mcnach

Indeed. With regards to deps... I was with an originals band for just over 10 years, we didn't use deps for that one. The chemistry among us was a big part of the band (which varied between 6-9 members). Sometimes we'd play with one or two members missing, which was not ideal but it still worked as long as the "core 5" were there. But for most other bands there would be someone who could step in if needed. Deps are very useful not just to book gigs when someone is not available, but as insurance against illness, for example. At the moment I only play with 2 bands, plus dep with others occasionally. The main band has a number of deps, for everything except main vocals (we're a 6 piece). They've become part of the band, they just don't play as much as the designated main player.

I'd argue that it was precisely being in multiple bands in different styles that helped me "learn to learn" songs quickly. The only bands I need to spend more time with are the ones playing originals, because the creative process just needs attention unless you just want to play root 8ths. I think that when things don't work is not so much because you're in one or three bands, but because someone is just not being responsible about it and those are trouble regardless how many bands they're in. Committing to a gig and later coming with "oh, I didn't realise that blah blah..." is not going to happen often, it's a 'sackable offence' as far as I am concerned. You just need to find people with your same outlook, like with anything else, really.

If you're in a pro touring busy band that pays your bills, sure. Otherwise... why? I mean, there's nothing wrong with a single band if that's what you want, but it's far from being the only way to do things. I've played in multiple bands for as long as I remember, plus I'm in the dep rota for others. I get to play different styles, originals and covers, and with different people, which is useful besides the obvious networking effect.

Yes, the Behringer MS8000 is quite handy. We've got two of those (each has 8 inputs and 16 outputs) in a little rack case so that we can use one split to our mixer for monitors as usual, and the other split for FOH. https://www.andertons.co.uk/behringer-ultralink-ms8000-splitter-8-channels/

The good news is that when you do find that place, you might find a couple of missing socks and a fiver.

The WS70 works on UHF and yes, there's compression/expansion going on with those systems, typically. I haven't noticed noise with the WS90, 'though. It's true that I do not use overdrive much, but I can't imagine how using overdrive or not could affect the inherent noise of the unit... hmmm.

Indeed. I don't like them for that reason, they seem like a catastrophic accident waiting to happen. I still use them like that sometimes, but... worry. Most times I use a little extension cable, male and one end and female at the other. Male goes into the bass, wireless 'blob' on the other end, and then it goes either to my strap (velcro strip) or my pocket!

No. In general that's not an issue with modern digital units, even the cheaper ones. You may notice it sounding very sligthtly brighter, if you're used to long cable runs, but for the most part is not significantly different from using a cable.

The way I've dealt with a tuner made for a narrower hole than what I've got was by wrapping a few turns of masking tape around the tuner bit. Just until it fits snugly. The screws will ensure it stays solid. It's been ok for quite a few years now.

I've been using the Lekato/Joyo JW-06. It works on the 5.8GHz band. What I really like is that the holder is actually a USB-C rechargeable power pack, which can recharge the transmitter and receiver while in the box. The power pack itself is good for several charging cycles.

I've got a couple of those Two10 speakers, before the impedance switch was offered. The label is as on this one, but both of mine are 4 ohm, not 12. I guess they made the panel to show both, with the idea of covering one of the labels accordingly, but they didn't. Definitely something to check before use.

It looks like somebody got tired of the tolex peeling out. They had some issues in the beginning.

I am pretty sure I'd have had worse. "Little Chef" anybody? That obligatory stop for anybody driving on the motorways in the 90s. It made Tunnocks Tea Cakes seem proper gourmet stuff.

The Link IO looks similar to the iRig, which is only around £30 I think? I had the iRig a few years ago, it did a good job. I've also seen something from TC Helicon called GO Guitar, which is the same idea, but it's £18 on Amazon. You probably won't need any of them, as the Behringer interface should do the job, but if you end up wanting to try that option there are cheaper units than the Fender, which is nice.

Update after some more time passed... BOSS Dual Cube Bass LX... barely gets used after all. It's the loudest and the only one I'd consider from the lot if I wanted to play in the park, and it's fun to just trigger the basic rhythm machine to practice, for timing, but I'm not in love with it. I can EQ it to be more pleasant, but I just can't shake this feeling that even with all FX etc turned off, there's 'something' still going on. Between the unit itself and the bluetooth adapter I could have saved around £300... ah well, now I now. For busking I actually have a QTX QR10, rechargeable battery powered "mini PA" speaker. It's not the best sounding bass amp, but it works well enough, and with a little Zoom unit then you can make this sound pretty nice, and it cost me about 1/3-1/2 of what the Boss cost... and this one IS loud enough for busking with a 7-piece band. Caline S8B is great. Small, rechargeable battery, and it can sound very good. I like the 2-channel thing. It lives on a shelf above my computer monitors, the front-facing controls make it ideal for that. But it's the other two that really see a lot of action these days. The Joyo one was the cheapest, and it sounded quite alright. The one drawback was the lack of bluetooth. It does have an AUX socket, so I got a little rechargeable bluetooth receiver for under £10 and now it's bluetooth-equipped And the Headrush FRFR-GO... I've been using it a lot with guitar and multiFX to provide the sounds. I then found this little M-Vave Tank-G... basic FX, nice selection of amp sims and IR cab sims (it can load 3rd party ones too), it runs on an internal rechargeable battery, which is nice to reduce amount pf cables. I normally use it with a guitar wireless system, so the Headrush is wherever (internal battery), with the Tank-G plugged into it, and I can move around. The Tank-G is around £40, and it acts as a USB interface for recording. So with one little speaker, the Tank-G and a phone/tablet you have a pretty portable practice and recording setup. If I had had access to something like this when I was a teenager, I would probably still not have a girlfriend 😂 (ok, slight exaggeration, but you know what I mean ) edit: oh, I forgot, although the Tank-G is designed for guitar, I made a couple of presets for bass that sound quite good through the FRFR-GO

Yup. Filing the nut slots carefully (don't hurry, take your time) should fix it.