G&L Club Part 7

[Jim C]

Tell me about the BT mod. I gather a stacked, active treble/bass control.
Do you have to route the cavity much for either the electronics or a battery?
Do you mostly use it as a treble cut control and is it all that much different than adding a passive tone control on these basses?
And to think I was happy with what I had...

 

[dedpool1052]

I'll offer a different take on this, WRT the SB-2T.

With the tone control dimed, and pickups set at a lower volume, say 75% or lower (depending on blend) there was a *softening" of the high-end/attack.
I found the tone control worked best, at repeating this effect, with the pickups set at a higher volume.

I should add, that having a tone control, works well in replicating an effect in one direction (volumes up, softer highs) but not the other (volumes down, maintaining highs)

 

[Holdsg]

Made a change in my collection.
Swapped out my L-2500 for this modded L-5500. Will meet my needs just a bit better for my Modern Country bass. A bit sweeter tone out of the Nordstrand Big Splits (which happen to be my favorite soap bars ever) and this one came with the Nordy 3 band eq with switchable mids, and was Plek'd. Not a typical G&L, but perfect for my needs.

 

[Spidey2112]

Newly acquired '97 Brunswick SB-2 with EMG BT mod. It's good.

View attachment 4356068 View attachment 4356069

So nice!

 

[metron]

Tell me about the BT mod. I gather a stacked, active treble/bass control.
Do you have to route the cavity much for either the electronics or a battery?
Do you mostly use it as a treble cut control and is it all that much different than adding a passive tone control on these basses?
And to think I was happy with what I had...

I thought for sure it would have routes but no. They just had to shave the edges to get the square board in there. Its one of these:

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Heres the before pics. I cleaned it all up after this pic but left the coltrols as they are. The only thing I would like is an on/off switch for the pre.

 

[Hardbassjunkie]

Here is a good reference

Allen Wrench Sizes

Thank you

 

[Hardbassjunkie]

Nice!!!

Is the one the right a lighter monkey pod or is it a darker looking natural finish? Either way, it's beautiful.

thank you and I think it's natural finish

 

[jglunt]

Newly acquired '97 Brunswick SB-2 with EMG BT mod. It's good.

I was considering doing something similar to my SB-2, but I decided on another experiment first. I ran the individual pickup volumes to a concentric 250kA pot, then ran that signal to one of the original 250kA pots as a master volume. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I prefer a bass with a master volume so I thought I'd try it. Turns out it sounds great, and it still only uses the original two places for pots--no routing at all. If that experiment didn't work, the EMG preamp was going to be my next step, but I was going to keep the concentric pot for my volumes. That way I'd end up with two concentric pots. If you think you might want knobs for that concentric pot that closely match the original G&L knobs, here are a couple links:

Set Dual Concentric Stacked Control Knobs for Electric Guitar or Bass, Chrome 790518266608 | eBay

Chrome Stacked Dual Control Knob Concentric Set with set screw | eBay

 

[Hardbassjunkie]

Hi there!

may I join the club?

View attachment 4355947

since getting the USA, I thought I'd sell the tribute, however I am having troubles letting it go haha. Besides having a spare, what can I do with the tribute that will give me something the USA doesn't give me? For example putting flat wounds on the tribute. Has anyone here done that ? If so, how did it sound?

 

[ahbass2500]

since getting the USA, I thought I'd sell the tribute, however I am having troubles letting it go haha. Besides having a spare, what can I do with the tribute that will give me something the USA doesn't give me? For example putting flat wounds on the tribute. Has anyone here done that ? If so, how did it sound?

I run TI Jazz Flats on my L2500. It mellows the MFDs out in a good way. Prior to trying flats on the L2500, I would generally run round wounds on it changing them at most once a year, so that they would be good and dead most of the time. This may or may not fit what you are after, but for me the Jazz Flats were a perfect match for the bass.

 

[Hardbassjunkie]

I run TI Jazz Flats on my L2500. It mellows the MFDs out in a good way. Prior to trying flats on the L2500, I would generally run round wounds on it changing them at most once a year, so that they would be good and dead most of the time. This may or may not fit what you are after, but for me the Jazz Flats were a perfect match for the bass.

ti jazz flats are really nice! My local store happens to have them too, however hey are like $100 cad haha. Might have to bite the bullet.

 

[dave64o]

My L-2500 isn't a Tribute, but I've had flats (D'Addario Chromes) on it for a while. Like ahadl2500 said above, I think they mellow out the MFDs in a good way. But both of those flats have more mids and highs than a typical flat, which may be part of the reason they sound so good on that bass.

I recently tried GHS Precision Flats on it and they don't sound bad, but I think they mellowed the bass too much. I just bought another set of Chromes to put back on it.

 

[jfh2424]

since getting the USA, I thought I'd sell the tribute, however I am having troubles letting it go haha. Besides having a spare, what can I do with the tribute that will give me something the USA doesn't give me? For example putting flat wounds on the tribute. Has anyone here done that ? If so, how did it sound?

There's several Trib owners here, in case you are interested G&L TRIBUTE Club #1

 

[Murch]

since getting the USA, I thought I'd sell the tribute, however I am having troubles letting it go haha. Besides having a spare, what can I do with the tribute that will give me something the USA doesn't give me? For example putting flat wounds on the tribute. Has anyone here done that ? If so, how did it sound?

I've got flatwounds on both of my L-2000s, DR Legends on one, LaBella DTF 760FL on the other. I really like the sound and feel of both.

 

[Hardbassjunkie]

Another question: I was adjusting the relief and I noticed the truss rod is completely resting on the bottom the whole. It still turns but you gotta use more force then usual.

Should I fix this? Is there a way to fix it?

 

[metron]

I was considering doing something similar to my SB-2, but I decided on another experiment first. I ran the individual pickup volumes to a concentric 250kA pot, then ran that signal to one of the original 250kA pots as a master volume. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I prefer a bass with a master volume so I thought I'd try it. Turns out it sounds great, and it still only uses the original two places for pots--no routing at all. If that experiment didn't work, the EMG preamp was going to be my next step, but I was going to keep the concentric pot for my volumes. That way I'd end up with two concentric pots. If you think you might want knobs for that concentric pot that closely match the original G&L knobs, here are a couple links:

Set Dual Concentric Stacked Control Knobs for Electric Guitar or Bass, Chrome 790518266608 | eBay

Chrome Stacked Dual Control Knob Concentric Set with set screw | eBay

Thank you for that! I do plan to get some chrome dome replacements and those are a great match.

That seems like a good solution to add a master. You could even take it a step further and change the master vol to a concentric for master and tone. The mod in mine was done well enough so Ill probably either leave it as is, or change to vvt at some point if I end up hating the pre.

 

[bonin in the boneyard]

since getting the USA, I thought I'd sell the tribute, however I am having troubles letting it go haha. Besides having a spare, what can I do with the tribute that will give me something the USA doesn't give me? For example putting flat wounds on the tribute. Has anyone here done that ? If so, how did it sound?

I have had TI flats on my L2k before and they're great. Chromes are really good too and less $.

L2ks are ripe for modding. Single-coil mode, to me, sounds better than the stock modes. Someday, long from now when I have free time again, I plan to take out the preamp and use the space for more coil switching; maybe front coil, back coil, parallel for each pickup individually.

 

[bonin in the boneyard]

Another question: I was adjusting the relief and I noticed the truss rod is completely resting on the bottom the whole. It still turns but you gotta use more force then usual.

Should I fix this? Is there a way to fix it?

View attachment 4356947

Mine looks the same, but I think I've only adjusted the truss rod maybe once in six years, so I haven't thought about doing anything about it. My particular neck just doesn't move.

 

[TomB]

Another question: I was adjusting the relief and I noticed the truss rod is completely resting on the bottom the whole. It still turns but you gotta use more force then usual.

Should I fix this? Is there a way to fix it?

View attachment 4356947

G&L had a run of these in the mid-2000's. They can be a pain to fit the wrench and adjust, but it should be ok once you seat it properly - a little stiff maybe.

 

[jglunt]

That seems like a good solution to add a master. You could even take it a step further and change the master vol to a concentric for master and tone. The mod in mine was done well enough so Ill probably either leave it as is, or change to vvt at some point if I end up hating the pre.

Unlike many players, I've never been too excited about a passive tone control. On the many passive basses I've owned over the years, I just turned it up all the way and played. So a bass like the SB-2 was made for me. I put one of the EMG active EQs into a Tribute JB-2 I have. I really love it in that bass, but it has alnico pickups in it. I've never tried it in a bass with MFDs, but I imagine it's incredible. And your bass is beautiful, too. Win/Win.