Why bring 2 basses to a gig?

[juancaminos]

I never used to bring more than one bass. But since I bought an EUB, that would be my second.
Also since I started building basses (putting together parts basses) I would bring two in order to experiment/compare sound.

 

[Bass Boy]

Most of the times a bandmate has had a gear issue it was a guitarist. Usually the ones who sent their tube amps with the cartage company…

 

[selowitch]

I have always brought just one bass to the gig and after 35 years of playing I’ve never had cause to regret it. On the other hand, if one bass were to spontaneously combust I suppose I would be out of luck. One nice thing about having two basses at a gig is that you can switch to the second one when the first starts to go out-of-tune. Having two basses at the gig does perhaps make you look more professional—and you get to show off both instruments.

 

[Hot Rats]

It's "paranoia" until you have a critical piece of gear go down on you at a gig. Then, somehow, it's genius.

It's really such a fine line between genius and paranoid.

 

[Michedelic]

I never take backup bass to a local club gig, but I do have a spare strings set, cable and batteries. I figure it wouldn't be a big deal to put on spare string if one failed. On a biger gig, like festival, I may bring backup bass, even though I haven't had any kind of failure in more than 20 years of playing.

In the history of modern music, most bands played with members having one instrument and making do, while creating music we admire today. I fail to see why would someone playing local pub equip themselves on par with some big name pro on a continent tour.

Edit: Further more, never saw key player bringing backup. Same as drummer, or anyone from horns section. When I think better, only guitar players, having instrument prone to breaking strings due to bending, carry backups.

Forget the guitar players. I’ve had strings break, half of a P-Bass pickup die, drummers busting a snare and breaking a kick pedal, and….witnessed a DX7 crapping out. Fortunately the keyboard player’s brother had one also, and lived nearby. To stall for time we launched into what turned out to be a half hour version(or it seemed like it)of Joy Division’s “She’s Lost Control”, what a workout that was, but we kept ‘em on the dance floor.
I’m in the bring a fretted and a fretless camp, but I just don’t understand this phobia about bringing more than one bass. And you don’t have to be playing an arena to be prepared in a professional manner. How’s everyone’s spare tire?(In your car, not on you)

 

[smogg]

Personally, I'd rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it. Plus there's always the option of an alternative tuning.
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[micguy]

It's really such a fine line between genius and paranoid.

It's Schroedinger's cat essentially - you exist in a superposition of both states while in the car on the way there, and don't really know if you're genius or paranoid until you get to the gig.

 

[waynobass]

... I do have a spare strings set...

Yes, in this case it would take a minute or two to change the string. No need for an entire other bass that could get stolen or damaged.

 

[Hoochie Coochie Man]

Not a bass, but here is how a guy maned Rileigh dealt with a broken string during a performance:

 

[Freight Train]

In order to get two completely different sounds. When I play in rock cover bands I take my Jack Casady Epiphone strung with round wounds and one of my Telecasters strung with flats. Totally different sounding basses with totally different sounding strings, depending on what a song calls for. For my blues band I take one bass strung with flats.

 

[ebo]

I’m starting to consider bringing a spare bassist. I’m getting to the age where I break down often.

 

[selowitch]

If you have an always-active bass, the most important backup is probably a nine-volt battery or two.

 

[Sam Dingle]

Naw. I just keep a spare set of strings in the bag

 

[pglaser01]

That is true. But, I have seen people on this forum write about carrying spare amp, cab and other equipment. There was a poll recently with results sugesting most folks here are, as expected, home players, amateurs and some semi-pros. I just don't get all the paranoia with spare equipment.

Some people don’t feel comfortable if they don’t feel prepared.

Some people won’t drive without a spare tire, or a spare tank of gas, or jumper cables even if it’s never happened to them before.

We’re all varying levels of weird

 

[RattleSnack]

Forget the guitar players. I’ve had strings break, half of a P-Bass pickup die, drummers busting a snare and breaking a kick pedal, and….witnessed a DX7 crapping out. Fortunately the keyboard player’s brother had one also, and lived nearby. To stall for time we launched into what turned out to be a half hour version of Joy Division’s “She’s Lost Control”, what a workout that was, but we kept ‘em on the dance floor.
I’m in the bring a fretted and a fretless camp, but I just don’t understand this phobia about bringing more than one bass. And you don’t have to be playing an arena to be prepared in a professional manner. How’s your spare tire?(In your car, not on you)

You are actualy contradicting yourself. First part of your post - those are all arguments FOR my point of view. None of them had spare instruments, so they made do with some tools or went and got replacement.
In second part of your post you say you personaly NEED to carry spare instrument. Why? Does that drummer carry spare kick pedal?
No phobia here, I just feel this "bring spare bass or doom will descend upon thee" is completely blown out of proportions.

Edit: Just remembered something funny. Playing in a succesfull tribute band for 5 years (and never ever carring spare bass BTW), I once witnessed guitar player snapping a string mid gig. Funny stuf: although he had spare guitar, he just put on another string, mid-concert, because he prefered that specific guitar. No doom descended at that specific time.

 

[elkkid2]

Lord, have I ever broken a lot of strings. The first REALLY BAD one was when I was 17-18 years old. My high school rock band was play at Crown Hall in Mendocino, CA. I broke one and didn't have a spare. To make things worse, I had Johny Barbata, Craig Chaquico, and Joel Scott Hill sitting on stage behind the band. I was pretty much a self-raised kid, I didn't have any parents there, no help, heck the music store probably didn't even HAVE Bass strings. So, as I was sinking in shame on the stage, Johny Barbata, who was kind of a friend of mine, from behind me, turned to Joel Scott Hill, and asked him what he did in a case like this. And Joel thought for a moment, and said, "I don't play bass, but on a guitar, I used to unravel the wind from the core of the broken end of the string. I'd expose enough core wire to rewrap it around the Ball of the String". This trick WORKED!
Years later,(early 90's), on a Sunday rehearsal night, it happened again No store open, no spares. So I did the trick again in front of the lead Guitarist. His eyes went wide open, and he exclaimed, "Mark! You just saved me a pile of money!" He always broke his guitar strings on his double-locking shred Guitar at the Bridge. From then on, he's coil his Guitar strings up by the tuners, feed the string down to the bridge and lock both sides down. When the string broke, he'd just slide more string down, and re-clamp it. He told me he's get the equivalent to SIX sets of string out of the one set! Chalk one up for Joel Scott Hill! Lol! !
I STILL have a box full of old Bass strings, I touring through Flagstaff, Santa Fe, --places that don't have Strings, and there was no internet back then, so I'd have to order strings from a Store, and they wouldn't bother unless you ordered three or more sets. Heavy gauge so they'd last longer. When one broke, I'd change all of them, and save the others in case. I bet I have 50 sets of used strings still in that Box.
I can afford to bring an extra Bass now. But the original question was two basses...but I say three! One with Flat-wounds, one with Rounds-wounds, and an Acoustic for the acoustic stuff! My main three Basses:

 

[elkkid2]

You are actualy contradicting yourself. First part of your post - those are all arguments FOR my point of view. None of them had spare instruments, so they made do with some tools or went and got replacement.
In second part of your post you say you personaly NEED to carry spare instrument. Why? Does that drummer carry spare kick pedal?
No phobia here, I just feel this "bring spare bass or doom will descend upon thee" is completely blown out of proportions.

I ALWAYS have an extra pair of Drums sticks and a set of Guitar strings with me. That practice has come in handy many times! !

 

[hennessybass]

Two very different opinions of George Porter changing a string instead of reaching for a backup bass...

Not as smooth or professional as grabbing another bass... Rookie move imo.

I’ve seen George a lot over the years and I have never seen him have a backup bass. ... 99.99% of the bass players in the world aren’t worth a hair on his butt...

 

[Michedelic]

You are actualy contradicting yourself. First part of your post - those are all arguments FOR my point of view. None of them had spare instruments, so they made do with some tools or went and got replacement.
In second part of your post you say you personaly NEED to carry spare instrument. Why? Does that drummer carry spare kick pedal?
No phobia here, I just feel this "bring spare bass or doom will descend upon thee" is completely blown out of proportions.

How is that a contradiction? The drummer with the busted snare bothered to bring a spare, so he was covered. The drummer with the non-functional kick limped through the night without it, and that threw the rest of us off a bit. The keyboardist running off to his brother’s was disrupting to the gig, and if the replacement hadn’t been available, it would have trainwrecked the night as that band relied heavily on keys. That the rest of us had that one song to jam on to make do until he got back was just a stroke of luck, it wasn’t part of our set list. You didn’t seem to think that keys would go out, but I was bearing witness that they do.
If one or the other of my basses would go out, having one to cover for the other would change my playing and be a distraction; otherwise, a fretless is a different tool from a fretted. Ever try to use a flat screwdriver on a Phillips head? You can sorta do it, but it’s a pain in the ass.
As for the “phobia” comment, that was in general…there have been plenty other threads on this subject, and it’s always the same old thing.

 

[Hounddog409]

That bridge looks like it would break any string

Yeah, *** is with that bridge? Looks like its just a matter of time. I would scrap that pos.