How many of you take spares to a gig?

ICBM

Just keep the Roland. It's probably lighter than a spare head anyway...

horse

thomasross20 said:

Can't you just switch to a song that needs no guitar and change your string in that time lol?

A song that needs no guitar?!! I don't think I've heard one of those

ThePrettyDamned

ICBM said:

Just keep the Roland. It's probably lighter than a spare head anyway...

This. 

If I was to gig, I'd take:

Main guitar

Backup guitar (if possible, I'd ensure all songs are in the same tuning - if not, both guitars must be hardtail or non-floating trem so I can change).

Main amp - likely to be a valve head and 2x12 cab

Backup amp - if the venue has a half powerful PA, this would probably be a POD, Zoom G3, EHX XTortion etc, if not then it'll be my peavey bandit.

Effects - as few as possible.  Likely to be wah, overdrive, chorus, delay.  I'd leave the distortion box in the car just in case the amp went down and I needed the bandit.  And tuner, obvs. 

A couple of spare long cables and a couple of patch cables

PSU for effects

BATTERIES for effects, already in pedals, just in case the PSU fails.

Strings, dunlop plastic strap locks (never had one fail, but you never know), spare strap, picks in every pocket.

If you're new to gigging, you need to make sure you're completely comfortable with your gear.  Are you going to be happy with 7 grands worth of guitar on stage? Not that I think they shouldn't be gigged, but you need to make sure you're comfortable with the idea.  

You said you had an ibby SA - perfect! Just take it to a tech and have it set up properly, job done.

midlifecrisis

spare guitar, ready in arms reach and tuned, for the string that breaks every third gig. a few spare leads. a micro terror to plug my laneys speakers into if the amp goes down. our pa consists of two powered speakers and a mixer, so if one goes down, we can at least go into the other (only for vocals anyway,) if the mixer goes down, we can plug two mics into each powered speakers. we have 3 powered monitors that can also be used as pa if needed. I feel pretty much covered with this setup. our bass player only brings one bass and one amp, he could go straight into pa if his amp dies

thomasross20

Is the Tiny Terror enough for gigging level volumes? What are the alternatives?

Voxman

I usually restring before a gig and take two guitars and a small backup spare fx unit (vox tlst). If its a proper paying gig and its just us I always take a backup amp (either laney cub12r or marshall valvestate). If its a non paying gig eg charity show with other bands I dont because either I'm just using my tonelab tlle through PA when the tlst is my backup or there will be other amps I can go through.

I also always make sure I have a spare guitar lead, spare amp kettle lead, spare strings and picks. I also take my own belkin gold extension multipoint which has surge protection and whilst not a full line conditioner does help to filter out unwanted mains hum. And regardless of built in tuners on the tonelabs or tuner in my pedalboard , I always also keep a little planet waves tuner in my guitar case with a spare battery. If I take my pedalboard I take a spare mains lead.

I know it sounds boringly sad but its really about being confident and relaxed that if something should go wrong I can finish a gig. Its not that I'm unduly concerned with my gear reliability as its very rare anything fails. But even well maintained gear can let you down sometimes eg mfx unit goes on blink or valve goes etc and I just like to be prepared so I don't let anyone down.

bigjon

I use a ZT Lunchbox amp & extension cab to spread the sound from my 1x12 combo, that's also my spare. Spare guitar, spare CS3 compressor and OD2 overdrive in case the pedal board conks, spare leads, basically spare of everything!

Majorscale

Always two guitars, amp, and tech 21 blonde as back up "amp"

mike_l

@thomasross20 ; maybe having a Blackstar HT Dual would cover your need for a spare amp*, as it's (effectively) a valve pre-amp in a box.

It does however need it's own power supply.

*for a small gig you could easily just use this straight into the PA.

RocknRollDave

EricTheWeary said:

Had to use my spare guitar on last night's gig, so yes. I have something I can play through into the PA in amp emergencies. Plus strings, spare strap,etc.

Same here. No room for a spare amp but i take a Magnum 44 which i can use through my amp's speakers. Spare guitar, leads and strings = essential, for me

thomasross20

Blackstar HT Dual, Magnum 44, micro terror... very interested in hearing all these alternatives. How much wattage do these things need to be??

Roland

Spares are essential, and they've got to be ready to go. Over the years I've had to swap guitars, amps, mic'd, leads and cables. Last year we had to mount my monitor (SRM450) as FOH when one of the PA speakers went down during the sound check.  About the only thing we've not had to swap is the desk

We once had to swap singer when her voice failed, luckily the trumpet player could sing. That's one of the reasons I like to have a two singer line up

bluechargeboy

My band is acoustic instruments all DI'd, and we have powered tops and subs so there is a bit of redundancy there. I always take spare batteries, cable, strings, plectrums, and contact lenses!

When using house PA we bring loads of DI stuff and XLR cables, and the mics we need. Too many close calls.

Essential tools that have been used many times: Gaffer tape, cable ties, screwdriver, pliers.

If our double bass players snaps a string it's all over, as they take several days to tune up from new.

Bod

mike_l said:

@thomasross20 ; maybe having a Blackstar HT Dual would cover your need for a spare amp*, as it's (effectively) a valve pre-amp in a box.

It does however need it's own power supply.

*for a small gig you could easily just use this straight into the PA.

Good call. I have an HT Dual on my board anyway, and it's my backup if the amp should go pop. It has an emulated out that I'd put through the PA if necessary.

Phil_aka_Pip

horse said:

thomasross20 said:

Can't you just switch to a song that needs no guitar and change your string in that time lol?

A song that needs no guitar?!! I don't think I've heard one of those

Fever ... just bs & vox

monquixote

thomasross20 said:

Blackstar HT Dual, Magnum 44, micro terror... very interested in hearing all these alternatives. How much wattage do these things need to be??

If you've already got a Roland Cube just take that. 

I take two guitars and something I can plug into the PA if the amp goes bang (at the moment a Joyo Blonde clone) 

At the moment I don't have a cheap guitar so I would like to pick up something bargain basement as I don't like carting vast amounts of expensive kit around. 

Grunfeld

thomasross20 said:

Blackstar HT Dual, Magnum 44, micro terror... very interested in hearing all these alternatives. How much wattage do these things need to be??

I have a micro terror as a back up to a 100W Marshall.  Does it sound the same?  No.  Will it get me out of a pickle?  Yes.

Last night I had a string go.  It hasn't happened in a year.  But that's why I lunk a second guitar to every gig.  The change of guitar took seconds.

thomasross20

Phil_aka_Pip said:

horse said:

thomasross20 said:

Can't you just switch to a song that needs no guitar and change your string in that time lol?

A song that needs no guitar?!! I don't think I've heard one of those

Fever ... just bs & vox

That's EXACTLY the song we're thinking of doing for such purposes!

So ideally the head replacement would have to have some sort of emulated out, right (so if the amp speakers went, you could go straight to PA)? I assume all the power from the Blackstar (2x60W) comes from the "head" as such (I assume power amps consume most power and pre-amps less, but is there a defined ratio?). So if the micro terror is 20W, then I'm down to 20W.

stickyfiddle

I've pretty much always gigged 2 guitars, and usually with a pedal that'll be happy DI-ing to PA if needed.

I've also made sure we have a song or 2 ready that can be done if each member has instrument trouble. Something acoustic that works without drums, something with 1 guitar part for a 2-guitar band. Something White Stripes for when the bass forgets how his thumbs work, etc

ICBM

thomasross20 said:

So ideally the head replacement would have to have some sort of emulated out, right (so if the amp speakers went, you could go straight to PA)? I assume all the power from the Blackstar (2x60W) comes from the "head" as such (I assume power amps consume most power and pre-amps less, but is there a defined ratio?). So if the micro terror is 20W, then I'm down to 20W.

Yes.

I also keep forgetting to mention - if you're going to think about getting a spare head to use with a combo, you need to make sure it's compatible with the impedance of the speakers.

This may be an issue with the Blackstar ID because I think the combo speakers are 4 ohm - if so, you can't connect most heads directly to both of them, because that would give a 2-ohm load. You would need to either use a stereo power amp which will handle 4 ohms per side, use only one speaker in the combo, or (best) make a special cable or splitter box to connect the speakers in series to give 8 ohms.

Even if this doesn't apply you will most likely need a speaker extension cable since usually the speaker plug in a combo won't reach to a head sitting on top of it...