G&L SB-2 (Second Generation)

My model is a 2013 USA-made one with swamp ash body and rosewood fretboard. It was in basically new condition, doesn't look like it was removed from the case.

Construction quality is excellent. I can't find any flaws. Fit and finish is excellent. I'm extremely impressed with the necks on these. It's fast, can take low action, and even if you slam the strings it doesn't buzz.

I personally like the sound, but I could see that being subjective. This bass has output similar to an active bass, but it's totally passive. The pickups can be harsh and are really, really loud if you don't dial the volume back a little.

I don't think it's fair to say this bass is "less versatile" than a P-bass. It's more like a P-bass on steroids. My take on it is you are suppose to favor the P pickup and the J pickup volume IS your tone knob. It's a bass for P-bass players that don't typically roll their tone below half way and would like having a bit more top-end to be available as needed.

You can get a surprising array of tones with this bass just with two volumes.

So far I've tried :

1. 80% P pickup -> Vintagey Precision with tone @ 5-7
2. 100% P pickup -> Hot, biting Precision
3. 100% P 80% J -> My favorite, sounds like a P with more punch
4. 100% P 100% J -> Cops a hot Jazz sound
5. 80% P 85% J -> Cops a vintagey Jazz sound
6. 80% P 100% K -> Really biting with a little low-end support
7. 100% J -> Not that useful, too harsh

I have 2 early 90s SB-2s and love them both. They have the 1.5" rosewood neck. I also have 2 1st Gen SB-2s and it's a tough call which ones I like better. Both generations are great with the better finish on the 2nd generation. Some folks don't like the "only" 2 volume controls with no tone control, but I think Leo designed these that way for a reason. I can get all the tones I need out of balancing the 2 pickup volumes. Granted, I use it for Pop an alt. rock primarily. They stay in tune forever and have a great bridge for setting up the action just the way you want it. For this sound the SB-2 MFDs rule. I haven't found anything I like better. I have a hard time chosing between the gen 1 and gen 2s, but it's great to have a choice, and usually the old ones win by a hair.

According to G&L's serial number archive, my SB2 was made in 1993. The fit and finish of this bass is superb, and feels like a nicely broken-in baseball glove in my hands.

When I first got it, I tried to turn it into something that it’s not: a Jazz-sounding bass. I tried soloing the bridge pickup so that it can sound somewhat like a Jazz, but with no success. If anything, the bridge pickup is more for tonal control.

However, once I’ve accepted the SB2 for the Precision-like vibe that it brings, I began to love it. As everybody have mentioned, the split-coil is the primary pickup, and the tone it produces carry a lot of girth, including the ones produced by the G string. This bass doesn't give you many choices in terms of tonal variety, but it cuts through with authority in a band setting. If your guitarist suffers from questionable self-esteem, you may want to warn him about the force that this bass produces.

Mine is a early 90's SB-2 with maple fretboard, 1 ½” at the nut jazz type neck that is not too skinny and not fat at all, nice and fast. It has the Blue Swirl finish that kind of looks like a bowling ball an black-white-black 3-layer pick guard. It is absolutely cool looking and fun to play. It has some kind of lightweight aluminum turners and this thing must weight under 8 LBS.

No tone control one volume knob for each pickup. It has one P-style neck pickup (in looks only) and one bridge pickup that is like an oversized jazz pickup or small soap bar. They are G&L MFD’s. The sound of this bass with these pickups is really its own sound. If you are expecting it to cover a Fender P-Bass and/or Jazz Bass it’s not really there to me. These pickups are so hot they have more output then one of my active basses and I always plug it into the active channel. Some swear they can cover those sounds but it just doesn’t to my ears. The sounds it does cover are best complemented by a good amplifier. I have to say I don’t care for the raw sound of this bass without the color that amp and speakers add. To me direct, flat with no pre or post color or EQ it sounds very harsh and lacks warmth. When you are playing through an amp though this bass aggressively drives the amp and puts an interesting edge on your sound. Because the pick ups are so hot the full range of the volume controls are usable creating a different tone spectrum with the combination of what volume is set at between the two pickups. The closest thing to a Fender I could get was a sort of P-bass sound achieved by having the treble pickup on 0 and the neck on 2 or 3. So unlike a lot of other basses where I never use the volume at less than 5 this bass has a smooth cleaner sound from 2-5 and it starts getting aggressive little by little from there up. At 10, depending on the amp, the sound is mids-out-front and ballsy, if that means anything to you. The bass sounds good but it is its own sound. All in all it’s a great bass, and the raves some give it are warranted if that’s what your after, but it comes down to personal preference.

I loved my SB2, except really would have preferred a vol/tone/3 way switch setup to the 2 vol setup. Also, the single coil jazz style pickup doesn't come in a stacked option and it is not a standard size. The pickups sound good, but you better like them hot. A really great value bass IMO.

I remember starting out with a Tobias Growler (mid 90's model) and the neck twisted. When I took the bass back for repair, I noticed the G&L. I traded the Growler for it and I'll never look back.

I love the fact that this bass doesn't have a ton of knobs all over it and no battery is necessary. With the Alder body, this bass has a ton of midrange punch and clarity. Without an amp, it sounds hot.

The neck and bridge adjustability allows you to dial in low action without excessive buzz. The neck has a tilt pin at the base of the neck where it sits in the body.

This bass is well worth a try out, even if you don't buy it, it's worth a look and test drive!

I love my G&L SB2 I often use it with both pickups wide open and adjust the volume on the amp. This bass with the both pickups all the way up produces almost exactly the same tone Duff MCkagan gets for G&R with his early 80's Jazz Bass Specials that he uses. I like to use Duffs tone for alot of modern rock. And I think the SB2 nails that bright punchy PJ tone, and alot of others quite well. You just have to spend some time adjusting your 2 volumes to get what u want.

I've had a number of SB-2s and they were all good and a superb value - a US-made bass with G&L MFD pickups and hardware for $380-$515 used.

Tonally although the SB-2 is a P-J bass, it's not your father's P-J bass. The split-coil MFD pickup designed by Leo Fender at G&L produces more low end, more growl, more clarity and more highs than a traditional split-coil pickup. It has a tendency to snarl very easily and has a throaty quality to the sound.

The J pickup does not have anywhere near the same output level of the P pickup (the P pickup has more output than many active systems). As a result without drastic pickup adjustments it can get lost. Leo's original design intent was the volume level on the J pickup would act as the "tone" control. And adding the J pickup does add additional bite and texture to the sound.

Flats can tame the aggressive tendencies of the SB-2 to some extent but they don't completely subdue it.

Physically the body is slightly more contoured than a "standard" P-style body. The standard neck for many years was the #6, G&L's take on a vintage-style jazz neck.

The controls are only two volumes and that's the weakness. The SB-2 sound can be harsh and very "present". Without a tone control, this cannot be reined in at the bass - it has to be done somewhere else in the signal chain. Many folks have done various modifications to the electronics to add a tone control (one popular mod is to make both controls stacked volume & tone).

While it does not have the sonic flexibility of the more popular G&L L-2000 you can tell from the sound that they are in the same family. If simplicity is more important than producing lots of different sounds, and the sounds the SB-2 puts out are what you are after it cannot be beat. Particularly for the price that used US SB-2s go for.