Some leave their nice bass at home and bring a beater on the gig. Others play their nice bass everywhere. Others will pick a bass depending on the situation.
What about you?
What about you?
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Do you take your "nice" bass to gigs?
- Thread starter jive1
- Start date
I go in phases where I play one for a while and switch to another, but yeah I bring my 74 Jazz out all the time. I just stay protective of it
- Mar 22, 2005
- 3,718
- 6
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: Lakland Basses
Most definitely. What good is a bass if you can't take it out to the gig and show it off? I do understand folks that don't want to take their $3k bass out to a rough dive bar but thank goodness we dont' play any places like that.
Most of my basses are in the high end part of the spectrum so anything I take fits the "Good" label (it it was not good, it wouldn't have joined the herd anyway)
The cost or "niceness" of the bass is never any factor in my gear decisions. If I own it and it's the right bass for the gig, it goes with me. In general, the two basses I take most frequently also happen to be my most expensive ..... 
My "beater" is a Warwick Stage II. So, yes. I always take my nice bass to a gig. There is no use buying a high quality instrument if you don't use it. That would be like buying a Corvette only to keep it in the garage and wax it.
I really don't have "beater" basses. They are all nice (to me). Even my $200 Squire VM Jazz can cut it in any gig. I use my Ibanez 6 and Squire 4 about 40 to 60% of the time. use my Roscoe mainly for church and church rehearsals because it's less likely to get stolen there. But I do use the Roscoe a lot on other gigs. I guess it all depends on how I feel about the location of the gig 
If I’m familiar with the place and can keep a good eye on my gear, I’ll use the Roscoe 
If I’m familiar with the place and can keep a good eye on my gear, I’ll use the Roscoe 
- Mar 1, 2005
- 3,101
- 385
- 62
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: Crook Custom Guitars
Up until recently my MB2 was the only bass I had to gig with so yes. I recently purchased an Ibanez SR1305PM which will probably become my gigging bass, but as it's now my other "nice bass" the answer is still yes.
funkybassplayer
Commercial User
when my double gig bag was still in one piece (damn dog and his chewing) i owuld always take my go to bass (Thumb NT4) and my back up (Ibby TR-505). there is probably about $2500+ difference between the two basses but both of them are my "nice" basses. now that i only have single gig bags i just take the Warwick.
I play a Lakland USA JO. I'm not sure how high end others might consider it or if it's expensive or not but I beat the crap out of it and take it to every electric bass gig, it has become an extension of me and everything else is just not the same.
I keep a 5 string and a fretless around at home thinking they might come in handy for something, but they very rarely leave the house.
When it comes to uprights that's a different story I used to own a very expensive and old DB. There were other considerations when expensive repairs become more likely under certain circumstances. I played a small jazz gig last week and put a good guage into the side of my hybrid upright with a cymbal stand, if it was fully carved I might be in for thousands in repairs.
I keep a 5 string and a fretless around at home thinking they might come in handy for something, but they very rarely leave the house.
When it comes to uprights that's a different story I used to own a very expensive and old DB. There were other considerations when expensive repairs become more likely under certain circumstances. I played a small jazz gig last week and put a good guage into the side of my hybrid upright with a cymbal stand, if it was fully carved I might be in for thousands in repairs.
- Jan 18, 2008
- 44
- 1
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist (I back..): Sadowsky, Fender, Aguilar Amplification.
There's a phase of "breaking in" for me. The first few months, I baby it. In this case, my new Sadowsky. I got a slight chip in the finish, and of course I blew up. But after I chilled out, it made me realize a few things. One, was that things like this are going to happen, it's meant to be played obviously. The other thing, was that I think I held the bass in too high of a regard. I was taking the bass a little seriously, instead of just freakin playin it! So, I'm taking it on tour. Where it will probably get some dings and scratches on it.
