Gigging equipment Fails - Go

[pauldo]

The neck of my upright came off while I was carrying it up the stairs into the auditorium for the gig…

Richard!   What happened next?

[hankster]

I did the gig with my Hofner Verithin. And took the bass to Vancouver that week for a reset. But it was a drag. The gig was for a class of Jazz students at the local college. So it hurt to do a Jazz workshop on a transverse bass.

[jazzyvee]

I got a call yesterday just before finishing work to stand in for a band where their bass player told them on the day that he could not do the gig. As it happened the dep arranged to do it for him could not be contacted so hence me getting a call.
Anyway I agreed to do it and got over there about an hour before showtime.
They said I could use their bass rig so that was cool...... i thought.
I plugged in and checked to make sure i could hear it.
Come showtime, let the catalogue of errors begin.
After the intro of first song sound guy rushes over, no di signal from the rig so no bass FOH. Sorted that out then about halfway through the second track there was no sound from the bass rig, so no direct bass on my side of the stage as they didn't give me a monitor.

The keys and drummer were using in ear monitors so no chance of spill. I could hear the boomy bass in the room but no definition due to the heavy reverb in the room. The drummer was using an electronic kit so I could not hear any direct sound from the bass drum or the snare in time, only from the reflection from the room which is late.
During the break the sound guy came over and got some sound out of the bass rig but then again a few songs in the rig failed again. I managed to get through the gig, they were happy that they didn't have to cancel the gig (it was a full house), but what a situation.

 

[edwardofhuncote]

That had to be a tough night. 


I stepped onto a stage with a bass a couple weeks ago for the first time since last July. Just a local charity fundraiser barbeque thing with my old band... used my '67 Starfire and trusty old Mesa WalkAbout Scout 15 combo. No soundcheck or anything, just a one-off, one-set, plug-n-play deal for me. I figured the stage volume from that tank alone was plenty, and if the FOH guy wanted, that old thing has a nice pre-eq DI out. I flicked the power switch on, the tubes began to glow, all was good except there was an annoying buzzzzzzz through the speaker, even with the input gain and master volume turned down. I flipped the polarity switch... no help. I jiggled stuff... nothing. I smacked it... hey, sometimes it works. Not this time. Finally, we plugged it into a different outlet that wasn't already occupied by eight other onstage devices... buzzzzzz disappeared, show went on. But I briefly was reminded of how quickly something that is supposed to be a good time can turn into a frustrating situation.

[cozmik_cowboy]

A band i was humping gear for back in the hometown had a practice in the basement of Town Hall.  Got all set up, but the rhythm player was late because he stopped at Steed Music to make the last lay-away payment & pick up his brand new 1976 Les Paul Custom, so they started a band meeting while they waited.

He walks in, unpacks, plugs in, and sets it in a stand, which he had set on a table to keep it safe and out of the way.

 Turns around to come join the meeting, trips on the cord, it falls off and hits the floor; neck snapped in two about the 5th fret.  He didn't even get to tune it up.

Peter

[edwardofhuncote]

Oh, that's sickening.  :'(


Years ago, probably early 2000's, we were playing at a sports bar called the Deere John. Irrelevant to the story but funny, the bartender had been my high school geometry teacher. Her name had changed because of a remarriage, but I recognized her instantly even though it had been a decade and change. Let's not get into why.

Anyway, our guitar player had just received a custom-built Santa Cruz Tony Rice Model, that he had even provided the wood for; Madagascar Kingwood, some killer straight grain quartersawn stuff that looked remarkably like the fabled Brazilian rosewood which was rapidly becoming unobtainable. Richard Hoover allowed that crap was so ridiculously hard he didn't care for trying to bend any more sets of it. Anyway, a couple songs into the set, guitarzan tips it up to put a capo on, the strap let's go, and it hit headstock first on the tile floor, sheared off down to about the 4th fret, and clattered face-first the rest of the way, splitting open the German spruce top.

Zoowicky gathered up what was left of it, put it in the case and left. We figured that was it for him, but he came back about a half-hour later with another guitar and finished the gig. He eventually had the guitar repaired, and to my knowledge (I don't see these folks much anymore...) he still has it.

[BeenDown139]

a little late to the party but that's how i roll these days it seems.  not exactly an equipment failure but definitly the gig where nothing went right.

'twas 1976.  our band's getting its legs and we're starting to play out alot.  book a wedding gig just outside of keystone on a spring day.  load the u-haul with the band gear, hook it to my 1970 fury III with a bumper hitch.  got the whole band in the car.  start going down the west approach of the eisenhower tunnel.  >6% grade for miles.  trailer ain't loaded right and all of a sudden we're going 85 mph and fishtailing from one side of the road to another.  somehow we survive that.  get to the gig.  it's outside.  no stage, set up in the dirt (mud).  starts raining.  hard.  get a set off.   start the 2nd set late because  the drummer was found passed out face-up, mouth open under the keg.  get paid with a check, amount in the printed part doesn't match the written part, so we can't cash it.  durmmer passes out in the back seat and wakes up only to barf in a conga case.  get home 4 hours late and get chewed out by my dad (i'm 19 and still living at home).

those days i had a '74 genuine fender P-bass (my second bass.  got such a deal on it from pete's music and guns on broadway!) and an acoustic 136 amp. played 100's of gigs with that setup and never had it go down on me, not even when playing in the mud.

[cozmik_cowboy]

Oh, that's sickening.  :'(


Years ago, probably early 2000's, we were playing at a sports bar called the Deere John. Irrelevant to the story but funny, the bartender had been my high school geometry teacher. Her name had changed because of a remarriage, but I recognized her instantly even though it had been a decade and change. Let's not get into why.

Anyway, our guitar player had just received a custom-built Santa Cruz Tony Rice Model, that he had even provided the wood for; Madagascar Kingwood, some killer straight grain quartersawn stuff that looked remarkably like the fabled Brazilian rosewood which was rapidly becoming unobtainable. Richard Hoover allowed that crap was so ridiculously hard he didn't care for trying to bend any more sets of it. Anyway, a couple songs into the set, guitarzan tips it up to put a capo on, the strap let's go, and it hit headstock first on the tile floor, sheared off down to about the 4th fret, and clattered face-first the rest of the way, splitting open the German spruce top.

Zoowicky gathered up what was left of it, put it in the case and left. We figured that was it for him, but he came back about a half-hour later with another guitar and finished the gig. He eventually had the guitar repaired, and to my knowledge (I don't see these folks much anymore...) he still has it.

OK, that story made me cry.......

Peter

[cozmik_cowboy]

a little late to the party but that's how i roll these days it seems.  not exactly an equipment failure but definitly the gig where nothing went right.

'twas 1976.  our band's getting its legs and we're starting to play out alot.  book a wedding gig just outside of keystone on a spring day.  load the u-haul with the band gear, hook it to my 1970 fury III with a bumper hitch.  got the whole band in the car.  start going down the west approach of the eisenhower tunnel.  >6% grade for miles.  trailer ain't loaded right and all of a sudden we're going 85 mph and fishtailing from one side of the road to another.  somehow we survive that.  get to the gig.  it's outside.  no stage, set up in the dirt (mud).  starts raining.  hard.  get a set off.   start the 2nd set late because  the drummer was found passed out face-up, mouth open under the keg.  get paid with a check, amount in the printed part doesn't match the written part, so we can't cash it.  durmmer passes out in the back seat and wakes up only to barf in a conga case.  get home 4 hours late and get chewed out by my dad (i'm 19 and still living at home).

those days i had a '74 genuine fender P-bass (my second bass.  got such a deal on it from pete's music and guns on broadway!) and an acoustic 136 amp. played 100's of gigs with that setup and never had it go down on me, not even when playing in the mud.

Well, if we're going there.....
About a year later (Jan or Feb of '77); same lead player, different band (an Elvis imitator, to be exact).  First band to put me behind the sound board - which was easy.  Only vocals in the PA; set Elvis  a touch louder than the 2 back-up vocals, make sure they're all louder than the drummer, and spend the rest of the night drinking the free beer that was my pay & making out with their wives and girlfriends on the dance floor.
We hauled the gear in my buddy's VW van, which had a manual clutch.  Not a manual transmission.  Push in the pedal, shift, reach down with your hand and pull the pedal back up.  We'd lift the sliding side door off it's track to load & unload - until the night it didn't go back on, and rode home in the drummer's trunk.
So, to recap:  Midwinter in upper Appalachia, no side door; we're half drunk & passing joints; every time Tom shifts he has to reach down and pull the pedal up; every time we turn left (repeating:  Appalachia; we turned left a lot) I had to reach back & grab the drums so they didn't go out the hole & down the hill.
Some of my best memories, if I'm being honest........

Peter

[edwardofhuncote]

It's the guitar in the picture of us here... furthest right----->

(Kelly's guitar was a Martin employee-made (shopnight) D-28. She still has it.)


*that VW "automatic stickshift" was mestup. Had one. Not a Transporter, mine was a SuperBeetle.

[cozmik_cowboy]

Nope - not an Automatic Stick Shift; an actual stick shift - with a malfunctioning clutch pedal.  When I say he reached down, I mean to the floor, to actually pull the clutch pedal back up.

Peter

[lbpesq]

I had a ‘59 Mercedes 220s Cabriolet that had the “Hydrak” transmission.  Same as the Automatic Stickshift on the VW.   Porsche also had one, called it the Sportomatic, IIRC.   On my Mercedes, it was a four speed on the tree.   When you touched the shift lever, an electrically actuated vacuum box, like a giant vacuum advance, sucked in the clutch.   When my vacuum box needed replacement, Mercedes wanted $5K for the part.   I got a rebuilt VW version from a Bug dismantler for $260 that worked just fine.

Bill, tgo

[gtrguy]

The  Sportomatic was a dumb idea for a sports car.

[edwardofhuncote]

Oh man. If we start including gig-related vehicular failures...


I had the brakes fail on a '77 Dodge Tradesman cargo van coming down a switchback mountain road from Warm Springs, Virginia to Clifton Forge, (you can Google it for fun) one night after a gig at a hunter hangout/beer joint called Arrows and Antlers. I drove that frickin' tank back to Roanoke with the hand brake. Fully Loaded. Our guitar player smoked three packs of cigarettes.

[cozmik_cowboy]

OK, then there was the time we (the bass player driving, the light geek, myself, and my visiting-from-grad-school then-GF riding) were heading down I-94 through the South Side of Chicago about 03:00 or so (a stretch of road & time of day where trouble can quickly become trouble) in the old bread van (AKA the gear truck) when we watched 2 wheels pass us, separate, and hit opposite guardrails; had just about enough time to say "WTF???" and the right rear brake drum hit the pavement.........

Peter (who is not sure how much the contrast between that dose of rock'n'roll and her harpsichord performance MM student Baroque-centered life led to the "then-" part of the description)