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How many basses do you take to a gig?

#105
99% of the time, it's one bass. I keep strings and batteries with me, so if I break a string I can change it (and I'm reasonably quick at doing so) and if I happen to be playing my active bass I can change the battery (which I change every few months anyway).

There's only one show a year that I bring a backup head- and that's the show I supply the backline for.

However, if I'm playing guitar, I always bring 2. The chances of me breaking a string are exponentially higher than me breaking a bass string.
 
#108
AlembicPlayer said:
and for me it's one...THE ONE!
I have owned the same bass for over 20 years, played too many gigs to keep count and have never, not even once broke a string or had a failure. just lucky I guess...
Click to expand...

Yep, me, too (only 17 years for me, though). Of course, I only owned one until just recently. S'pose I've just jinxed myself ... goodbye, peace of mind.

I did, however, have my rig die on me recently - first time ever for that, too. Since that lousy evening, I've been bringing along my BA112 as a backup, just to have.

mud
 
#110
mudbean said:
Yep, me, too (only 17 years for me, though). Of course, I only owned one until just recently. S'pose I've just jinxed myself ... goodbye, peace of mind.

I did, however, have my rig die on me recently - first time ever for that, too. Since that lousy evening, I've been bringing along my BA112 as a backup, just to have.

mud
Click to expand...


ah, yes well the rig is another thing all together. I've had rig failures and have used the trusty little black box(sansamp) to the rescue.

on the road, we bring backup power amps that I can interface my sansamp to in a pinch.. as well as tools/parts kit as others here have mentioned.
 
#115
I like to be able to get drastically different tones depending on the song. I do take 5 basses to a show sometimes. My passive J is very vintage-y, my fretless J is...fretless, my Stingray sounds like a Stingray, I have a '67 Gibson EB-0 that is P.H.A.T and I use it on some big slow ballady things, and I have an active Yamaha 6-string that I use for anything where a "neutral" modern studio tone is ideal. Each of my basses sounds completely different, and I usually write my basslines and songs with specific instruments in mind. When I'm doing covers, this is even more important.

Of course, I also use my upright when that is called for.

I'm obviously not going to take all 5+upright to a 45 minute set. But if I feel the show can benefit from having the right sound for each individual song, then I'll do it.
 
#116
Normally I just take one - I totally trust my main gigging basses. However recently I've been building some Franken-basses. When I'm playing something new that I bolted together myself I take a spare! At least until I'm happy that it's solid. So far I've never need a backup, and the self-builds have performed really well.

For the original poster - take the fretted and the fretless. That way you've got the two sounds you want, and if the fretted goes down, them just finish the set on fretless. Worst case you juggle a couple of tracks around, and/or have a few alternative inonation momments, but chances are it'll never happen.

The alternative is just going to get out of hand:
fretted, back fretted, fretless, backup fretless, five string, backup 5 string etc etc.. You only need one backup that you can muddle through on.
 
#117
I'm not sure if I've responded to this post yet but...

I always take two - though I've only needed a replacement one time, and that was more than ten years ago. I'm always the guy with the bag full of extra gear though for the "just in case" scenarios at gigs. There have been more than a couple of times I bailed guys out with cables, tools, tape, extension chords, etc. I think every band needs a guy or gal like that in it.
 
#119
We play a bunch of different styles, so I need to bring at least 2...my workhorse 5'er and a 6 string fretless (both active, ALWAYS have back-up batteries). I usually bring my Explorer to play during the last set of Hard Rock/Metal stuff we play, and if I need a passive 4 string. I have a back-up 100 watt tube head just in case my SVT decides to take the night off, which happened once. The first time I blew a 6550 and had no back up tubes, I decided it was always a good idea to be redundant about equipment.
 

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