BigRedX

I'm 62. I don't actually walk because I'm also responsible for bringing all the additional gear that is our "drummer" and "second synth player", but if I didn't have to bring that I'd just be taking my bass, Helix and a few leads which is an easy carry for the 20 minute walk into the city centre for rehearsals and local gigs.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but IIRC you said the bass sound was fine when you drove your IEMs direct bypassing the desk, so therefore AFAICS the problem looks like it is driver error by whoever is working the mixer. Download yourself a copy of the manual so that you can understand what you are being told when you ask to see the signal path from the bass guitar input on the desk to the output for your IEMs. I suspect that there is either a problem with the gain structure or you have additional processing being applied that is required for the FoH sound but is not needed for your monitor mix.

These days these is no reason to play in London with all the additional associated hassle unless you already have a decent following there who are guaranteed to turn out, or you are offered to chance to support someone well-known whose fans are also going to like your band.

Regarding the plastic/rubber on Hercules stands going sticky (and eventually breaking), this is a manufacturing defect and Hercules should replace any stands that exhibit these symptoms with new versions that don't have this problem. They replaced 4 for me some years back. IIRC their UK distributor is Strings & Things so get in touch with them.

Any Line6 Helix or HX device. IMO you don't need amp/cab sims. For most of my bass sounds I just have a compression, EQ and drive (plus delay and/or chorus if required) and then straight into the PA.

Unless you want a single switch option of having the sound of the V&T controls on full (from whatever position they are currently in) you can achieve this simply by having normal volume and tone controls and a switch that takes them completely out of the circuit and connects the "hot" lead from the pickup directly to the output jack. For this I'd use a DP switch and disconnect the V&T controls at both ends.

IIRC you can buy spare parts for everything that K&M make.

What are you trying to do? 1. Emulate the sound of having no volume or tone controls when the V&T pots are on full? or, 2. Emulate the sound of having the volume and tone controls on full but with no actual controls?

I still think you need to post some examples of what you consider to be clean. Lots of what I always thought were clean bass sounds turned out to have at least a degree of drive to them once all the other instruments had been stripped away. Thos isolated bass tracks on YouTube are certainly an ear opener.

It's always been this way. Do the best mix you can live, record to multi-track and the same time and remix for future broadcast. About 10 years ago a friend of mine decided to go 100% analogue in his studio and purchased a 24-track reel-to-reel machine along with a load of second-hand 2" tape. The tapes were all ex-BBC and contained multi-track recordings of various live bands from a wide variety of BBC programmes.

Interesting that we are still obsessing over gear that makes zero contribution to what can be heard either FoH or in your living room. Even if there is a mic on that cab it will be one (or maybe two) driver(s) close-mic'd which is nothing like the sound of the whole cab from a couple of feet away. It's just a glorified stage prop.

I'd be wary of cutting into the surround at the front of the case as this provides much of the structural integrity. It would probably be OK for a static set up but not as good if you intend to move this around. If you do, I would suggest drilling the smallest holes required to get a cable through when fitted with a protective grommet (you will absolutely need these protective grommets), and space them out evenly across to front to avoid having a single large weak spot. That will mean you will need to add one set of plugs after you've threaded the cables through the holes. However since this will be fairly permanent you can get away with much thinner installation cables rather than the standard chunky microphone or instrument cables. And remember to fit the lids before attempting to move this rack as this will help prevent the case becoming distorted. For the rest of this I can't really help other than to say read the manuals carefully to check the operating levels of the various inputs and outputs. I would check that you definitely need more than two separate headphone mixes, as this would allow you to get rid of the Behringer headphone amp and the problem of drilling holes in the case and replace it with a headphone splitter attached direct to one of the interface headphone outputs.

Interesting about the new springs being too big. I suspect this may be due to the Squier having a slightly thinner body compared with the Fender models. I found that this was the case with my Squier VMJ when I tried to fit a John East J-Retro pre-amp and discovered that the control cavity was too shallow and I had to very carefully route an additional 1.5mm depth in order for it to fit properly without shorting on the shielding. I would suggest measuring the overall body and vibrato cavity thicknesses and see if you can do the same just where the spring fits without compromising the structure of the body. I'd be interested in knowing how you get on with these new springs. On both the Bass VIs I have with vibrato mechanisms, the heavier strings and increased break angles have rendered them too stiff to operate easily. Also have you tried adjusting the pickup heights to compensate for the volume differences between the different pickups? I had to adjust all of mine when I shimmed the neck. However I also use a bit of compression and drive on all my sounds along with using different pickups with very different effects combinations, so any differences in basic volume for each pickup are not really noticeable.

IME bass guitars require a degree of dirt to make them sit properly in most band mixes. The first time I heard a selection of isolated bass guitar tracks from classic songs I was surprised by just how much drive/distortion they had on them even though in the mix I had always thought that they sounded clean. These days the main reason for having a "clean" bass amp is that you want to apply a specific drive sound to the bass using some other device and don't want the sound of the amp to interfere with that, and TBH in that case you are probably best off with either an FRFR or going direct into the PA. Maybe if the OP could supply some examples of what they consider to be a classic "clean" bass sound that would help?

IIRC my Squier VMJ bass was a very snug fit in both the Hiscox standard bass cases I had at the time. However the cases were all supplied with padding specific to the instruments I got them with (Gus G3 bass and FretKing Esprit Guitar), so a generic standard bass case might be different.

The only way I will go to any kind of festival is if I was playing, and be there only while I was playing.

I have one bass and a spare for each of the two bands I play in. I play completely different bases for each band (5-string for one and Bass VI for the other) and there is very little crossover between the two. At a pinch I could use the Bass VI for both bands but it wouldn't be a pleasant playing experience for the band where I use the 5-string. My two 5-string basses are essentially identical both being Gus G3s, but I tend to use the red one because it looks better on stage. My bass VIs are completely different which is a bit of problem, as I use the Eastwood Hooky most of the time, and it's backup - a Burns Barracuda - has much tighter string spacing. I intend to rectify this by selling the Burns and buying another Hooky as soon as funds allow.

If there are more than 4 Snapshots available in a Preset but you don't have access to footswitches for more than 4 of them on the device, you should be able to get around this using MIDI messages and a suitable MIDI foot controller. I don't know about the HX Effects, but on the Helix Floor MIDI CC69 is used to access Snapshots within a Preset with a value 000 for Snapshot 1, 001 for Snapshot 2 and so on. I use this function to gain access to Snapshots 5-8 on the Helix Floor without needing the change my switch assignment from Snapshots 1-4 on the lower row and a full bank of Presets on the top row. However I do all my Preset and Snapshot selection from the computer that plays back our drums and second synth backing, so I can't give you any advice on a suitable foot controller. However have a look at the spec for the Behringer FCB1010 which seems to have a good selection of features.

I went to "folk guitar" evening classes for 3 years when I started playing at the age of 13. The first year was pretty much useless as my £10 catalogue guitar was virtually unplayable and I didn't really find the songs we were learning very inspirational. However during the summer I got hold of The Beatles Complete songbook and something clicked and I went almost overnight from being unable to play anything to being able to competently strum my way through all the songs in the book that I knew. The following two years of evening classes were also pretty much a waste of time from a learning PoV since I found I was now by far the best player in the class (that's not saying much), but I went with a couple of school friends who would end up being my first band so for me it was mostly a social thing. Since that first year I have taught myself everything I have needed in order to be able to play guitar, bass and synth, by reading about it, by watching and asking others in the various bands I've been in, or simply by figuring it out myself by trial and error. I'm still pretty average technically, but I'm good enough to be able to play the sort of music I want to play, and most things I want to do that aren't within immediate technical reach can be achieved by practice. I have enough "theory" in order to know what notes ought to work best in a given place in a piece of music, and know what most of the dots mean on a score even if I can't decipher it fast enough to be able to sight read.

I get a lift off our synth player - he lives less than 10 minutes drive from me. Between the two of us we own all the gear the band need to play or rehearse. If I just needed to bring the gear I play (bass, Helix plus leads) I'd either walk or get the bus for rehearsals and local gigs. For out of town gigs the whole band plus our roadie/merch seller and all our gear fit in the synth player's car.

No. I disagree completely. We're musicians. As I said the music should be the most important thing. The fact that it was never even mentioned in the OP is enough for me to be worried. If you think the music is utterly irrelevant I wouldn't want to have you in my band either.

My first encounter with Sleaford Mods was when they played an all-day "festival" at a local music venue. They were lower down on the bill than the band I was in at the time, and IIRC they played to a mostly empty room. My recollection of the gig was that it was interesting for a couple of numbers but that was it. Personally I couldn't really see the attraction of a fairly incomprehensible shouty bloke and his mate checking his email (but that's just my musical taste). The point is that there was a time when most of the audience at their gigs wasn't that bothered, and they would do well to remember that.

What is it you want out of being in a band? An outlet for your artistic expression? An extra £50 a week? Simply the chance to get out of the house for an evening? Where do you live? In a large town or city with a vibrant music scene, or somewhere out in the sticks, miles from any venues and rehearsal rooms? What kind of music do you want to play - originals or covers? and what genre(s)? and if it's originals do you need to have a major creative input? What can you bring to the band other than a bass guitar and (hopefully) the ability to play it? Only once you have answered all those questions can you start to look for the right band for you. Interestingly in the descriptions of the bands in the OP, absolutely nothing was said about the music each was playing. Reading between the lines I'll assume that the first was originals and the third covers but I still don't know what genres. But that says to me that the OP is lacking in musical direction. As someone from the other side of the audition process, a lack of musical direction is nearly always a massive problem, because the musician won't be sufficiently focused on the specific music the band want to play. For me the music always comes first and I'll worry about the other things afterwards - that's what the audition is for you are auditioning the band as much as the band is auditioning you. From my own perspective, I've never had a problem either finding a suitable band or finding suitable musicians to form one. While I live in a decent sized city, it's not really on a par with others for well-known musical talent, I'm quite picky about the sort of music I want to play and I'm at best of very average technical ability, but none of these things have been a obstacle for me. However IME as a musician you need to be aware of the music scene in your locality and in particular amongst the kinds of bands that you would like to be the bassist for. It is my experience that most bands like to stick with people they know, but that can just as easily be the bloke who come to all their gigs as well as the bassist that one of the band has worked with in the past. For the two bands I currently play in, I knew one of them from having shared a couple of gigs with them in my Terrortone days, and having enjoyed their set was following them on Facebook so I saw when they advertised for a bass player. I probably wasn't the most technically proficient bassist they auditioned, but the band knew who I was, and in turn I knew about the kind of music they were playing the direction they were talking about taking the band. The other band I found by placing an ad on JMB where I was very specific about the kind of music I wanted to play and the level of commitment I was looking for in a band. It took almost a year before anyone got in touch, but they were exactly the sort of band I wanted to join, and unsurprisingly I was exactly the sort of band member they wanted.

Minging.

And if the flow of the set on stage is important to you, I'd also suggest that unless your two basses are very similar, that you do at least the occasional rehearsal just using the "spare" so you can be confident that you can dial in any EQ and gain changes it might require and that you can play everything in the set using it. For one of my bands I play Bass VI and my main bass is an Eastwood Hooky (Shergold copy) and the backup is a Burns Barracuda. The Burns has much narrower string spacing than the Eastwood, and for that reason is a lot more challenging to play. Until I can afford to replace the Burns with another Eastwood, I make sure that I can play everything to a suitable standard on it even if it's just a play-along to the drum track at home once a month.