D.I. Joe Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 Mine was last night. To set the scene... My gear - Bass -> pedals -> DHA VT-1 Bass-EQ-Drive -> [DI to FOH] -> amp During set up there were a few squeals and pops coming through my amp which seemed to be cured by switching on the VT-1. Weird? Anyway - midway through the first set my amp dies. No biggy you may think - the DI is from the preamp, just get some bass back through the monitor. Simples! Only... there is no signal to the desk. Cue a hasty switch to a passive DI and some swearing. Got the DI situation sorted in the interval, then half way through the second set my Power Plant gives up! Back into the DI - after a bout of very loud, very pissed off swearing Sound guy did a sterling job, but all that gear packing up in one sitting? REALLY?!! Best get out the ol' multimeter... Anyone with a similar nightmare? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roland Rock Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 I've been pretty lucky over the years - only a monitor which started smoking! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icastle Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 I use a FishMan Preamp just to give me a little bit of extra umph when using my EUB. Can anyone spot what happens if you try sliding the volume up when the unit is upside down on a dimly lit stage? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judo Chop Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 I've forgotten to plug my amp in and then spent five minutes wondering why it wouldn't turn on, but never had anything break down. The closest thing to a breakdown was my overdrive pedal running out of battery during the last song and cutting the volume off Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E sharp Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 Played a big bike rally a couple of days ago . Do it every year and we had the whole night this year . Sheds loads of gear all through the genny , though lights seperate . 3rd song in and the power goes , everyone running around checking everything . Soundman (and best mate) comes up and asks is I have a spare 13 amp fuse - that was the culprit . Honestly , it took 10 minutes to find , and as per usual it's the Bass player with his spares who sorts out everyone else . Lost count over the years when I've helped guitarists out with spare strings , batteries etc . Bloody good job us Bassist carry spares , though I never thought a PA crew wouldn't have any spare 13 amp fuses . Drummer kept in going with "we will rock you" , just to stop the crowd getting antsy . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyfisher Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 Not me, but the last gig I played, the headline band had a problem. The singer/guitarist's guitar lead went all crackly. So, making quite a big thing of it, he swiped it for another. Started another song but the same problem happened. So he decided it was his amp and made a big fuss of changing it. Started another song, but the same thing happened. Again, made a big thing of it and decided it was actually his guitar, so played the rest of their set on acoustic. Completely ruined the flow of their set. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimR Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 E string machine head sheared off while fine tuning waiting to start. Played first tune, decided that I wasn't going to play the whole night with no E string and spent the first verse of the second tune re stringing EAD with the E in the A slot etc. Had to think about a few tunes. Lesson? Always have a spare bass with you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yorick Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 The generator ran out of diesel.... Oh yes. The one that was powering everything on stage at the festival.... Lights, PA, backline Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amnesia Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 Next to last song a couple of weeks ago and I start to loose notes intermittently. I have had a slight issue with my amp at this venue before so I assumed I was looking at a big bil and a broken amplifierl. By the time I realised I had a problem the sound was gone, my concentration was gone so I left the band on stage to play the last track without me. Not cool. After the set I tried my other bass and it worked fine. Went back to my Tbird and the notes were gone again. Worked out that open strings were fine but fretted notes were rubbish. Then spotted the bridge pickup touching the E string. Thanks Gibson. Thanks a lot. Needless to say I'm back to the Warwicks for a bit - my confidence needs shoring up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uncle psychosis Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 Did a gig once where my E-string snapped. On the very first note of the very first song. And I didn't have a backup. Or any spare strings. Thankfully a very nice man from another band saw what happened, got his bass out, and handed it to me in time for us to start the second song. *Phew*. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaydentaku Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 Once, I had total arse failure, 20 mins before the gig. The toilets where sub ground level (no phone signal). Band thought I had done a runner. I appeared about 3 minutes before we went on. Then one of my cables died, but I had a spare. It was our first gig. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merlin Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 I was playing early 80s in a pub in Brighton and towards the end of our set the crowd started to point at me and I noticed they were all looking my way,then the drummer stands up,,,,the Marshall 100 was on fire, smoke, and that nasty smell filling the stage,but it was still working,until it was turned off,it never worked again ever..I finished the gig useing the monitor amp Happy days.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haydenr25 Posted June 9, 2012 Share Posted June 9, 2012 Broke a string during fine tuning back stage - about 30 seconds before we were announced on stage. Thankfully I had spare strings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Jamin Posted June 9, 2012 Share Posted June 9, 2012 Setting up for a gig - I was playing a bit o' bass before sound-check. Casual one-foot-on-monitor stance. Took my foot off just before the engineer plugged the monitor in, at which point a circle of blue electricity began to whirl around the speaker, which was going crazy and making the most hellish loud shrill screaming noise I've ever heard. I still have no idea how he managed to do that, but I'm pretty glad I took my foot off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Jamin Posted June 9, 2012 Share Posted June 9, 2012 Also, I've done the classic 'mute button' on my amp a couple of times... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimR Posted June 9, 2012 Share Posted June 9, 2012 [quote name='jaydentaku' timestamp='1338848362' post='1680112'] Once, I had total arse failure, 20 mins before the gig. The toilets where sub ground level (no phone signal). Band thought I had done a runner. I appeared about 3 minutes before we went on. Then one of my cables died, but I had a spare. It was our first gig. [/quote] I always take a couple of spare arses to every gig. I keep one behind the drum kit and one in front of the guitar amp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4 Strings Posted June 9, 2012 Share Posted June 9, 2012 Bass player failure here. Student guitarist with no car so I said he could use a little Crate Powerblock amp and a 112 i have kicking around at home. No effort, little set up sounds fine too. Get to the gig, of course I'd forgotten it. He ended up using two powered vocal wedges in series to get enough power. Clean sound all night then? (quite liked it!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaydentaku Posted June 9, 2012 Share Posted June 9, 2012 [quote name='TimR' timestamp='1339262001' post='1686090'] I always take a couple of spare arses to every gig. I keep one behind the drum kit and one in front of the guitar amp. [/quote] It's usually the bass that can get farty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertbass Posted June 9, 2012 Share Posted June 9, 2012 In the 70s I played a gig where mine and one of the guitarists machine heads touched which was rapidly followed by a blinding blue flash. I kept well away from him for the rest of the set. Checked the mains plug on his amp and the earth had come loose and was touching the live wire. Apparently the audience thought the effect was great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
12stringbassist Posted June 10, 2012 Share Posted June 10, 2012 Preston Guild Hall. Preston had just become a city and the band I was with were the headliners at the civic celebrations. My cordless system's NEW battery decided to pack up, mid 3rd song. Fortunately I had a cable on top of my amp, just in case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted June 10, 2012 Share Posted June 10, 2012 [quote name='flyfisher' timestamp='1338840055' post='1679955'] Not me, but the last gig I played, the headline band had a problem. The singer/guitarist's guitar lead went all crackly. So, making quite a big thing of it, he swiped it for another. Started another song but the same problem happened. So he decided it was his amp and made a big fuss of changing it. Started another song, but the same thing happened. Again, made a big thing of it and decided it was actually his guitar, so played the rest of their set on acoustic. Completely ruined the flow of their set. [/quote] My worst was on Friday. One of the guitarists has had problems with his guitar for ages, it gets sort of fixed, but never properly. The jack socket in is Epiphone Casino. On Friday if crapped out. It produced sound, but it also gave a loud buzz. We went ahead, the sound guy managed to mix him just so that it worked and the buzz was not very obtrussive. People said we sounded great despite the loud noise. Fine. Except his amp was at my ear level right next to me and the stage was cramped so I had nowhere else to go. Earplugs and all, it was deafening me. Torture. IN addition, the buzz sounded not too dissimilar to bass... and I could not hear myself,, it totally masked my bass, so I played not hearing what I was doing... Finally I found if I literally hid in the corner, I heard the buzz less, and could hear *some* of my bass, barely, but no guitars or voice... so I just hid there looking at the drummer. Horrible horrible horrible. I was really pissed off as it was just the fruit of negligence. We had words afterwards and it's going to get done properly... I said I would not let him play that guitar live again until I inspect it. They get a bit scared of me when I am angry, but respect me because I am rarely angry and tend to do it for the right reasons... he even said he'd but a new guitar this weekend. I said he can borrow one of mine for the gigs this week, just get the socket fixed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayman Posted June 10, 2012 Share Posted June 10, 2012 I did a wedding with a previous band a few years ago. Halfway through the first set there's a big flash from my Trace stack and pop....it's gone. The power amp had blown. I spent the rest of the gig playing through the PA. Couldn't hear myself at all. Crap. That's the short version. The long version includes a car crash, a fat ugly bird, a cricket pitch and a pint of Guinness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockfordStone Posted June 10, 2012 Share Posted June 10, 2012 was about to go on stage noticed that the nut on my neck had snapped and was sliding about, wasn't pleasant to play, but there was only the bar man, not even the promoter was there as he had given up cos the place was empty i learnt always to have a back up bass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cameronj279 Posted June 10, 2012 Share Posted June 10, 2012 (edited) First gig I played the drummers bass pedal got stuck after the intro of the first song, luckily it was a double bass pedal so played the rest of the gig with just the left foot. Not very drastic compared to everything posted so far but it was just lucky the drummer was good enough just to use one foot Edited June 10, 2012 by Cameronj279 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WalMan Posted June 10, 2012 Share Posted June 10, 2012 Let's see:[list] [*]the vintage Superbass 100 (that I still have though is probably a Trigger's Broom nowadays) that blew a fuse at a gigperhaps 25 years ago, and was fixed IIRC with a fure out of a mates Moggie Minor [*]the Trace Elliot combo that would cut out intermittently and took three returns before the fault was tracked to a hairling crack on the input board, and led to my having an XLR permanently ready to plug into the Wal's DI out; [*]and then the usual, thankfully infrequent user failure when going back for an encore, the song starting and there being no bass for ages while I check the battery in the radio, radio's on, all leads plugged in, tuner not on for silent tuning, round & round in increasingly paniced circles...until I finally realise the standby is still on on the amp [/list] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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