How many times has your bass failed you?

[baileyboy]

Never taken a backup bass, never needed one. I do bring two amps, because I'm more worried about that, but have never had amp failure either.

 

[kev451]

I've only had a string break on stage once. And luckily we were on tour and be the bass player for the headlining act was a good friend. He loaned me his bass. Learned to restring my bass more often lol.

 

[bhendrix]

Once - battery started to go on active Spector early in the set. Didn't have another battery
Passive Precision to the rescue!

 

[Koshchei]

I was reading some stuff about having a spare bass at gigs in case that something goes wrong with your main one, but how many times you guys have really experienced that? do you think that you really need a 2nd bass on stage (considering that you don't change your tunning)?

I have more than one bass for sure, but I never take a backup, never needed to either. How about you?

No failures to date.

 

[BaltBass5]

I've been playing professionally for 55 years and have gigged with about 40 different basses and never had a bass fail during a gig. Broke a string once on tour in 1967, but I would hardly call that a failure.
I recommend that you always bring a spare set of strings but, unless you are touring far from home or need a fretless for certain songs, a spare bass is just a luxury.

Is that why most touring bassists have about 3-10 on the side of the stage??

Personally I use 3 tunings, so it is always required and not a luxury.

 

[Rogatien]

I'm boring. Never. Not even one string breakage. Almost 35 yrs of playing/gigging.

I'm more concerned about amp failure, so along with my SVT CL, a Class D amp comes to gigs.

 

[Coolhandjjl]

Bring two, it won't fail.
Bring one, it will fail.

 

[PDGood]

Zero bass problems and I've been playing a long time. I played passive basses for decades. Now that I play an active bass I had a push/pull added so if the battery ever goes out I can switch to passive. Extra strings are a good idea, but I've never needed them.

I have had several amp problems.

 

[Redaxes]

Once at rehearsal. Finished the song we were playing then nothing...output jack was a little loose and that stresses one of the wires such that it came off. Only brought one bass that day. Since there were tools and a soldering iron in the basement a quick repair. I bring two basses now. Would bring two to any gigs now too.

 

[Ewo]

Broke a string once, decades ago. Have carried a spare set in my gig bag ever since--a used set, so they're already cut to length.

Had a guitar cord fail a couple times, but I always carry a spare in the gig bag and another in my stage bag.

Had an amp fail twice that I can remember. The first time I had no spare. The second time, I'd formed the habit of having a spare in my car.

And I use active basses--but only ones that have a bypass so I can run passive if I need to. And there are a couple spare 9 volt batts in the gig bag.

So...never had a bass itself fail. <Knock on wood...>

 

[Yango]

How many times can someone re-ask the same question, perhaps worded differently, in a very short period of time?

That is the real question.

 

[jnewmark]

I think its the other way around.

 

[steve_rolfeca]

In 49 years (nearly 40 of those have been steady, frequent gigging), I've had one 9V battery go dead, and one amp flame out after someone spilled a drink over it.

 

[Sgtpepper89]

My bass fails me everytime I try to slap it:/ Or maby its the other way around

 

[mcnach]

I had what I thought was a reasonably fresh 9 volt battery fail in my G&L L-2500. As luck would have it, I was only about 5 minutes from home so I was able to quickly go home, grab another bass and get on with the gig. I discovered this problem before the start time, so I got the problem fixed before it.

wouldn't it have been easier to carry spare 9V batteries?

 

[TheReceder]

40+ years. Never a "bass" fail... more a case where I failed. I had an active bass that the battery died. Sounded bad... I had a spare battery. I should have changed it before the show.

I sometimes bring an extra bass or 2, and in one case I decided to mess with a guitar player that thought it was cool to bring 4-5 guitars all the time. It was a big stage so I brought 8 basses. And every one of them was a bass brand that he didn't like. Only the drummer got the joke... the other guys just whined.

In this case... fire everyone except the drummer.

 

[InhumanResource]

I was reading some stuff about having a spare bass at gigs in case that something goes wrong with your main one, but how many times you guys have really experienced that? do you think that you really need a 2nd bass on stage (considering that you don't change your tunning)?

I have more than one bass for sure, but I never take a backup, never needed to either. How about you?

I started taking a backup recently and I haven't needed it. Honestly it is becoming a pain in the ass to carry around.

In the past I can think of two occasions that I had a wire pop off on my fender and had to take a break to repair it. That's in like 20 years of playing.

It's scary to think about not having a fallback for failure, but lately I just want an easy load in/out. I'm tempted to bring nothing but an ibanez Mikro and lightweight combo sometimes.

 

[Kro]

I had a less expensive, mid-level active bass fail me exactly once due to a faulty electrical connection related to the battery.

It was my only bass at the time, and it failed right before a show. Not having soldering components on-hand, I had to get creative with a rubber band and some electrical tape. The show went on.

Other than that, no issues across over fifteen years, and hundreds of gigs, with nothing more than semi-routine jack maintenance.

 

[drumvsbass]

Bass will never fail you.

 

[74hc]

Im a mediocre bass player. So my bass doesn't fail me. I fail it.