Back up basses - What do you look for?

[bassbiscuits]

To be honest my back up bass is just anything reliable and versatile enough that will get me through a gig.

Currently a Yamaha BB604, which does a bit of everything and plays nicely, so thats job done for me.

[uk_lefty]

I don't have two of the same bass, all four of my basses are very different. I often take two basses because I will use both in the gig, not just to have a backup. My wife already can't get her head around why I have four different basses, to add a fifth that was a backup identical to say my p bass would be ridiculous for me, nevermind convincing the wife.
With regards a backup for my amp I'd just di from my preamp pedal.

[Sibob]

I gig a lot, but don't have any bass that us purely a 'backup'. I generally take two basses to a gig, but i'll usually only use one. I use different basses for different bands, and one will often just act as a backup for the main bass on another gig. There's an assumption that I won't use the 'backup', but if I do, it will be up to my standards as it's the main bass for another project.

If I just had one project, with no interest for different musical situations, then i'd probably just buy two of the same bass.....or perhaps something wildly different...who knows haha.

Si

[thodrik]

Squier Affinity Jazz was my back up for years. It never got played. I played a fair amount of rough venues so I didn't really like taking two valuable basses to a gig.

It was a fine bass and it would easily have handled the gig if something went wrong with my main bass. Also I wouldn't have been devastated if somebody had decided to steal it from the side of the stage while I was playing.

[Woodinblack]

My backup bass is the hofner cricket bat. It is small and fits in the car. Its a backup, its not meant to be used, but if it is needed it will work. I am only in cover band, if it plays bass notes it will do the job.

[LewisK1975]

Personally I like my backup to be as similar sounding as possible. So I guess the same pickup layout is the most important thing for me.

It's definitely a personal thing though, most of the punters I play to couldn't care less.

I guess if your 'famed' for using a certain type of Bass, then punters will be more discerning. For instance, imagine Steve Harris broke a string and ran off and came back with a Musicman. That'd raise a few eyebrows.

[Baronialhall]

I hadn't thought about this before and now I'm feeling worried I've been lulled into complacency because I play a P bass which tends to be pretty robust. I've had a string break only once in the last twenty years and then I just took it off in the gap between songs and finished the gig on three strings which is fine, you just have to be more inventive. The main thing I worry about is the jack socket going wrong and I don't know how many songs it would take to solder. I tend to keep an eye on it and the slightest sign of it becoming crackly I replace it. However, this has reminded me that the volume pot on my bass has stuck on full and I should get around to replacing it before it fails completely.

Anyway, my main point is regular maintenance can help mitigate the need for a second bass and if all goes totally wrong you could always do what they did on a lovely old jazz 78 I heard the other day and mouth the bass parts into a microphone :-)

[DarkHeart]

I use my T`bird as my main bass and just pick up one of the others as backup, all except my recently built P are active so they pretty much all sound similar or can quite easily get a similar tone.

[Highfox]

As Baroniahall mentions, how many of you have had actually failures with your instrument?
I have had a string go a few times but not much else?
I have a few basses but (hardly every) carry a spare unless it's a top paid gig. Maybe I should do more often.
I'm more inclined to think my amp would give up than my bass and I don't carry a spare one of those.

Just call me an amateur

[paul_c2]

What do I look for.....one bass which is reliable enough not to "break down" in a gig?

I too don't fully understand why you'd need a spare bass. I have used the same bass for ~30 years and then recently changed in the past few weeks to another (which I hope will also last 30 years) but nothing spectacular went wrong with the first in any case. I'd have thought any failures would be in the moving parts, or electronics, than the bass itself. And without active electronics and with 2 pickups (a pickup is very unlikely to fail, but if it did...) what could go wrong?

I carry spare leads, I have straplocks on both basses (personally for me, worth every penny) and the only pedal I use is mains powered but I have a couple of batteries in case something funny happens there, and even if it did its a tuner pedal so I could ditch it and plug straight into the amp if needs be. Seriously considering having a second amp plugged in and ready to go next to the first one but even that's a bit OTT.

Regarding strings, I reckon you'd have to do something unusual to snap a string - unlike a guitar, the strings are sufficient gauge that their inherent strength is way beyond any force applied during playing; and that while bad strings exist, they'd likely snap either during fitment or in the first few hours after (and are more likely to break internally, going 'dead' in sound but still semi-useable).

[BigRedX]

Breaking a string is very much the main reason for me bringing a spare bass to gigs.

No matter how lightly you play eventually strings wear out and snap. It is inevitable. And even changing your strings regularly doesn't protect you from a duff set where one of them will let go the first time you dig in a little harder than normal at a gig.

And sure you might be able to swap a string in well under 60 seconds in the comfort of your home, when the pressure is on at a gig and the audience as well as the rest of your band are looking at you expectantly just as you drop your spare set of strings down behind your amp...

Much better to have a back up bass you can swap to during the intro of the next song.

[Machines]

My solution was not to have a main and a backup but rather 2 decent basses. At the time this was a Lakland JO5 and a G&L L-2000 Tribute. So rather than have a backup I just had 2 basses i liked and it didn't matter which one was 'main' for that day.

[paul_c2]

Is it still possible to break a string if its 1) stretched during fitting and 2) not 10 years old?

[mr zed]

The need for a backup bass is good justification to ourselves for owning more than 1 bass. Then you need a backup for the backup......!

[FinnDave]

[quote name='paul_c2' timestamp='1504653418' post='3366414']
Is it still possible to break a string if its 1) stretched during fitting and 2) not 10 years old?
[/quote]

I broke a string during a gig recently, as far as I can remember that was the first time it's ever happened to me. The string broke when the bass fell (with its stand) into the drums during a break between sets. The G string was severed by a cymbal. Earlier at the same gig, my amp had failed (it has since been replaced by the manufacturer). So my spare bass & my spare amp were required that night!