ukbassboy Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 I just watched a guy on Euro news, solo violinist standing up in front of a full orchestra, in the middle of his solo and his bridge just flies (off along with all the strings)! Whole orchestra stops and the poor guy is left standing there with a very bare looking violin and with no option than to have a laugh. So what's the worst equipment failure you have had? I've been lucky, never had so much as a broken string, flat battery, blown tube, nothing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayPete1977 Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 Ashdown amp failure about 6 times before giving up with it a getting the Genz rig to replace it which melted the cheap speakon cable that came with it at it's first gig! That has been replaced with one of OBBM's heavy duty ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LiamPodmore Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 Snapped a string whilst tuning at a charity festival. Fortunately i only needed that bass for 4 songs and could do it on my 5. Other than that i've not erally had any problems. Liam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beardybass Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 Did a gig once with a big cab that I had borrowed, halfway through the soundcheck -unfortunately it was one of those gigs where the bands soundcheck in front of the crowd- one of the speakers fell out of the cab! We managed to prop it up somehow, and more or less made it through the gig, a few farty noises here and there, but it wasn't too bad! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pikeman Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 Back in the 70's we were playing a charity concert that was being transmitted live to the whole of Central and South America. About 10 seconds into the first number my lead packed up and it seemed like ages before a replacement was found. I swear I had every TV camera aimed at me while I fumbled to get back up and running. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icastle Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 Line 6 HD750 amp just faded out and died halfway through the first song of a gig. Far too much cleverness in one small box... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomBassmonkey Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 I snapped a string at the one gig I didn't take a spare bass to a while ago. Of course, just to compound it, I was using a 6er. Luckily one of the other bands was using a 5er and lent me one, it took some effort to go up and down the neck so fast in runs though. The first gig I played with my Sandberg, the batter died, so I faffed about for a chorus before figuring it out and sticking it on passive. The same gig, I malfunctioned and hit the mute switch on my pedal when I was going for distortion, so instead of my bass fattening up, it just went silent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Protium Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 Any time I have ever been presented with a Hartke backline it has always failed to work properly. We've had a few old PA speakers (the ones with bulbs inside to prevent overloading) catch fire. The singer decided that a constantly blowing time delay fuse in his power amp was uneccessary and replaced it with a nail which melted through the plastic casing. Surprisingly we fixed this one. We also had a keyboard amp that one day decided to only play french radio rather than whatever was plugged into the input. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toneknob Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 (edited) At a tribute band festival in France, at the climax of a well-known 23-minute long progressive rock song, the entire on-stage power goes just as we launch into the finale... all that's left is unamplified guitar and voice. Oops. Stick a Euro in the meter, someone Edited January 3, 2011 by toneknob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakenewmanbass Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 I arrived at a gig on the Isle of Wight to discover that the fingerboard and neck had been snapped off the double bass that lives in my main gig's van. frantic phone calls produced a local chap with an EUB who very very generously lent me for the gig. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thepurpleblob Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 (edited) Changed a battery on my Stingray the night I got it - its first gig. The battery cable had been trapped during manufacturer and opening the compartment snapped the wires. Luckily a Stingray just (only just) works passive if you crank everything up. I don't recommend it. Edited January 3, 2011 by thepurpleblob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat Burrito Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 I snapped a couple of E strings back in the 90s when I was still a pick player. Since then aside my amp head blowing in soundcheck at my last gig, no problems (the soundcheck was bad enough mind!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markstuk Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 Back in the 80's both of these 1) Flash powder explosion taking all the power out in a venue... We strode out. giant collective power chord, flash, then farting amps dieing slowly in the dark.. 2) Our keyboard player sitting on top of a Sound City Valve amp when it literally exploded under him.. Laugh, I nearly wet myself :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sprocketflup Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 Ive had bass battery probs too - battery diwed during soundcheck so went to put a new one in and the battery snap cam out in my hands Luckily we had a fella with us who actually carried a soldering kit ( amongst other things) with him and he was able to fix it. A big cheer for ginger Dan Dan the sound man ( hes a sound man dontchakno) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigjohn Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 I've had a power amp die - 10 minutes into a gig with no backup. And I've snapped an A string with no spares half way through. Both very bad situations to be in! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casapete Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 Entire PA went down at a prestigous gig at Grosvenor House in London - culprit was the fog machine blowing its stuff straight into the power amps. Had to wait for the amps to reset before continuing. In my early band days I was playing guit*r through a Vox AC30 at a WM Club in Knaresborough when it actually caught fire along with the curtain at the back of the stage - audience thought it was pyros! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 My old band, which were an 80s Motley Crue type band blew up two pa systems in one evening. And it was only the vocals going through the pa. Either the pa`s were rubbish, or our vocals were. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockfordStone Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 i was playing a show in leicester a couple of years back, i got the bass out of the case prior to going on stage and i noticed that the nut had snapped at one of the strings. i managed to get through the gig but it didnt sound amazing, pretty lucky the promoter had done no work and it was only us and the barman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahpook Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 i had an amp blow and catch fire during a gig. it was a [i]very[/i] cheap amp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spike Vincent Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 Had a brand new Marshall 4x10 blow a speaker halfway through a gig. Shortly after this the guitarist had a brand new Marshall JCM 800 die halfway through a gig.I think Marshall may have had a quality control problem in the early 90's.Haven't used Marshall since.Also don't use Rotosound for the same reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robocorpse Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 Broke a string at the end of a song once, so that was OK, do the last bit on the wrong string an octave up, and I had a spare bass, so no problem for the rest of the set... ...famous last words, I broke the bottom E on the spare bass during the FIRST BAR of the next song. That WAS embarrassing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 My wireless transmitter packed up on me mid gig. That's how I learned that rechargable batteries are not a good idea in wireless transmitters because when they go, they go very suddenly. Turned up to a gig in anticipation of trying my Shuttle amp (after it was delivered to the drummers place while I was away) only to find that the speakon cable hadn't been included with the package. Had to play the entire gig through a 30w Roland keyboard combo. Turned up to a gig once and discovered I was missing the preEB stingray. Turned out it had been left on the pavement outside my house by my gf. I had assumed she'd put it in the car with the rest of the gear. Luckily a kind neighbour nabbed two gyppos walking off with it, thinking it was put out for the rubbish. We started half an hour late and I was soaked with sweat but I still had the stingray. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassBod Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 Sudden battery death in an old Wal ProIIE. Went from normal to dead in about three mins...and taking the (fragile) battery cover off needed a small screwdriver. Eden Traveler amp overheating and cutting out - I've since discovered this was because I was running it at 2ohms, as Euphonic Audio put 8ohm ratings on cabs containing 4ohm speakers. Thanks for that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blamelouis Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 Blew a 15" speaker in a carlsbro stingray combo once. Second song in and had to go through a sh*tty H+H 150 watt pa for the rest of the gig. Ah those were the days Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu-khag Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 Broke the E string first song in on my only bass. Had no other bass but carried on with the other 3 strings. Very strange rearranging my playing, everyone said it sounded fine but I thought it all sounded like I was playing disco bass lines Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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