, rehearsal or on stage. Maybe I’m just lucky, or asking for trouble!

 

I have a 250 watt TC micro head in my glove compartment that I've had to use on 3 occasions now.

Yes.

 

Always I have my backups. I bring several redundant items: amp, cables, bass, etc. It gives me peace of mind.

The only thing that doesn’t get a backup is my cab, but if that goes, I’d resort to going direct.

 

... always take my ELF along in my gig bag ...

 

I just snagged a TC BQ500 for this very reason, to keep in the truck in case it's bigger Ampeg brother takes a nap (has never happened, so far).

 

I have a micro for rehearsals but I don't take it to gigs. If my amp ever quit mid-show I'd just have the soundguy turn me up in the monitor mix. My rig is basically just for monitoring anyways.

 

I never did...until last summer when something went haywire for a couple minutes with my D800 rig. Total loss of signal somewhere in the chain, even when I dumped the wireless and plugged in the backup cable as planned. Still no signal. Hasn't happened since, don't know to this day what the problem was (bad power to the portable stage? My amp? Something in the pedals? Still don't know). So, since then, I always toss the old Mesa M9 in as a backup. Only takes an extra second to have it in the vehicle in case.

 

Never. I used to, when amps were flat-out unreliable, but now? No need.

 

Uh, no.

 

Yes, an Ibanez Promethean 300h. I bring 2 of everything (bass, amp head, cab and DI).

We play small venues and are the only act in a 4 hour show. There's no one in another band to save me with a loaner. The PA is mainly for vocals (speakers on sticks w/ no subs) so I don't want to ever rely solely on the PA for my sound.

 

Yep. Main head is an AD200B MK 3 and I bring this little guy along for a backup:

Terror Bass – Orange Amps

 

if i bring a lead sled, no
if i bring a micro-amp, yes.
i bring another micro amp

 

I always bring my Line 6 Bass Pod XT Live, which has my presets (including amp models, effects, EQ, compression).

If there is no backline, I bring my combo amp.

If they are micing the amp and request DI as well, I send my dry signal to FOH and wet to the amp. If there is no mic but there is a DI, I ask (and have always had a positive response) if I should send the wet to DI. I then feed the amp the dry from the POD and adjust as needed to sound good on stage, knowing that FOH will be getting my "real" tone through DI.

If there is no FOH, then no, I don't bring an additional amp. Maybe I ought to get an Elf or something similar to bring along JIC as I have had some amp trouble occasionally in the past.

 

This

 

No. I bring a Linden EQ if I need to go into the PA at some point.

 

I gig with a spare amp head. I'm in the PA only about 1/3rd of the time. Thus, a GK mb800 is in my "just in case" bag. I have used a spare head on three occasions. In two instances, a guitarist's amp died, and each was using Fender combos with the speaker wire, plug, and jack on the back panel.

On the third occasion, I used the spare to debug my problem, which turned out to be a disconnected speaker wire, thanks to my new kitten, who had reached into the port at the bottom of my fEARful and snagged an disconnected a wire from one of the crossovers, causing the cab to quit working. In that case, the guitarist, who lived 10 minutes away raced home and came back with a nice 410, which saved the gig. The PA's I encounter are often ill-suited to bass, though I always have a DI.

I also bring a spare power amp with a tube channel pre when gigging with my psychobilly band. The PA the BL has is a budget brand that gets used hard. We only need one mic with that band, LOL.

 

When gigging with an amp and cabinet I generally just bring along a Sansamp as a direct to FoH solution. Haven’t had an amp fail yet, personally.