Al Krow Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 I've been playing live for just a few years now and never experienced any issues or problems with my gear giving up on me mid-gig. In particular my Markbass amp and our band PA has been just fine (we have two active RCF speakers). I've got a mate who has been gigging for ten times as long as me and as a result of his own experience has a back up amp head (almost identical other than 350W instead of 800W model). Both his main amp and spare amp have a DI out, and he's now also getting a 'spare' DI pedal. Is that overkill, or just being very sensible? I'd have thought a quick check-up before a gig should be fine, particularly if the amp has not previously been playing up, but maybe I'm being fool-hardy! How many of you have had bad experiences with you kit 'mid-gig' and have these been more than once in a 'blue moon' and totally unexpected - be very interested in your stories and how you dealt with the situation? What condition was the kit in at the time i.e. was it relatively new or 'old and knackered'? Be good to know how many years you've been playing live / how regularly you were gigging to give this a bit of context. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charic Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 Touch wood... The worst I've had is a bass coming off its strap. Although I had a drummer go through his kick drum once. We patched the hole with a cd and ductape Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Krow Posted November 21, 2017 Author Share Posted November 21, 2017 1 minute ago, charic said: Touch wood... The worst I've had is a bass coming off its strap. Although I had a drummer go through his kick drum once. We patched the hole with a cd and ductape Yup we've had various similar drummer issues and guitarists regularly breaking strings...but that is definitely an encouraging first response in terms of bass gear! If I might ask, how long have you been gigging and typically how many gigs are you doing a year? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 2:10 into this video: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 My other cracker was playing the Ealing Beer Festival in 2014. They had an enormous generator supplying the power and all was good until the last song of the final set. Then they turned on all the floodlights, partly to enable the staff to start clearing up, and partly to encourage all the punters to go home. The sudden additional current draw caused the power to dip momentarily, and my Matamp all-valve head cut out. It was fully 30 seconds before I could get it back up and running again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EliasMooseblaster Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 I broke a string towards the end of a jazz gig. Not even one of the peripheral ones, but the D. I had no backup (in fact, I was an undergraduate at the time, so I couldn't even afford to buy a new set of strings for a couple of weeks) and had to finish the gig with three strings and a big gap. Shifting hand positions for a bossa was straightforward enough, but trying to play a walking bass line under Autumn Leaves on two strings is not an experience I'm in a hurry to repeat. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuNkShUi Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 Ive been playing live for 17 years. Worst i've had is a dodgy cable, and a battery that needed replacing. Never had a issue with amps breaking or speakers blowing etc. I don't recall ever breaking a string either? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charic Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 46 minutes ago, Al Krow said: Yup we've had various similar drummer issues and guitarists regularly breaking strings...but that is definitely an encouraging first response in terms of bass gear! If I might ask, how long have you been gigging and typically how many gigs are you doing a year? At one point it was two or three gigs a week, sometimes two a day. These days I'm on keys more often than not though and just trying to get a band off the ground is proving a trial 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivansc Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 Back when I was really seriously gigging and played with a pick I used to break on average 1 or 2 strings per gig. On a Rickenbacker it was dead easy but it did remind me why I took the rear ashtray of my P bass when I was using that all the time! And of course now I am old and knackered and have all kinds of problems with my hands due to playing too heavy with that pick. Can`t win, can you? As far as other gear issues are concerned I cant remember anything ov er 60 years of gigging other than the odd flat battery or dud lead. TYhat old valve gear was pretty reliable. Unlike the early transistor stuff! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigwan Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 (edited) Half way through our first gig in the first money making cover band I was ever in. Soundcraft desk had a fit and the master xlr outputs quit. We took a short break and set our active stage monitors up as vocal and acoustic guitar PA tops (monitor mixes were working fine). Cranked my wee Ashdown 1x10 combo/Aguilar 1x12 cab rig up and away we went. Guitar player had a Fender twin and was determined to use it! But the layout of the place made things really awkward - 2 long, narrow (about 12' x 5'), raised platforms surrounded by handrails, separated by about 15' of dance floor leading to a staircase (looking from other end of the room the stages were in the left and right corners, dance floor in front with stairs between the stages - designed by a lunatic with no regard for drunk punters safety!). Without monitors it turned into a total winging it session as the Fender Twin was pointing at me from the other stage and was SO loud I couldn't hear the drummer at all (he was also on the other stage!). Looking back if I'd had XLR to jack leads we could have run the monitor mix outputs to the power amp, but we didn't... Fault in the mixer was a 20p opamp. I know because I fixed it after it had sat with "a mate who fixes stuff" for 6 months before returning as repaired (but actually totally untouched)... Total comedy of errors in a venue totally unsuitable for live music. Of course we didn't learn our lesson and played there about 20 times over the following 2 years. Once had to play half the night without the drummer as his kick pedal disintegrated during soundcheck. He had to run home for a spare (45 mile round trip!). Same band (towards the end) were playing in a coastal hotel who'd just had a sound limiter installed. You can guess the rest. Thing had been wired wrong and took out the whole bar (except the gambling machine which always amused me!). 3 times... The look on punters faces when they're bouncing round to "Highway to Hell" and suddenly the noise stops... Edited November 21, 2017 by Bigwan 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taunton-hobbit Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 53 minutes ago, Happy Jack said: My other cracker was playing the Ealing Beer Festival in 2014. They had an enormous generator supplying the power and all was good until the last song of the final set. Then they turned on all the floodlights, partly to enable the staff to start clearing up, and partly to encourage all the punters to go home. The sudden additional current draw caused the power to dip momentarily, and my Matamp all-valve head cut out. It was fully 30 seconds before I could get it back up and running again. Matamps have a thirty second 'warm-up' cycle, according to Jeff Lewis when I asked him about putting standby switches on my kit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoRhino Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 Does smoke from an amplifier count? Eek. Now that was scary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dood Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 I think my most embarrassing moment was the time I did an album release gig on a bass that I'd used (oops) brass screws for my strap locks. Sure, they held out for months, right up until the massive opening of the gig...1!..2!..3!..4! SNAAAAAP. Gaffer tape. Plenty of it too! Lesson well and truly learned! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dood Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 I snapped a string once mig gig, but the side effect of playing a six string is that you have five spares to use Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulWarning Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 snapped strings, flat batteries, are to be expected as are cable malfunctions, I always try and have a back up plan in my head to cover all eventualities (like the vocal through my bass amp if the PA packs up) best way I know to make sure it doesn't happen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Krow Posted November 21, 2017 Author Share Posted November 21, 2017 7 minutes ago, dood said: I snapped a string once mig gig, but the side effect of playing a six string is that you have five spares to use Lol! (Apparently I've already run out of my 'reactions' quota today, so I'll clearly need to be judicious about what sweeties I'm handing out to whom! ) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dood Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 1 minute ago, Al Krow said: Lol! (Apparently I've already run out of my 'reactions' quota today, so I'll clearly need to be judicious about what sweeties I'm handing out to whom! ) I had no idea there was a limit! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gapiro Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 Two times that come to mind One - first ever theatre show. halfway through a show mid week. big bang, some sort of large voltage spike goes through amp takes out pre-amp in bass and leaves me with no noise. I stole an amp from one of the keys players (mid show) and put him through that with me. Second time was a few weeks ago Mid Elvis tribute gig, and Behringer desk and/or snake just crashes - PA puts out full volume white noise whilst sound man in theatre desperately trying to get it fixed. It was loud. I had ear plugs in and it was seriously loud. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmccombe7 Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 Worst was a Matamp power amp on my bass rig smoking badly. Roadie went to unplug it and got a belt from it. Luckily i was using a pre-amp and 2off Matamps into different cabs. The signal to PA was direct from the pre-amp. Got rid of the valve power amps after that. I've had cables fail and batteries fail very occasionally over 40yrs playing so nothing that wasn't really down to pre-gig checks not being done. Now i always check my gear before leaving the house and at the gig time allowing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krispn Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 My worst moment was using a replacement bass, my regular rw jazz got nicked. I went to tune the E down to D instinctively but realized that my rw had reverse tuners. I’ve no idea what I tuned the E string to. Plus my tuner was nicked along with all my gear intact so I was totally lost until the song ended. Managed to play the rest of the tune off the D string so got by! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itsmedunc Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 Not gear related as such but once I nearly fell off the stage. I did the old balancing act. How I stayed on I don't know. The audience found it hilarious. The singer/guitarist had the same problem when the stage collapsed under him. Without dropping a note, he sussed that he had a seesaw to play on and carried on like that for the rest of the gig! Only real gear related was when an Ampeg fridge with rear wheels set off around the stage! It looked like a dalek! The road crew just managed to save it falling off stage too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osiris Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 I've been gigging regularly for 30 odd years now and in that time I have had a couple of incidents of amp failure on a gig; it was the same amp that was first repaired under warranty and then later had another issue with the power switch cutting out. In addition to regular pub gigs my band does some private work too, parties weddings etc. so I feel it a professional obligation to be able to get through the night regardless of any technical issues. That being the case I always carry a spare amp, usually a spare bass, always spare stings, cables, fuses etc. Pretty much a spare everything other than a cab, but on the above occasions I was able to plug directly into the desk/PA to get through the night so I could limp my way through the gig without one. Some people might consider this to be a bit over the top but the way I see it is that if you're being paid to perform, whether it is in a pub or at somebody's wedding, you need to be able to deliver the music. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FinnDave Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 I've had an amp fail on me during the first song (quickly replaced with my identical back up from the car) and a Jazz bass fall from its stand and almost completely sever the G string when it hit a cymbal on the way to the ground. I played the second set using the back up Precisipn bass from the car.... Both of these mishaps happened this year, and both at the same gig! They recently asked us to play there again on a Friday the 13th....we got it moved to the 6th! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicbassman Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 Back in the '70's, one of the bands I worked with had just started a 3 month tour of the USAF bases in Spain. My Wallace amp - which was considered the Rolls Royce of amps back then - blew up spectacularly on the second night and there was no spare amp to use. I won't go into detail of the convolutions we went through to continue with the gigs, but it was not good. Also, around the same decade at a University gig..............the band was just about to go on stage when someone knocked a heavy ride cymbal over and it hit the stage at the exact point where the roadie had carefully gaffered down three mic cables, severing all three..................... I could go on..........e.g.. arriving at a gig 100 miles away and realising my bass was still sitting in my London flat................ ...................................... arriving at a gig and realising the roadie had left all the mic stands behind - we improvised with the club's cleaners mops stood up in their buckets and gaffa tape.............I'm not joking.................. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
totorbass Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 15 minutes ago, musicbassman said: Back in the '70's, one of the bands I worked with had just started a 3 month tour of the USAF bases in Spain. My Wallace amp - which was considered the Rolls Royce of amps back then - blew up spectacularly on the second night and there was no spare amp to use. I f it was f****d then you could have called him Marsellus. Good thing that now a backup amp can be as light and small as a car radio. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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