Switched to series last night at practice!

[wyleeboxer]

Ok, I've been playing my L2000 for over a month now and have kept it in parallel, passive, bridge pup only mode with some pretty good success... It sounds great for funk and the upper register octave stuff. But I found it lacked the overall deep bass frequencies and the in the gut punch. Tried both pups “on” mode b/f, but was a bit too muddy for me? So last night I switch too series in passive and bridge pup only mode. Wow, sounds more like a bass again but is now was lacking the punch and articulation from the high strings and upper register octaves stuff. Is this the trade off? I tried boosting the highs on my amp but just got more clack from the frets, then I was boosting the mids but never had enough time to experiment with it b/f practice ended. Any tips out there on to keep the new found deep bass tone from the series mode but get some more articulation with the G and D strings?

[jimmy rocket]

where are you running your levels on the bass itself? Many of us have found that the "wide open" approach doesn't give you the most balanced sound that these L2ks can produce. You might try rolling off the vol to 85% and rolling back the bass control in series.

My personal favorite is vol 90% Treb 85% Bass 85% Both pups, parallel, passive (or active really)

[Ken Baker]

Originally Posted by wyleeboxer

Ok, I've been playing my L2000 for over a month now and have kept it in parallel, passive, bridge pup only mode with some pretty good success... It sounds great for funk and the upper register octave stuff. But I found it lacked the overall deep bass frequencies and the in the gut punch.

Mr. Rocket is correct. To that let me add some food for thought:

In the case of the L-2000/ASAT/L-2500, the bottom end on the neck pickup can be overpowering, which requires lowering the pickup. The bottom end with only the bridge pickup will sound notably thin. It's all about pickup location. Do note that the G&L bridge pickup is closer to the bridge than on a MusicMan bass, which will make it sound a bit thin in comparison.

In most cases, vibrating wave nodes excepted but particularly for the lower registers, there is more relative string movement near the neck pickup than the bridge pickup. More relative movement creates more electricity in the coils which equates to a stronger signal.

All this means that if you want a huge bottom with your L-2000, you really need to be using that neck pickup.

Ken...

[wyleeboxer]

Good stuff guys, thanks! I will say Im not looking for huge bottom but more balance... I liked what the series mode did for the low end but need to get back some of the articulation and snap from the lost high notes or octaves? Im trying not to over EQ my amp (Nemesis RS 115 combo and 115 ext cab) either with a bunch of mids, highs, etc.. Ill try to roll off a the vol, bass, highs or lower the neck pup a bit to see if that does the trick? Its just so hard to experiment without being in the studio for practice and I would like to get the sound down obviously b/f a show..

I would also like to ask, doesnt just lowering the pre-amp input level essentially do the same thing as rolling off the volume on the bass? Ive got it set on the pre where the clip lite is just flickering.

[jimmy rocket]

Originally Posted by wyleeboxer

I would also like to ask, doesnt just lowering the pre-amp input level essentially do the same thing as rolling off the volume on the bass? Ive got it set on the pre where the clip lite is just flickering.

Sort of, but not exactly. When you're running it in passive mode, theoretically you're running your unaltered signal to the preamp of your amp. So in this case, lowering the input level is essentially rolling off the vol, except that the MFD humbuckers are some serious Mofos and they put out a hotter signal than your average Jazz bass. Rolling off the on-board vol helps to attenuate this signal before your preamp.

In active mode you're essentially running a preamp into a preamp into a power amp, and you've got to do the dance between those two preamp levels. Also, you've still got the aforementioned MFDs to deal with.

In either case the onboard vol control has an effect on your overall signal, and therefor tone.

[wyleeboxer]

Originally Posted by jimmy rocket

Sort of, but not exactly. When you're running it in passive mode, theoretically you're running your unaltered signal to the preamp of your amp. So in this case, lowering the input level is essentially rolling off the vol, except that the MFD humbuckers are some serious Mofos and they put out a hotter signal than your average Jazz bass. Rolling off the on-board vol helps to attenuate this signal before your preamp.

In active mode you're essentially running a preamp into a preamp into a power amp, and you've got to do the dance between those two preamp levels. Also, you've still got the aforementioned MFDs to deal with.

In either case the onboard vol control has an effect on your overall signal, and therefor tone.

So rolling off the volume on the bass actually alters the tone and not just the output level.. is it sort of balancing out lows and highs giving you a more controlled "even" tone?

[metron]

Originally Posted by wyleeboxer

So rolling off the volume on the bass actually alters the tone and not just the output level.. is it sort of balancing out lows and highs giving you a more controlled "even" tone?

Eh... not quite. I wouldn't say it dramatically alters tone. I would best describe turning the volume down as generally mellowing out the tone.

[jimmy rocket]

Originally Posted by metron

Eh... not quite. I wouldn't say it dramatically alters tone. I would best describe turning the volume down as generally mellowing out the tone.

Yeah, that's about right. It just attenuates the signal a bit so that you're not overpowering your preamp.

[sunbeast]

Try lowering the pickup and raising the polepieces on just one coil (acts kinda like a single coil pickup, but without the hum)- thats my new trick to getting a bit more clarity/articulation with my L2000. Lowering the pickups in general seems to help alot, so you may then find it possible to use both pickups or just the neck pickup. I generally leave both the treble and bass controls at less than 50% and still have plenty punch and articulation.

Karl

[metron]

Originally Posted by jimmy rocket

Yeah, that's about right. It just attenuates the signal a bit so that you're not overpowering your preamp.

I agree. As a side not I think some folks might get the impresssion that this is unique to G&L because of all the talk about volume settings on G&Ls lately. It has the same effect on any bass I have played because I believe the difference comes from the input of whatever you are plugged into. It's just that G&Ls on 10 hit preamps so hard the effect is more dramatic than say an average Fender.

[metron]

Originally Posted by sunbeast

Try lowering the pickup and raising the polepieces on just one coil (acts kinda like a single coil pickup, but without the hum)- thats my new trick to getting a bit more clarity/articulation with my L2000. Lowering the pickups in general seems to help alot, so you may then find it possible to use both pickups or just the neck pickup. I generally leave both the treble and bass controls at less than 50% and still have plenty punch and articulation.

Karl

Hey whats up Karl! I want to try your polepiece idea. Which coils do you raise the poles on? Also do you have your pickups set to the same height relative to the bottom of the strings?

[wyleeboxer]

I tried last night A/Bing Bridge pup, passive, parrallel and Bridge pup, passive, series through my Tascam bass trainer and a small practice amp. When I rolled off the bass knob about 20% in series mode it seems to make a big difference in bringing the D and G strings back to life? I hope this works live with the band for next weeks show b/c Im really diggin' the lows and meat from the series mode!

[spideyjg]

Originally Posted by metron

Hey whats up Karl! I want to try your polepiece idea. Which coils do you raise the poles on? Also do you have your pickups set to the same height relative to the bottom of the strings?

No point retyping it all, See this thread and the linked one on BABP.

Jim

[sunbeast]

My idea is a bit different, in that I leave the pickups parallel with the strings (when fretting at the last fret) and screwed fairly low into the body (I used to always have them up as high as possible without pulling notes out of tune!), and just raise the polepieces on one coil of each pickup by around 1/8"- like so....


I chose the inner coils, because I wired this bass to incorporate a single coil setting, and chose the inner coils for that setting. I came about the polepiece thing as I was really fighting trying to get the clarity out of this bass that my Darkstar-equipped Jazz bass has, and the single coil mod on its own wasn't really doing it (a little too polite/dull sounding to me). Humbuckers naturally sound duller because any signal shared between the 2 coils gets cancelled out (or "bucked" ) along with the hum, and the higher harmonics are the most obvious loss. Raising the polepieces so much on one coil seems to imbalance the output between the coils enough that you don't lose (as much of) those higher harmonics (but still humbucking- kinda similar idea to the "dummy" coil under the pickguard used on Musicman basses with the single coil neck pickup)- but it still changes the character of the mids and lows depending on whether the coils are in series or parallel with each other. In other words- it did what I was aiming for! And don't even get me started on "single coil with bass boost"!

Karl

[Chef]

Wow!
I couldn't raise mine that high, I'd be beating the strings into them!
I do the "lower one side of the pickup, raise the other side's poles jes-a-lil."

This is where I wish G&L would go to "blend" instead "pickup selector toggle."

That way, you could have "mostly bridge pickup, with a little neck pickup."

[metron]

Originally Posted by sunbeast

And don't even get me started on "single coil with bass boost"!

Karl

Sooo what are yout thoughts on single coil with bass boost?

[Chef]

It rulz.

(I need an umlaut for the u there, ain't got one tho)

[idoru]

Originally Posted by metron

Sooo what are yout thoughts on single coil with bass boost?

Seriously - I'd like to know too. Are you saying this arrangement makes it even better? Which coil has the cap on it, the one with raised poles or t'other?

c-

[sunbeast]

As far as hitting the polepieces with the strings- the polepieces are still between 3/32 and 1/8" away from the strings when fretted at the last fret- which is a pretty common distance for pickup height, and is pretty close to where I had my pickups (not just the poles) set previously. I can hit the poles if I try, but I play pretty hard and have yet to hit them in practice (it would require pretty much mashing the string down hard against the fretboard first!). String tension would definitely play into that though.

I tried all manner of adjusting the pickups before messing with the poles, and wasn't able to find this noticeable of an effect with any of my other experiments. While angling the pickup will have a similar effect in theory, there simply isn't the range of adjustment available to get such a large imbalance in the coils responses like this (which I'm sure is not something that everybody would find pleasant anyway- it just worked for me and I felt related to the original topic).

and kinda off topic, but...

Originally Posted by metron

Sooo what are yout thoughts on single coil with bass boost?

Well...since you asked....

I personally think its "the cheese"!

It is to me the perfect passive solution to getting the clarity of a single coil mated with the girth of a humbucker. Normal series setting for side-by-side humbuckers (especially on the G&Ls) tends to accentuate the midrange a little too much for me while rolling off the high end- the result being a really "honky" and dull kind of tone. By cutting the treble from one coil, there is none of that treble harmonic cancellation from the 2 coils sharing similar frequencies, but there is still a touch of that accentuated midrange that keeps it growly- so you get the whole package- clear highs, growly mids and deep lows (at least to my ears!).

Fender was a genius with so many of his designs, but "single coil with bass boost" is one that really sticks out for me because of all its many possible applications. I've borrowed the idea for 2 other instruments as well- My Darkstar'd Jazz and my ASAT Special guitar. The only difference being that instead of side-by-side coils in one pickup, both of these instruments have 2 single coil pickups- so I added a switch that puts the 2 pickups in series (simialr to the S1 switching in some Fender Jazz basses) with a capacitor bleeding the highs out of the neck pickup (using a .1uf cap in the bass and a selectable .047 or .022uf cap in the guitar). In the Jazz, this setting is just massive- really fills out the mids, which are generally kinda flat in the Darkstars (not scooped- but just less accentuated than with alot of pickups), while adding this huge "cushion" to the lows and retaining the sweet clarity in the highs from the bridge pickup! In the guitar, it changes the stock "tele-like" twang to a full on (but still sparkly sounding) humbucker tone.

Anyways- I love it! While on the subject, I wish that passive bass cut was a more widely used idea as well- It may not be as neccesary in alot of instruments, but I recently added that circuit to the Darkstar'd Jazz and it really opened up alot of possibilities as well!

Karl

[Chef]

I concur with both of these, 100%, and I'm thinking of adding the passvie bass cut to my Lakland HB...

Originally Posted by sunbeast

I personally think its "the cheese"!

It is to me the perfect passive solution to getting the clarity of a single coil mated with the girth of a humbucker.

Anyways- I love it! While on the subject, I wish that passive bass cut was a more widely used idea as well- It may not be as neccesary in alot of instruments, but I recently added that circuit to the Darkstar'd Jazz and it really opened up alot of possibilities as well!

Karl