Do you use your “best” bass on gigs?

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

I'm not sure which of my basses is 'the best' but I tend to take a couple of my JMJ mustangs to gigs as they sound great, are easy & comfy to play, and I probably wouldn't notice if they picked up a ding or two. My Ric 4003 and Gibson non-reverse thunderbird would probably be considered better basses by some, but I'd be gutted to get either one dinged.

[Sean]

I don't have a No.1 per se, they're all favorites for different reasons. 

 

With the "drive-time Rock covers" band, I use a pair of Spectors (a Euro 4 and a Euro LX 4) that have the same pickups, same pre-amps, same set-up spec, same Eb standard tuning and same strings. It's run/standby redundancy. They're tools, albeit very pretty ones, to do a job. 

 

With the "obscure covers" band, I use a Spector Euro 5 LX with a BBP35 as backup, although I would like to find a Euro 5 or NS5CR. All four are absolute peaches but they get used out in the real world. 

 

I have basses that don't go out at the moment but that's mainly because they aren't what I use in these bands. They've all been gigged in the past except the one Spector and that's just because it's new and I haven't taken it to jam night yet. 

Edited 11 hours ago by Sean

[Woodinblack]

All my basses are gigged, apart from the ones that need work or a couple of 4 string basses I have. However, not all basses go to all venues, there are some venues where I don't trust the loading and I wouldn't take the rarer ones. There are basses I play more at home than others but that is just based on where they are in the house, or how they sound. 

[fretmeister]

17 hours ago, Burns-bass said:

1966 jazz bass in candy apple red. Stays in its case. Won’t take it to gigs, won’t sell it. Took 2 years of saving up to buy it.

 

 

 

You see, if you played jazz then gigging it would expose it to fewer people than at home.

 

Job done!

 

 

[snorkie635]

27 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

 

You see, if you played jazz then gigging it would expose it to fewer people than at home.

 

Job done!

 

 

Quicker inviting both the crowd to your gaff and playing the gig there then? 🤭

[dudewheresmybass]

I use different basses for different bands. 

Some bands require a particular look or core tone, so therefore requiring a variety of basses.

 

That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!!!

[Doctor J]

If you wouldn't bring a bass into a situation you would put yourself into, you really need to reevaluate your life choices 😁

[cdog]

I'm currently borrowing my Dad's lovely EB Stingray. I'm a bit scared to gig it lest anything happened to it as it's over 20 years old and immaculate, but my Dad's keen for me get some use out of it. 😐

For my current band my Sire V7 is just perfect and I can't dial in a better tone with the Ray. That's probably a topic for a different forum though....