Back up bass, yes or no?

[tauzero]

1 hour ago, Rosie C said:

 

One of the many reasons I play mandolin instead of 6-string guitar - every string has a spare 😉 

(and apologies for making light of your difficult gig)

 

 

You could get this 12-string guitar and then every string would have a spare:

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/166985526466

 

 

Octaves are for wimps!

[BassAdder60]

I’ve ended up with just two near identical to play, sound and look Pbasses 

 

That way I can take both, use one or the other or swop at the break etc and they will sound and play the same.

 

I like that concept, get a good bass you really like and then find one more as back up etc 

 

Do I need it probably not but handy to have just in case 

 

 

[SimonK]

It just occured to me what this thread says about us all - I was at a gig in a student bar on Friday night (The Railway in Winchester) watching three superb up and coming bands who reminded me of the days when you played whatever you could lay your hands on, often held together by duct tape!

[Dad3353]

35 minutes ago, SimonK said:

... often held together by duct tape!

 

Duct tape..? Luxury..! Now when I was a young lad ... 

[Dan Earp]

I provide pa as well as Bass. Sadly I forgot to pack my small GK amp with all the other kit I was carrying….so I plugged into my PA…wasn’t even the best one …. Only the drummer mentioned it was slightly harder to stay locked on. Vocalist and guitarist said they didn’t realise. I’m sure that says something about my playing but not sure what……….  I used to take a spare bass, but frankly, with upgraded kit there isn’t space 

[FirkeyAegis]

On 22/09/2024 at 08:07, Beedster said:

I always take a backup bass .....

 

What car is that? Because when I am trying to pack all my bass guitars it is always not fitting in my car and when I am going for an event I am sending those guitars through FedEx

[Terry M.]

Never use a back up bass. Batteries however...

[Grahambythesea]

When I was playing serious gigs of a reasonable duration I always had a fretless bass for a few numbers and by default a backup should something happen to the fretted, but it never did!

[Lozz196]

Last few gigs I’ve done due to my back issues I’ve only taken the one bass. A short scale lightweight Mustang bass in a guitar Mono M80 is just about all I can manage.

[bassbiscuits]

Over Christmas I did quite a few small gigs with using just one cab and one bass to save space on the already tiny stages. 
 

All good. Quite enjoyed just taking a limited rig and making the best of it. 

[Lozz196]

It’s actually quite liberating isn’t it, gigging with minimal gear. And a bit like having a doner kebab, you don’t know if it’s going to be a success or just go to the 💩

[NancyJohnson]

Always used to take a couple of basses when I gigged, but can only recall one time where I swapped basses out (and that wasn't anything to do with instrument failure).  Stopped carrying more than one bass a long, long time ago.

 

 

[SimonK]

I carry my fretless as a backup. I can play most things on it if need be and also sometimes I just feel a need for some mwah. Really rescued me once when the cable in the battery compartment of my fretted bass broke during a battery change.

[Chienmortbb]

My active bass has a passive setting and the only time I have broken a string (I must try harder)  was two nights ago with a set transfered from one bass to another. To be fair I was also setting up that bass so the strings were tightened an loosened a number of times but It  has given me two points to take away, don't use secondhand strings and don't buy that brand again.  The culprits Ernie Ball Cobalts Hybrids.

 

I used to take two basses but as both out guitar players (see I can be nice) have two each, space is limited.

[Matt P]

I started out as a guitarist and my favourite guitars had floating Floyd rose trems, so a broken string meant that they went out of tune straight away, so a spare was essential (did one gig without when my spare was accidentally left at the rehearsal room and I didn't have time to retrieve it, possibly the most nerve-wracking gig i've ever played)

 

due to this i've always taken a spare bass to any gig that was paid, I use a wireless and a pedalboard so the spare is plugged into an A?B box on the board ready to go, I've only needed it once when i'd forgotten to swap in fresh batteries to the wireless, occasionally i'll use the other bass for the second set.

 

If i didn't take a spare bass to gigs then i'd have no excuse for owning more than one or two basses ( everything needs a vaguely equivalent backup)

 

when we play as an acoustic trio i'm usually swapping between a bass and an acoustic guitar, if one failed i'd have no trouble playing the rest of the gig with the other so no backups are needed.

 

Matt

[TrevorR]

17 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

Last few gigs I’ve done due to my back issues I’ve only taken the one bass. A short scale lightweight Mustang bass in a guitar Mono M80 is just about all I can manage.

Back issues are a pain (pun intended). My brain is trying to compute the image of you standing on stage wielding something that isn’t a full scale P-bass (preferably in black) and it’s just coming back with a repeated “404 - File not found” error!

[Twigman]

I only ever took a backup bass to one gig.

That was because I decided to use a bass that I had built and only completed it on the morning of the gig and was not confident that my wiring and soldering were good.

Turns out everything was fine.

Edited January 9 by Twigman

[Terry M.]

54 minutes ago, Matt P said:

I started out as a guitarist and my favourite guitars had floating Floyd rose trems, so a broken string meant that they went out of tune straight away, so a spare was essential (did one gig without when my spare was accidentally left at the rehearsal room and I didn't have time to retrieve it, possibly the most nerve-wracking gig i've ever played)

 

due to this i've always taken a spare bass to any gig that was paid, I use a wireless and a pedalboard so the spare is plugged into an A?B box on the board ready to go, I've only needed it once when i'd forgotten to swap in fresh batteries to the wireless, occasionally i'll use the other bass for the second set.

 

If i didn't take a spare bass to gigs then i'd have no excuse for owning more than one or two basses ( everything needs a vaguely equivalent backup)

 

when we play as an acoustic trio i'm usually swapping between a bass and an acoustic guitar, if one failed i'd have no trouble playing the rest of the gig with the other so no backups are needed.

 

Matt

You need a reason to own more than one or two basses? Goodness my wife better not read this as she queries why I need 3 😁 

[Matt P]

7 minutes ago, Terry M. said:

You need a reason to own more than one or two basses? Goodness my wife better not read this as she queries why I need 3 😁 

 

not really, current count is 7 basses (plus a U-bass and a EUB) and that's part of a collection of 17 or so instruments (the rest are mostly guitars with a couple of ukes ands a banjo)

 

but having backups is a way to justify multiple similar instruments rather than them all being very different, if they're the same bass but a different colour or with slightly different pickups then they're obviously as backups for one i already have.

 

My rule for instruments is the optimum number is D-1, with D being the number that would severely disrupt my current lifestyle (either by making me single or bankrupt) as long as i don't get to D i'm fine.

 

Matt

[chris_b]

24 minutes ago, Terry M. said:

. . . .  my wife better not read this as she queries why I need 3

 

My wife has 12 dolls houses of varying sizes dotted around the house. I have no problem with them and she doesn’t mention my 5 basses, 4 amps and 5 cabs and assorted bags and boxes.

[Terry M.]

8 minutes ago, chris_b said:

 

My wife has 12 dolls houses of varying sizes dotted around the house. I have no problem with them and she doesn’t mention my 5 basses, 4 amps and 5 cabs and assorted bags and boxes.

Love it 😎

[Rayman]

Mrs Rayman couldn’t care less how many basses I have, she “likes them being around” apparently. They don’t get in the way of her vast collection of trainers. Although with 18 of them currently in Rayman Towers, space is running out.

 

Paradoxically, for gigs I’d rather only take one, but with a new song in drop D, I currently take 2, but by choice I’d have one and travel as light as possible.

[Low End Bee]

The last time I went to a gig with one bass the A string broke on the first song. Never happened before or since. But I took spare from then on. 

 

[chriswareham]

When changing strings, the old set goes in the case with the added benefit that the string is already cut to length. Only needed to use a spare string on one occasion, when of all things the E string snapped at the headstock end. Rapidly changed the string, but as I was getting it up to pitch ... SPROING ... the damn spare snapped as well. Turns out the edge of the machine head split shaft bit where you bend the string in had somehow become razor sharp and normal tension was enough to press into the string core and snap it.

 

No spare bass guitar, and neither of the other two bands on the bill offered to lend one, so my band finished the set with no bass. I started taking a backup bass to gigs after that, but then stopped when I switched to using a medium scale bass as my main instrument and all my other basses are long scale that now feels uncomfortable.

Edited Thursday at 22:21 by chriswareham

[neepheid]

30 minutes ago, chriswareham said:

When changing strings, the old set goes in the case with the added benefit that the string is already cut to length. Only needed to use a spare string on one occasion, when of all things the E string snapped at the headstock end. Rapidly changed the string, but as I was getting it up to pitch ... SPROING ... the damn spare snapped as well. Turns out the edge of the machine head split shaft bit where you bend the string in had somehow become razor sharp and normal tension was enough to press into the string core and snap it.

 

No spare bass guitar, and neither of the other two bands on the bill offered to lend one, so my band finished the set with no bass. I started taking a backup bass to gigs after that, but then stopped when I switched to using a medium scale bass as my main instrument and all my other basses are long scale that now feels uncomfortable.

 

And the moral of this story is... you need more medium scale basses, duh!