Never again!

[JohnnyBottom]

Try to bring 2 of everything (also advil and nuskin) , maybe not cabs. Extra amp bb800 in the car, Usually leave the extra bass in truck unless high profile gig where even a string break would be awkward , like a theater with an attentive audience.

 

[barginkov]

I always bring 2 basses. In my 38 years of gigging I've had many ,many strings brake when everyone was dancing , cant take 10 minutes to change a string . Another incident bass fell over, the E tuner broke right off. Couldn't tune it of course. ,twice wires came loose, didnt happen to have a soldering gun.Once the input jack nut got loose when I went pull out cable , I ripped out the jack. So for me it will always be two basses, because sh%$#t
Happens.

 

[Mugre]

lol I had a friend who, when we'd play racquetball at the Y, often brought her daughter and a friend. As she would pull in, the girls would drop the rear seat, crawl into the trunk, then pull the seat back up. As soon as she stopped they would bang on the trunk lid and yell "Let us out!" My friend would casually gather her gear, walk around to the back, and pop the trunk, oblivious to the dropped jaws and fierce frowns as two young school girls climbed out. Hilarious.

I know there some other OG's here. Am I the only one who thought of the drive-in theater while reading this?

Mugre

 

[Jeff Elkins]

...the driver/guitarist rolled down his window, and said "you gotta ride in the trunk" We had joked about this during the long wait...

A few months later the sax player left the band..

Huh. Didn't see that coming.

 

[2112]

In the last week, I've broken a string, a volume pot, and a DI (a brand-new Radial Pro48, at rehearsal tonight). As such, please find below:

The List of Things I Bring at Least 2 of to Every Gig

Basses
DI's
Digitech Drop pedal
Pedalboard power adapters
Pedalboard patch cables
IEM amps
IEM's
Sets of strings
Instrument cables
9-Volt batteries
Power strips
...

This all fits into small bag and double-bass case. Not inconvenient at all.

 

[Rip Van Dan]

If I play with an unreliable drummer, should I keep one in my trunk?

YES!!! Absolutely!!

 

[Wolford]

Spare mic and cord at best. Most don't even do that.

Paraphrasing my previous singer to the drummer: "You're already bringing so much, why don't you just bring my mic & stand too?"

 

[Rip Van Dan]

I've been a gigging bass player for almost 20 years. Before yesterday, I'd never had a piece of gear fail on me at a show. Never even broken a string, honestly. I typically only bring one bass with me, and trust that things will work as they should. Never again! My bass started crackling at my gig yesterday, then completely stopped working. Fortunately, it was at the end of the set, and there was a piano at the venue so we finished up with some songs I play keys on. Still, it was very embarrassing and I will be bringing a backup bass to every gig I do from now on! Also a bag with extra cables, strings, and my DI/preamp in case something unexpected happens. You gotta be prepared for anything, as I learned the hard way yesterday!

First time I had a real problem with gear was 1971 when my 1966 Fender Bassman amp started making this moaning, buzzing sound. I would smack the top of the amp head and it would go away for a while. I found out later that was just a tube that had gone microphonic and needed to be replaced. It was not enough amp for what I was doing at the time anyhow, so I traded it in for a Standel MCIIB/SAM30B piggy-back amp which never missed a second and was more than enough for anywhere right up until it was stolen from my house.

Other than that, I had an amp quit on me mid-song last year. Actually all it did was go into protection because it was clipping. It's a 225-watt amp and I was pushing it too hard into an Eden EX112, which will handle 300-watts. I think I may actually have a problem with the gain section in it because I couldn't get the gain-set light to come on. Will get it to the tech next month.

Anyhow, I made some EQ adjustments, turned up the gain and turned the master down, turned on the compressor, and everything was fine. In fact, that is the amp, I take with me now as a backup. It weighs all of 4.7-lbs. and will drive my DNS-210 cab just fine, My DNS-210 is a lot more sensitive than that Eden EX-112 and that TN226 is what I use to drive it at rehearsals (DNS-210 sounds really good with it).

Other than that, I carry extra strings, an extra wireless, a WTDI (DI with built-in Eden preamp and compressor) in case an amp dies or I am forced to use a backline amp, extra mic cord, instrument cord, extra SM58 (use a Sennheiser E-35 as my main mic), extra speaker cords both 1/4" and speakon, and extra 9-volt for my back-up wireless. I think that's about it. I still can't bring myself to carry my 5-string with me to every gig since I'm not using it, but I haven't had any problems with my bass since I bought it in 1985 and it's a passive bass anyhow (MIA Fender Jazz), so I'm not really worried about it.

I have used my WTDI a couple of times instead of my amp. Once when we were required to run a DI to the FOH and not use our amps at all. Another time when I showed up expecting to use the backline amp I'd been using for almost 2 years only to find that it was no longer there. Plugged my WTDI into the PA system and away I went. Also used it in a recording session at a Seattle studio where I had to share a room with the drummer and they were worried about bleed over...worked great!

 

[QweziRider]

Still, it was very embarrassing and I will be bringing a backup bass to every gig I do from now on!

I learned the hard way back in the early '90s, outdoor gig, middle of summer, Atlanta, Georgia, snapped battery wire 10 minutes before the gig. Worst headache I've ever had in my life scrambling to fix that with a whole lot of duct tape. Never again with one bass.

Of course, I've not had a failure since, but I'm still not going with one again.

 

[Wolford]

I always bring 2 basses (double case), 2 amps (one stays in the car), one cab (2 if needed for gig). I can't have a gig that fails because I don't have a working bass. I couldn't handle that, so always two. Also convenient when an alternate tuning is needed.

 

[dtripoli]

Now that I have a truck that locks up and has an alarm I bring back ups.
My old truck was a 4x4 jacked up Suburban that had been used and abused off road.
Hence, 3 doors would not lock so I played with one bass and amp.
Never had my G&L ASAT fail me. It's active/passive and even with a dead battery the passive will still works fine.
Now I bring as back up, my $110 Squier Jazz Standard (the forerunner to the Vintage Modified) A kit w/Strings, Extra cables, power strip, tools, tape and so on.
No back up amp but I may start bringing this easy to move old $40 Peavey 50 watt combo 1x12 speaker and mic it if need be. For 90% of our shows which are usually smaller type venues, 50 watts can hang in a pinch. Its bigger than a practice amp but smaller than a 500 watt gig amp.
Both were craigslist finds. The amp and bass pictures are internet facsimiles of my actual Peavey & Squier.
I'm too lazy to get up and find them, take pix, upload them then edit photos down to a manageable viewing size.

 

[Michedelic]

I'm thinking the dead one has better timing.

Then he would be a dead beat.

 

[2tonic]

Bass and guitar bring spare gear..

What do vocalists do?

Scrub the "used drummer" smell out of the trunk!

 

[Spectrum]

If I play with an unreliable drummer, should I keep one in my trunk?

 

[Pushrod]

Another incident bass fell over, the E tuner broke right off. Couldn't tune it of course.

Actually two weekends ago, I decided for whatever reason, for the first time in 3 years or so, to remove all the basses from my car but the one I was going to use that night. The gig was about an hour and a half from home and I was filling for another band. Not going to go into the lengthy details, but when I pulled my 5 string bass out of my Mono gig bag, strapped it on, and went to play a note, the D string was flopping all over. Turns out the D string tuner snapped off inside the bag.

So after borrowing some tools from the sound guy, my B string tuner became my D string tuner, and my 5 string Valenti became a wide neck 4 string Valenti for the evening. A second bass is back in the car.

 

[Manticore]

I've been a gigging bass player for almost 20 years. Before yesterday, I'd never had a piece of gear fail on me at a show. Never even broken a string, honestly. I typically only bring one bass with me, and trust that things will work as they should. Never again! My bass started crackling at my gig yesterday, then completely stopped working. Fortunately, it was at the end of the set, and there was a piano at the venue so we finished up with some songs I play keys on. Still, it was very embarrassing and I will be bringing a backup bass to every gig I do from now on! Also a bag with extra cables, strings, and my DI/preamp in case something unexpected happens. You gotta be prepared for anything, as I learned the hard way yesterday!

The last time I needed a backup bass and didn't have one was well over 25 years ago. It only takes one time to learn. In my case, the drummer accidentally knocked my bass off the stand in tight quarters breaking the D tuner. I finished the gig, but it kinda sucked having to play around the D string. "Be Prepared" as the boy scouts say....

 

[lat]

They make double gig bags for a reason.

I follow the umbrella principle. Better to have it and not need it than vice versa. The extra amount of gear really isn't that much.

 

[Samatza]

I keep a bag in the car with some basic tools, spare strings, tuner, cable, batteries and my trusty Sansamp DI.
I keep the Squier Jazz on stage just in case something goes wrong. Some gigs I have fretless and fretted basses so I don't bother with the spare.

 

[Adjectives]

I always keep a set of my "old strings" in the bag. Rounds that is, as I usually play my 75 P with 42 y/o gibson flats on it. It crosses my mind that it might be year 43 that a string breaks. I *do* have another set of the same vintage strings in packaging, but I plan on someday replacing the set as a whole. I figure one used roundwound string would finish the gig just fine.[/QUOTE]

 

[David Jayne]

In over 50 years I had one bass fail me once. The battery clip for the 9 volt broke. Strings I’ve broke strings a plenty, but always have spares on hand. It’s been 50 years since I’ve had an amp or speaker failure. I do take a spare head with me, but never an extra bass. Maybe I should take your advice...

I've never broken a string. 30 years. No idea how many gigs/sessions but it's a high number. I must ask how you break strings? And yes I know others do too but, how?