Cut down on what I take to a gig

Placidcasual79

I want to take less to gigs.

At the moment I take two guitars (in two separate bags), my tube amp, my pedaltrain board in its bag and a separate bag with a stand, spare leads, strings, tape, screwdriver, 9v batteries, strap picks.

Can you get a gig bag purposely designed for two guitars? I could fit my spare leads, strings etc into the pockets perhaps.....

I think I need to start taking a spare amp/head in the event of tube failure....

EricTheWeary

We did a gig with another band and when their guitarist packed away his amp went into a flight case with wheels, then balanced his guitar in a flight case on top of that, another flight case with pedals, etc, on top of that and then wheeled it all into the back of his van in one go.  Takes me about four trips .

But, yes, you can buy double gig bags. 

Placidcasual79

EricTheWeary said:

We did a gig with another band and when their guitarist packed away his amp went into a flight case with wheels, then balanced his guitar in a flight case on top of that, another flight case with pedals, etc, on top of that and then wheeled it all into the back of his van in one go.  Takes me about four trips .

But, yes, you can buy double gig bags. 

I am starting my second year of regular gigging. What do you take spares of Eric?

vasselmeyer

I think Thomann do a double gig bag and Fusion do one as well.

Yes...I'm right:
Thoman  https://www.thomann.de/gb/thomann_doppel_gigbag_egitarre.htm
Fusion  https://www.fusion-bags.com/products/fg-double-electric-guitar-gig-bag

I feel you though. I take my amp (2x12 combo on casters) three guitars (one spare and one for slide), my  pedalboard, my guitar stands, my mic stand and my bag with cables. I don't take a spare amp but have a Zoom G3 which I can put straight into the PA if I need it. All of that fills up the whole boot on my VW Passat Estate and some of the back seat.

simonk

Mono do (or used to) do a double decker gig bag. Not cheap though.
Instead of a spare amp, consider one of the Joyo American/British pedals (for direct to PA) and/or an EHX Magnum - good enough to get you out of a pinch. I carry both in my gig bag.

John_P

I use a Scott Dixon triple flight case.  Makes it easy to shift guitars and doubles up as a stand on stage.   

EricTheWeary

Guitar and spare guitar, both with own strap ( so effectively a spare strap). In cases. 
Pedalboard with pedals but no spare pedals.
Combo and just a pre amp thing I could plug into the PA if need be ( ideally I'd have something better than I have but I've never used it on a gig). In cover. 
Mic stand, mic, spare mic, xlr leads.
Guitar leads and spare guitar leads.
Guitar stand.
Spare kettle lead.
Spare strings.
Multi tool, duct tape, pen. 
Plectrums in every case and bag. 
Old hoodie to put when the sweat starts going cold after.
Bottle of water.

I think that's it. Not that much but not very organised either. Also half the PA if the singer's wife comes to a gig so he can fit her in the car. I'm sure there are people who take a lot more gear than I do. 

Placidcasual79 said:

EricTheWeary said:

We did a gig with another band and when their guitarist packed away his amp went into a flight case with wheels, then balanced his guitar in a flight case on top of that, another flight case with pedals, etc, on top of that and then wheeled it all into the back of his van in one go.  Takes me about four trips .

But, yes, you can buy double gig bags. 

I am starting my second year of regular gigging. What do you take spares of Eric?

Winny_Pooh

Thats not too much. Beats being the drummer or lugging a PA.

Placidcasual79

 

Old hoodie to put when the sweat starts going cold after.

Lol - totally know what you mean..... horrible that.

I struggle to 'come down' after the enormous high of playing the Ferret and Spanner on a Tuesday night to ten indifferent people.

What do you do after the gig? 

Placidcasual79

John_P said:

I use a Scott Dixon triple flight case.  Makes it easy to shift guitars and doubles up as a stand on stage.   

Ah - sounds interesting - I'll take a look. If I could take both guitars and spare leads etc in one bag that'd be good.

stickyfiddle

From your list you're not taking that much tbh. 

At the moment you have 1 amp and 4 other "things" that could potentially be put on a shoulder. Assuming at least one guitar or the pedaltrain can go on a shoulder, that's 2 trips to/from the car. 

Cutting to a single gigbag with 2 guitars and a bunch of cables, and an amp and the pedalboard, you'll be hard-pressed to do that in 1 trip, so I'm not sure I see the point. 

digitalscream

Do you use your effects loop and/or an amp channel switch? In that case, a 4-way cable snake would definitely help you, because you end up with much less volume and weight taken up by cables.

skaguitar

Placidcasual79 said:

I want to take less to gigs.

At the moment I take two guitars (in two separate bags), my tube amp, my pedaltrain board in its bag and a separate bag with a stand, spare leads, strings, tape, screwdriver, 9v batteries, strap picks.

Can you get a gig bag purposely designed for two guitars? I could fit my spare leads, strings etc into the pockets perhaps.....

I think I need to start taking a spare amp/head in the event of tube failure....

I bought a Tech21 sansamp gt2 in case my amp gives up...plugs direct into the PA and is pedal sized so would fit in your bag....I only ever take one guitar to gigs...but have only ever broke a string once at a gig...but I should probably get into the habit of taking 2 guitars..!

Jalapeno

Placidcasual79 said:

I want to take less to gigs.

At the moment I take two guitars (in two separate bags), my tube amp, my pedaltrain board in its bag and a separate bag with a stand, spare leads, strings, tape, screwdriver, 9v batteries, strap picks.

Can you get a gig bag purposely designed for two guitars? I could fit my spare leads, strings etc into the pockets perhaps.....

I think I need to start taking a spare amp/head in the event of tube failure....

All seems reasonable.

As said ^^^^ yes you can get double gig bags

Sansamp, Magnum etc all good ideas for the spare amp avoidance (I have a cheapo Marshall SS head in the boot).  Also consider a Flyrig - multi-FX/amp.

Vaiai

I did the same recently - now got it down to 4 "items" Mono gig bag can take 2 guitars, has decent pockets too and you can also buy the tick add-on which takes more stuff and attaches to the case. I also got a PT2 with softcase - front pocket on that is good got a bunch of rolled up cables (I use an FX8 in 4CM and it takes all of them and power/spkr cable) I have a V30 head in a shoulder bag and a 1x12 - can carry all of that in one go if I feel like it!

I do have another few things - power extensions and a fan but they tend to be gig dependent. Also considering a FlyRig as a backup.

digitalscream said:

Do you use your effects loop and/or an amp channel switch? In that case, a 4-way cable snake would definitely help you, because you end up with much less volume and weight taken up by cables.

And this can be wrapped up and put under the PT. I'm looking into that for my rig too

digitalscream

Vaiai said:

I did the same recently - now got it down to 4 "items" Mono gig bag can take 2 guitars, has decent pockets too and you can also buy the tick add-on which takes more stuff and attaches to the case. I also got a PT2 with softcase - front pocket on that is good got a bunch of rolled up cables (I use an FX8 in 4CM and it takes all of them and power/spkr cable) I have a V30 head in a shoulder bag and a 1x12 - can carry all of that in one go if I feel like it!

I do have another few things - power extensions and a fan but they tend to be gig dependent. Also considering a FlyRig as a backup.

digitalscream said:

Do you use your effects loop and/or an amp channel switch? In that case, a 4-way cable snake would definitely help you, because you end up with much less volume and weight taken up by cables.

And this can be wrapped up and put under the PT. I'm looking into that for my rig too

For what it's worth, a few years ago I needed a 3 x mono, 1 x stereo snake for my setup (amp footswitch had a stereo connection). Rob @ Kabl made me one for about £80-odd which I still use to this day and has never let me down.

As a result, all my cables (and spares) fit into the soft case which came with my Warwick Pedalbay.

timebenezer

You're not far from the minimum. I play in two bands, drummer in one and frontman/guitar in the other. I love the guitar gigs, even though I bring some of the PA plus two guitars, amp, cab, pedalboard / cables, beats the 12 bags/boxes I have for drum kit. 

BGG

The Mono double bag is great, M80 I think it's called ? Got mine for half price off eBay and love it.
Take either two DGT's, two teles or my two MusicMan guitars to a gig. Pockets are big, one on lower front has plenty of space for cables etc. The top one I use for picks, tuner, trem arms, little multitools, spare strings etc.
And as mentioned earlier there is an add on/clip on bag which you can add to the front for pedals etc.

Titch

+1 for the double Mono.

Placidcasual79

I feel bad. I can do all my carrying in one journey. I have a guitar over each shoulder, an amp in one hand and a carry all in the other which has my pedal board and a tupperware (nothing says rock 'n' roll like Tupperware) with all my spares and leads in.

Maybe I should stop whinging! Its just heavy.

Definitely going to look at the double mono though. Thanks!

ICBM

Placidcasual79 said:

I want to take less to gigs.

At the moment I take two guitars (in two separate bags), my tube amp, my pedaltrain board in its bag and a separate bag with a stand, spare leads, strings, tape, screwdriver, 9v batteries, strap picks.

That's pretty much the minimum unless you're brave enough not to take a backup guitar. (I am, but I'm not playing proper pro gigs.)

Placidcasual79 said:

I think I need to start taking a spare amp/head in the event of tube failure....

If you don't carry spare valves, fuses and have the confidence to change them on stage then you do unless the pedalboard can be DI'd (and sound acceptable like that). A preamp/amp emulating pedal can cover the second part of that if you don't want to carry another amp though.