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How many times has your bass failed you?

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?

Never once. I have had just about everything else fail but never a bass.
 
I've had more amps/cabs/pedals fail on me than anything else. Never had an issue with a bass apart from my strap falling off at a gig once (didn't use strap locks).

I use passive basses to avoid battery issues. The most I bring is a spare set of strings and maybe some patch cables if my pedalboard gets wonky.
 
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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?


Not sure on this one.

I play a bass.

I maintain that instrument and keep it in good repair.

I carry consumables.

If a consumable fails, that's not my bass's fault.

If I don't have a "consumable" with me, in my bag or case. I have failed!

Simple.
 
I've never got in the habit of bringing a backup bass in 20 years of gigging. I do bring extra strings as I have broken them many times(usually the E towards the end of the third set). This is where fretboard knowledge comes in handy if that happens(hasn't in probably 5 years)

I carry extra cables as those have gone bad on gigs(now I have a cable tester too). The worst was having "gremlins" with my pedal-board that had zero explanation upon later investigation.

All my basses are passive so no worries there, though some BL's in the past insisted I use their active bass for whatever reason. I've had issues with wireless systems cutting out real bad(another request from BL's, I hate them).

Yeah, aside from breaking strings I've never had a problem with the bass itself. The weirdest incident was an E string breaking *in the case* on its way to a gig! I have no idea how that happened?
 
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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?
In 55 years and hundreds of basses not once. The P Bass is a very stable animal!!
 
I think I've experienced every component failure, there may be some I haven't thought of.. I am one of those components, too -
And AFICR, So has everyone I've ever played with. This is the first time in my life I've had more than one bass I'd gig with, and I play by myself in the garage now. But I recommend a backup on- hand for everything. Except ears, brain and hands - (backups are hard to find)
That's just me tho
 
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The thing is, no one takes a back up because they know FOR SURE their main bass will fail, that misses the point entirely. If your one bass on the gig does fail, and you are stuck without a bass until it's fixed, then you will realize that you could have, and should have had a back up. So this is where the real issue is- if you can foresee a potential problem that might crop up, and that issue is a total show stopper, why wouldn't you have a back up plan? In fact, have back ups of all types of cables you use, back up amp if possible too. For some reason, some people who can foresee a problem and could address it, don't, and insist on watching the problem actually happen to themselves first, before they will worry about it- by then it's too late.