Alas, I still have only the standard complement of two shoulders and one back, and they are aging fast enough as it isThey do have double gig bags though, that fit two basses.
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Do you need a backup bass.
- Thread starter pica
- Start date
I never brought a second bass to band practices. I had an old bass that I’d lay across the floor in the back seat of my car - didn’t even have a gig bag. Brought that bass to every practice for 2 years like that, and twice a week to play in church.
One day at practice, my notes started to go flat. I tuned up - even more flat?? I tuned up more and then noticed the screws in my bridge were pulling out of the body! My hardtail bridge was looking like a Stratocaster’s tremolo bridge. Oops! Luckily my guitar player whose basement we used had a bass I could use for the rest of the practice.
One day at practice, my notes started to go flat. I tuned up - even more flat?? I tuned up more and then noticed the screws in my bridge were pulling out of the body! My hardtail bridge was looking like a Stratocaster’s tremolo bridge. Oops! Luckily my guitar player whose basement we used had a bass I could use for the rest of the practice.
I don't play for a living, and I feel I carry enough stuff as it is, so no - I don't bother with a backup bass. However, I carry a multitool, spare battery and sometimes an extra string set, (though I've only ever broken a string once, when changing them), so I can do minor repairs on the fly.
I know there's safety in redundancy, but I can't double up on everything in my life. And even then things can go catastrophically wrong. I was an officer in the Norwegian Civil Defence for many years, and we once got called out to assist with draining a flooded undersea tunnel. This tunnel had triple redundancy - three huge pumps, each capable of keeping the tunnel dry, and designed to cut in in succession if one pump should fail. All three had failed, one after the other, flooding the tunnel. The moral: You can't guard against every possible mishap, and sometimes, sh*t just happens.
I know there's safety in redundancy, but I can't double up on everything in my life. And even then things can go catastrophically wrong. I was an officer in the Norwegian Civil Defence for many years, and we once got called out to assist with draining a flooded undersea tunnel. This tunnel had triple redundancy - three huge pumps, each capable of keeping the tunnel dry, and designed to cut in in succession if one pump should fail. All three had failed, one after the other, flooding the tunnel. The moral: You can't guard against every possible mishap, and sometimes, sh*t just happens.
Depends. If I bring my 25+ year old Alembic Series 1 to a gig, I'll bring a jazz bass as a back up. Paid off one time when the 5 pin jack on the Alembic worked its way loose and I had to jump down and get the jazz.
Bringing the jazz only for the night ? I won't bring a backup.
I am not a pro, but I am so happy to play that I don't want to ruin a good time because of a bass failure (Murphy's law). So yes, I bring a backup bass, and a lot of other little things (strings, DI, tools, cables, powerbank, ...)
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I always bring two basses in an Ibanez double-bag with wheels.
For me it's no extra trouble but a comfort.
And i sweat. A lot!
So even if i don't need to, it's nice to change to a dry bass with a dry strap
I take two of my Vantages with very similar setup and strings, so not even i notice
any difference between main and backup.
For me it's no extra trouble but a comfort.
And i sweat. A lot!
So even if i don't need to, it's nice to change to a dry bass with a dry strap
I take two of my Vantages with very similar setup and strings, so not even i notice
any difference between main and backup.
I HATE making posts which are so controversial, but ...
One needs to know a few things about me:
I was a Boy Scout
I suffer from PTSD (So, I'm hyper-vigilant).
I've had my share of mishaps and I have always despised seeming "unprofessional" (in anything I do).
That's the background in a nutshell.
I've told one of these stories before so, I'll do that one, quickly.
1983: I'd been playing the bass for about a year. I was in a working band (just on the cusp of being able to quit our day jobs) and a "weekend warrior" band.
The working band was doing three gigs a week which paid fairly well (each of us was clearing $300 a week and still putting money back into the band).
I was rehearsing with the weekender band and had an (extra) gig with the working band that same night (a Sunday). We were playing some serious Motown and jazz-infused jams. I was slapping and plucking incredibly well.
My girlfriend (who was only a few months away from banishment, anyway) decided it was time to play the "He's-Having-Fun-I'd-Better-Ruin-It" card and said: You should calm down on that thing. You have a gig tonight."
"Relax", I said. "It's a bass. These strings don't break like guitar strings do!"
You guessed it! Within (literally) three minutes my E String breaks.
It's Sunday ... in 1983 ... in New Brunswick, NJ and the only place which had strings was a ten minute car ride and closing in 15 minutes.
They had the cheapest strings which went for about $25 (back then) and since it was a Sunday and my back was up against the wall, they only charged $55.00 for the set (and busted my chops about it, too). I never did business with that store, ever again, even when they tried to get me to visit to do a promotion.
If I'd had a back-up bass, I'd have had back-up strings (almost by definition).
Another time doesn't correlate as neatly, but it fits.
Around the same time, our band was playing a showcase and the guitar play (a disloyal turd in his own right) and I spent $50.00 per unit for new instrument/Speaker cables.
Being young and full of myself, I threw out the old cables (there was nothing wrong with them. I had just "graduated" to "professional" cables).
Sure enough, third song into our set, one of the crash cymbals teetered off the drum riser and cut one of my brand-new cables cleanly as if the drummer had done it with a set of dikes.
I was always a "You-Can-Only-Play-One-At-A-Time" guy, but these days, I'm the guy who brings the ants to the picnic.
My gig bag has batteries, back-up power adapters, strings, Instrument/speaker/XLR cables.
I bring a minimum two instruments to EVERY GIG. The good Lord has blessed me and I haven't had a non-fixable mishap since I became enlightened, but I've had a few times I was glad I had back-up.
"NEED"? Not in the last (almost) forty years.
"Glad I had"? You bet your bippy!
Buy a Squier or Epiphone (usually less than $400), just in case.
One needs to know a few things about me:
I was a Boy Scout
I suffer from PTSD (So, I'm hyper-vigilant).
I've had my share of mishaps and I have always despised seeming "unprofessional" (in anything I do).
That's the background in a nutshell.
I've told one of these stories before so, I'll do that one, quickly.
1983: I'd been playing the bass for about a year. I was in a working band (just on the cusp of being able to quit our day jobs) and a "weekend warrior" band.
The working band was doing three gigs a week which paid fairly well (each of us was clearing $300 a week and still putting money back into the band).
I was rehearsing with the weekender band and had an (extra) gig with the working band that same night (a Sunday). We were playing some serious Motown and jazz-infused jams. I was slapping and plucking incredibly well.
My girlfriend (who was only a few months away from banishment, anyway) decided it was time to play the "He's-Having-Fun-I'd-Better-Ruin-It" card and said: You should calm down on that thing. You have a gig tonight."
"Relax", I said. "It's a bass. These strings don't break like guitar strings do!"
You guessed it! Within (literally) three minutes my E String breaks.
It's Sunday ... in 1983 ... in New Brunswick, NJ and the only place which had strings was a ten minute car ride and closing in 15 minutes.
They had the cheapest strings which went for about $25 (back then) and since it was a Sunday and my back was up against the wall, they only charged $55.00 for the set (and busted my chops about it, too). I never did business with that store, ever again, even when they tried to get me to visit to do a promotion.
If I'd had a back-up bass, I'd have had back-up strings (almost by definition).
Another time doesn't correlate as neatly, but it fits.
Around the same time, our band was playing a showcase and the guitar play (a disloyal turd in his own right) and I spent $50.00 per unit for new instrument/Speaker cables.
Being young and full of myself, I threw out the old cables (there was nothing wrong with them. I had just "graduated" to "professional" cables).
Sure enough, third song into our set, one of the crash cymbals teetered off the drum riser and cut one of my brand-new cables cleanly as if the drummer had done it with a set of dikes.
I was always a "You-Can-Only-Play-One-At-A-Time" guy, but these days, I'm the guy who brings the ants to the picnic.
My gig bag has batteries, back-up power adapters, strings, Instrument/speaker/XLR cables.
I bring a minimum two instruments to EVERY GIG. The good Lord has blessed me and I haven't had a non-fixable mishap since I became enlightened, but I've had a few times I was glad I had back-up.
"NEED"? Not in the last (almost) forty years.
"Glad I had"? You bet your bippy!
Buy a Squier or Epiphone (usually less than $400), just in case.
I always bring one to a gig. Never needed it until recently when a bass just went dead in the middle of a set.
There is no harm bringing a spare. And if you ever need it, it is the difference between finishing a gig or not.
There is no harm bringing a spare. And if you ever need it, it is the difference between finishing a gig or not.
I have taken a backup bass to every gig I have played for over 20 years, and have never had a bass stolen at a gig.
Did have my bass stolen from my house, stolen by a shady acquaintance, but never at a gig.
Did have my bass stolen from my house, stolen by a shady acquaintance, but never at a gig.
This is true. But like so much of life, it’s a numbers game. You have to consider how many more times you would have had to drain that tunnel if it only had one pump, or just two pumps.
