Nicko Posted October 29, 2019 Share Posted October 29, 2019 Last gig, all set up and soundchecked when a punter knocks over my mic stand which broke the mic clip clean in half. The stand and clip are possibly the only component that I cannot live without. If my amp fails I can DI, if my bass fails I have a spare, if my pedal board fails I can live without it. We have spare mics, spare cables etc. Fortunately I only do backing vox but we missed them. If the PA fails (mixer or speakers) we'd be shafted. How far do you go with spares and whats your weakness? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted October 29, 2019 Share Posted October 29, 2019 Difficult question to answer... as I guess you only get caught out when you get caught out by something you haven't thought of. My PA has a certain amount of redundancy built in. One side of the PA (top and sub) is enough to support the band. I have a monitoring and foh mixing desk... so could afford to lose one. Both have routers attached to them although I only use one at a time... so I have redundancy there. I also have a hard wired kit for connecting to the mixing desk... so have a fall back plan if there venue is not wifi friendly. I have two iPads. I have more XLRs than I need. I have jack to jack leads. Spare batteries. Spare headphone amps. I have spare mics. I have spare mic stands. I have spare mic clips. I have spare power cons, I have spare IEC.... err... I have spare multigang plugs. I have spare DIs. I carry around a soldering iron and solder. I think I have everything that would ensure that the show would always go on. So what last caught me out? The big to little adapter for the IEM monitor for the drummer went missing on the gig before. Did I have a spare? Of course not. But then again, I'm thinking for the whole band when really the drummer should be thinking about their own setup and have such things spare. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted October 29, 2019 Share Posted October 29, 2019 19 minutes ago, Nicko said: Last gig, all set up and soundchecked when a punter knocks over my mic stand which broke the mic clip clean in half. Always carry Gaffer tape. You can't prevent every possible failure or problem. Even if you do the traffic could get you. You have to improvise etc. I saw John Mayall using a combo for a PA when his broke. Tower of Power did several gigs without a bass player when Rocco Prestia was hospitalised on tour in Europe. Our singer didn't show on a gig and the 3 of us took it in turns to sing the songs. We couldn't sing and didn't know most of the words but we got by. I've done gigs when the drummer didn't show and one when the drummer and guitarist didn't make it. We were a bass and a singer strumming an acoustic guitar. We got an encore! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil.c60 Posted October 29, 2019 Share Posted October 29, 2019 Our singer turned up without a mic stand at one gig, and it happened to be the one gig where I was not in my own car (where my spare one always resides). Made one with a mop handle a chair and gaffer tape. As above: always have at least one roll! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmccombe7 Posted October 29, 2019 Share Posted October 29, 2019 (edited) 1 hour ago, chris_b said: Our singer didn't show on a gig and the 3 of us took it in turns to sing the songs. We couldn't sing and didn't know most of the words but we got by. I've done gigs when the drummer didn't show and one when the drummer and guitarist didn't make it. We were a bass and a singer strumming an acoustic guitar. We got an encore! Think your band are trying to tell you something with that many "no-shows". Think i would have developed a complex I'm assuming different bands over the years. Dave Edited October 29, 2019 by dmccombe7 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted October 29, 2019 Share Posted October 29, 2019 4 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said: Think your band are trying to tell you something with that many "no-shows". Think i would have developed a complex I'm assuming different bands over the years. Dave Yeah, over a 45 year period. The first was a forgetful roadie. . . clean forget to pick the singer up! Didn't remember until he got to the gig. The next was traffic on the M25 and the next was illness. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger2611 Posted October 29, 2019 Share Posted October 29, 2019 A mic clip is pretty small, I always have one in my leads case (knowing full well that if our vocalist broke theirs they would not have a spare with them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uk_lefty Posted October 30, 2019 Share Posted October 30, 2019 (edited) I once forgot to confirm with a venue so ran down the road and found a spare venue!! "as long as you don't want paying" was the Yes we needed. My guitarists mum had travelled some distance to see us so the show had to go on somehow. Edited October 30, 2019 by uk_lefty 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leschirons Posted October 30, 2019 Share Posted October 30, 2019 (edited) I'm a nightmare. I take/have... Spare bass, head, guitar strings, gaffa tape, drumsticks, hi-hat clutch, bass drum pedal, mic, various cables, tools, batteries, plectrums and for two gigs, a spare snare drum after the drummer forgot his. I also usually take two sets of clothes to change into for functions in case our singer's hubby ( our sound man) looks like a sackofshit. Edited October 30, 2019 by leschirons 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassalarky Posted October 30, 2019 Share Posted October 30, 2019 On 29/10/2019 at 18:14, Roger2611 said: A mic clip is pretty small, I always have one in my leads case (knowing full well that if our vocalist broke theirs they would not have a spare with them This! 😀 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted October 30, 2019 Share Posted October 30, 2019 Man alive. My vocalists don't even have mics, let alone a mic stand (with or without clip). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul_5 Posted October 31, 2019 Share Posted October 31, 2019 Strings, DI box, lead and picks. Why carry a small shop around with you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted October 31, 2019 Share Posted October 31, 2019 5 hours ago, paul_5 said: Strings, DI box, lead and picks. Why carry a small shop around with you? Because depending upon the gig, it could be the difference between ruining a wedding night entertainment... or not. All depends upon the gig of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassace Posted October 31, 2019 Share Posted October 31, 2019 Strings, all leads duplicated and Tecamp Puma under the passenger seat. And torch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
la bam Posted October 31, 2019 Share Posted October 31, 2019 (edited) I've carried pretty much 2 of everything since returning to bass a few years ago, with a built in contingency of also being able to cope if something goes down with anything I've just taken one of. So... x2 basses. x2 amps. x2 speaker cabs (bass cab and monitor). x2 kettle leads. x2 speakons. x2 power adaptors for stomp. x2 xlrs. x2 power adaptors for wireless. x2 lots of guitar cables. x2 lots of spare cables. x2 multi tools (screwdrivers, allen keys, scissors etc). All fits nicely in 2 bass cases. The only change I've made now is bringing just the one amp, but the bass feed goes from the stomp to pa, so can be fed back through my monitor if needed. If all that goes down, I can plug straight into monitor (cheap alto ts110a) and mix as it has 2 channels. Edited October 31, 2019 by la bam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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