A bass players gig bag is his trusty side kick. It’s their war chest heading into battle. When you’re at a gig there is almost no telling what kind of curveball could be thrown your way. And your only tools are going to be what you’ve got in the gig bag, so you have to keep it well stocked.
What’s worse than getting all your equipment set up and ready to go only to plug in your cable and being hit with either the silence of a bad cable, or the snap, crackle, and pop of an intermittent cable.
You can pick up some quality cables, and you can give them the best of care to extend their life, but it’s a cruel world sometimes, and a cable is bound to go at some point. And who wants to bet it’d be right when you need it most?
Avert future disaster and pack an extra cable in your gig bag. Maybe even pack a couple of different length cables, in case it’s just a patch between pedals that goes bad.
Trust us. You’ll be glad you did when you’re playing carefree instead of fiddling with a scratchy cable.
What items do you stock your gig bag with? Let us know in the comments!
My EBS Microbass Is really useful. Especially
in rental amp situations. I also carry a drum key.
Rapco has been my price/performance go-to. I’ve taken them up on their lifetime warranty a couple times with no problem. In my gear bag, I keep a small sack with spare patch cables from 6″ to 3′, plus a couple XLR-1/4″ transformers, and a 20′ just in case. Also a spare amp power cable.
At least two extra cables, a DI box (just in case of amp failure), extra microphone and a couple mic cables, picks, heavy duty AC power cords and a sound conditioner (that I leave in the car) just incase there’s dirty/noisy power in the venue. Over the years, I’ve had to reach for every one if these one time or another. Cheers!
I use a wireless instrument system, and at a gig a few weeks ago I had forgotten to put in a new battery. I hooked everything up, and – dead, no sound! What’s more, I was out of 9V batteries! Luckily I always keep a spare cable in my gig bag, so the show went on without a hitch!
Extra batteries….sometimes the battery in my bass or my clip on tuner would die when I need them the most….
One extra of just about everything… cables (power, Mic and Instrument), strings, tools for all adjustments and basic repairs (including a soldering iron, solder, etc), batteries in all the sizes used in my rig. I have only broken strings twice in thirty five years of giging, both time on a gig without a back up bass, so the tools I always carry came in quite handy,
Extra tuning pegs…..I had one break on me one time…..
…as I have an active Bass, I always have some spare new batteries with me.
Extra instrument and mic cables, batteries, flashlight, extra tuner, guitar strap, strings and microphone.
I solder my own cables – have for 25 years. Nevertheless, I always have a couple extras on hand…for the guitarist.