Just a few things to make it really complete:
A soldering iron/solder
Multimeter
Outlet tester
and last but not least, a drum key. Yes, a drum key. Mine's made me a hero several times.
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Has Anyone Had A Bass Go Down During A Gig?
- Thread starter jnammy
- Start date
A soldering iron/solder
Multimeter
Outlet tester
and last but not least, a drum key. Yes, a drum key. Mine's made me a hero several times.
- Jun 13, 2002
- 611
- 301
- Disclosures
- Branden Campbell
I had one go out on live TV. Watching the clip, I could see the moment when our drummer gave me the glare of "whats up w your bass". Luckily it was at the end of the show and they faded to commercial right after my bass cut out.
Hmm... let's see:
-Broken strings. Countless times (usually the E string, too).
-Battery. My battery has died twoce while playing live on my active ATK.
-Unintential detuning. Also many times. I tend to thrash around a bunch. It's not uncommon for my headstock to whack something or someone and detune me mid-song.
-Broken Headstock. Nailed a kid in the head with my old franken fender P. Cracked the headstock and took a halfdollar sized chunk of scalp and hair off of his head.
-Broken Bridge. Soon after i replaced the neck on the franken fender some problems aroze at a show we were playing. A bouncer started choking a 16 year old kid in front of me, so i layed him out with the bass... which poped the bridge out.
-Busted Nuthiding
-Broken ME!! I flailed a hand during a basement show and caught it on a low beam, cracking my metacarpal. It was night 1 of a 2 month tour!! We spent the night at the hospital and i just taped it up and delt with it for the rest of tour...
-Amp troubles. I've blown speakers on 3 occations and have had amp malfunctions on about 6 or so.
So yeah... i'm a pretty staunch supporter of always bringing back up basses and an extra head. Also, these are my reasons for not owning any basses over the $600 mark...
Great post, I need to go see you guys play!
Great story from you too Kirk
I've had the input jack on my Carvin LB75AP Anniversary go bad 3 songs into the first set. Miraculously the guitar player was able to fix it with wire cutters, no solder or pliers.
It happened because of a cold soldering joint that occured when I had a Carvin salesperson swap out all my chrome hardware for gold hardware and he didn't solder the input jack well enough.
Luckily everything eventually worked out.
It happened because of a cold soldering joint that occured when I had a Carvin salesperson swap out all my chrome hardware for gold hardware and he didn't solder the input jack well enough.
Luckily everything eventually worked out.
You guys are making me feel extremely lucky.... I've never had a gear problem on a gig.
I'll admit, I usually give my basses a good going-over the night before a gig. New strings if necessary, replace any and all batteries, check all screws to make sure that nothing is loose, especially on the bridge and straplocks, etc, etc.
Ounce of prevention, and all that jazz.
PS: It's worth investing in a good Swiss Army knife. Try to get one that has the tools you need, but not one that is so big that you won't carry it with you at all times. A good knife can really save your bacon!
I'll admit, I usually give my basses a good going-over the night before a gig. New strings if necessary, replace any and all batteries, check all screws to make sure that nothing is loose, especially on the bridge and straplocks, etc, etc.
Ounce of prevention, and all that jazz.
PS: It's worth investing in a good Swiss Army knife. Try to get one that has the tools you need, but not one that is so big that you won't carry it with you at all times. A good knife can really save your bacon!
I've got a feeling they were all very unlucky. I think a bass failing is a rare thing.
I've never had any issues with a bass in 8 years of playing, but I had a doozy of an amp problem once.
I was playing in church, and right in the middle of the song my sound abruptly cuts off. I immediately started going through the mental checklist: did my cord come unplugged? did I accidentally step on my pedal tuner? After a few seconds of checking out my (passive) bass and pedals, it finally occurred to me to look at my amp. When I turned around, there was smoke pouring out of the back of it and I could see the orange glow of the flames from the vent. Everything had been just fine 15 minutes earlier when we were practicing, and I know it wasn't a power surge or something because nothing happened to the two guitarist's or keyboardist's gear.
Needless to say I will never use another Behringer amp again. :scowl:
I was playing in church, and right in the middle of the song my sound abruptly cuts off. I immediately started going through the mental checklist: did my cord come unplugged? did I accidentally step on my pedal tuner? After a few seconds of checking out my (passive) bass and pedals, it finally occurred to me to look at my amp. When I turned around, there was smoke pouring out of the back of it and I could see the orange glow of the flames from the vent. Everything had been just fine 15 minutes earlier when we were practicing, and I know it wasn't a power surge or something because nothing happened to the two guitarist's or keyboardist's gear.
Needless to say I will never use another Behringer amp again. :scowl:
I had a malfunction once.
I was playing a gig with my ska band, and I was playing my Yamaha TRB5. All of a sudden all sound disappears. I changed cables: nothing. Played directly through the PA (so no amp): nothing. New battery: nothing. And I didn't bring a backup.
Luckily there was a guy in the audience who asked our sound engineer: "Is that bass broken? Something with the electronics or something?" And the engineer said: "Yeah, so what? Do you have a bass?" And the dude said he had one and lived around the corner. He picked it up (it was a horrible Samick, but it was a bass) so I could finish the gig. Since then I always take a backup bass.
What was the problem? The battery didn't connect properly anymore. We changed the connection and everything was (and still is) fine.
I was playing a gig with my ska band, and I was playing my Yamaha TRB5. All of a sudden all sound disappears. I changed cables: nothing. Played directly through the PA (so no amp): nothing. New battery: nothing. And I didn't bring a backup.
Luckily there was a guy in the audience who asked our sound engineer: "Is that bass broken? Something with the electronics or something?" And the engineer said: "Yeah, so what? Do you have a bass?" And the dude said he had one and lived around the corner. He picked it up (it was a horrible Samick, but it was a bass) so I could finish the gig. Since then I always take a backup bass.
What was the problem? The battery didn't connect properly anymore. We changed the connection and everything was (and still is) fine.
It's like bringing a spare steering wheel for a car! Well, sort of....
In the shows I play there are usually two or more other bands on the bill. You just borrow one from them. Everyone offers, especially if they've already played.
Many years ago... On the bill with our Jazz group were Mud and Gino Washington... battery failed on my SB1000... no spare, no backup bass... had to go to the nearest newsagents and fit the battery on stage!
The only thing that broke down at a gig, apart from a broken string once, was the bridge pickup of my fretless PJ (Hohner copy).
I noticed it at the soundcheck, a fellow bassplayer gave me a loan on his Ibanez with DiMarzio P's, but I preferred to play the gig fretless, and the P's were still functional, so I did it that way.
It's supposed to have been a loose wire.
A technician also told me a story about heavy electomagnetic fields at some venues (rare),
some of those seem to be able to disturb the field of a single coil pickup to silence.
I noticed it at the soundcheck, a fellow bassplayer gave me a loan on his Ibanez with DiMarzio P's, but I preferred to play the gig fretless, and the P's were still functional, so I did it that way.
It's supposed to have been a loose wire.
A technician also told me a story about heavy electomagnetic fields at some venues (rare),
some of those seem to be able to disturb the field of a single coil pickup to silence.
About 10 minutes before a show, my bass' jack collapsed on itself and the lower strap button broke. Then two of our guitarists dropped their guitars which took took a chunk out of the backs and broke one of their input jacks too!
Good thing the band that was on after us let us borrow their gear. (I got to play an Ibanez SR505 instead of a crappy SX P copy
)
Good thing the band that was on after us let us borrow their gear. (I got to play an Ibanez SR505 instead of a crappy SX P copy
)I always carry a backup (or two). Few years ago some drunk guy decided it was a good idea to throw his pint of beer in the direction of the stage. Glass hits my hand and had beer flowing all over my bass, needless to say the thing went out. Funny part being that since I'm also the singer I managed to keep on singing and finished the song. After the song, my bandmates jumped down from the stage before I even knew it and, hell kinda broke loose.
- Aug 5, 2005
- 7,243
- 92
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: J.C. Basses
I had a string break right as I was tuning up for the first song. It was a short and fast-paced set, so I didn't have time to string change and I only have one 4-string bass, so I played the rest of the gig with a 3-string MM Stingray. I'll have a backup 4-string (MIM Jazz) soon as a direct result of that happening.
I've never had MY gear cr4p out on me during a gig but i have an interesting story about someone elses.
It was my first ever live gig and during soundcheck another bassist from another act's epiphone thunderbird IV just stopped working completely, so he turned to me and my £90 precision copy, which he played a good set on. He didnt tell me he'd changed the strap till about 5 minutes before i was due to play with my band, and he was one of those idiots (IMO) who has the strap stupidly low, i have it high, and i didnt have time to swap it with mine because mine was one of those self-locking planet waves ones which take a while to attach. So i ended up playing with his, which made me screw up, unable to move around, and on top of this, the bugger moved the mic in front of a monitor so i couldnt do backing vocals either.
At a practise i did a jump and that signalled the end of the self locking strap too.
It was my first ever live gig and during soundcheck another bassist from another act's epiphone thunderbird IV just stopped working completely, so he turned to me and my £90 precision copy, which he played a good set on. He didnt tell me he'd changed the strap till about 5 minutes before i was due to play with my band, and he was one of those idiots (IMO) who has the strap stupidly low, i have it high, and i didnt have time to swap it with mine because mine was one of those self-locking planet waves ones which take a while to attach. So i ended up playing with his, which made me screw up, unable to move around, and on top of this, the bugger moved the mic in front of a monitor so i couldnt do backing vocals either.
At a practise i did a jump and that signalled the end of the self locking strap too.
no basses, but during my first school "gig" (no drummer) :scowl: the school's amp shorted out. i was twiddling every knob, and kicked it in frustation 
I turned it off, back on, and there my sound was. (sigh)
I turned it off, back on, and there my sound was. (sigh)
