The Band Lead Bag

[NancyJohnson]

This is a new phenomenon to me...we all have our own kit, we all bring our own kit, we all look after our own kit.

[WAYNESWORLD]

Our little trio does, and the guitarist owns the pa. He and I throw an old spare guitar in in the back of the car plus I have  2 separate powered FRFR cabs that could be utilised if required in an emergency for pa use.And the singer owns a mic and occasionally remembers to bring a lead. 

[DaytonaRik]

1 minute ago, NancyJohnson said:

This is a new phenomenon to me...we all have our own kit, we all bring our own kit, we all look after our own kit.

 

Everyone's kit/backline is their own responsibility but I take care of the lighting/PA for the band and the associated transport, upkeep and sadly outlay of said PA!

[Silvia Bluejay]

1 hour ago, DaytonaRik said:

Does anyone else carry a spare mixer?

Yes. 🙄

[musicbassman]

I wouldn't bother taking a spare bass with me to a regular gig - never had a passive bass go down on me in the rather too many years to mention that I've been playing.

But I always take a spare amp head, as an amp going down right in the middle of a gig has happened just too many times.

[Silvia Bluejay]

I can't even imagine not having a spare of anything, unless it's exceedingly bulky. We tend to only carry one set of PA speakers, because I guess we could get by with a kludge using the backline if one of them died. But in the 10 years I've been gigging with @Happy Jack's bands, we have had several occasions when we needed - or very narrowly avoided needing - almost everything else: spare power amp, mixer desk, bass (usually because of the input jack failing), double bass, every possible type of cables, adaptors and wireless systems, lighting components and, if we include photo equipment, spare cameras, tripods, and external battery packs.

 

Er, not to mention the times when we needed a spare car or van due to the battery dying or the vehicle having been written off by an idiot while parked in front of the house just a few hours before a gig... 😱🤦‍♀️

[TimR]

Turned up to one gig and the keys kept cutting out. It's not usually a problem, says the keys player, I just keep my foot on it.

 

I opened up the plug top to find the end of the live wire floating around inside it. 

 

Take a soldering iron and screwdrivers to gigs plus a selection of fuses.

[nilebodgers]

Lol - if I ever play in a band again I’m playing bass, nothing else. I’m keeping my old career in event production and audio engineering a deep dark secret, nothing to see here.

[gafbass02]

8 hours ago, DaytonaRik said:

 

1. Own the entire PA - every single component from each lowly but essential 13amp power lead and mic cable to the subs except for one SM58 mic that belongs to one of the guitarists for b/vs.
2. Own the small but functional and very portable lighting setup.
3. Operate 1 & 2  the above.
4. Carry 1 & 2 above in a van bought solely for that purposes.
5. Load and unload 1 & 2 above in and out of 4 above on my own, despite one of the guitarists living approx 400m from me!!!
6. Go through the cable and power trunks the day after a gig putting everything back as it should be!
7. Sort out the shared diary, including reminding everyone to fill it in after someone says they're busy on a night that is plainly free in the diary.
8. Sort out rehearsals inc locating and visiting new rooms due to band member changes.
9. Select material and set lists. 
10. Sort out the gigs, including visiting venues in person to look for new gigs, posters etc
11. Record, mix and produce multi tracks from gigs and rehearsal for appraisals and use in social media.
12. Keep social media up to date, including advertising gigs on regional and venue pages.

 

Brilliant?  I'm f**king amazing!!!!

 

 

This sounds extremely familiar!!!

[stewblack]

I have the pa bag. It's mine. It's full of every conceivable cable and adaptor. It gets tidied regularly, but never split into two bags.

[stewblack]

28 minutes ago, nilebodgers said:

Lol - if I ever play in a band again I’m playing bass, nothing else. I’m keeping my old career in event production and audio engineering a deep dark secret, nothing to see here.

I tried so hard to do this in a new band a couple of years ago. It leaks out, you can't help it, it's who you are

[gapiro]

6 hours ago, DaytonaRik said:

Does anyone else carry a spare mixer?

I run a rack mount x32 mixer and then carry a 16 ch analogue in case 

[Les]

Spare mixer seems like overkill people 

[DaytonaRik]

9 hours ago, Les said:

Spare mixer seems like overkill people 

Not given the size of the modern digital mixers.  We take an X32 rack with an XR18 as a backup,

 

 

Edited October 12, 2021 by DaytonaRik

[uk_lefty]

9 hours ago, nilebodgers said:

Lol - if I ever play in a band again I’m playing bass, nothing else. I’m keeping my old career in event production and audio engineering a deep dark secret, nothing to see here.

I used to play (field) hockey quite seriously as a goalie. I "retired" a long time ago but still play a bit not in goal for fun. As soon as anyone finds out about my past I am volunteered as gk for every game, especially very low standard teams travelling goodness knows where. Keep your secret a secret or you will never be free of your past!

Edited October 12, 2021 by uk_lefty

[WAYNESWORLD]

1 hour ago, uk_lefty said:

I used to play (field) hockey quite seriously as a goalie. I "retired" a long time ago but still play a bit not in goal for fun. As soon as anyone finds out about my past I am volunteered as gk for every game, especially very low standard teams travelling goodness knows where. Keep your secret a secret or you will never be free of your past!

As not a  massive contributor to conversations on the site the one thing that has often come up in posts as previous pastimes / employment etc is that a lot of bass players ride motorbikes have a photographic / graphics interest .As this applies to me as a professional photographer for the thick end of 40 yrs and now to hear from the quote above about previous goal keeping experiences which  a position I also played in football at a level which nearly became professional.Is this coincidence or again a trait of our make up. Eg creativity, thrill seeking, reliability attention to detail. (Goal keeping as the solid foundation of a team) Not trying to hijack thread sorry .Maybee need to start another one.

[stewblack]

12 hours ago, Les said:

Spare mixer seems like overkill people 

I provide the pa for one of my bands, a digital desk. Make sure I have a spare tablet and the singer always has a small analogue desk as a just in case 

We'd look very silly if the desk failed and we didn't. 

[Jakester]

I guess it depends what’s going through it. If it’s just vox, then you can probably go direct into most powered speakers. 
 

If it’s a more sophisticated setup - backing tracks, samples etc, then maybe a spare mixer isn’t the worst idea. 
 

But are you also taking spare PA speakers too? 🤔

[Les]

2 hours ago, stewblack said:

I provide the pa for one of my bands, a digital desk. Make sure I have a spare tablet and the singer always has a small analogue desk as a just in case 

We'd look very silly if the desk failed and we didn't. 

I can't remember having any failure catastrophic enough to not do the gig and get paid. But I'm sure some have.

I suppose its your attitude to risk. I don't take a spare bass to be honest. 

[stewblack]

22 minutes ago, Les said:

I can't remember having any failure catastrophic enough to not do the gig and get paid. But I'm sure some have.

I suppose its your attitude to risk. I don't take a spare bass to be honest. 

This debate comes up every now and then. I don't think it's ever been resolved. 

I guess it is as you say down to our individual attitudes.

I depped for a wedding band, well paid work, wanted to do a good job. A good (expensive at least) amp blew on me in the sound check. If I had no spare they'd not be in a hurry to ask me back.

Even a poorly paid pub gig is much more fun if I can still play should something break. No fun at all if I have to stand and watch.

[Les]

I get yer @stewblack it just hasn't happened to me

[TimR]

It depends on the reliability of your gear. Even a small 100w amp in the boot might get you out of a hole. 

 

I have a DI box, worst case you plug into the PA and limit the volume if the speakers aren't man enough. 

 

Leads looked after well should last forever. 

[jezzaboy]

Rhythm Guitarist: have you got a spare 9v?

 

Me: you`ve only got a tuner! Bring a spare battery!! 

[DaytonaRik]

23 hours ago, Les said:

Spare mixer seems like overkill people 

 

A few years ago we did have a powered mixer die on us - fortunately the guitarist had a similar mixer very close by so since then I've always carried a spare and gone down the active cab route.  If we lose a sub then so be it, but if we lost a top then a powered wedge could be pressed into service, and on a spare iPad (in case of the failure of the one running the desk) I have a copy of Positive Grid's Bias FX guitar amp sim so could even push that into use as a guitar amp if needs be.  I'm a big fan of redundancy when it comes to fault tolerance!  Sods law will rear its head if you don't have a spare of something...better to carry a micro head, small format mixer etc and not need it than have one fail and the spare be at home.

 

Similarly I'll always take 2 basses to a gig - it takes 5 secs to swap a bass out if a string breaks or worse happens rather than stop the gig, retrieve case from wherever it is, find strings, string up, stretch/tune up etc.  Maybe it's coming from a guitar background with Floyd Rose locking vibratos!

 

Edited October 12, 2021 by DaytonaRik

[tauzero]

I separated from one band (band A) recently. The guitarist/vocalist hadn't got his own PA and I supplied it. I'd got two, one a pair of Behringer B210Ds and the other a pair of RCF ART 710s. I used the Behringers at a gig with another band (band B) and they started playing up. I'd forgotten about that as it had been so long since the last gig, and then a gig came up with band A at a venue I didn't really want to play at due to the load in and out and my deteriorating back, and definitely didn't want to take the RCFs to as light though they are, they're still rather heavy for me now. So I told guitarist that the PA was blown up and I wouldn't be replacing it (this was two or three weeks before the gig, not completely last minute). At that point, he decided that the way I was playing didn't suit what he wanted played and thought it was best if we split up. Well, we'd had some good times but I was a bit fed up of being sole sound man so I agreed. Amicable split.

 

However, on the original subject, all my leads have velcro ties so I know which are mine, and the rest of the band know which theirs are, so there's never any problem on that front. It's pretty minimal for me anyway - one jack-jack cabletied to a 9V power lead to run from the amp to whatever pedalboard I have (meaning that the power adaptor is plugged in next to the amp rather than on stage), one XLR for the mic, one XLR-jack to run from the PA (percussionist supplies that) to the monitor that I supply, two mains leads (lights and amp).