Anyone using two or more basses when playing live

[guyl]

+1 for the Tonebone although a little more flexibility on the EQ for both channels would help.

Works great for swopping between upright and electric.

Obviously lugging two instruments to a gig is an extra effort. I suppose only you can decide if it's worth it. For me it often is, by I try to keep the juggling to a minimum - eg 1 bass change per set.

[skankdelvar]

Only ever took one bass till part of the nut split off, 30 miles from home . Some gaffa tape fixed the prob short term. Since then I'd always take both. They sound fairly similar ( 2 passive Fender types) so no big issue.

With different sounding basses, I reckon some sort of splitter / pre-amp / tone balance has to be the way forward, and there are bundles of good suggestions above.

Edited December 25, 2008 by skankdelvar

[YouMa]

I dont need to.

[Lenny B]

Resurrecting this old thread...

I've a gig coming up where ideally I'd switch between passive jazz and active fretless, but I'll be using someone else's amp and don't know how easy it would be to switch channels / whether there's an active/passive switch or otherwise match the gain.

Am I right that a boss LS-2 wouldn't be ideal, as the gain's will still be mis-matched?

(A further related point is that my Demeter Compulator distorts a bit with the active bass - there's an adjustable gain pot, but does anyone have any experience of matching this for switching between active and passive basses?)

Or should I a) get active pickups for the Jazz or; get passive pickups for the fretless?

Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi etc etc

[leschirons]

I use two basses at gigs. A jazz 4 and a BN5. I don't run the BN5 passive mode so I have the Jazz plugged into an Aphex Exciter. Hitting the switch saves me resetting any EQ on the amp.

[MoonBassAlpha]

[quote name='Lenny B' post='976493' date='Oct 3 2010, 10:21 PM']Resurrecting this old thread...

I've a gig coming up where ideally I'd switch between passive jazz and active fretless, but I'll be using someone else's amp and don't know how easy it would be to switch channels / whether there's an active/passive switch or otherwise match the gain.

Am I right that a boss LS-2 wouldn't be ideal, as the gain's will still be mis-matched?

(A further related point is that my Demeter Compulator distorts a bit with the active bass - there's an adjustable gain pot, but does anyone have any experience of matching this for switching between active and passive basses?)

Or should I a) get active pickups for the Jazz or; get passive pickups for the fretless?

Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi etc etc[/quote]
I'd turn the active bass down a bit until it matched the passive and leave it set at that. Should stop your Demented Constipator distorting too.

[chris_b]

If I can’t play what I need to play on one bass then I should either buy a better bass or I'm playing it wrong!!

[JTUK]

I take two, one is a banker type sound, easy to get straight away and does the job for me very well.
The other is more subtle but I can play a full gig with either or swap around for certain songs for sounds on a
whim.
Both active, but only a little gain consideration between the 2...don't need to touch the amp EQ once I have been through a basic 2-3 min sound check so I swap depending on my fancy and because I can.

It wouldn't bother me if I only took one bass to a gig, but I like to have a spare. If space on stage is tight, then I might not bother.

[Happy Jack]

[quote name='Lenny B' post='976493' date='Oct 3 2010, 10:21 PM']I've a gig coming up where ideally I'd switch between passive jazz and active fretless, but I'll be using someone else's amp and don't know how easy it would be to switch channels / whether there's an active/passive switch or otherwise match the gain.

Am I right that a boss LS-2 wouldn't be ideal, as the gain's will still be mis-matched?[/quote]

Plenty of solutions to this one, although few of them are cheap.

Earlier in the thread the Radial Tonebone got several mentions; that's certainly one way. The BDDI Deluxe also offers two inputs / two banks of pre-sets.

Even cheaper would be a simple Boost function, either stand-alone or as part of another pedal.

[Happy Jack]

[quote name='chris_b' post='977005' date='Oct 4 2010, 12:57 PM']If I can’t play what I need to play on one bass then I should either buy a better bass or I'm playing it wrong!![/quote]

I don't often find myself disagreeing with you, Chris, but I definitely prefer to have two basses at a gig, if only for the backup.

But then I think, I'm taking two basses anyway, so I may as well use both.

I usually take a 4-string and a 5-string. The '5' comes in handy for a few tracks where yes, I [i][b]could [/b][/i]play them on a '4', but they're easier or sound better on a '5'.

What I really try to avoid is mixing active & passive at a gig.

[Lenny B]

Thanks, chaps

[JakeBrownBass]

This is what i love about my RH450, I've got 3 channels to play with, with totally different eq, gain, compression, preset level etc..

It's brilliant

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='chris_b' post='977005' date='Oct 4 2010, 12:57 PM']If I can’t play what I need to play on one bass then I should either buy a better bass or I'm playing it wrong!![/quote]
I used three at Saturday's gig: NS WAV4 electric upright on about 1/3 of songs, fretless Precision about 1/3, and fretted Precision 1/3. I can't see any reason for not doing that if it suits the songs and there's enough stage space for the gear.

Another band member played two guitars (in different tunings), ukulele, mandolin, several harmonicas, and a kazoo.

The percussionist had a full kit with a second snare and a range of other percussion instruments.

The last member only had one guitar - poor bloke.