Huge Hands Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 The string core once snapped in my low B string during a song early in a set. It was a recently new set of strings, so must have been a bad one. I had to finish the song with the string flopping on the E string and then pull it off before the next song and play the rest of the gig as a four string. That was fun! The wierdest one though was when my bass once went off during the first song at a wedding gig we were being paid quite well for. Due to the way everyone had tidied up after the sound check, I didn't have my gig bag/a spare cable anywhere near me. As the band played on, I unscrewed the jack plug covers at each end and couldn't see anything wrong with the contacts under the poor lighting, so presumed it wasn't the lead. I put everything back together, plugged it back up expecting to try something else when I noticed it all now worked! Wow, I thought, maybe my amp had a funny few minutes or something. I played the rest of the song and the gig with no other issues, no sign of drop out or anything. A few days later, I took my bass and lead out of the case for a practice, and it didn't work again. I took the plugs apart again and this time noticed that the solder connection to the tip of one of the jacks had snapped off. In conclusion, I had got through a gig with the power of me screwing the plug back up causing enough pressure to push the cable onto the contact and hold it there! Jammy or what...... (I've always kept spare strings and a lead close by me after these two mishaps!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gicut58 Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 E string core snapped ('bang'!) coupla years ago in the middle of a song, caught my hand, and I had thrown a bit of the red stuff around before I really knew what was happening.... At the beginning of last year I bought a new MB4210 with the additional 15" ext speaker and they both went down 3 times [b]each[/b] before I sent it all back. I wanted to give the manufacturer (you know who you are) the benefit of the doubt but that was just too much, and I ended up playing through the pa without backline a number of times. The positive thing to come out of it was that the local retailer was brilliant. G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DBass1 Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 I must be unlucky...lots of failures over the years...guitar amps, power amps, lighting, desks everyone fixed or worked around somehow to get the show done.....a bad one in my early days was at a pub gig when the PA failed so we turned a 100w powered monitor to face the audience and used that as a PA!! A few bass specific failures, volume pot failing on a schaller pickup causing random dropouts whilst on a big stage with techs running around trying to track down what they thought was a dodgy cable, original SansAmp draining batteries faster than a wino with a bottle of diamond white and not noticing until just about to play....PANIC...as I shout at the singer to KEEP TALKING....whip the sansamp out of my loop and forget to adjust the gain....sounded like the Queen Mary was docking over the PA system....but my worst.... 2nd band on at a weekender and 2 songs in the bridge on my double bass collapsed, laid bass down and wedged it back in, lasted half a song, repeat, repeat, repeat, panic, sweat, swear, give up and grab an electric bass from the previous group (thx guys). Things like this are all a learning experience, I knew that what I should have done was loosen the strings before putting the bridge back in and then tighten into place but in the heat of battle I tried to save time....it was a mistake, one I hope I never make again. Live giging wouldn't be half the fun it is if everything always went smoothly (and don't even get onto talking about transport failures!!!)......would it????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sprocketflup Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 Not sure if this counts coz it didnt happen to me - playing a gig at bar in Hinckley (centre of the universe dontchakno lol) we get to the last number which has a small twiddly guitar solo half way thru. Guitardist stands on a chair whilst doing the solo but when he moves forward to dismount the chair slips backwards and he ends up flat on his face ( wierdest chord Ive ever heard lol) Now the poor sod had only just had his two front teeth capped at a a cost of £800 and I honestly thought hed lost them. But he surfaces with his guitar in 2 peices and just sort of holds them up to the audience for inspection Crowd loved it, they didnt realise it wasnt scripted and we would play no more gigs till he got it fixed lol proper rock and roll encore Luckily it was the last song, coz it would have been then anyway lmao ps. the drummer didnt even realise we had lost 33% of teh instruments and finished off totally oblivious bless him Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snip Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 In a carnival 18 month's ago and we had a generator on the float powering the PA & back line. Half way round the course and the generator runs out of fuel. Luckily the 2 sax players and drummer were able to keep the crowd happy while we trundled around the rest of the course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niceguyhomer Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 Fuse blew in my GK head just as we were about to start - I had no spare with me and we were in the middle of nowhere. I had to do the gig playing straight into the PA and it sounded dreadful but I think I got away with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 Nothing serious has happened in the bass world... but in the guitard world... Fender Deville died on me at a gig. Had to plug my amp modeller into the PA and hope for the best. "Fixed" Fender Deville died at a recording session in the studio. Had to borrow a Hughes and Kettner Warp 7 amp to record. I've never sounded so pants on record Brand new Fender Twin (Deville replacement) died on me at it's debut gig. Plugged into my Laney LC15 I had back then, draped mic in front of it and hoped for the best. Replacement brand new Fender Twin died on me at the very next gig. Plugged into my Laney LC15 I had back then, draped mic in front of it and hoped for the best. Replacement Fender Twin (number 3) has never given me any issues... touch wood. Can't beat a Fender though - still on the look out for the right Fender Dual Showman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tauzero Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 First gig with new Warwick Thumb at the Mean Fiddler. Decide to adjust truss rod slightly before going on. It breaks. I play gig with rather unusually high action... At one pub gig, put my pint on a shelf just behind and above my amp. There is just enough room for it to inch forward and spill a few drops into my Superfly, which promptly decides to have the rest of the night off. I go through the PA. When I get home, I dismantle and wash the Superfly, then dry it out and remantle it. It works perfectly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 [quote name='tauzero' post='1078411' date='Jan 5 2011, 11:40 AM']First gig with new Warwick Thumb at the Mean Fiddler. Decide to adjust truss rod slightly before going on. It breaks. I play gig with rather unusually high action...[/quote] Ouch. Not a good one. I've played a gig where I played a bass that hadn't been out of the case for 6 months. Not taken any tools or spares - it was just a last minute call to a wedding party gig and I just grabbed an amp, a cab and a bass. About five minutes before the band kicked off, I discovered that the neck had moved and the first three frets were choking out on all strings. The only saving grace was that it was a fiver and I could play up the neck. Close call. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derrenleepoole Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 Had one of those Ashdown Little Giant 1000 heads with matching 4x8 cab to get 1000 watts of power! During the gig, one of the channels went down on the amp. This is not a problem in of itself because I still had 500 watts on tap. However, it was only running through 2x8 speakers! I muddled through. Just. Needless to say I don't have that setup anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 The last valve amp I had caused trouble so I don't use them any more. The only failures these days are in the brain dept!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H the Bass Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 [quote name='BassBod' post='1077070' date='Jan 4 2011, 10:03 AM']Sudden battery death in an old Wal ProIIE. Went from normal to dead in about three mins...and taking the (fragile) battery cover off needed a small screwdriver. Eden Traveler amp overheating and cutting out - I've since discovered this was because I was running it at 2ohms, as Euphonic Audio put 8ohm ratings on cabs containing 4ohm speakers. Thanks for that.[/quote] Dont know about that i had a NEMESIS combo that would do exactly the same thing even with their own matched speakers,it would cut out for 30 seconds in the middle of a song!Might as well have been 30 years! H Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icastle Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 [quote name='EBS_freak' post='1078369' date='Jan 5 2011, 11:05 AM']Nothing serious has happened in the bass world... but in the guitard world... Fender Deville died on me at a gig. Had to plug my amp modeller into the PA and hope for the best. "Fixed" Fender Deville died at a recording session in the studio. Had to borrow a Hughes and Kettner Warp 7 amp to record. I've never sounded so pants on record Brand new Fender Twin (Deville replacement) died on me at it's debut gig. Plugged into my Laney LC15 I had back then, draped mic in front of it and hoped for the best. Replacement brand new Fender Twin died on me at the very next gig. Plugged into my Laney LC15 I had back then, draped mic in front of it and hoped for the best. Replacement Fender Twin (number 3) has never given me any issues... touch wood. Can't beat a Fender though - still on the look out for the right Fender Dual Showman.[/quote] Jeez you're far more patient than me EBS. My brand new Line6 died after 30 minutes total use and I'll never consider using their gear again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmo Valdemar Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 [quote name='EBS_freak' post='1078369' date='Jan 5 2011, 11:05 AM']"Fixed" Fender Deville died at a recording session in the studio. Had to borrow a Hughes and Kettner Warp 7 amp to record. I've never sounded so pants on record [/quote] A mate of mine used to play through a Warp 7 amp and cab. You have my deepest sympathies. My only onstage gear mishap was at a gig in Alton, about halfway through the set my amp started getting quieter and quieter... Turns out the valve was dying. Luckily it's just in the preamp so I switched to the 'clean' setting and the guts returned (if a little pristine and sparkly for me)! Did the job though, and I can't imagine anyone in the crowd could give a monkeys. I have studio tale of woe - I used to play through an old Marshall Superbass, the 100w all-valve beasts. Went to record my bass parts and within seconds of turning the amp on it was smoking. not good. Luckily this was quite a sw***y studio and they had a sophisticated amp modelling thing going on, so I went through this and ended up with a far better sound in the end. if you are worried about the Marshall, it was later serviced and all was fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmo Valdemar Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 (edited) ^^^ For some reason the word 's-w-a-n-k-y' is considered flammable... Good job I don't live in Scunthorpe. Edited January 5, 2011 by Cosmo Valdemar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheddatom Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 what's with all the Warp 7 hate? My guitarist uses a half stack and it sounds amazing. You just have to turn the gain down! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ukbassboy Posted January 6, 2011 Author Share Posted January 6, 2011 Interesting to see the amount of E string failures. I've never had a string break but would have thought that the E string would be the least likely to go seeing as it is almost reinforcing rod thickness! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tauzero Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 I forgot another one - had the wireless die on me just as I was about to go into a bass-n-drums breakdown section of a song. Cue rapid shuffling of wires and continuation. I didn't use the wireless (a Nady 101) for years after that, and when I did I discovered that the problem was the power supply connector, a 3.5mm jack plug - the wire to it had broken internally and invisibly just where it entered the moulded plug. Exactly the same thing later happened to a second Nady unit I bought later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icastle Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 [quote name='tauzero' post='1081205' date='Jan 7 2011, 03:40 PM']I forgot another one - had the wireless die on me just as I was about to go into a bass-n-drums breakdown section of a song. Cue rapid shuffling of wires and continuation. I didn't use the wireless (a Nady 101) for years after that, and when I did I discovered that the problem was the power supply connector, a 3.5mm jack plug - the wire to it had broken internally and invisibly just where it entered the moulded plug. Exactly the same thing later happened to a second Nady unit I bought later.[/quote] It was a common thing with Nady PSUs it seems - I got through two of them in the space of the 12 month warranty period. On the last one that Arbiter supplied me with I put a 3" length of adhesive shrink sleeve over the plug so that the potential break point was moved up the cable. I still have it and it works fine, but I only use it on big stages these days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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