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G&L Club Part 7

#33,321
Another signs of trouble/decrease in quality for G&L, perhaps:

I ordered a USA L series preamp a month before G&L closed down, wanting to upgrade my Tribute L2K to USA specs.
I didn't inspect the preamp I got closely, since the upgrade is on the backburner, but I looked at it a few days ago and here's what's what:

1.jpg


The pots that came with the preamp are not the USA solid shaft as was described, but split shaft with brass sleeves:

2.jpg


3.jpg


Bass pot (1 meg reverse audio) Mighty Mite branding:

4.jpg


I get that 1Meg reverse audio pots are rare and could see them using the same pots for both Tribute and USA basses, but how hard (expensive) was it to get some solid shaft 250K pots for volume and treble controls?

I'm thinking of maybe doing a no preamp mod since I never use the preamp and always have the battery out anyways, but I'm still on the fence about it.
 
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#33,325
mouthmw said:
Another signs of trouble/decrease in quality for G&L, perhaps:

I ordered a USA L series preamp a month before G&L closed down, wanting to upgrade my Tribute L2K to USA specs.
I didn't inspect the preamp I got closely, since the upgrade is on the backburner, but I looked at it a few days ago and here's what's what:

View attachment 7360618

The pots that came with the preamp are not the USA solid shaft as was described, but split shaft with brass sleeves:

View attachment 7360619

View attachment 7360620

Bass pot (1 meg reverse audio) Mighty Mite branding:

View attachment 7360621

I get that 1Meg reverse audio pots are rare and could see them using the same pots for both Tribute and USA basses, but how hard (expensive) was it to get some solid shaft 250K pots for volume and treble controls?

I'm thinking of maybe doing a no preamp mod since I never use the preamp and always have the battery out anyways, but I'm still on the fence about it.
Click to expand...
They've been selling the Tribute PCB (white board w/5% carbon resistors) in the G&L Store as a "USA Preamp" for a few years. I'm pretty sure the pots that were supplied a few years ago were still the USA-correct solid shaft pots, but the PCB was off-shore. It looks like they finally went to fully off-shore for all the preamps components sold in the store. I'd be curious to know what they were putting in the USA basses toward the end.

The differences could be measured with test equipment, but you won't likely hear any difference under normal circumstances. The USA preamps had 1% metal-film resistors, which have slightly less noise, but nothing that would be immediately detectable to a human ear. Possibly in the best studio with the best AD/DA, etc., in isolation, would you hear it, but certainly not with anything else going on.
 
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#33,326
lowfreqgeek said:
They've been selling the Tribute PCB (white board w/5% carbon resistors) in the G&L Store as a "USA Preamp" for a few years. I'm pretty sure the pots that were supplied a few years ago were still the USA-correct solid shaft pots, but the PCB was off-shore. It looks like they finally went to fully off-shore for all the preamps components sold in the store. I'd be curious to know what they were putting in the USA basses toward the end.

The differences could be measured with test equipment, but you won't likely hear any difference under normal circumstances. The USA preamps had 1% metal-film resistors, which have slightly less noise, but nothing that would be immediately detectable to a human ear. Possibly in the best studio with the best AD/DA, etc., in isolation, would you hear it, but certainly not with anything else going on.
Click to expand...
Well, for what it's worth, I'm always in passive mode (with battery out) anyways. Probably even less of a difference for my case.
 
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#33,327
www.ocregister.com

G&L, Leo Fender’s last Orange County guitar company, has shut down

G&L Musical Instruments, which made guitars, basses and other gear on Fender Avenue in Fullerton since 1980, quietly closed down last month.
www.ocregister.com www.ocregister.com

OC locals!!

Dumpsters full of pickups and bridges?!

Holy moly!!


guitar.com

Legendary Leo Fender-founded guitar brand G&L reportedly shutting down – with Fender acquiring its intellectual property

Over the past few weeks, reports have surfaced suggesting that G&L – the guitar company Leo Fender co-founded in 1979 – may be in the middle of a quiet but complete shutdown.
guitar.com guitar.com

Looks like MIRC , Reverb, and eBay will be awash in parts.

Fender & Reverb partners with MIRC for a Fender refurbishing "certified used" program.

Fender bought G&L's IP and Leo's name.

Damn man if I wasn't in the middle of moving I'd go by and load a box truck with stuff!!

MIRC
https://reverb.com/news/7-things-yo...os-app&utm_medium=ios-share&utm_campaign=blog


And as I predicted: the mclarens have also seemingly closed down BBE also
 
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#33,328
lowfreqgeek said:
They've been selling the Tribute PCB (white board w/5% carbon resistors) in the G&L Store as a "USA Preamp" for a few years. I'm pretty sure the pots that were supplied a few years ago were still the USA-correct solid shaft pots, but the PCB was off-shore. It looks like they finally went to fully off-shore for all the preamps components sold in the store. I'd be curious to know what they were putting in the USA basses toward the end.

The differences could be measured with test equipment, but you won't likely hear any difference under normal circumstances. The USA preamps had 1% metal-film resistors, which have slightly less noise, but nothing that would be immediately detectable to a human ear. Possibly in the best studio with the best AD/DA, etc., in isolation, would you hear it, but certainly not with anything else going on.
Click to expand...
Yeah, former G&L custom shop builder pretty much confirmed this on Reddit:

"I don't know who made the preamp dude.

We wound the pickups in house, but we aren't had wiring point-to-point style on those tiny preamps. Those are obviously going to be outsourced, and I'm sure Cort probably did produce them for us given the relationship with them for the Tribute instruments. It's not that great of a preamp. There are far better ones out there.

Also, we didn't even use CTS at the factory. Haven't for a long time. We got pots from whatever supplier hadn't cut us off at the time for overextending our credit. As much as I would have preferred we use CTS, we bought components from literally any supplier we could find that didn't have us cut off, which wasn't many. The McLarens were not well respected by suppliers. Infamous is the word I would use."

The electronics and hardware have probably been made overseas for, I dunno, a decade (tuners made by Ping started around 2015, no longer Schallers).
 
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#33,329
If it was discussed already in this thread I missed it... Boscoe is coming out with a G&L Preamp board. Screw terminals. Looks like a solid option for anyone who needs a replacement.
www.boscoemusic.com

Menu - GLL2K Manual

Thank you for your recent purchase of a Boscoe GLL2K preamp! This is a replica of the latest bass preamp (v1.3) used in G&L L•1500, L•1505, L•2000, L•2500, ASAT, and Climax basses. Each preamp has been individually tested before shipping and should be a drop-in replacement for the preamp on newer
www.boscoemusic.com www.boscoemusic.com
 
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#33,330
Just been having a look at who's still got brand new G&L stock. Greg at Rocket Music has just one, a black/black/maple alder LB-100; Upfront again just one, a sunburst Kiloton; Sweetwater have three - two JBs and a CS Kiloton 5; Drumcity Guitar Land, though, have masses of almost overly-interesting stock, including lots of CS - a 5-string Matador, an MFD Matador, a semi-hollow Fallout, a lefty MFD JB, a lefty JB5, an ASAT with a Rosewood-top body....

G&Lbassrosewood1.jpg
 
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#33,331
Only a week until the locked Bassesbyleo forum is due to vanish from sight. If you've been wanting to download any diagrams etc, it's now or never

edit: HANG ABOUT ... sorry, I didn't notice that Ken had added another paragraph:

November 2025: G&L has apparently closed up shop. No email, no call, no text to give me a heads up. Found out from an OC Register piece. This forum will remain available in Read Only mode for the time being. I am aware that the GuitarsByLeo domain, where the 6 stringers live, is company owned. The hosting for that forum is, I believe, being paid month to month. If Craig needs anything, he know how to get in touch.

 
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#33,337
I'm just speculating, but if MIRC is choosing to reimburse certain RMAs instead of repair, those instruments likely had neck or trussrod issues that MIRC isn't in a position to replace. It seems that most, if not all, G&L trussrod issues were resolved by replacing the neck entirely. If MIRC isn't capable of building new G&L necks, what else can they do?

Now if I had to have one of my 4-string necks repaired, the best option would be a new Musikraft neck, but they don't do G&L 5-string necks. They do 4-string and guitar necks, though. I would hope they offered to return the instrument and let me decide how to proceed.
 
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#33,338
mouthmw said:
.../...
The electronics and hardware have probably been made overseas for, I dunno, a decade (tuners made by Ping started around 2015, no longer Schallers).
Click to expand...
My 1997 L-2500 Custom, tuners made by Schaller...

1762688710848.jpeg


My 2017 BTO Kiloton-5, tuners made by (whoever!)...

1762688866793.png


My 2016 JB-5 (BTO?), same tuner design/supplier as above...
The D-string tuner had developped an horrific buzz where the paddle joins the shaft, the repair was uneasy...

1762689292027.png
 
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