Maybe. But I like pots better than switches, and I also understood that the M has a neck and ergonomics with would work for me better - that's why I'm looking at the M. I sold my L years ago because I have small hands and the neck just wasn't working for me even though I loved the sound. But that was a 1998 or '99 L - I believe they've slimmed it down since then. But my understanding is that the M sill has an easier neck that the L.
I play mostly short scale basses these days but I love a good 5 and I love G&L so I'm trying to find the most comfortable 5 they make (don't want a straight J style)
Maybe I'm mixing up - I think maybe the way it worked was the battery could be dead and it would work, passive, but you had to keep a (dead) battery in there or it was dead, unlike a lot of other active/passive basses that don't need a battery at all in passive mode.
Tnx
You can order any G&L with any neck you want if it's from their American plant. They have quite a few neck options available. They build things like Fender did back in the day, where you order a bass with the neck of your choice. If you shop used you can find some L2000s with Jazz bass style necks on occasion. The ASATs are basically the same control scheme as the L-series but with a Jazz bass neck as standard and a different body style.
If you're looking at Tribute models then the M-series will have the slimmer neck. L-series Tributes necks are MASSIVE. I don't like that massive neck either.
Anyway, on the L2000 it's better to think of the switches as "tone presets". I wouldn't be shifting them around live. It's just a reconfigurable bass. For example, "active mode" would be something like series + preamp ON with treble boost. Keep your knobs cocked half-way back and you have treble boost/cut and bass boost/cut available. There are other configs.
1. Passive + series (P sounds)
2. Passive + parallel (Jazz or Stingray sounds)
3. Active + series (Higher gain P sounds)
4. Active + parallel (Higher gain J or Stingray sounds)
5. Active with treble boost + series (I'd call this "active bass mode", knobs can cut/boost)
6. Active with treble boost + parallel (Very bright and grindy, though you might like it)
Series is your bass boost. Active is your overall flat boost. Active + treble boost is your treble boost effectively. When you engage bass or treble boosting you can cock the associated bass or treble knob back half-way and get boost/cut functionality out of that knob. Otherwise the knobs are always available to cut. The bass knob works even in passive mode to cut your low-end.
The main problem with the M-series is when in passive mode you won't have any EQ controls at all. No tone knob, just a volume and blend. You have three useless knobs. The L-series knobs always work no matter what mode you're in. They're two completely different designs. The M-series is an active bass meant to be played active, the L-series is meant to be reconfigurable and is sort of a hybrid active/passive bass.
All that being said, you could mod a M-2000 to have passive mode available as a fall back for a low battery. Plenty of people do that for emergency situations. Whatever bass you'd likely want just depends on how you view passive mode. Is passive mode a fall-back plan for you? Or is passive mode providing a tone you want? L2000s are for people that want the best of both active and passive designs, but there are some drawbacks like having to rely on the switches. M2000s are for people that favor active designs, and it's easy to add a switch to go passive if you want it for emergency situations.
Ibanez makes some models with slim necks and active/passive modes with a passive tone knob available. Basically your treble knob works as a passive tone knob and an active treble knob depending on whether youre in passive or active mode.
