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How many guitars to you take to a gig? (and other stuff)


polara

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I've seen some posts where people mention this, and am curious.

Me: I like to play one guitar all night. I'm finding D'Addario NYXLs stay in tune forever assuming you don't do anything weird stringing the guitar and the nut, bridge and tuners are set up right. We bang through the set with no talk breaks so there are a couple bits when Linda's doing just a synth thing or the loops are going with no guitar when I know I can tune. I don't think anyone listening can hear or cares about the nuances in tone between different guitars. But they can see and hear if we stop to tune, figure out what's next, or have an awkward silence.

So one guitar + backup in case a string breaks. One amp + cheap backup behind it in case something crazy happens. Bag with some spare cables and tools and parts and stuff that I pray I never need. That's it.

Others?

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Two guitars, mostly for backup, but I know which songs I plan to play on each guitar, sound wise (or feature wise - like needing a trem...)  I have the set list marked so the drummer/singer knows when i have a "wardrobe change" - usually once maybe twice a set. So he knows to chat between those songs. I hate dead air. 

Two amps, identical, one set up clean, the other on the edge of overdrive. The OD amp is what I use mostly, and I could easily dial in the clean sound for the other songs, but again, backup...  I'm using modified Egnater Rebel 20s, so they are relatively cheap. I've had to swap amps before in the middle of a song. Did it in half of a verse. The band didn't even know, other than, "What happened in the second verse?  Something sounded off..." :)

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Sounds like me exactly.  Hamer Daytona with Lollars strung with NYXLs is my number 1. Fender Strat, modded with Sperzel tuners, Texas Specials, and a VSVG tremolo is my backup. Mesa 5:50 Express + amp with a Rivera Chubster 40 as backup. And, my magic "oh sh*t" bag full of cables, tubes, fuses, bandaids, and other useful stuff. I never seem to use any of the backup stuff.  But I've been in situations where it's all come in handy.

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Two LP-types and one Strat-type, one amp (spare head in the car), couple mics, pedalboard.

Don't use a Strat as much as when I was in the goat-ropin' band, but you can't play Sweet Home Alabama on a Les Paul.

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Two --just one for backup, though I always play it in a couple of songs.

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Spiny Norman used to cover the waterfront in terms of style and material.  So, I'd typically bring 5. :o  A Duotone Custom would cover about 70% of it.  But I'd take a Taylor dreadnought for the stuff that wanted "pure acoustic" stuff, an Eclipse 12 for the 12 string stuff, an Ovation Elite Longneck (built to be tuned to D) for the stuff that Most Esteemed Redhead had settled on weird keys for and something else (usually a Vanguard) to rip on when I'd finally get the opportunity.  Two pedalboards (electric and acoustic, both in the case of the Duotone) only one amp with the PA as a backup.

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Two, with one for backup. I usually don't decide which one I'm going to play until right before we go on and unless there's some problem I'll play it all night. 

I need to get in the habit of carrying an amp backup because I never do. 

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10 minutes ago, Lockbody said:

I need to get in the habit of carrying an amp backup because I never do. 

The Power Block was perfect for this - small, light, nothing to break.

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Three,  used to be five because it looked really cool on stage.  I try to rotate all guitars I have, I play a set for four gigs, then string the next set for use, repeat.

 

Cool Beans

Gene

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I plan on normally taking two. The first gig with be three, because i'm bringing the Pirate Special that night. One Fuchs, with the Marshall class 5 stage left. Pedalboard, then a bag with an extra cable, extra tubes, extra strings, head stock tuner, and two 9v batteries just in case the board goes down. I have a feeling with this gig, i'll ditch the board a few gigs in, but i'm going to at least do it once. ;) 

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Oh! Amp backup, you said? Well, no, I don't have any. I use my main preamp pedal (Tech21 Liverpool) and my treble booster, and I do carry a Digitech RP250 just in case; but if the power amp blowed, I'd be in big trouble. Luckily, those Tech21 Power Engine 60 combos are sturdy --and I don't gig anymore since 2014, so I outta danger anyway. :lol: 

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Most often it's two - gotta have a backup in case of emergency.  Occasionally I'll take three but that's just to have one already tuned to open G or a "looks like" guitar to play for a certain song like my checkerboard Sunburst or Zandard for Cheap Trick stuff or a black Les Paul for Bad Co.

The other guitarist in my band takes an extra amp that either of us can use if we have trouble.

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Usually two guitars. One main and one backup, tuned in D for those songs. Last gig I only bought one guitar. I regreted it on the way there, and was super stressed I would break a string. Always bring a backup. Usually my silver Vanguard P90 for backup.

One old Marshall amp. And pedal board.

And I bring prayers, loads of prayers to the Mighty Thor in Valhalla that the gear won't break - no ghosts in the machine, funny noises, cables that go whack 5 minutes before gig time, pedals that refuses to make sound, strings that break, tubes that suddenly lose contact in their sockets (or just fall out of the combo amp), speaker cables that fall out etc etc. And that my pants won't fall down to my knees during the third song, as I forgot my underwear.

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Amp wise, I always carried a spare Lil Dawg brown Deluxe head in the car....plus I always have a Tech21 TRIAC preamp on hand to run direct if need be...

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Quote

Two guitars, mostly for backup (or feature wise - like needing a trem)...

One amp + cheap backup behind it in case something crazy happens.

Bag with some spare cables and tools and parts and stuff that I pray I never need. That's it.
 

yep, that's it.

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On ‎8‎/‎28‎/‎2017 at 11:47 AM, hamerhead said:

The Power Block was perfect for this - small, light, nothing to break.

I actually traded away my PB because I found an orange micro terror on CL for $30, and while vastly underpowered and feature shy compared to the PB, it just sounds better for rawk guitar (esp since I tend not to use pedals)

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On ‎8‎/‎29‎/‎2017 at 7:15 AM, Disturber said:

tubes that suddenly lose contact in their sockets (or just fall out of the combo amp)

holy shit, that happened to me on a gig I did w/ HHB years ago, 6L6 fell right out of my carr rambler, hit hard on a hard tile floor too, somehow it didn't break!

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