G&L Club Part 3

[krustwell]

love your taste in basses!

Shark's Metal-Flake Madness

 

[NE4TT]

The M-F collection is owned by Shark in Germany.

My favorites are the "Gold Dust Twins", LB100 & ASAT, and the rare Orange SB-2.

jamie

 

[krustwell]

i think i like the red ASAT on the bottom right. it looks like it has binding.

 

[Chef]

Shark: the sparkle king!

 

[NE4TT]

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Good articles. The hardcore G&L fanatics will have a field day.

Jamie

 

[Chef]

The SB1 portion of that article is woefully short, but, at least it doesn't have the errors the Toro article does.

 

[Stranger Danger]

Shark's LB100

That's hot! Whoa!

 

[NE4TT]

The LB100's MOT pick guard really adds to the overall goodness of those Flakes.

jamie

 

[metron]

Wow thats the sparkliest bass collection ever! Im mesmerized the orange sb-2 might be my fav. Wonder what it would look like with tort.

 

[sonicnuance]

I did the bridge mod for the L2500, lowered the action, used roundwounds, eq'd my Audere preamp and balance knobs to favor the bridge pickup and

WOW

the whole band asked "what did you do? It sounds great"

Made my day. I will go on record to say Ken's bridge mod is a big plus!!!

 

[NE4TT]

Ken Baker's L-2500/1505 Bridge Modification Link

 

[chadhargis]

I did the bridge mod on my L-2500 since my big fat TI flat B won't fit through the body, and if it did, the breakover angle would be very bad for it.

Can't say as I notice any difference in how it sounds (of course I went from rounds to flats when I did it), but my G&L is the best sounding bass I've ever played. I love the way it feels, the way it plays, and the way it sounds. It's like it was made for me.

 

[dgce]

I've been playing my G&L ASAT for years. Now I'm about to purchase a U.S. SB-2. I just want to keep things lean, mean, and dead simple and that pretty much nails the SB-2. One beef, no tone knob!

I'm consider ordering this bass with one of these 3 mods:

• 3 knob Jazz style setup - vol/vol/master tone or
• 3 knob - master vol/pan knob with center detent/master tone or
• 2 knob Master vol/tone and 3 position selector switch.

Anybody out there have some experince with these mods? Was it worth it? Any regrets?

Thanks!

 

[sonicnuance]

I did the bridge mod on my L-2500 since my big fat TI flat B won't fit through the body, and if it did, the breakover angle would be very bad for it.

Can't say as I notice any difference in how it sounds (of course I went from rounds to flats when I did it), but my G&L is the best sounding bass I've ever played. I love the way it feels, the way it plays, and the way it sounds. It's like it was made for me.

With flats I didn't notice a difference for some reason. With roundwounds I definitely noticed a difference. YMMV

 

[Ken Baker]

RE: My bridge mod...

You'll find that the difference heard if flats are used is due to the fact that flats, by their very nature, tend to damp vibration. You can get a feel for this if you have a couple basses; one with flats the other with rounds, and you pluck an open string. The bass with the rounds will almost always have a lot better sustain. It's just the nature of the way the strings work.

Where I'm going with this is that native vibration damping from flats will usually outweigh damping attributable to bridge attachment. The bridge mod may help some, and is needed if you top load, but the difference in tone will be slight compared to rounds.

Ken...

 

[Ken Baker]

I've been playing my G&L ASAT for years. Now I'm about to purchase a U.S. SB-2. I just want to keep things lean, mean, and dead simple and that pretty much nails the SB-2. One beef, no tone knob!

I'm consider ordering this bass with one of these 3 mods:

• 3 knob Jazz style setup - vol/vol/master tone

Anybody out there have some experince with these mods? Was it worth it? Any regrets?

I did a V-V-T mod years ago. It was useful to help tame new strings or if I was after a very muffled tone. Other than that, meh. The mod is now gone and the bass is back to its original V-V.

People perceive that a tone knob on a bass is a necessary thing and sometimes it is. Sometimes it isn't though, and my opinion is that this is one of those times.

Be that as it may, have your salesperson call the BBE office in Huntington Beach and inquire about the V-V-T SB-2 with the side jack. You very likely can get your wish.

Ken...

 

[Chef]

Personally, me, on the SB2:
never missed the tone knob.

Cracking them all shut a tad tames everything down nicely.
Using them as a blend is very effective at netting different tones and balances; and those, along with right hand position was plenty for me.

I'd leave it alone and see if you bond with stock before you mod.

 

[kai_ski]

I'd leave it alone and see if you bond with stock before you mod.

Amen.

 

[dgce]

Well the original plan was to order the SB-2 and hang with it for a month or two with the stock vol/vol setup and then see how I felt about it. However, the nearest G&L dealer said the wait for my bass might be between 12-15 weeks! According to him, they'll be building this puppy for me, not just sending over something sitting in a box. If this is the case, then I say have G&L do the mod. If I don't like, I can send it back. In fact the dealer said, they'd keep the bass because they don't have any domestic SB-2s in the shop and I'd get full refund.

I'd rather have G&L do the mod than some local guys after the fact. This is why I feel the need to make the decision now without test driving the stock setup first. I wish I could at least try a stock SB-2, even a Tribute model to at least get an idea. The G&L dearler I'll be working with is an hour away and even he doesn't have anything in the shop. Ugh!

 

[Chef]

There are stocking dealers.
try looking at guitar adoptions.