So I am hoping that my new band, Stanley Lighthead, starts playing out within the next couple of months. It's an instrumental jazz rock trio - guitar, bass, drums - lots of groove, improvisation and solos. I'm supposed to be contacting a few places but have been procrastinating. But that's not why I am starting this thread.
This is the first time I've been playing regularly in a LONG time - it's been nice because I've been able to put some instruments through their paces that I was never able to before. Vintage, I've used the Guild M-85 II fretless, the Gibson Les Paul Triumph; new instruments were the Fender Duck Dunn Signature and MIJ "'70s P-Bass" with Alembic Activator pickups. I love the basses with flats (Guild, Triumph & Duck Dunn), but if we are going to play an entire set then I think I want a bass strung with rounds. So it's either the Fender '70s or another bass, my 5-string Alembic Stanley Clarke. The Alembic seems ideal, since I can get a wide range of sounds out of it, plus it has the high C string because I have to solo a lot in this band. But it's super heavy. So I was originally thinking I would take the Fender '70s as a backup, since it also has Alembic electronics.
But then I thought, maybe I could switch basses partway through the set and play a flatwound strung bass. So I'm thinking I might take the Duck Dunn out as the backup. That way for some songs I can switch to a long scale bass (the Stanley Clarke is about 30") with flats for a different feel. Or I could do the Fender '70s as the main instrument, and trade off with the Triumph - that one has the 24 frets which are fun to try and use, and since it's short scale it might offer a nice contrast.
But I'm also trying to keep things simple, so maybe just one bass?
Or maybe it's going to sound too jarring switching? I wouldn't want to switch song by song - I could see using one for five songs, the other for a few more, then back to the first one. Anyone have experience with switching basses during a set or thoughts on the topic? Or just tell your own story!