Al Krow

Sadly classed as non-essential travel 😁

Dang Cuzzie - can't disagree with any of that. That's twice in 24 hours. I'd best go sit down... 😂

I tried the Gruv Gear Duo but it seems to only work for the "right" body shape, which I clearly didn't have! Dunno if you have tried the Gruv Gear Duo previously and can comment on how the Evostrap compares in terms of comfort and flexibility in comparison? I'm guessing it's great by the fact you're using it! Maybe worth posting in here also - as I suspect I won't the only one interested in a comfortable duo strap. What's the best strap? - Accessories and Misc - Basschat

Sorry Stew, the "sky falling in" comment wasn't at all in response to your comment (apologies if it seemed to be) but was rather picking up on what Paul (NancyJ) had said earlier.

What happened to make you need a back-up bass? Genuine question - other than spare battery, can't imagine a string going and I'm regularly using my gigging basses at home and I would know if there was a hint of a problem with them. Agreed - but what this boils down to is a difference in view of risk and the adequacy of a Plan B. Some folk don't take out insurance at all because they don't see it as necessary. Others will have a higher excess to cut down on premiums. Obviously if you get burgled and you don't have insurance you will regret it. On the other hand you could save a lifetime of additional premiums and never get burgled. Both valid choices for grown-ups to take. FWIW - the only thing that has regularly featured for us is our lead guitarist breaking a string. Yup we've now insisted he takes a spare guitar and spare strings. Oh and the sky didn't fall in and nor did we cease to get any bookings and our vocalist handled the audience with ease when his string did break the first few times and he had to restring without a back-up guitar. I'm completely with @NancyJohnson in not getting over-stressed about low risk items and audience reactions. But each to their own.

Worth also mentioning budget multi-fxs (e.g. the Zoom B1-4). I've got some very usable dirt settings on mine ranging from DG B7K through to decent RAT patch.

Pic please! @SteveXFR - agreed the B1-4 will take up the space of two Boss sized pedals. This comes with the territory of having two decent paddles to scroll through your patches with, global volume and 3 band-EQ knobs (in addition to the patch specific EQ settings you can create) and a very decent screen. I love having the B1-4 as a very cost effective 'heart' of my little pedal board:

There's an MS-60B in the FS as a more compact / older version of the B1-4 and which there are still some big fans of (calling @stewblack). Now that you can / create and edit your patches on it with free ToneLib software on your PC, that gets around what I felt was the MS-60B's biggest drawback when I had one, which was its painful to use "on pedal" interface. The ToneLib software is excellent.

A budget multi fx eg Zoom B1-4 would get you there with a bunch of EQ options including 7 band EQ, HPF and LPF and provide a whole lot else besides.

Yup, you and me both! In fact no spare bass, no spare amp, no spare PA, no spare transport. Completely amazed that such an amateur approach has had no issues doing multiple paid gigs over many years. We do have two (excellent) vocalists though, so I guess that counts as a spare...

Ah you're getting an MBD2 - I've heard only good things about them! Update: I see from your post above that it's landed! Congrats!

Not at all Paul. Don't think anyone really thinks taking a spare amp is "wrong". It's a perfectly sensible approach! I think they object to the silly insinuation that if folk dare to have a different back-up plan (such as DI'ing into the PA) then this could either fatally damage their "brands" or they are being unprofessional. I guess we should all take spare PAs, have a hire car lined up in case ours breaks down en route and a backing lead vocalist in case of a sore throat? For a paid pub gig? What nonsense.

But is it even correct to say that (all) P pups are humbuckers? My understanding is derived from the following - and I do appreciate it may be relatively basic. "... there IS a difference between P-bass pickups and humbuckers (both double coil pickups): because, although they both are humbucking pickups, humbuckers have 2 coils under each string, allowing them to ‘pick up’ a wider area under the string, and creating some phase cancelation, resulting in a ‘fatter‘ sound, with attenuated highs and strong lows and mids. On the other hand, P-bass/split coil pickups are essentially 2 single coil pickups one next to the other… So why do they sound different compared to regular single coil pickups? Well, this is due to the size of the coil used on each of these pickups: Since split coil pickups have a smaller coil than single coil pickups, this very coil is wound more times, creating a different inductance. To conclude, you don’t necessarily need a humbucker pickup to buck the hum. This can also be achieved with single coil pickups thanks to either of the following options: Use a noise cancelling/humbucking single coil pickup – which were created to keep the sound of single coil pickups while eliminating their inherent hum Set both single-coil pickups to the same volume – this will cancel out the hum, while creating a trademark “mid scoop” sound And the truth is, nowadays, most single coil pickups are noise cancelling."

I don't disagree that P pups can be hum-cancelling, for a minute. My point is a very simple one: if you had a bass with P + MM set up and were to say to a bass player that "the bass has P + Humbucker pups" folk would instantly know what you were talking about - he or she would be (rightly) imagining a P + MM pup set up. If you said (also technically correctly in Cuzzie speak) that the bass had "two humbucker pups", I bet almost no one would immediately think that you were talking about a P + MM set up.

Not sure anyone should disagree with the above sentiments! (sorry if I've misread the script by concurring Cuzzie, on this occassion lol!) I think we have, between us, come up with 3 commonly used solutions which should all work just fine: - DI straight into the PA; - DI into the PA vis a pre-amp pedal to get your desired tone shaping / grit (or indeed your complete sound if it's a decent multifx e.g. Helix); - take a spare amp with you. Given the relatively straightforward Plan Bs available, Paul for me you've hit the nail on the head.

That was a seriously painful experience, Paul, and you have all our sympathy on that one mate! Out of interest have you had any breakdown issues with your other non-valve / SS amps?

So how complicated would it be to DI through the PA? Well, although I've not ever needed to do this on any gigs so far (touch wood), actually it can be a complete doddle and potentially avoid any disruption to the flow of the set - another factor to bear in mind. In my case there's a spare Gtr (high Z) input to our Allen & Heath mixer which means I can just take the lead out of my amp and plug straight into the mixer (without even needing a DI pedal - although please shout if you disagree with this bit). Job done. How does it sound? Well I've just given that set up a spin and it's very passable, bearing in mind it's a 10" speaker (albeit a quality RCF 310A) and hasn't been tuned to bass frequencies in the way a bass cab will be. I suspect a lot of you will have decent 12" or 15" speakers for your PA which should sound even better. Sufficient insurance for the hopefully blue moon event of a modern SS amp going down at a gig? Yes, for sure for me and similarly several gigging bassists on this thread. I appreciate others want to take a more cautious approach and have a back-up amp instead. Completely respect that as being an entirely valid solution. Just not one I feel is necessary for my two covers bands.

Haha it's not all about you, even if you are talking baloney some of the time! I mean seriously, who calls a P pup anything other than a "P pup"?

Or you could just DI through the PA 😁

Agreed. I had the same experience with hardly being able to hear myself once and, similarly, it was no fun! But as we've observed, actually needing to use the insurance of DI/spare amp/spare FRFR etc should hopefully be a once in a blue moon event.

Hah! In which case, when I upgrade my current amp I really should hold onto my existing SS amp as a backup, without feeling too guilty! The comment about age / reliability of existing gear touched on is also an important one. And as Chris and several others have pointed out, to have nothing go wrong for 20 years with decent SS gear, which generally seems to be more reliable than some of the older valve amps, seems a long time to be carrying about a spare amp without ever needing it. I get that DI'ing via a PA may take a little setting up, but to hear myself I would simply step closer to the FOH and include a touch the bass in the monitor. After all, we are talking about pretty rare circumstances if we did an average of "amp-downs" encountered between us vs number of gigs we've amassed.

Home insurance is a tiny cost in comparison to the cost of your home. In that rare emergency, you can always simply DI into the PA and job done.

@jrixn1-that's very fair. But Steve's solution above or just DI via the mixer is even simpler / cheaper and avoids needing to cart around another piece of kit that you may never need to use.