I am ordering an M myself largely based on that video.
I did play a tribby M and I loved it; in fact, it may be better suited to me than my L which I love.
on paper, these M's look great and in reality too-really surprised they aren't more popular.
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I did play a tribby M and I loved it; in fact, it may be better suited to me than my L which I love.
on paper, these M's look great and in reality too-really surprised they aren't more popular.
Seriously. I have become a G&L fanboy over the last six months. I have two at the moment and next i think I'll need an SB-2. Really probably two, one early and one new one. My 2014 L2500 has amazing build quality and is such a great player. Really loving these basses!
I played an M2500 over at Bass Central not too long after they had come out with them. I really liked it but ended up going with a Lakland 55-02. At the time I wanted the 19mm spacing. Fast forward a couple of years and I sold the Lakland to buy my L2500. I don't regret it at all. There is (I think still) a G&L dealer in town but he only ever has guitars with the exception of a Tribute JB2. Really don't want to go back to that guy because hes a real piece of work.
I would love a M2000/2500 of my own, but the only thing keeping me from one is the lack of a passive mode. And since I own a killer L2k, the M just doesn't make much since for me at the moment...
Whatever is in store for Oct, I'm excited about
Sine I may be in the market for another after the new year 
Whatever is in store for Oct, I'm excited about
Sine I may be in the market for another after the new year 
If you do reconsider an SB-2 in the original version, please consider a blend knob vs. the selector switch. ...just my bias.
Edit: Actually, the current Vol/vol configuration works well, IMO (never liked on/off PU switches). The versions I've seen with the tone control on top and side-mounted jack seem like a popular SB-2 enhancement. Thx for listening.
Edit: Actually, the current Vol/vol configuration works well, IMO (never liked on/off PU switches). The versions I've seen with the tone control on top and side-mounted jack seem like a popular SB-2 enhancement. Thx for listening.
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The first gen SB1/SB2 basses were the best 1955 P Basses ever made.
Those coming back would be awfully great.
They brought back the F100 goodness sake. it could happen!
Those coming back would be awfully great.
They brought back the F100 goodness sake. it could happen!
The first gen SB1/SB2 basses were the best 1955 P Basses ever made.
Those coming back would be awfully great.
They brought back the F100 goodness sake. it could happen!
SB-1, agreed.
Being a G&L fan and having started on guitar, an F-100 is on my radar as my "one and only" electric.The first gen SB1/SB2 basses were the best 1955 P Basses ever made.
Those coming back would be awfully great.
They brought back the F100 goodness sake. it could happen!
Regarding the original SB-1s, I've heard the pickups in those were wound hotter than the similar looking single coil you see in 2nd generation SB-2s. Can anyone else confirm/deny this?
Well I think he shot down the original style SB 1 and 2. Would cost too much to recreate the pickup covers.
I wonder if 3D printing could get it done. Hmmmmmm.
I wonder if 3D printing could get it done. Hmmmmmm.
While I can't say about the SB 1 & 2 , i can tell you that my L2KE pups are way hotter than my L2500 pups. I wouldn't be surprised if the same was true.
I think you're getting confused with the humbucker G&L made in the single coil sized format. They're currently making the same sized pickups for the SB2, so conceivably they could wind new pickups and throw them in the existing covers pretty easily.
Darth Invader, do you have an idea when this new model while be revealed? That way, we will know when we will all go even further in debt...
John
John
I had a question too for you guys, I am checking out a JB Bass online that has a "gloss vintage tint" neck option. Is the gloss vintage tint option as sticky and thick as the 80s G&Ls or is it thinner and smoother? I'm not a big fan of the feel of 80s G&L necks is the reason I ask but a thin gloss would probably not bother me as much.
He shot down the El Toro bass. The 1st Gen SB-1/2 pickups are the same size as the bridge pickup on 2nd Gen/current SB-2s.
Haven't had a recent model with a gloss neck, but have an '81 and I get the sticky comment. The early basses were nitro finished compared to poly nowadays. I'd hazard a guess that if a modern glossed neck doesn't bother you, then a new G&L with a gloss neck wouldn't bother you either.
BTW,
that's a nice pair of basses you got there.
An ode to my L2500 Tribute (of sorts). I thought I'd post it here.
I bought it 3 years ago. I sold a (badly in shape) Rick 4001 1975 for it. I don't regret it.
Like many of you, I hesitated between an L or an M. Like many of you, I watched that Ed Friedland Mashup video countless times, some with eyes closed, to assess the instruments. The one local store that held G&L only had an M2000 and a leftie L2000. The latter blew my mind as soon as I plugged it! The power -- there's no other word for it -- of it's pickup signal was such that I'd never experienced before. It was like a sharp vibration hitting not only your guts (an instrument that doesn't hit your guts doesn't qualify as a bass). But the signal made my guts crawl up and take control of the reptilian part of my brains... For a bass to "cut through the mix", I believe it needs just that.
To stay on the electricity...
The L2500 is pure signal. That's what won it for me over the M2500. Both are beautifully made instruments (I'll expand on that in a bit). But there lies a fundamental difference in the pickup architectures. One centres on a great preamp. A really great one! But the other instrument centres on the pickups themselves.
The L2500 gives you pure juice. A clear, strong signal from beautifully engineered pickups. (So strong that it can damage some of your equipment, such as pedals, if you're not careful.) Then it gives you the switches and knobs to exploit it fully and freely. But on your own. It doesn't warm up or colour anything for you at all. You do the work of making that instrument sing, growl, attack, sneak or follow... You can do it all, but it won't do it for you.
As for the wood... (This is where the L2500 and the M2500 compare.)
I imagine that I'm not the only musician to do this. I like to play my bass "unconsciously" sometimes. For example, I'll sit on the couch watching TV mindlessly with my unplugged bass, which I fiddle half-consciously. (I've stumbled upon a few great riffs like that.) The first time that I did that with my L2500, something else happened. I'd never before "heard" an unplugged bass that way. That thing vibrates so much that you can feel through your body if you're hitting the right tonality! That thing vibrates hard, like the whole instrument wants to sing what you play. Almost as if the electric part of it was secondary.
That, for me, was an other argument in favour of the L2500's forthright electric architecture. Let the wood sing!
So in short: I love it, I love it, I love it.
I bought it 3 years ago. I sold a (badly in shape) Rick 4001 1975 for it. I don't regret it.
Like many of you, I hesitated between an L or an M. Like many of you, I watched that Ed Friedland Mashup video countless times, some with eyes closed, to assess the instruments. The one local store that held G&L only had an M2000 and a leftie L2000. The latter blew my mind as soon as I plugged it! The power -- there's no other word for it -- of it's pickup signal was such that I'd never experienced before. It was like a sharp vibration hitting not only your guts (an instrument that doesn't hit your guts doesn't qualify as a bass). But the signal made my guts crawl up and take control of the reptilian part of my brains... For a bass to "cut through the mix", I believe it needs just that.
To stay on the electricity...
The L2500 is pure signal. That's what won it for me over the M2500. Both are beautifully made instruments (I'll expand on that in a bit). But there lies a fundamental difference in the pickup architectures. One centres on a great preamp. A really great one! But the other instrument centres on the pickups themselves.
The L2500 gives you pure juice. A clear, strong signal from beautifully engineered pickups. (So strong that it can damage some of your equipment, such as pedals, if you're not careful.) Then it gives you the switches and knobs to exploit it fully and freely. But on your own. It doesn't warm up or colour anything for you at all. You do the work of making that instrument sing, growl, attack, sneak or follow... You can do it all, but it won't do it for you.
As for the wood... (This is where the L2500 and the M2500 compare.)
I imagine that I'm not the only musician to do this. I like to play my bass "unconsciously" sometimes. For example, I'll sit on the couch watching TV mindlessly with my unplugged bass, which I fiddle half-consciously. (I've stumbled upon a few great riffs like that.) The first time that I did that with my L2500, something else happened. I'd never before "heard" an unplugged bass that way. That thing vibrates so much that you can feel through your body if you're hitting the right tonality! That thing vibrates hard, like the whole instrument wants to sing what you play. Almost as if the electric part of it was secondary.
That, for me, was an other argument in favour of the L2500's forthright electric architecture. Let the wood sing!
So in short: I love it, I love it, I love it.
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The SB-1 has a more aggressive mid range bite and sounds a tad louder, the LB is more traditional sounding but yet sounds more aggressive to me than any Fender P Bass I've played in recent memory. They both are great P Basses, if you have an opportunity to buy one, don't hesitate!
