What's in your gig bag?

[Leon]

I've had this toolbag for probably 15+ years now, and it's been with me to almost every gig I've ever played, except for that first one, where I thought I could get by carrying around my spare cables and stuff in a milk crate

• Spare instrument cables
• Spare speaker cables
• Spare power cables
• Spare patch cables
• Flashlights
• Screw drivers, slotted/philips in a few sizes
• Hex keys
• Heavy duty wire cutters (side cutters)
• String winders
• Multimeter
• Batteries, 9V, AA's, and AAA's
• Spare battery for my Shure wireless
• Leatherman multi-tools
• Spare earplugs for me (Westone)
• Spare earplugs for bandmates (foam)
• Sharpies
• Pens
• Tapes, electrical and masking
• Handful of adapters, XLR-1/4, 1/4-1/8, TRS-2xTS, etc
• SM57
• SM58
• Handheld recorder (Tascam DR-22WL)
• Electrical outlet tester (check grounding, open neutral, etc)
• Spare picks
• Spare strings
• Scissors

...but I'm ultra-boy-scout about this stuff, and like being prepared

Anyone else have something similar? Anything I should add to my kit? You know, for all those gigs that are coming up soon... :erk:

[Budda]

Without looking, my tour toolbox is:

2 20ft cables
2 10ft cables
20ft extension cord
2-4 daisy chain cables
Power bar
Show shoes
Picks
Straplocks
Strings (though may have salvaged)
hockey tape
Speaker cable

[Leon]

Shit, I should add a power-bar-thing to my bag. I have one of those Furman power strips for the floor, the 2x3 one with like a 20' cable on it, but I should get something smaller for backup.

[Leon]

...
Show shoes
...

Also... what?

[Leon]

[Budda]

Also... what?

Black $30 slip-ons. Potentially the least foul-smelling footwear I own .

[Dominic]

Black $30 slip-ons. Potentially the least foul-smelling footwear I own .

I'm so glad this was explained. I've only just started my :coffee: and read "snow shoes", not "show shoes", thinking nothing of it because, ey, Canada, right?!

Similarly, I read "power bar" and thought of this, so heavily advertised in my early-90s cycling mags:


BTW, "What's in your gig bag?" was a regular column in a later-90s guitar mag, and the first time I saw it they were asking Dino Cazares what he had in with his guitars and the one essential item was condoms....

[Leon]

BTW, "What's in your gig bag?" was a regular column in a later-90s guitar mag, and the first time I saw it they were asking Dino Cazares what he had in with his guitars and the one essential item was condoms....

[DonBot]

Apparently I went to gigs extremely unprepared. I had like a multi-tool in a guitar case and maybe some extra strings.

[Adam]

Apparently I went to gigs extremely unprepared. I had like a multi-tool in a guitar case and maybe some extra strings.

Same here! I take spare batteries for my wireless and my battery recharger. Thats been very handy for me

[BornToLooze]

I always had a can of Dexoit and a couple spare leads

[Megametal7]

I don't go past my bedroom so no gigbag is needed lol :p

[Dominic]

Yeah, that'll do instead of

It's quite possible I still have the mag, I'll post it if I find it... #SentencesThatSoundMoreLikeAThreatThanAPromise

I always took masses of kit to gigs, though I'd pare it down if I was travelling mostly by public transport. I used one of the big blue Ikea bags for kit so I could literally throw stuff in there. It was always a terrible rush. The MO on the Bavarian toilet circuit[1] was four-band bills with just a line check between acts and an awful lot of gearsharing. This meant changeovers had to be super quick and we had to be very organised. That was one of the reasons I never used effects, just a tuner and my channel switcher (four/five sounds anyway). I was not, however, willing to go without my wang bar, and often had to go straight to the gig from work, thinking nothing of restringing to prevent breakages, which most folk seemed to think was insane right before a show. So I needed all the kit to do that.

[1]Often really nice youth clubs with pro sound systems actually! Some even had nicer sanitation than many offices I've worked in!

[Bloody_Inferno]

My gig/travel bag is pretty stock standard. Lots of spares of everything: instrument, speaker and midi cables, kettle plugs, multi power boards, flash light, microphone (for vocoder), Ibanez tool, etc. Some extra pedals too: A Keith McMillen 12 Step (though I might get a spare once I rebuild my bass rig), Mythos Susmaryosep (dual OD/Delay pedal in 1), Boss OC3 (main octaver for odd jams where there's no bassist).

Also a Hammerfest 2013 catalogue for some reason...

I usually keep spare strings in the guitar bags/strings, but don't really carry around extra strings unless I tour. If it's just one off gig, I'd have a spare guitar or 2.

[pjr]

Black $30 slip-ons. Potentially the least foul-smelling footwear I own .

Damn, I was hoping you meant some all white thrashers like you used to see on 80s thrash bands.

[Lozek]

Butane powered Soldering Iron for any last minute wiring issues?

[Leon]

DonBot Adam, I must be accident prone, almost every item in my bag is there because at some point it was needed (by someone in the band), and no one had one

BornToLooze Lozek, I'm leary about compressed gasses in the bag, but those are 100% on my bench at home

[Dominic]

Ibanez tool

I appreciate how hard it is to keep up, but it's been "Ormsby tool" for a year or two already...

Damn, I was hoping you meant some all white thrashers like you used to see on 80s thrash bands.

Full-on high-top endorsement deal!