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Which is which: Lakland, Squier, L-2000, Sterling, Bongo soundclips

G

GassieBall

Oct 15, 2006
1,300
30
#1
I was fascinated when some people thought a souped-up active Squier sounded like a Lakland and vice versa in THIS THREAD. Some people were curious as to how the Squier would sound passive. Personally, I didn't like the Audere as it seemed to take away from some high-mid detail. It sounded a little wooly/muffled.

So here is the new Pepsi vs. Coke vs. Dr. Pepper, etc. challenge:

The basses are (in no particular order):

BONGO: EBMM Bongo HH, both pickups, EQ flat
L-2000: US G&L L-2000, both pickups, single coil, passive
SQUIER: Squier VM 70's Jazz with Basslines SJB-2, both pickups wide open
LAKLAND: Lakland Skyline DJ4 both pickups wide open
STERLING: EBMM Sterling HS, both pickups, EQ flat

THIS THREAD
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All recordings were from the bass straight into a PreSonus FireBox into a Mac with Garageband. No effects/processing. Strings are DR Sunbeams. All are quite fresh except for the Bongo (two months old, not played much at all, sitting in hard shell case).

I guess the point of this is not to say bass X is better than bass Y, but rather to ask the question if a bass that we think has a particular signature tone is really that distinguishable from another. Does it really matter or make a difference?
 
#6
I'm not so shure on the Bongo, stingray, g&l files. I don't have a lot of experience with theze basses.

But here it goes:

A: Squier
B: G&L
C: Lakland
D: Bongo
E: Sterling

I really love these kind of threads. The last one was easier.
 
#8
Great point about the strings. All of the strings are DR Sunbeams. All quite fresh save for the Bongo (whichever clip that may be) whose strings are a couple months old but have not been played on much.
 
#9
A: Sterling
B: Bongo
C: Lakland
D: G&L
E: Squier

That's my guess... played through my stock laptop speakers, so really how accurate is that?

My Fav tone is between A & C... though none of them really have the tone of how I play, so it's tough to say for sure how I would sound through the mix of them.

B sounded way too thin.
E was lifeless
D was warm on the brink of muddy
 
#11
I could not possibly identify those individual basses, but here is my take:
A) very full and dynamic, my favorite
B) zingy and thin
C) similar to A, but weaker
D) a bit compressed sounding
E) warm and not very dynamic

I like A the most. It is a little bright, but could sound nice with a little bit of treble rolled off. I will be interested to see how the signature sound of these basses matches up with my opinions. Hopefully there will be some surprises.
 
#16
Oh shoot, I forgot to explain why I put the G&L in that setting. I have a pseudo-custom G&L with a single coil mod from the factory. The original intent of my other thread with the Squier vs. the Lakland was to see if people could tell the difference, so I wanted to add another similar Jazz tone to the mix. I think if I had put the G&L in double-humbucking, series, active, it would be much more of a give away.
 

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