Does anyone have just ONE bass?

[Kev]

As others have said, if you're gigging, two basses are a must.  There's just no way I would go to a gig with one bass, as you just never know what may happen.  I can totally get how a bedroom bassist may have one holy grail bass and not care about any others though.  A decade or so ago I was in that position, when really the only other basses hanging around were just waiting to be sold after being "replaced". For financial reasons, a combination of expensive taste and lack of disposable income, I now actually only ever have two basses at any time.

 

Conversely, I use a Quad Cortex now for all effects/DI needs, and my only backup for that is plugging into the house amp/DI.    I effectively take all of my equipment to every gig as a result!

[NicoMcJ]

Just now, Kev said:

As others have said, if you're gigging, two basses are a must.  There's just no way I would go to a gig with one bass, as you just never know what may happen.  I can totally get how a bedroom bassist may have one holy grail bass and not care about any others though.  A decade or so ago I was in that position, when really the only other basses hanging around were just waiting to be sold after being "replaced". For financial reasons, a combination of expensive taste and lack of disposable income, I now actually only ever have two basses at any time.

 

Conversely, I use a Quad Cortex now for all effects/DI needs, and my only backup for that is plugging into the house amp/DI.    I effectively take all of my equipment to every gig as a result!

That’s a good point.  I bet even the super pro legends who only ever seemed to use one bass had a backup that lived in its case, was kept in good condition by a roadie and was ready to go at any moment.

[Eldon Tyrell]

Q: Does anyone have just ONE bass?

 

A: Of course, I only have ONE bass - ONE for Alice in Chains songs, ONE for Grunge rock, ONE for classic rock, ONE for old school/MOTOWN, ONE for funk and disco, and ONE for RATM songs. Still need ONE for metal.

 

You see, it is so easy to only have ONE bass 😉 

[dclaassen]

10 hours ago, Kev said:

As others have said, if you're gigging, two basses are a must.  There's just no way I would go to a gig with one bass, as you just never know what may happen.  I can totally get how a bedroom bassist may have one holy grail bass and not care about any others though.  A decade or so ago I was in that position, when really the only other basses hanging around were just waiting to be sold after being "replaced". For financial reasons, a combination of expensive taste and lack of disposable income, I now actually only ever have two basses at any time.

 

Conversely, I use a Quad Cortex now for all effects/DI needs, and my only backup for that is plugging into the house amp/DI.    I effectively take all of my equipment to every gig as a result!

And how many times has a bass failed during a gig? I just don’t see it as mandatory.

 

[garyt]

4 minutes ago, dclaassen said:

And how many times has a bass failed during a gig? I just don’t see it as mandatory.

 

Same.  I guess it’s down to experience.  I’ve never had a bass fail full stop, at home, at a gig, at rehearsal….  Just keep them well maintained.  The only thing I can recall is strings breaking on a couple of occasions, but as I used to play 5ers, I always had 4 strings left to finish the set. 

Now, if it’s reliability we’re talking about, think about the things that have failed at gigs, and it isn’t your bass. 
Knowing my luck, my bass is going to die at my next gig 😂

[Kev]

15 minutes ago, dclaassen said:

And how many times has a bass failed during a gig? I just don’t see it as mandatory.

 

Thankfully none so far.

 

But what's your plan if it does?  String break - would you expect the band to stop whilst you restrung, or would you call it a day?  Decharged battery?  Sudden intermittent loss of signal due to a faulty jack socket?  Strap button pulled out?  I've had all these things happen in rehearsal over the years, and all would have derailed a gig if I didn't have a backup with me.

Edited April 19, 2022 by Kev

[Kev]

3 minutes ago, garyt said:

Same.  I guess it’s down to experience.

 

Interesting, its my experience of watching other musicians panic on stage when something goes wrong that makes me be as careful as I am about ensuring I'm ready for any eventuality I can avoid, however well maintained my equipment is.  There's just some things you can't plan for, however unlikely it may seem.

 

Only last year did I watch a band have to cancel their whole performance because one of the guitarists broke presumably a crucial string, and had neither a backup nor a spare set of strings to use.  It just looks SO unprofessional, and I've no idea what a band may expect as far as their fee goes.

[Dad3353]

12 minutes ago, Kev said:

Thankfully none so far.

 

But what's your plan if it does?  String break - would you expect the band to stop whilst you restrung, or would you call it a day?  Decharged battery?  Sudden intermittent loss of signal due to a faulty jack socket?  Strap button pulled out?  I've had all these things happen in rehearsal over the years, and all would have derailed a gig if I didn't have a backup with me.

 

Your drummer has a spare snare, I hope, and bass drum pedal..? Much is down to chance, whatever one does. I've had a bass drum batter head split, just as we started for a five-hour variety dance gig. A quick sourcing of two bits of ply, my trusty hammer and a couple of nails to sandwich what was left of the skin, to have a surface to beat on, a mic in the drum and we go on. When things go awry, one improvises, which might mean just not having bass that evening. No kittens get hurt. 

Edited April 19, 2022 by Dad3353

[Kev]

Just now, Dad3353 said:

 

Your drummer has a spare snare, I hope, and bass drum pedal..? Much is down to chance, whatever one does. I've had a bass drum batter head split, just as we started for a five-hour variety dance gig. A quick sourcing of two bits of ply, my trusty hammer and a couple of nails to sandwich what was left of the dskin, to have a surface to beat on, a mic in the drum and we go on. When things go awry, one improvises, which might mean just not having bass that evening. No kittens get hurt. 

 

A fair point, but its the ease of just pulling another bass out of the case or off the stand, switched and done in less than a minute, that makes it worthwhile.  And I wont even dignify no bass for the evening with a response 😂

[NicoMcJ]

I’ve had a jack socket fall apart just as I tried to plug in for the first song. Gone inside the body.  Easy fix when I got home.
 

Doing it on a dark stage with people watching? No chance.

 

I just grabbed bass 2, tuned it to standard and we started the set on time.

Edited April 19, 2022 by NicoMcJ

[garyt]

8 hours ago, Dad3353 said:

 

Your drummer has a spare snare, I hope, and bass drum pedal..? Much is down to chance, whatever one does. I've had a bass drum batter head split, just as we started for a five-hour variety dance gig. A quick sourcing of two bits of ply, my trusty hammer and a couple of nails to sandwich what was left of the skin, to have a surface to beat on, a mic in the drum and we go on. When things go awry, one improvises, which might mean just not having bass that evening. No kittens get hurt. 

Needs must when you don’t have road crew 😉.  Our drummer split a snare once.  Mid song, played the snare beat on another drum.  Didn’t drop a beat.  Completed the first set.  Turned the snare over for the 2nd set and used that. 
If my bass ever did fail , and 🤞 it’s not failed yet, I’d think I’d grab my guitarists spare and run it through my octave pedal.   Or just leave 😂

[garyt]

9 hours ago, Kev said:

 

Interesting, its my experience of watching other musicians panic on stage when something goes wrong that makes me be as careful as I am about ensuring I'm ready for any eventuality I can avoid, however well maintained my equipment is.  There's just some things you can't plan for, however unlikely it may seem.

 

Only last year did I watch a band have to cancel their whole performance because one of the guitarists broke presumably a crucial string, and had neither a backup nor a spare set of strings to use.  It just looks SO unprofessional, and I've no idea what a band may expect as far as their fee goes.

They cancelled their whole performance because a guitarist broke a string?  Really?  Who would even do that?

Come on, we can split hairs about back up gear and reliability, but not being able to deal with a broken string is the real issue (note - I don’t classify a broken string as a bass failure). 
Great debate btw.  Interesting to see everyone’s opinions on the subject. 

[Chrisan2]

 Theres normally other bands at our gigs and we often say to each other if you break a string, just grab mine. When that did happen one night to another bands bassist, it was quite fun to see how my bass sounded!

[Gothic]

This thread inspired me. I'm selling all my basses and getting just one. We'll see how that goes...

[BigRedX]

Having at one point owned almost 50 guitars and bass plus numerous synths and samplers and other bits of high-tech musical hardware, I am down to one bass plus a (near identical) backup for each of the two bands that I play in. The bands have very different bass requirements - for one I use a 5-string and the other a Bass VI - so just one bass (and a backup) is not a viable option. I've also kept the 2 guitars I had custom made for me in the late 90s, but all the high-tech stuff has gone (replaced by whatever plugin instruments come free with Logic), although I am contemplating getting a small synth for use with one of the bands...

Edited April 20, 2022 by BigRedX

[ambient]

I only have one bass, I’ve only had one for years. The last time I owned more than one was as a student, that was only briefly.

 

I think the last time I took two basses to a gig was about twenty years ago. I played onboard a cruise ship for a month about twelve years ago, though I did have two instruments with me, only one ever left the cabin.

[bassist_lewis]

I currently own three, with a fourth on the way. From 2015 to 2018 I only had one, my Callowhill MPB 5 string, which is still my main bass as it does pretty much everything. I got the JMJ Mustang and the Nordstrand Acinonyx because I liked the sound. Both are very different to the Callowhill, more unique and less versatile.

The Callowhill is still my workhorse, and I used the JMJ for one band in particular for a few years but that's now folded. I just like having the option of different sounds for recordings or gigs.

[bassist_lewis]

12 hours ago, Chrisan2 said:

 Theres normally other bands at our gigs and we often say to each other if you break a string, just grab mine. When that did happen one night to another bands bassist, it was quite fun to see how my bass sounded!

I've always been a bit miffed by bass players who take a second instrument to gigs. I've done hundreds of gigs over the years and never once needed a back-up.

[BreadBin]

I've only experienced one failure - back when I was very young and very poor I boiled my strings before a gig as they were pretty dead. I broke the E halfway through the last number, played on the octave until the end and no-one even noticed.

I was a much heavier player then as well - I very much doubt this would ever happen again. I've never used to take a spare but would more than likely be using both fretted and fretless these days so will have at least something to fall back on.

[Lozz196]

In all the hundreds of gigs I’ve done I’ve only ever needed a backup once.

 

When I’d left it at home.

 

Lots of use there, it was not.

[TimR]

I only use one for gigs. 

 

The other stays in its case. 

 

My main bass has failed twice. The first time was in 2009 and the second time 2019. I've been playing bass since 1985, so close on 25 years without a failure. Funnily enough the singer offered to bring his bass to the gig as a spare and I'd asked him why would I need a spare? In 2019 I had a spare, learned my lesson 10 years earlier. 2 failures in 35 years is a reasonable failure rate. Both times failed machine heads on the E string, restringing a bass so the E, A and D strings are in the A, D and G positions during the first verse of the first song and then playing an entire gig on 3 strings is quite tricky. Spare bass wins every time over that outcome. 

[martthebass]

On 19/04/2022 at 22:28, dclaassen said:

And how many times has a bass failed during a gig? I just don’t see it as mandatory.

 

I've never had a bass fail at a gig.....but I can guarantee the first time I just take one then I'll have a failure.  

[Crusoe]

I've only owned the one bass since I started playing 30 years ago, but I'm only a bedroom player and there was a lot of that time where I didn't play at all. I also have one acoustic guitar and one electric guitar.

[dclaassen]

59 minutes ago, martthebass said:

I've never had a bass fail at a gig.....but I can guarantee the first time I just take one then I'll have a failure.  

I guess that is wise....I've just never had a problem. I have had more issues with vehicle failures/power failures (at the venue), bad leads, drunken guitarists

I'm guess that, if I had to, I could probably change a string in about 3 minutes. 

 

The only thing I don't trust is the 9v in my main bass, and the 9v in my backup.....hmmm, maybe I need 3????

[Kev]

I have 8 9v in my case at last count, had to throw 3 away as they didn't pass the lick test