Awesome bass(es)! Do you know the year on that one? Lots of custom options yet it's a three bolt so mid '90s or older. Very interesting.
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Awesome bass(es)! Do you know the year on that one? Lots of custom options yet it's a three bolt so mid '90s or older. Very interesting.
That sounds familiar. To further muddle things, I have a less than clear recollection that the L1500 pickup has had two distinct positions over time, or at least that there are some generational differences. I'm pretty sure L1000 & L2000 pickup positions have never moved. In any case, the MFD is a strong enough flavor that I'd expect differences to be subtle among them (run passive). ...happy to hear if otherwise, though.
Yep afaik the L1000 and L2000 pickups have always been in the same spot. Well... except for that weird prototype L2000 from the early 80s G&L ad where the pickups are both closer to the neck.
Actually I never heard the L1500 pup position changed but maybe. I think of the models as the Kiloton and L1500 are from one branch of the G&L family while the L2000 is on another and would expect the KT and L1500 to both have timbre differences when compared to the L2000 bridge pup. Probably subtle though.
The original small batch of L-1500s did have the pickup located right where the bridge pickup of an L-2000 is. It moved to the current position pretty quickly. Current position is roughly where the bridge-side coils on the 1500 are in the same location as the neck-side coils of the bridge pickup on the 2000.
Edited to add photos. Note the spacing between the bridge and the pickup; look at the alignment to the knobs. Both of these were mine at one point.
There are also differences in the circuit that affect it. L-1500 and K-ton use smaller caps on the tone knob, don't include the loading cap that brings the resonant frequency of the pickup down, and the 1500 has that crazy treble boost thing going on in the preamp. All will make the 1500/K-ton sound a bit different (IMO) to the 2000...
Edited to add photos. Note the spacing between the bridge and the pickup; look at the alignment to the knobs. Both of these were mine at one point.
There are also differences in the circuit that affect it. L-1500 and K-ton use smaller caps on the tone knob, don't include the loading cap that brings the resonant frequency of the pickup down, and the 1500 has that crazy treble boost thing going on in the preamp. All will make the 1500/K-ton sound a bit different (IMO) to the 2000...
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The M2x00 have a pickup blend instead of a pickup selector (drawing by Paul Gagon). The volume pot is part of the PCB.No, but I seriously considered swapping out the pickup selector switch for a blend knob on my L-2500. ...sold it instead. I'm just not a fan of pickup selector switches, I guess. I hope that's not heresy on this thread. Vol / vol / tone would work for me too. I'll bet both have been done.
On my now sold M2500, I added two parallel/SC/series mini-toggle switches (2 x DPDT on-on-on), one for each PU, to give it the same tone functionnalities (and even more) as on a L2x00. In addition to the blend function.
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I've never been so satisfied with a bass prior to finding my L-2000. However, the idea is quite interesting. Reversible, too!
Only deal is, if I like what I hear, it'll put Jeannette (Jazz Bass build in my sig) out of a job, and I've already sunk about $650 into her. Only $200 or so to go, too...
That's interesting, and might explain why my first L-1500 (a '98) was unpleasantly harsh sounding. I'm going by memory, but pretty sure it had the pickup closer to the bridge than the later version.
My current L-1500 (an '02) has the pickup more toward the neck, which may explain why it sounds great even in treble boost mode. Aggressive sounding, but still manageable.
I wonder if there was a production error for the initial batch of L-1500s, with routs mistakenly made in the L-2000 bridge pickup position. I've only seen a couple of pics of L-1500s like that. I suspect there were very few.
My thoughts too, I did call them to check back when I bought the first one used around 2007. They told me they were meant to be that way...
Following my post #6364 above, this is what @TorBass did on his M2000 Tribute. His high-res picture is self-explaining (thank to him). I did the same on my MIA M2500. It adds the parallel/outer single coil/series options to the design that otherwise is parallel only. And the PU blend function works as before.
Two DPDT on-on-on mini toggle switches to manage the two pickups separately, that obviously can be replaced by a single 4PDT on-on-on switch to manage the 2 PUs together from one switch.
The wire colors may differ on MIA and Tribute basses.
Two DPDT on-on-on mini toggle switches to manage the two pickups separately, that obviously can be replaced by a single 4PDT on-on-on switch to manage the 2 PUs together from one switch.
The wire colors may differ on MIA and Tribute basses.
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My experience with a Climax was similar to that of the raspy sounding L-1500 ('98) that didn't work for me. My Climax was a very harsh and unruly sounding bass even with flats on it. The Climax had a different control set up than the L-1500, vis a vis the toggle switches, but it's been almost 15 years since I owned them, so I can't recall off hand what the difference was.
This is the only surviving pic of my Climax. Not a good angle to tell exactly where the pickup is placed. I'll post it anyway just for kicks. Note the uncommon Goldburst finish.
A somewhat related aside;
The '98 L-1500 that I mentioned earlier, in addition to sounding like a chain saw, its pre amp was insanely noisy. Like really buzzy.
I contacted a guy called "Memo" at G&L about the noise. He said they had a bad batch of pre amps around that time, so he sent me an updated op-amp chip. After I replaced the chip, the extraneous noise went away, but the overall harsh sound remained.
They are very few...
@Templar Your Climax and 3 L-series + 28 guitars in the registry
and this ASAT Bass (Reverb):
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They are very few...
@Templar Your Climax and 3 L-series + 28 guitars in the registry
and this ASAT Bass (Reverb):
View attachment 2862789
Yeah, in the late 80's and 90's G&L offered a lot of different finish options. Many are seldom seen, and some were only available for short periods, while still others were Ltd Edition offerings.
A Metallic Redburst SB-2 (2nd gen) fell into my lap once. I don't think I've seen another since.
I'd love to see a complete list of every G&L finish ever offered. I think we'd be surprised at the sheer number of them, and we might see a few for the first time. It's also possible that some were offered, but none were ever built.
Can't remember if it was posted before, but Paul Gagon goes over the electronic differences between the Climax/L-1500 and L-2000 to explain why they're so much brighter/harsher, and goes on to explain how to tame them.
BassesByLeo • View topic - The Taming of the Climax/L-1500 Bass
