I hate switching basses...who's with me?

[Nashrakh]

Backup aside, I never switch. That's what I have my workhorse 6 string for. If I can't get it out of my #1, I might as well stay home.

 

[pepj]

All my basses are jazzes with active pre's
They all have singles bar one, which sounds a bit more modern over a jazz and P bass type sound

The current 3 that contend for my gig rosta of 2 basses are going through the same amp eq and all 3 amps I might pick from are dialled in with 3 sets of cabs.
So, even though I could probably do this on the fly, I don't have too.
That is also the flexibility provided by pre amps so basically I decide on my 2 bases for the gig, pick the amp and cab and then do level and pre amp check or tweak if needed.

Never touch eq on a amp on a gig 99% of the time.
If the bass isn't speaking well enough, its not onnthe gig.

My gig amps are practice amps too.
This all works for me.

Because I've introduced 3 basses this past year, plus 2 cab configs and an amp..this has taken a while longer than ideal, but I'm there now.

I probably shouldn't have shaken the tree so much and not introduced too many new variables, but hey...

 

[frublazej]

I do not hate switching basses, cause I have one.

thank you for your cooperation

 

[bluesblaster]

I dont hate the idea and I have a bunch of them but almost always just bring one.......not always the same one but just one at a time

 

[Dr. Cheese]

For really the first time in my bass playing life, I feel my number one is good for everything accept fretless. My MTD Super 5 is enough, and once my RSD fretless five comes home, I will be set with the fretless side too.

 

[TTA]

Nobody likes showing off my basses more than me. They're not super special or anything, but I used to be in love with the idea of switching basses just to show off the collection a little, plus it's cool to have different basses for different sounds and tunings. I've tried to enjoy it, especially since I spent a good many years doubling on upright on most of my gigs. Sounded like a good idea at the time.

Here's why I ended up hating it...

---It either slows the show down or it leaves you hanging and looking like amateur night because you're not ready when they start the next song. And many bandleaders don't care if you're switching and they'll count the song off anyway. So I just want to play one bass that can do it all.

---It's easy to switch basses that all have similar sound and output, but switching between a Stingray with new rounds and a Hofner with old flats is going to take some EQ to keep levels consistent and tones not so different that it throws the mix into a meltdown. And the more different basses, the more EQ's you need. Some folks will use programmable EQ's or pres and that's what I did most of the time, but it can take some effort to get it right. And I just don't want to spend time screwing with it. Once saw Heart's sound tech have to rebuild the bass mix from scratch for every other song because Steve Fossen switched every other song and never used the same bass twice.

---Two basses are manageable, but any more than that gets on my nerves during setups and teardowns. Have I done it? Sure I have! How do you think I know???

Anyway, thx for listening to me yak while I try to get over health problems. Been a while I had this much free time since going corporate. And feel free to comment either pro or con.

at home i switch bases like a crazy man. Short scale, long scale, multiscale, 4, 5 or six string.

live i Aim for two. One is a backup and will be tuned for songs in different tunings. Ideally i run two of similar bases for levels and such.

 

[monti2889]

There's no hard answer here, in my opinion. In the past, I "had" to take at least 3 basses to every gig...a main, backup, and one setup/tuned BEAD.
The situation called for it. In my current situation, I only take one. So, I generally just go by how I'm feeling and decide which to play that night.

 

[jivetkr]

I would only bring 2 basses for one to act as a backup. Until such time that someone else is carrying my stuff for me, I want to be as light as possible & bring as little as possible.

 

[micguy]

I do church gigs. If you’re thinking you need multiple basses to do a 5 song set, you’re self indulgent, and therefore missing the point.

However, during lockdown, we were doing virtual services - recording our parts at home. Changing instruments for different tunes didn’t mess with the flow in the least, so I switched basses between tunes all the time.

Besides switching basses, I switched shirts between tunes. That helped me keep track of which takes were of which tunes. First song, red shirt, second song, blue , etc.

 

[GrapeBass]

If you're over 50, bring a change of underwear ;-)