Chest Rockwell Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 There has to be a thread about this kinda thing but I can't find one immediately... Last night I surely experienced one of the more rare incidences of 'utter bloody disaster' as I was really looking forward to playing our instrumental set of slow n heavy phat bass rock tunes, having replaced my OTB valves so they're now warm and lovely... I plugged the thing in and there was no sound coming out of the bass cab, despite two bands already having used it. Immediately I start getting the fear worrying my OTB has died... turns out the jack lead into the cab was plugged in to thin air... the connector inside had come loose and disappeared inside the cab!!! Had to make a quick decision as to try and hack the cab or go DI, being a 'show must go on' type, i went for DI... it sounded sh1te through the monitors, had to wreck all my settings to sate the soundguy (who was doing his best) and it ruined my gig. out front apparently the bass was warm and heavy, but onstage it sounded like a loud distorted clicky fart. I went on to be embarrassed by the sound and fluffed a few obvious ones. gutted!! I tried... I changed my valves, I have the leads, i keep my gear simple... and the bleeding cab breaks!! ARGH!!! the headline band bassist fixed his cab before they went on and they sounded awesome. next time I take the thing apart myself even if it means doing one tune, at least it'll sound good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judo Chop Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 I had a coil of wire inside my cab break away from where it was soldered during the first song of our set, I was left with just the 2x10 and it sounded so weak even after I turned it up to compensate. When I got home I opened the cab up and fixed it with a piece of cardboard and a cable tie, the same thing happened again at the next gig so I just used another cable tie and it's still holding up. If anyone's interested I'm now doing full time amp repairs, seems easy enough Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BILL POSTERS Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 [quote name='Jack Cahalane' timestamp='1355486790' post='1898992'] I had a coil of wire inside my cab break away from where it was soldered during the first song of our set, I was left with just the 2x10 and it sounded so weak even after I turned it up to compensate. When I got home I opened the cab up and fixed it with a piece of cardboard and a cable tie, the same thing happened again at the next gig so I just used another cable tie and it's still holding up. If anyone's interested I'm now doing full time amp repairs, seems easy enough [/quote] As any experienced highly qualified with degrees and stuff electronics engineer - there seem to be a good few on here - will tell you. Two cable ties is always better than one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Protium Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 I have never experienced a Hartke backline that worked Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Foxen Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 does the drummer forgetting to put his kit in the van count as a technical difficulty? Was definitely the worst. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umph Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 [quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1355513028' post='1899560'] does the drummer forgetting to put his kit in the van count as a technical difficulty? Was definitely the worst. [/quote] wasn't he being a massive dick about lending it to? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon B Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 I did a gig once where during the soundcheck the lead guitarist had a shocking experiance.... it seemed he had a habbit of "unplugging" his amp by yanking the power lead to release the plug !! so after as it turns out one "yank" too many, hes happily playing during the soundcheck, when he goes to touch his mic, now with the plugs earth wire " yanked " round to meet the live, his strings now flowing with 240volts upon touching his mic he earths himself... resulting in him being thrown backwards through the drumkit and hitting the back wall... Gig cancelled / re-scheduled, and ambulance to pick the idiot up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chest Rockwell Posted December 14, 2012 Author Share Posted December 14, 2012 [quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1355513028' post='1899560'] does the drummer forgetting to put his kit in the van count as a technical difficulty? Was definitely the worst. [/quote] heh! reminds me of my mates story of the drummer packing the car to leave the country, only realised when they neared heathrow that hadn't actually put the bassists bag back in the car when he took it out to put in his stuff. bassist called dad who went round to his house in newport, found the bag, with belongings and passport, still sat on the pavement and then drove to meet them in reading to give him his bag!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Foxen Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 [quote name='umph' timestamp='1355513273' post='1899561'] wasn't he being a massive dick about lending it to? [/quote] Yeah, but that definitely wasn't technical, that was just being a prick. [quote name='Chest Rockwell' timestamp='1355513535' post='1899565'] heh! reminds me of my mates story of the drummer packing the car to leave the country, only realised when they neared heathrow that hadn't actually put the bassists bag back in the car when he took it out to put in his stuff. bassist called dad who went round to his house in newport, found the bag, with belongings and passport, still sat on the pavement and then drove to meet them in reading to give him his bag!! [/quote] A mate managed to leave his bag leaning against the back of his car, and back over it without noticing on his way to get a flight to India. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloudburst Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 Once, in the interval between songs, one of our singers unplugged my bassamp to plug in an electric heater. CB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Foxen Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 [quote name='cloudburst' timestamp='1355516861' post='1899622'] Once, in the interval between songs, one of our singers unplugged my bassamp to plug in an electric heater. CB [/quote] Shoulda got a valve amp, covers both. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lefrash Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 When I was 15 and we were playing one of our first gigs in the big city (Glasgow), we were sound checking and I had leaned my bass up against my bass cabinet. The drummer stepped back off the small drum rise and stood on the 90 degrees jack, which then cracked the scratch plate, and pushed all the gubbins into the bass. The resulted in the jack lead being stuck in the bass. It somehow worked so I decided to just leave it until after the gig. First full volume note though I noticed my amp was seriously distorting. After looking about I realised a tuning peg had gone right through to the cone and punctured a hole. It was 'just about' giggable at alot lower volumes, which obviously ruined the whole gig for us. I then snapped a string which resulted in another bands bassist jumping over to give me a loan of his bass (which thinking back, was seriously nice). My bro had his car window smashed whilst at the gig with me. That was one of the worst gigging experiences I've ever had! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloudburst Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 (edited) [quote name='lefrash' timestamp='1355518226' post='1899637'] When I was 15 and we were playing one of our first gigs in the big city (Glasgow), we were sound checking and I had leaned my bass up against my bass cabinet. The drummer stepped back off the small drum rise and stood on the 90 degrees jack, which then cracked the scratch plate, and pushed all the gubbins into the bass. The resulted in the jack lead being stuck in the bass. It somehow worked so I decided to just leave it until after the gig. First full volume note though I noticed my amp was seriously distorting. After looking about I realised a tuning peg had gone right through to the cone and punctured a hole. It was 'just about' giggable at alot lower volumes, which obviously ruined the whole gig for us. I then snapped a string which resulted in another bands bassist jumping over to give me a loan of his bass (which thinking back, was seriously nice). My bro had his car window smashed whilst at the gig with me. That was one of the worst gigging experiences I've ever had! [/quote] Just "one of the worst" gigging experiences? There are more? OMG :-) CB Edited December 14, 2012 by cloudburst Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lefrash Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 [quote name='cloudburst' timestamp='1355519268' post='1899654'] Just "one of the worst" gigging experiences? There are more? OMG :-) CB [/quote] haha, ok, perhaps nothing gets as bad as that for technical problems! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris2112 Posted December 15, 2012 Share Posted December 15, 2012 At a show once, the guitarist had one guitar with him. He stepped on it at the start of the first number, ripping the jack socket out of the bottom of his guitar. Doh... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thisnameistaken Posted December 15, 2012 Share Posted December 15, 2012 We were using the other band's drums, they hadn't put a reinforcement pad on the bass drum head, two songs in our drummer put the beater through it, so that was it for our set. According to the other band the head was torn already. So why didn't they replace it when they decided everybody was using their drums? Blank stares. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chest Rockwell Posted December 16, 2012 Author Share Posted December 16, 2012 usually it's an issue when bands turn up with no gear... now it appears that when they do, that could end up being even worse!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thisnameistaken Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 I just couldn't believe they didn't think of replacing it. The venue was 100 yards from a music shop and they were at the venue for a full hour while the music shop was still open, they could've just walked around the corner and got a replacement. We found a replacement bass drum in time for the other bands to play (so people got to see Neville Staple after all), but yeah it was pretty embarrassing for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
molan Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 First gig with big new band, venue packed and everything going well. Come back for encore and suddenly there's no sound from my amp at all. Spot that my jack lead looks frayed and decide it must be this. Don't have another immediately to hand and we're already into the opening bars. All I could was rapidly unplug my tuner patch lead (which was sitting on top of my amp) and use that instead. Played the two encore songs with the bass literally under my chin, my back turned to the audience and my face rammed up against the amp! Luckily it was a good old school Fender rig that was about as tall as me or I'd have also been kneeling on the floor at the same time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassace Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 [quote name='Jon B' timestamp='1355513503' post='1899564'] I did a gig once where during the soundcheck the lead guitarist had a shocking experiance.... it seemed he had a habbit of "unplugging" his amp by yanking the power lead to release the plug !! so after as it turns out one "yank" too many, hes happily playing during the soundcheck, when he goes to touch his mic, now with the plugs earth wire " yanked " round to meet the live, his strings now flowing with 240volts upon touching his mic he earths himself... resulting in him being thrown backwards through the drumkit and hitting the back wall... Gig cancelled / re-scheduled, and ambulance to pick the idiot up [/quote] The Man who Failed to Earth, perhaps? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertbass Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 In the early 80s while travelling to a gig about 60 miles away, the head gasket went on the van. After much messing around, managed to get to the gig. Set the gear up and the stage looked perfect. Double stack for the bass. Double half stacks for guitar. Chrome double drum kit on a riser. Played the gig to virtually no-one. Took the gear down and put it back in the van which wouldn't start. The head was full of water. Fortunately, one of our roadies had driven himself to the gig. Unfortunately, he only had a Reliant 3 wheeled van but it did get all 6 of us and our guitars home. I arranged to have our broken van with all the gear in it towed home. Got a call form the old bill the following day saying that the van was wrapped round a telegraph pole and abandoned with the back doors open about 5 miles from home. You guessed it, half of the gear was missing. Managed to get the rest of the gear home using cars. That's not all though. The £30 cheque we'd received for the gig bounced. Went back to the venue to see the landlord and the venue was boarded up and abandoned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oopsdabassist Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 [quote name='bassace' timestamp='1355739883' post='1901917'] The Man who Failed to Earth, perhaps? [/quote] Oh thats good....thats REAL goood!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uncle psychosis Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 I hit the very first note of the very first song... And my E string snaps. Luckily a very nice bass player from another band spots it, gets his bass out, tunes it for me, and hands it to me just as my bemused bandmates make it to the end of the number. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 [quote name='thisnameistaken' timestamp='1355564021' post='1899901'] We were using the other band's drums, they hadn't put a reinforcement pad on the bass drum head, two songs in our drummer put the beater through it, so that was it for our set. According to the other band the head was torn already. So why didn't they replace it when they decided everybody was using their drums? Blank stares. [/quote] We had the same thing happen in Staines a couple of years ago, ended up repairing the drum head with a cardboard drinks menu, made the kick drum sound triggered which wasn't such a terrible thing for a metal gig I suppose; killed the momentum of the gig though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Count Bassy Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 [quote name='Graham' timestamp='1355768692' post='1902539'] We had the same thing happen in Staines a couple of years ago, ended up repairing the drum head with a cardboard drinks menu, made the kick drum sound triggered which wasn't such a terrible thing for a metal gig I suppose; killed the momentum of the gig though. [/quote] What, no gaffa tape at all? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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