• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

I bring too much stuff to gigs

#41
For local/in-town shows I only take what I need to get myself through (usually 1-2 basses, amp, backup micro amp, pedalboard and extra cables & mics). For road gigs I'll take a toolbox full of tools (everything from a soldering rig to extra strings for all instruments and drumsticks) and a duffle bag full of miscellaneous cables (came in really handy when half of the FOH went out and wouldn't work without the 20' Speakon-to-banana-plug cable I had). I even had tools to help some guy change the tire on his son's car while we were on the road, which made him a fan of our group.

The trick is not letting your band(s) get to be too reliant on your goodwill and overpreparedness; I've purposefully left my tool box and cable bag at home when one artist or another would just assume that they could rely on me to fix known problems instead of proactively addressing said problems themselves before we hit the road.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BassmanMetzger56 and Lvjoebass
#42
Broke said:
I bring 2 basses (main and backup), along with my main gear AND the following:

3 extra sets of strings
4 extra batteries (I play a Fender 50's reissue. Single coil)???
Wire cutters
Channel Locks
Extension cord
Surge protector
Guitar stand
Duct Tape
3 Cables
2 amps (1 spare)
Go Pro
Go Pro stand
1 bottle of Makers Mark (I don't even drink)
Click to expand...
Boy Scout Bass Player. Always prepared. ;)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Lvjoebass
#43
Broke said:
I bring 2 basses (main and backup), along with my main gear AND the following:

3 extra sets of strings
4 extra batteries (I play a Fender 50's reissue. Single coil)???
Wire cutters
Channel Locks
Extension cord
Surge protector
Guitar stand
Duct Tape
3 Cables
2 amps (1 spare)
Go Pro
Go Pro stand
1 bottle of Makers Mark (I don't even drink)
Click to expand...
 
#45
Broke said:
I bring 2 basses (main and backup), along with my main gear AND the following:

3 extra sets of strings
4 extra batteries (I play a Fender 50's reissue. Single coil)???
Wire cutters
Channel Locks
Extension cord
Surge protector
Guitar stand
Duct Tape
3 Cables
2 amps (1 spare)
Go Pro
Go Pro stand
1 bottle of Makers Mark (I don't even drink)
Click to expand...

That is pretty much what I bring to a gig ... except sometimes 3 basses
 
#50
Manticore said:
Last time I didn't bring a spare bass was the last time I needed one...about 20 years ago. :)
Click to expand...

What exactly goes "wrong" with a bass that requires one to bring a "backup"? Break a string? Two minutes work, if you have spare strings. Dead battery? Two minutes AT MOST - usually 30 seconds.

I just don't like schlepping extra kit - so I don't. When I'm really in the gig rotation thing, I keep an extra G string in the pocket, as well as an extra 9V - and that's it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Honch
#51
Broke said:
I bring 2 basses (main and backup), along with my main gear AND the following:

3 extra sets of strings
4 extra batteries (I play a Fender 50's reissue. Single coil)???
Wire cutters
Channel Locks
Extension cord
Surge protector
Guitar stand
Duct Tape
3 Cables
2 amps (1 spare)
Go Pro
Go Pro stand
1 bottle of Makers Mark (I don't even drink)
Click to expand...

I bring one bass, some spare of this or that, some spare FUSES because that's almost always why any amp dies. Would never ever bring a spare amp*. I do bring something like "last-aid-kit" in that if all amp should fail, I can go direct into PA as a last resort with a Korg Pandora PX5D. It has limiting and some kind of grit. If all else should fail. Strings of coure, and spare chords, and extension. Go Pro? No not ever, never. Batteries? Yes if they're fresh otherwise I'll buy them. Having batteries laying around shorts their shelf life. Better rush over to any convenience store and buy them in that case, that evening. As I run Lithium batteries they'll last forever... it seems. I am thinking to go completely passive so I have to dodge batteries altogether but it's only for enviromental purposes. The strange thing with lithium batteries is that you can actually throw them in the bin, but as I don't like throw everything away, regardless of that it is harmless, it's a good quest to aim for. They don't contain any mercury at all.

I've skipped duct, gaffer tape, years ago, as well as guitar stand. I use the MONO case as a guitar and tuck it inside between sets. I have definitely no need to show my bass to anyone while I am not playing. Guitar stands are JUST in the way on a crowded stage. Surge protectors would be something I'd consider but since the power grid in Sweden is quite stable, and not too many dodgy seedy dumps in the outback that has live music at all, it is kind of moot. I do have no use for cutters, but I use a philips head screwdriver, and the hex allen wrench for truss rod adjustments. No wire cutters at all. I use double ball end strings...


* although the latest Fender Rumble combo has died on me twice, the third one has survived for some time now. Was within warranty period...but then I used that "spare tire" and went direct into the PA, and saved the gig.
 
#52
SanDiegoHarry said:
What exactly goes "wrong" with a bass that requires one to bring a "backup"? Break a string? Two minutes work, if you have spare strings. Dead battery? Two minutes AT MOST - usually 30 seconds.
.
Click to expand...
My kind of guy. Do you know how long it takes to change out a double ball end string if it breaks? First if it breaks, it leaves the bass in total, no residues at all, the remains drops easily onto the floor, ball ends from the bridge as well as behind the zero fret. Wrapping up a new string takes lees than 3 seconds, within 30 seconds I have stuck it on and tune it up. All fours strings I've managed to change at 2 minutes 30 seconds, including tune up touch ups, I e that it slacks a bit after it's tuned and takes time to settle. Since there's just one centimer behind the zero fret, and behind the bridge there's no slack like on regular basses that takes AGES to settle perfectly in tune. Give it 4 minutes and I don't have to readjust throughout the whole evening, not one cent.

It seems lika I used to have some unwieldy "first-aid-kit" way back, for all these "just-in-cases".

I compare this to when I was very young, starting out on guitar and lost picks all of the time. Mislaid them, and couldn't find them. You only found them when hearing them go up/in the hoover...;). Then, since they where cheap, you bought a truckload of picks, so you didn't loose them, but guess what? The more picks you acquired, the less you lost THE one. I have several picks that I know are from the 70s. I have a bunch of them that I don't know what to do with really. They sure have worn out big time, but lost them? no. Not a single one, not even at gigs.

I e that the less "spares" you take with you out, shows how professional you have become. If it's huge big time record company deal professional tours, all such things are taken care of anyone, and you have sponsored cables, strings and whatnot, and other people takes care of that for you.
 
#54
SanDiegoHarry said:
What exactly goes "wrong" with a bass that requires one to bring a "backup"? Break a string? Two minutes work, if you have spare strings. Dead battery? Two minutes AT MOST - usually 30 seconds.

I just don't like schlepping extra kit - so I don't. When I'm really in the gig rotation thing, I keep an extra G string in the pocket, as well as an extra 9V - and that's it.
Click to expand...
That's the whole point of being prepared; one never knows what will go wrong. The last time I needed a spare lo so many years ago the drummer knocked my bass off the stand. It was an accident in tight quarters; it happens. When the bass fell, the D tuning key broke. No huge deal, but the rest of the night kinda sucked. As for making the band and crowd wait while a string or battery gets replaced? That is not acceptable for me. It's my own personal work ethic; everyone is absolutely entitled to their own methods. Bringing a spare bass, again for me, just isn't a big deal.
 
Last edited:
#55
I have an old electronic equipment shipping case that I converted into my "Box of Doom" doom....doom....doom.....doom. (Nice echo effect, right?)

I'll post some pics later this weekend if I get time.

It has a ridiculous amount of cables and adapters, two DI boxes (active and passive), guitar and bass strings (don't play guitar), batteries (no active basses), all kinds of pens and markers, a binder of charts I have gathered over the years in alphabetical order in case of a request, various tools, duct electrical and gaffers tape, etc. It had gotten me out of many a scrape.

Also, yes, two basses, two heads. One head could double as a guitar amp, and has on several occasions.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Maureen M
#56
I bring:

1 bass in gig bag (some gigs I'll do 2 basses in the double gig bag)
1 amp (head)
1 speaker cabinet (2x10)
1 pedal board in its case (3 pedals on it)
1 cable/accsessories bag (duffle bag, lots of stuff in it)
1 cart (everything fits on cart neatly)
 
#57
Broke said:
I bring 2 basses (main and backup), along with my main gear AND the following:

3 extra sets of strings
4 extra batteries (I play a Fender 50's reissue. Single coil)???
Wire cutters
Channel Locks
Extension cord
Surge protector
Guitar stand
Duct Tape
3 Cables
2 amps (1 spare)
Go Pro
Go Pro stand
1 bottle of Makers Mark (I don't even drink)
Click to expand...

I know the feeling. Sometimes we're setting up and I look around and see all these guys onstage with me and think the same: "I bring way too many people to gigs"

:p

But I like them, so I guess I'll keep bringing them along. It keeps the audience entertained ;)
 
#58
I bring extra underwear just in case my incredible bass playing makes me **** my pants.

Seriously though, I have never understood why you need an extra bass. If anything, I bring an extra amp, a small class D head. That's most likely to fail. AFA a string breaking, which has never happened, I can string one up in 2 min.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back