BigRedX

Or anything that isn't perfectly symmetrical at the bottom. Hercules AGS stands for me.

If I was on a proper holiday, I would like to think that it was interesting enough for me to not bother with the internet for a week or two.

For me the important thing is that the audience enjoy it. I do plenty of gigs, so if as a band we do't play brilliantly at one, then if it's an actual problem and just not an "off night" we can fix it at rehearsal and then next gig is likely to be great. However most of the time for the audience the first impression is the one the counts - our next gig will probably be in a completely different part of the country - so if they didn't enjoy we'll probably not get given another chance. IME most audience members don't pickup on all the problems that musicians seem to obsess over when they play, so unless someone makes a mistake so bad that it causes the song to grind to a halt less than 60 seconds after it has begun, don't worry about it, carry on as if nothing happened and look like you are having fun (unless like me you play in a goth band, in which case carry on staring moodily at the audience). If the audience has had a good time, they are more likely to buy something of the merch table (which is where originals bands make most of their money) and when you do play another gig in that town they are likely to come back to see you and maybe bring some more friends. That's what counts.

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.