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How many basses do you take to a gig?

Two, both 5'ers.
If I ever get good at fretless that'd be #3.
Oh.......and am going to start bringing my acoustic regular guuitar to cover the guitarists butts because somehow strings keep breaking... we have emergency songs that only take one guitar but they're slow sooooo...bass player brings backups :).

Only time I bring one is if it's a jam :). After having a battery die and being mortified (luckily it was at a jam) I also change the batteries before "big" gigs...... and strings and wire cutters are kept right in the gig bag which is kept within reach :).

Bring as many as you want ......make sure you can watch them all and have good stands for them all.
 
Two, both 5'ers.
If I ever get good at fretless that'd be #3.
Oh.......and am going to start bringing my acoustic regular guuitar to cover the guitarists butts because somehow strings keep breaking... we have emergency songs that only take one guitar but they're slow sooooo...bass player brings backups :).

Only time I bring one is if it's a jam :). After having a battery die and being mortified (luckily it was at a jam) I also change the batteries before "big" gigs...... and strings and wire cutters are kept right in the gig bag which is kept within reach :).

Bring as many as you want ......make sure you can watch them all and have good stands for them all.

Plus one on the strings and wire cutters.
 
Three usually.
The "normal" two are identical Greco LP clones.
The 3rd is either a short scale lightweight(white Greco "Beatle bass" solidbody or Brice LP) OR a Brice T-Bird clone(also lightweight).

Sometimes the "3rd" gets something else if I get a "wild hair" or craving to play something different.
 
I always take one... almost back fired 2 weeks ago..2 minutes b4 the gig my passive bass was dead.... I opened her up and an unshielded cable from the the tone to the jack, actually was shorting on the tip of the input hack, I moved it over and stood still the rest of the night.
 
If I were you id take my main bass, a backup for it, and if you need or want another bass for a different tune or other songs were its sound you find nessecary. Its not really a big issue if you have more than one. But if youve got more than 4 sitting out but you only use one it looks like your showing off the fact youve got basses. So take
Your main bass
A backup for your main bass
And the other bass you wanted to use on ballads.
 
i only bring one because i hate carrying all that gear on the subway.

my five active does the trick though cuz i can dial in my funk and reggae tones and i have the low B when i need it without switching.

if i could i'd bring like 3..
 
I take as many as I feel like carrying around, usually two but occasionally three. I don't care what people think, I play what I want. I would like to add that different basses sound very different in different rooms and I have brought what I thought was the bass I was going to play and ended up playing a backup because the main bass just didn't sound good to my ears in that particular room.
 
Didn't read the whole thread, but the answer is - it depends. If the gig is one where a fluke busted string is going to create a big problem (concert setting, some jobbing gigs) then definitely you want two basses plugged into an A/B box so that you can stomp on it and be switched in literally seconds.

I don't think bringing 2 fretted basses and a fretless is too much, but you'd better play the fretless. Put it this way - if more than 1 bass sits without being played, you have too many basses. I've had 3 on a gig several times, but usually it's 2.