G&L Club Part 7

[Lammchop93]

My most used setting on the Kilo is SC.
I'll use series on occasion for that really meaty tone.
Parallel? Meh.

I remember a while back I plugged it in and thought "why does this sound wrong?"


Looked down, it was in parallel.

SC sounds great. Especially with overdrive. Tons of bite!

 

[dedpool1052]

SC sounds great. Especially with overdrive. Tons of bite!

Yes!
And with a fresh set of strings?
Getouttahere....

 

[Herrick]

technically speaking it takes each pick coil and sends it to the volume put in parallel (side by side), vs series in which one coil's signal passes through the other coil before going to the pot.

tonewize, parallel has less low end and more clarity than series. I just thought it sounded thin and bland.

I see. Thanks for the explanation

 

[jfh2424]

Those interested in MFD JJs should check this out:

 

[chuck65]

Has anyone seen one of the new "Toffee" tints ? I'm starting to think Toffee and Ebony on a custom build in the future. I will be going for a very "Dark" look , thinking maybe the toffee will blend better than a light or vintage satin on an almost Black Bass.
Thanks !

 

[MrB64]

Has anyone seen one of the new "Toffee" tints ? I'm starting to think Toffee and Ebony on a custom build in the future. I will be going for a very "Dark" look , thinking maybe the toffee will blend better than a light or vintage satin on an almost Black Bass.
Thanks !

I didn't see the Toffee finish on the G&L website, either in Custom Shop or Available Finishes.

 

[jglunt]

FYI - that assumption was just confirmed. The MFD J pickups are too tall to fit in a Fender or even in a G&L JB. They have to cut deeper pickup routes, and that's where the Custom Shop gets involved.

A long time ago, I worked in a shop that built both production cabinets and custom cabinets. If I needed to rout something deeper, it took me about 5 seconds to make the adjustment. Now that things are built by machines controlled by computers, it can't be done. Computers have sure made our lives better!

Now if they have to design a whole new JB body to accommodate a deeper rout, I get it, but that's apparently not what they're saying.

 

[RocketMusic]

A long time ago, I worked in a shop that built both production cabinets and custom cabinets. If I needed to rout something deeper, it took me about 5 seconds to make the adjustment. Now that things are built by machines controlled by computers, it can't be done. Computers have sure made our lives better!

Now if they have to design a whole new JB body to accommodate a deeper rout, I get it, but that's apparently not what they're saying.

I think all they're saying is they don't want the factory folks to have to think about it. They're in the mode of simplifying life for them, not adding more options.

 

[RocketMusic]

Or a redneck with a dremel tool/router! Any idea if they'll sell the pickups a la carte?

That's not the impression I got, but give Memo a shout?

 

[User3734584]

They're in the mode of. . . not adding more options.

Which is too bad because the options have always been a big part of the appeal. But, yeah, there were clearly too many options.

 

[arepa_funk]

I have a Kiloton 5 that I got a couple months ago. My other main bass is a G&L LB100. Regarding settings, you will notice the series setting (switch pointed towards the neck) is significantly louder than any other bass you own. This is my favorite setting, but it does drive the front end of my amp harder and pushes into overdrive, sometimes not intended. To correct this, I set my amp to the ideal gain level for my K5 in series, and then if I use another setting or another bass, I have a clean boost pedal I just to bring my input gain to an equal level of the K5 in series.

I also find the single coil setting on the K5 (middle switch position) to sound great. It has more clarity, but does produce some hum since it's single coil. Personally, I am not a fan of the parallel setting, but that's just me!

Another very happy Kiloton 5 player here. I've been neglecting my other "regular rotation" basses because I dig it so much.

Agreed with everything above. Series is massive, so I back off the volume a little, tone maybe 80% off and it's just about perfect. Split is excellent, definitely has some hum but it isn't an issue in a mix. Tone almost fully off there too. If it isn't obvious by now, I rarely go above 50% on the tone pot, but with the parallel setting, I went full on and it sounded really great. Lots of top end, solid bottom but not as beefy as series. Just don't dig it as much as series and split.

My most used setting on the Kilo is SC.
I'll use series on occasion for that really meaty tone.
Parallel? Meh.

I remember a while back I plugged it in and thought "why does this sound wrong?"


Looked down, it was in parallel.

I hear you on that! Tho I'm on series more than split, for now...

 

[Robert Booker]

Agreed with everything above. Series is massive, so I back off the volume a little, tone maybe 80% off and it's just about perfect. Split is excellent, definitely has some hum but it isn't an issue in a mix. Tone almost fully off there too. If it isn't obvious by now, I rarely go above 50% on the tone pot, but with the parallel setting, I went full on and it sounded really great. Lots of top end, solid bottom but not as beefy as series. Just don't dig it as much as series and split.

It seems Kilo players have found some commonality as to what each pickup position has to offer. I've found the same as you and Lammchop93. The clarity and punch are what draws me to the split single coil position as well. I'll oftenuse a clean boost in that mode if or when I need a little more signal hitting the amp as opposed to shifting into series and losing the best of what the split setting gives me. Parallel is not my favorite setting either.

A huge part of my attraction to an MFD pickup has to do with how it's volume setting impacts it's tonal versatility. I like being able to have that choice of using full volume to produce a harder edged tonality or backing off somewhat to rein it back into a more vintage sound. Leo's lifetime of tinkering with pickups produced an almost perfect product for the "tonal tweaker" in all of us. As pickups and massive tonal options go it's a real chameleon.

 

[Hawk600]

Totally agree.
Just got an SB-2 Tribute, and I am amazed how many different tones you can get just tweaking the bridge and neck pickup volumes!
Before receiving the bass I even bought the parts for the tone mod but just found out that it won't be necessary at all as the volume combination does it all.

 

[Holdsg]

truth. many players just dime the controls, which for an SB-2 non-T is like painting with only one tube of color

 

[jglunt]

Totally agree.
Just got an SB-2 Tribute, and I am amazed how many different tones you can get just tweaking the bridge and neck pickup volumes!
Before receiving the bass I even bought the parts for the tone mod but just found out that it won't be necessary at all as the volume combination does it all.

A big part of the reason I bought an SB-2 a few years ago was that it did not have a tone control. I love the idea that I can get an amazing tone out of a bass with no tone control. It's the only bass I know like that except for Carvin's Timothy B. Schmit model, which I don't think is in production anymore. And I don't think it ever had the tonal quality or versatility of the SB-2. The only thing I found that bothered me was that, when I wanted a tonal change, I got a volume change, and it took some tweaking to get to where I wanted to go. Since I sing a lot, amp adjustments aren't always possible. I solved the situation by putting the individual pickup volumes on a concentric pot and routing them to a master volume. It took some experimenting with various values of pots, but I finally found a (somewhat surprising) combination that keeps the true tone of the SB-2 flowing. Here is a rather crudely drawn wiring diagram of that, for anyone interested.

 

[jglunt]

I think all they're saying is they don't want the factory folks to have to think about it. They're in the mode of simplifying life for them, not adding more options.

Yes, I feel for the poor workers who might have to learn something new. They'd have to be treated for PTSD for years. Think of the workmen's comp bills! They'd be scarred for life! What's this world coming to? They should just turn the whole project over to Cort. We would've been buying this model two years ago for $699.

 

[Jfp]

Tale of woe.

I ordered one of the clearance basses from the G&L online store. It was listed as weighing 7 lbs. It's still shown there on the second page of the basses section of the store. It arrived today and turns out that it's not even close to the listed weight, 8 lbs, 11 oz. I've contacted G&L through the website and am waiting to see what they propose as a fix for this screw up.

Needless to say, not a happy camper, and this from someone who currently owns more than a few USA G&L's. The Tribute seems fine other than the weight, but the bait and switch is galling.

 

[ahbass2500]

Tale of woe.
I ordered one of the clearance basses from the G&L online store. It was listed as weighing 7 lbs. It's still shown there on the second page of the basses section of the store. It arrived today and turns out that it's not even close to the listed weight, 8 lbs, 11 oz. I've contacted G&L through the website and am waiting to see what they propose as a fix for this screw up.

I thought 7 lbs seemed unbelievably lightweight for the Tribute Fallout when you posted about buying it. Hopefully they sort it out for you. I have had to contact them twice for issues in the last year and both were eventually resolved (neck issue on clearance US made bass [currently in for warranty repair]; purchased instrument not reflecting 50% discount during the holiday sale mess [gave me a promo code that honored the discount]).

 

[Jfp]

I thought it seemed unbelievably light as well. But there was another one listed at 7.5 lbs so I figured, maybe they had a light batch of poplar. Oh well.

 

[Robert Booker]

I have to wonder if on an SB-2 whether or not a tone control for only the split coil would be useful. That way when you take the bridge pickup out of the mix entirely you have something more akin to an SB-1 yet still have an option roll the bridge in for more tonal choice.