With apologies to the bassist(s) whose gear was trashed in this incident... I had to laugh out loud at this story.
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"your rig or the gig is cancelled"
- Thread starter groooooove
- Start date
With apologies to the bassist(s) whose gear was trashed in this incident... I had to laugh out loud at this story.
I have a very simple and legitimate reason for not letting other bassists use my gear.
I play with a lighter touch than 9 out of 10 other bassists I have ever met. And my amp is set up for that, which means it's a virtual certainty that another bassist playing through that setup is going to clip it and sound like crap at the best and possibly damage my amp or speakers at the worst.
On the rare occasions I do let other bassists use my amp, it's my Line6 LowDown 150 which has 4 presets. I simply switch to one of the presets I don't use, dial up a healthy dose of compression/limiting (to protect my speaker), and tell the bassist they can do whatever they want with the EQ as long as they don't switch out of that channel. When they're done, I just switch back to "my" preset and I'm good to go. Those situations have worked out well for the most part.
I play with a lighter touch than 9 out of 10 other bassists I have ever met. And my amp is set up for that, which means it's a virtual certainty that another bassist playing through that setup is going to clip it and sound like crap at the best and possibly damage my amp or speakers at the worst.
On the rare occasions I do let other bassists use my amp, it's my Line6 LowDown 150 which has 4 presets. I simply switch to one of the presets I don't use, dial up a healthy dose of compression/limiting (to protect my speaker), and tell the bassist they can do whatever they want with the EQ as long as they don't switch out of that channel. When they're done, I just switch back to "my" preset and I'm good to go. Those situations have worked out well for the most part.
These stories are like watching a train wreck. I can't tear myself away!
And now I remember one of the things I like about my AV '57 P: "sorry, man, you can't borrow it, you wouldn't be able to tune it."
And now I remember one of the things I like about my AV '57 P: "sorry, man, you can't borrow it, you wouldn't be able to tune it."
edwinhurwitz
Supporting Member
Walk up to me and just take my bass and go play???.... That will never happen.
I'm FAR from being a tough guy (but on the web EVERYone is a badass don't ya know), but I'm a fit 225 pounds, 6', bald, earings in both ears, tattoos.....not many would just walk up to me and try to grab my bass from my hands.
I might run off crying like a little school girl, but at least I look mean!
Well, that wasn't my look, but it was his. At least as I age, my hair is getting more like yours! Not gonna do the ink, but maybe some earrings would help.
I would have offered to help hold mr toolbox upside down while he was severely shaken to see what money comes out of his pockets, or hold him til the cops came to arrest him.
I've been on both sides of this equation. A band I was playing in was offered an opening slot for a signed touring band with a couple of reasonably well sold CDs at a venue we play fairly often. It's a small club so not too terribly loud kind of place. They asked if the drummer and bass player from the touring act could use my bass rig and the drummers kit. The guitar player was a tone freak and HAD to have his amp with him, but it was the only extra that would fit in the vehicle they were touring with. Not a loud punk band or anything like that, so sure..... My rig was fine. Drummer for touring band detuned the snare head so it was ridiculously loose (it did sound HUGE in the mix that way though), and basically obliterated the snare head by the end of their set. Jerkoff drummerboy had the nerve to sign the head, but did not offer to replace it. Thankfully, the owner of the club found out what happened, called up the sound company who designed their entire system (a BIG online retailer headquartered in Fort Wayne, IN.....) and got him TWO new heads of our drummers specifications and paid for them. Regardless, that drummer was a PRICK.
On the other hand, a different band was opening for Edwin McCain at a HUGE venue here and I showed up with my full rig, planning to set up before our anticipated quasi soundcheck. Edwin's bassist offered to just let me use his rig as long as I didn't mess with the e.q. because they had spent two hours getting it tweaked for the room. Their drummer also offered to let our drummer use his kit and our lead guitarist plugged into his lead guitarist's rig. Too cool! Now, we were an americana/alt. country/jam band and not a heavy rock band or anything. We also had a banjo player and a fiddle player and the lead singer played acoustic guitar, so those guys still had to use their amps (small combo amps and a DI), but that was super cool. I think they could tell we weren't the types of musicians to abuse their gear when we showed up. All of us were in our mid 30s and had top notch equipment of our own that was in good shape, even the vintage tube guitar amp that our fiddle player used.
My general rule is nobody uses my stuff except for people I know well and trust won't blow up my gear, and that if it blows up while they're using it will offer (and can actually afford) to replace it.
On the other hand, a different band was opening for Edwin McCain at a HUGE venue here and I showed up with my full rig, planning to set up before our anticipated quasi soundcheck. Edwin's bassist offered to just let me use his rig as long as I didn't mess with the e.q. because they had spent two hours getting it tweaked for the room. Their drummer also offered to let our drummer use his kit and our lead guitarist plugged into his lead guitarist's rig. Too cool! Now, we were an americana/alt. country/jam band and not a heavy rock band or anything. We also had a banjo player and a fiddle player and the lead singer played acoustic guitar, so those guys still had to use their amps (small combo amps and a DI), but that was super cool. I think they could tell we weren't the types of musicians to abuse their gear when we showed up. All of us were in our mid 30s and had top notch equipment of our own that was in good shape, even the vintage tube guitar amp that our fiddle player used.
My general rule is nobody uses my stuff except for people I know well and trust won't blow up my gear, and that if it blows up while they're using it will offer (and can actually afford) to replace it.
I think the original matter is resolved so I'll just add some thoughts and replies to various comments...
RE the line of thought that people cannot harm an amp, aside from the aforementioned frying speakers etc I've seen people be very clumsy on stage with or without drink.
I did a mini festival in a pub garden with a very tight change around. The previous band had a guitar player who was extremely drunk and I didnt go on stage with stuff in cases until he had gone back to the bar.
I was a punter at a gig and the bassist was borrowing a TE stack, he fell off the stage and dragged the amp with him via his lead. One of the guitarists caught the head and put his shoulder against the cabs. Fair play. BTW this was during a song
RE not ever lending stuff, that's ok, choice etc but I have been in situations where I needed to borrow gear. What I do is find out why they want to borrow my gear.
At one gig our guitarist said that the supporting bassist had asked him if he could borrow the bass amp for their set. I said no. The bassist then came up to me and said that he had come straight from work and his Dad had dropped off a 10w combo not knowing which amp was which. I asked the guy what other amps he had. I was satisfied that it wasnt bull ploppy so I said he could use it but not adjust it. He was happy and did so.
Another gig the kid bassist asked me if he could borrow my bass. I said why? he couldnt give an answer so I said no. He managed to convince a mate of mine to lend him a bass. I found out after that the kid had bought his first bass, couldnt play it and someone pointed out that it was a fretless. Had he been honest with me I would have let him use mine. He wasnt a bad player with frets
My goto answer is no. If it's a friend or someone I know I want to know why, if it's just before a gig I want to know why. If the reason that they want to borrow gear is because they dont own any, lost theirs or broke theirs the answer is no.
If I do a multi band gig and the bassists want to pool gear I will do that if everyone has brought decent gear. I did one gig where 4 bassists brought amps and we decided to vote which one to use. We used an SWR combo which was ok as we compromised on eq.
RE the line of thought that people cannot harm an amp, aside from the aforementioned frying speakers etc I've seen people be very clumsy on stage with or without drink.
I did a mini festival in a pub garden with a very tight change around. The previous band had a guitar player who was extremely drunk and I didnt go on stage with stuff in cases until he had gone back to the bar.
I was a punter at a gig and the bassist was borrowing a TE stack, he fell off the stage and dragged the amp with him via his lead. One of the guitarists caught the head and put his shoulder against the cabs. Fair play. BTW this was during a song
RE not ever lending stuff, that's ok, choice etc but I have been in situations where I needed to borrow gear. What I do is find out why they want to borrow my gear.
At one gig our guitarist said that the supporting bassist had asked him if he could borrow the bass amp for their set. I said no. The bassist then came up to me and said that he had come straight from work and his Dad had dropped off a 10w combo not knowing which amp was which. I asked the guy what other amps he had. I was satisfied that it wasnt bull ploppy so I said he could use it but not adjust it. He was happy and did so.
Another gig the kid bassist asked me if he could borrow my bass. I said why? he couldnt give an answer so I said no. He managed to convince a mate of mine to lend him a bass. I found out after that the kid had bought his first bass, couldnt play it and someone pointed out that it was a fretless. Had he been honest with me I would have let him use mine. He wasnt a bad player with frets
My goto answer is no. If it's a friend or someone I know I want to know why, if it's just before a gig I want to know why. If the reason that they want to borrow gear is because they dont own any, lost theirs or broke theirs the answer is no.
If I do a multi band gig and the bassists want to pool gear I will do that if everyone has brought decent gear. I did one gig where 4 bassists brought amps and we decided to vote which one to use. We used an SWR combo which was ok as we compromised on eq.
edwinhurwitz
Supporting Member
As a general rule, I'm pretty generous with my gear. At the beginning of the summer, I offered up my rig for backline (Navigator/XTi4000/fEARfuls 15/6/1 and 12/6/1) and it worked out great. The monitor guy, who was stationed stage left by my rig was amazed at the amount of cone motion, but everyone loved the sound and everything went through the weekend unscathed. I also encouraged a few bassists, who I knew and one I didn't, to play my Series I just for fun. It was great to hear it all from the other side of the PA. I also routinely offer my rig to opening bands and they end up using it 60-75% of the time. I find it pays to cultivate a generous personality in these cases and the sound crew love it when their jobs are made a lot easier. However, if there's any indication the guy is going to be a prick, they don't get near my stuff. Had the bass grabber at the Bluebird in the above post simply come up to me and talked to me, I would have probably been fine with it.
I'm just lucky that I work with pros who know what they're doing, and when they need backline, I'm always happy to accomodate them with my rig. I hear stories about that noodnik who blew the 410 with an SVT 4 Pro, and I really can't blame anyone if this is the idiot level they have to work with.
Instance 1- playing a gig in a school auditorium that I didnt even want to play but the promoter is a friend of the guitard so he didnt want to hurt his feelings. The place probably seats 1,000 people give or take. Huge ceilings, etc. The PA support wasnt support. It was just there for vocals and vocal monitors. Some local twit from the area comes up asking if he can borrow my rig. I believe it was my Ampeg 410 cab, SWR SM400 and a Sansamp RBI. Apparently this kid brought a 10 or 12" solid state combo amp. The kicker was he went to this school at one point and knew the size. We were the headliner so I had already soundchecked and set levels. I tell him he can, but he cannot touch a single setting on my amp. He agrees. I go out and sell merch at our table, shoot the **** outside and as Im coming back from a cigarette I notice a kick ass P tone coming from the auditorium. I peer in and see the kid wailing away with his band and then I realize that most of the knobs on my Sansamp are dimed and the master vol is at 3/4. To give you idea, I only had it at less than 1/2 when we sound checked. I was pissed. Told the kid to go **** himself and that his band was a joke after he couldnt explain why did exactly what I told him not to do. It was all I could do to keep from going to prison that night. My cab sounded distorted to me that night when we played but the next day for some reason it sounded fine again. It was odd.
Instance 2- Playing a club in Baltimore. Headlining. Drum share is always asked and required at club and is known about beforehand by all drummers. We always backline our gear when we played this dump. Backline meaning, our stuff is setup so we don't have to setup after the openers play. They aren't supposed to touch it. After our early load in, we split to grab some food up the street. No one in the band stays, our merch bitch is selling stuff. Some miserable bitch who works the bar tell some opening band to stop loading their bass cab in because they can "just use the headliners". I come back in the middle of the opening bands set and see my 8x10 pulled to the front with an SVT powering it. Luckily, the kid was cool who used it and wasnt playing too loud. The club has PA support so loud stage volume isnt needed. At the end of the night when the bar bitch tried to cash out my friends bar tab, I told her it was on the house since she volunteered my $1100 cab for rental that night to the other bands. She gave me a crappy look and turned around.
No one touches my **** anymore unless I know them and even then, I am hesitant.
Instance 2- Playing a club in Baltimore. Headlining. Drum share is always asked and required at club and is known about beforehand by all drummers. We always backline our gear when we played this dump. Backline meaning, our stuff is setup so we don't have to setup after the openers play. They aren't supposed to touch it. After our early load in, we split to grab some food up the street. No one in the band stays, our merch bitch is selling stuff. Some miserable bitch who works the bar tell some opening band to stop loading their bass cab in because they can "just use the headliners". I come back in the middle of the opening bands set and see my 8x10 pulled to the front with an SVT powering it. Luckily, the kid was cool who used it and wasnt playing too loud. The club has PA support so loud stage volume isnt needed. At the end of the night when the bar bitch tried to cash out my friends bar tab, I told her it was on the house since she volunteered my $1100 cab for rental that night to the other bands. She gave me a crappy look and turned around.
No one touches my **** anymore unless I know them and even then, I am hesitant.
methinks I would have...
I don't mind sharing my rig with folks that I know...or at least know by reputation...if ANYONE were to plug into my rig without asking...I might just have to bypass my normally non-violent ways...
Kim
edwinhurwitz
Supporting Member
I wouldn't kibbitz, the way I see it, there's no trouble as long as the schmeckel doesn't leave a schmutz on the stage! If that happened, a schlemiel might slip on it, and bang his tochis.
my band did a festival this past weekend, as we're setting up for our set the promoter comes up to us and says "hey man, the band on after you couldnt bring there drum set, can they use yours" we say ok...
next as i'm setting up my bass rig the guitarist comes up to me and says "can our bass player use your cab
i say ok, but if he blows it i'm keeping his bass, he agreed.
as i'm sitting there watching them play i realize the guitarist is using our guitarists cab
they did thank us on stage for letting us use it, but dang...
next as i'm setting up my bass rig the guitarist comes up to me and says "can our bass player use your cab
i say ok, but if he blows it i'm keeping his bass, he agreed.
as i'm sitting there watching them play i realize the guitarist is using our guitarists cab
they did thank us on stage for letting us use it, but dang...
im going to say this as someone who has had his rig used without permission.
tell them to go shove a needle full of nitroglycerin into there buttocks and then kick them out the door. ive had my rig used without my permission and i ended up giving em a glasgow kiss. i worked hard for my rig. its not much but its still my rig. you may sound un-reasonable but sometimes un-popularity is the price to pay. i made him a halfway offer of using my d.i but he didnt take it
tell them to go shove a needle full of nitroglycerin into there buttocks and then kick them out the door. ive had my rig used without my permission and i ended up giving em a glasgow kiss. i worked hard for my rig. its not much but its still my rig. you may sound un-reasonable but sometimes un-popularity is the price to pay. i made him a halfway offer of using my d.i but he didnt take it
I have let lots of people use my rig over the years since we used to be the house band for an open jam. Nobody has ever fiddled with the EQ except once [1]. Maybe all the controls on the iAMP scare them off But it tended to be older guys and I think they respect your gear more.
[1] The band consisted of guitar players who took turns playing bass. I find most guitar players want a very trebley bass tone... basically they try as hard as possible to make it sound like a guitar :scowl:
Anyway, I had just played a lot of sets and was tired so I walked away for a drink and a rest. I had subbed for the band before, so I was not worried. Came back after the set and noticed that the treble was dimed. But he had not noticed the flat button, so the EQ made no difference
But it tended to be older guys and I think they respect your gear more.[1] The band consisted of guitar players who took turns playing bass. I find most guitar players want a very trebley bass tone... basically they try as hard as possible to make it sound like a guitar :scowl:
Anyway, I had just played a lot of sets and was tired so I walked away for a drink and a rest. I had subbed for the band before, so I was not worried. Came back after the set and noticed that the treble was dimed. But he had not noticed the flat button, so the EQ made no difference
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