G&L L-2000

After the P, the J, the MM, Leo created the G&L L2K. Some say it's his best, some say he did it right the first time. Personally, I'd put the L2K in the MM ballpark, but add some more mids. Build quality is great, weight can inch up so you'll want to check before you buy. My only complaint is the truss rod access. Really wish they would use a wheel truss rod access at the body.

I've had 6 G&L L-2000s over the years and they have all been excellent basses. However for whatever reason they never seem to stay with me (but you could say that about just about everything I buy).


The MFD pickups have tons of output and tons of tone. Massive low end and growl with an overall aggressive character. The low end can be overwhelming in series mode without appropriate eq. Leo designed the pickups to put out a lot of low and highs so the passive eq would provide all the necessary flexibility.


Series has massive low end and more subdued, P-bass like highs. Some folks find it too much and unwieldy. Parallel is more J-like and adds top end bite and better balance.


Passive is more vintage-ey and not as harsh/up-front (not that these basses are ever subdued). Active increases the focus and presence of the sound and I personally never used active plus treble boost as it was just too much.


I love the feel of a G&L with jazz-like neck (G&L's #6 neck) and all the L2Ks I had (mostly recent, one '87) were fine on weight - under 10lbs.


The drawbacks, for me, were that the lows can be overwhelming. It can be difficult, particularly in series mode, to get good low-to-high balance out of your sound. And while it can cut through a mix with the best of basses my preferred tone (series, neck pickup) was difficult to get balanced enough to get the D & G strings to punch through a pair of half stacks the same way the lower strings did.


Also the lack of a blend means you can't just add a touch of bridge pickup, or favor the bridge pickup just a hair. It may result in "purer" tone to not have the blend pot there but I know I would have liked it.


I've had enough L2Ks that the controls are second nature to me now. But I remember my first encounter with an L2500 (same bass, 5 strings) in a store. I couldn't find a sound I liked in a short time of playing with it because of the complexity.


Well made, comfortable and the pinnacle of Leo's bass design evolution. A lot of people who try them never go back to anything else. But then again they leave a lot of people cold too.

I have L2000 from the first year of its production 1981. Maple neck and transparent red ash body. My bass is very heavy, heaviest bass I've ever owned. Beside this, I love it and it is my weapon of choice.

It has literally tons of punch. This bass is a monster steroid MF. I love it for tons of bottom and clear audible treble, not artificial like in Music Man.

When I bought the bass it was already over 30 year old and it wasnt lying in the case because somebody was playing this bastard a lot.

Neck has a perfect feeling for me. Wide ,thin but very solid. The only thing is that I need to change frets, because they are really worn now.I will work on electronic shielding because its noisy.

I've had many basses in past Fenders, Music Man's etc. But this bass has tons of definition, thick/fat tone with great power and natural sound.

I play since 15 years, I play jazzcorish stuff.