In response to the bass player question...I don't think The Beach Boys have EVER had an above average bass player on stage. The fact that they found Bruce's bass playing acceptable in 1965 is enough proof of how little they cared about it. Now that being said, Brian Wilson has written some of the greatest bass lines to grace popular recordings...but that has nothing to do with the bass guitar as an instrument, that is purely based on harmony.
So in recent years? One certainly doesn't stand out over the other. The only virtuosic players to grace Mike's band in the past twenty years have been Totten & Cowsill. We'll never see Mike cast them aside. The operation would crumble instantly.
The bass playing on The In Concert album is above average. Ed Carter was above average on the bass. So was Blondie. Bruce is also better than you give him credit for.
I always wondered why Ed departed from the band in the 90s. He definitely seemed like an excellent musician who had played with them for decades, and I never heard about any interpersonal problems with anyone else.