Technical issues and can't play the gig... ever happened to you?

[Dave Vader]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1429482985' post='2751909']
What about a completely dead bass player?
[/quote]

Once did a gig after the frontman/guitarist got hospitalised by one of the bouncers at the venue.
We found another chap in the audience who knew some songs and made it up as we went along.

Is still the most enjoyable gig I've ever done.

[vsmith1]

I have my Line6 Sonic Port and always have my iPhone so I could in a total rig failure use that DI'd into the desk.

I've only ever had one string failure in 5 years and that was at a rehearsal. I carry a spare set, but couldn't be bothered at a rehearsal as I had my fretless - I just switched to that for the rest of the rehearsal. But I don't usually have a second bass at a gig, so probably would restring in the break.

[Cosmo Valdemar]

Not so much a technical fault as such, but once our singer arrived a bit later than the rest of us and was jokingly told by the promoter at the door that he had the wrong night. First we know about this is an hour later, frantically trying to locate the singer and discovering he'd got the train home.
Anyway, the show must go on and all that. We're just about to go onstage when I discover my bass had been stolen. I think we realised the odds were against us at that point. And no, I didn't have a spare bass either.

[Ben Jamin]

My amp's output failed during the first song - so in an attempt to not look awkward and just in-case it kicked in again I tried to play through the set as if nothing was wrong.

Afterwards the organiser came up to me, gave me a high-5 and told me (genuinely) that my bass playing was amazing!

[police squad]

Ampeg PF-500 starting cutting out at a gig. We've got a great PA but this particular gig we'd left the subs at home. So I plugged the bass into the desk and had it come through the powered monitor which I then plugged into the 1x15 bass cab (wharfedale powered monitor, has a speaker out to run a passive monitor). It didn't sound perfect but was loud enough and had enough bottom end to finish the gig.

[Les]

[quote name='police squad' timestamp='1429680770' post='2753809'] It didn't sound perfect but was loud enough and had enough bottom end to finish the gig. [/quote]

That's the spirit

It would have to be a catastrophic tech issue for me to have set everything up and then go home without my money.

[grandad]

I'm a belt and bracers man when I know people are relying on me. This is especialy true if it's someone's special occasion.

I used to carry a spare powered mixer after one occasion of a Behringer burn up. Now I have a Yamaha EMX5016cf for FOH and a Stagepas 600i for foldback which could be just turned around to face the audience should the EMX go down, (highly unlikely as they are one of the best on the market).

My advise would be to invest in the best you can afford and keep it simple so any fault can be quickly identified. Spare leads and batterys are a must. I do have 2 identical bass heads but have never had a failure because it's a Peavey, yes I said a Peavey.

I carry spare fuses and a couple of screwdrivers and pliers. The common problems tend to be loose jack sockets and faulty cables for the most part.

Reliability is something I consider when buying new gear. When I think reliability I think Roland, Peavey, Yamaha from my personnal experience.

Looking after and safely transporting gear is a routine to adopt - cleaning and checking between gigs, simple things like coiling up cables properly and stowing safely etc. Everything has a cover, case or a place in a bag. I think being methodical is in my nature but has paid dividends when a minor crisis occurs. The singer just has an Aldi bag-for-life and mic's and leads just get stuffed in one big tangle.

And now after spending thousands and finally getting to the stage when we have our perfect rig the band decides to call it a day for regular gigging and we only use it 2 or 3 times a year!

Edited April 22, 2015 by grandad

[JTUK]

They'd double booked the bass, so they offered to pay us both and we could both do a set.
I took the money as I'd travelled best part an hour and let the other guy do the whole gig
as I didn't see much point getting up and he was happy enough to do it. ( Truth be told I was
annoyed anyway and this needed to be a lesson to the booker..?? )
I've never been asked back altho I do get invited to the bookers own Xmas party which is
quite 'exclusive' among his muso mates. Still, to this day, I'm not quite sure what happened, tbh.
and why I don't get any gigs from the booker. Maybe the bass player gets gigs as he carries the P.A..?

[Krysbass]

I always take a spare amp to gigs - both my amps are lightweight class D, so it's minimum hassle to do this and well worth the peace of mind. I also carry spare strings, 9v battery, a selection of internal fuses and mains-plug fuses, nylon cable ties and a few other small bits and pieces that may be useful for an emergency repair.

However - I've rarely bothered taking a spare bass to a gig - largely because most venues I play are too small for there to be anywhere where I could safely leave this bass.

[PaulWarning]

for years I've been humping round a Carlsboro Bass Beasty which I use as an extension cab for my perceived unreliable Marshall MB 4210 (which is also a lump at 33Kg) , so if needed I could use it as a back up amp, never ever needed it, I've recently decided to go down the light weight route and I've got a Fender Rumble, which means I won't have a back up, we all know what's going to happen, sods law being what it is,
My get out of jail plan is to plug into the vocal PA, not ideal but better than nothing

[PTB]

In 30 years of gigs, I've only had 1 broken string and 1 blown up amp (G-K 700RB). Fixing the string was easy but I've always taken 2 basses to most gigs since.
The amp issue was resolved by borrowing a spare PA power amp. I was using an active bass that night so it was easy to drive it & get a good sound.
Perhaps I've been lucky?