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What do you need to gig?

truecanadian04

truecanadian04

May 4, 2011
106
2
Canada
#1
What do you really need to start gigging. How many basses? Half stack or full stack? How much amp or cab power do you need? What effects do you need?.....ect. I'm trying to make sure I'm road ready and just wanted to see what I would need to play average bars and/or small arenas.
 
#2
I have been playing bar scenes for the past couple of years and as of now i play a peavy tnt 115 combo and have 2 basses only have 2 because i have been known to break a string when i get into my solo but doesn't happen often and never know something may go wrong with one. I have my cables and a tuner but that's all i play through. However i am up grading to a gk 700 RB and gk neo 412 because the peavy is just so old and i don't know how much longer its going to hold. I hope this helped out some
 
#5
What I need to gig will probably be different from what you need to gig. My approach is to provide myself with what I need to play while minimizing how much I'm driving the stage and room by elevating my 4x10 to waist level and staying close to it. That minimizes interference with the rest of the band or the sound engineer any more than absolutely necessary, while providing a great tone to the PA via my preamp's DI. Most bassists drive the stage like the PA doesn't exist.

I mix bands about as much as I play, and I know my way works very well. My bandmates and all sound techs I've worked with love it. Subwoofers are much better at driving deep bass than bass amps, so I'm happy to let the PA do the heavy lifting (literally). I've invested in a killer preamp so my line to the PA has great tone, the rest of my rig is quite neutral so I'm confident what's coming out my cab is well represented in the PA.

But try to sell the idea to folks around here... "My SVT sounds way better than any PA" blah blah blah...
 
#7
What do you need??

It's a journey, dude. Not a destination. I think a better question would be "Is what I have enough?"

Besides the band, You need a bass, a strap, an amp (at least 300w) a cord, a tuner, extra strings. A sweat towel, an LED flashlight and extra batteries are a good idea. If you have to ask, you don't NEED effects.


Eventually, in a few years, 5 back up basses, an even bigger amp with 4 810 cabs, a roadie, a bass tech, hoards of groupies...
 
#10
When I first started playing the only thing I owned was the strap. I was borrowing the bass from the bassist in the old church band, the cable was a speaker cable from the church, the practice amp was from my best friend’s moms (I went through the PA at church), the case was my teacher’s old case, and I always used the guitar player’s tuner.

So, from my experience, all you need to start is a band. Where there is a will there is a way. Don't wait till you have all the "right stuff"; just go do it with what you have. As you go along you will slowly acquire what you think is necessary.
 
#11
I'll put my little 2 cents in. I havn't gigged in a little while. But here's just one example. So,I was haulin around to gigs,this big old 1970's ,100w bassman head and ultra-humungo Fender 4 by 12 cab and of coarse it fizzled on me one night. So the sound guy said,I can plug ya straight into the PA,which He did...and my god it sounded killer! And that was with no DI pre-amp.Also, Using just an old BC.Rich platinum Warlock bass(I had No back up bass.That was not a good idea,but that's all I had then.And I was young dumb and stupid and drunk!) Suggestion= I would def borrow or buy some cheapo for back up.
So now I have a GK 115 combo,that has the neutrik DI on the back. Not real loud,but if I gig I'll just run it thru the PA ,also a line 6 compressor,and my Warwick basses. Simple and not much,no big effex here. Keepin it simple. ~ Peace
 
#12
Muttleybass said:
Besides the band, You need a bass, a strap, an amp (at least 300w) a cord, a tuner, extra strings. A sweat towel, an LED flashlight and extra batteries are a good idea.
Click to expand...

I don't need an amp or towel or flashlight. I t totally depends on your situation.

I use a bass, tuner, DI and IEM's. No amp.

For another gig I use a combo amp.

It depends on the gig, band, venue, etc., etc., etc.
 
#17
What do you need to gig?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There is no one answer ...

You might gig at a place that proves a back line or you may have to bring a huge pa system. Some guys bring a pair of SVT 8x10s some will gig with a 1x15 combo. Some guys use a big pedalboard and some use no effects. I like to bring 3 basses and some guys bring just one.
 
#19
All I would need is my Carvin BX500 head, VT bass deluxe, and Avatar 2x10 cab along with one of my basses and the necessary accessories (power strip, picks, cables, strap, etc).

If I was gigging, I would prefer to bring my big rig...Traynor YBA200 and Kasino 2x15s cab.
 
#20
What do you need to gig?
Click to expand...

A Paycheck. :D

Seriously, it depends on the gig. I rarely use effects, so the bare minimum for me is a bass, a couple cords, strap, extra strings, tools (IE: string cutters, etc), cleaning towel, tuner, guitar stand - and an amp (usually a little GK MB115 combo), if backline isn’t provided. There’s an AC tester, BDDI, flashlight, batteries, AC extension cord and etc that also lives in my gig bag.
 

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