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G&L Club Part 7

#7,641
Kriegs said:
Hi fellow G&L fans,

I have an L-2500 and was thinking how great it would be if I could adjust the mix of my neck and bridge pick up like I can on my P/J style basses. I don't want to just have the pup selector switch which only allows neck/ both/ bridge. I want to have the added bonus of, when using both pups, to be able to control the blend more precisely. This would enable me to, for example:
  • Create a pup mix of 75% neck and 25% bridge to get a nice rumbly tone with just a bit of bite to push my amp into OD or
  • Flip those settings (25%neck/ 75% bridge) and do some really dirty stuff with a bit of boom to back it up or
  • Crank them both to 100% for that full on L2500 sound drool

What I'm considering is splitting the volume from a single pot to a 'stacked' or inner knob/ outer ring style pot (the real name is escaping my addled brain right now, :help:) so I can (for example) have the outer ring control the bridge pup volume and the inner knob control the neck pup volume. I'm trying to avoid drilling & mounting a 4th pot.

Has anyone done anything like this on their own? I'm no electronics whiz but I can do simple wiring, soldering, etc. I'm just not well versed at designing/ understanding the electrical requirements/ implications of things yet. I don't think this particular modification is crazy or out of left field ... but I'd rather solicit the help of my respected TB family and not try to experiment on my baby :thumbsup:
Click to expand...
It's customary to post pics of the patient!

You'd have to leave the pup selector in it's mid position and then add another pot, so yes, you'd need to get a stacked pot and put it in with the volume.

I would check with an electronics specialty company... there's a part for everything out there... and if I were going to do what you're looking to do, I'd probably try to find a mini pot and replace the pup selector with it... which would be super trick!

  1. Easiest, add stacked pot to volume location... but I don't like that the pup selector switch would/ could interfere/ be redundant.
  2. Coolest, find a mini pot and replace the pup selector with it.
  3. Most logical cross, stack the bass and treble pot, and that will give you an empty space to add a blend pot.
 
#7,642
armyadarkness said:
It's customary to post pics of the patient!
...
  1. Easiest, add stacked pot to volume location... but I don't like that the pup selector switch would/ could interfere/ be redundant.
...
Click to expand...

My favorite thought experiment variation on this is yank the pup selector and separate the series/parallel(/single coil if you want) onto the two switch locations so you can control the pups separately. Want to emulate a P-J? neck in series, bridge in parallel or sc. Want J flavor? both in sc. And so on and so forth . . .
 
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#7,643
craigb said:
My favorite thought experiment variation on this is yank the pup selector and separate the series/parallel(/single coil if you want) onto the two switch locations so you can control the pups separately. Want to emulate a P-J? neck in series, bridge in parallel or sc. Want J flavor? both in sc. And so on and so forth . . .
Click to expand...
I've never owned, or opened the control cavity on a 2000, and I assume that you have, so I'll recognize your experience and accept the option!

I've done open heart surgery on MANY basses, some very complex, but only an SB2 on the G&L front.

I'm having a little trouble following your suggestion though, can you re word it?
 
#7,645
armyadarkness said:
I've never owned, or opened the control cavity on a 2000, and I assume that you have, so I'll recognize your experience and accept the option!

I've done open heart surgery on MANY basses, some very complex, but only an SB2 on the G&L front.

I'm having a little trouble following your suggestion though, can you re word it?
Click to expand...

I try to stay out of L2Ks - SB2s & JB2s have a lot more room and less wires.

But the idea is stock L2Ks use some single mondo switch (4pdt? I don't know) to switch series & parallel on both pickups at the same time (probably an even bigger switch to do parallel/sc/series for K mode). And then the parallel/sc/series-ized output for each pickup goes into the pup selector where you can pick neck/both/bridge. So I would yank both of those switches and replace them with one that switches parallel/sc/series on the neck pickup and one that switches parallel/sc/series on the bridge. Then run the output of those switches into a concentric pot for stacked volumes.

The rest of the controls still function as the originally did (active/passive switch, treble cut, bass cut)

So that way you can independently select parallel/sc/series for each pickup and "blend" via a dual volume pot without making any new holes.

I think I'd really like that setup (the pup selector is my least favorite thing about an L2K) but have never actually implemented (or had implemented) this change. The thoughts of getting all those wires soldered onto all those tiny little switch poles/lugs make my eyes hurt just thinking about it, particularly with my primitive soldering "skills".
 
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#7,647
craigb said:
I try to stay out of L2Ks - SB2s & JB2s have a lot more room and less wires.

But the idea is stock L2Ks use some single mondo switch (4pdt? I don't know) to switch series & parallel on both pickups at the same time (probably an even bigger switch to do parallel/sc/series for K mode). And then the parallel/sc/series-ized output for each pickup goes into the pup selector where you can pick neck/both/bridge. So I would yank both of those switches and replace them with one that switches parallel/sc/series on the neck pickup and one that switches parallel/sc/series on the bridge. Then run the output of those switches into a concentric pot for stacked volumes.

The rest of the controls still function as the originally did (active/passive switch, treble cut, bass cut)

So that way you can independently select parallel/sc/series for each pickup and "blend" via a dual volume pot without making any new holes.

I think I'd really like that setup (the pup selector is my least favorite thing about an L2K) but have never actually implemented (or had implemented) this change. The thoughts of getting all those wires soldered onto all those tiny little switch poles/lugs make my eyes hurt just thinking about it, particularly with my primitive soldering "skills".
Click to expand...
.... aaaaaand right over my head! :laugh: When I get home and have more time to sort through the technical parts of that, it'll make sense. But for now, I have to finish creating a Requirements Coverage Matrix document. Yes, it's as much fun as it sounds :dead:

Seriously though, @armyadarkness, @craigb & @TDR1138, thanks for the responses so far. I appreciate the assistance in making an already awesome instrument just that bit better :thumbsup:
 
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#7,649
armyadarkness said:
It's customary to post pics of the patient!
Click to expand...

Where are my manners? :facepalm:

upload_2018-4-26_17-10-6.png

upload_2018-4-26_17-11-22.png
 
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#7,652
craigb said:
I try to stay out of L2Ks - SB2s & JB2s have a lot more room and less wires.

But the idea is stock L2Ks use some single mondo switch (4pdt? I don't know) to switch series & parallel on both pickups at the same time (probably an even bigger switch to do parallel/sc/series for K mode). And then the parallel/sc/series-ized output for each pickup goes into the pup selector where you can pick neck/both/bridge. So I would yank both of those switches and replace them with one that switches parallel/sc/series on the neck pickup and one that switches parallel/sc/series on the bridge. Then run the output of those switches into a concentric pot for stacked volumes.

The rest of the controls still function as the originally did (active/passive switch, treble cut, bass cut)

So that way you can independently select parallel/sc/series for each pickup and "blend" via a dual volume pot without making any new holes.

I think I'd really like that setup (the pup selector is my least favorite thing about an L2K) but have never actually implemented (or had implemented) this change. The thoughts of getting all those wires soldered onto all those tiny little switch poles/lugs make my eyes hurt just thinking about it, particularly with my primitive soldering "skills".
Click to expand...
I got one of those Millenium Falcon soldering stations off Amazon, so now I LOVE soldering!! I haven't seen inside the fiddle, but I've done it all on an SB2... routed for pups, added pre amps, removed preamps, fiberglassed bodies... As I said, you'd know better whats in there...

However, I'll take a peak tomorrow so that I can relate and we'll figure this out!
 
#7,655
RandM said:
I like the idea of another use for that PU switch and had wondered about using it to
have (when in s/c) the "outer" or "inner"
coils or perhaps both neck side coils and both bridge side coils.
Anyone tried anything like that?

Cheers Maurie.
Click to expand...
I've done it all on an SB2, but not the L2000. Ive also messed with series parallel a lot... but not on the L2000. I don't know enough about it to be sure without further investigating... I do plan on getting one by years end... So, I could do it, but no I haven't!

I was told that the L2000 had more tonal variations than any bass going... yet here we are discussing more!
 
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#7,656
More is Betta!! Back when I was playing skinny strings I set up a Strat with three on/off switches and three volumes .................. loved ut. Hadn't thought of seperate
sing'c/Par/series for each P/U though, that may offer more variation.

Saw a recent post that said there are no Fretless Tributes - that puts me in a quandary.
I'd wanted a fretless L2500 - ticks every box for me .................. except availability in Aust.
I can't afford a new American and will have to sell my Jazz5Deluxe to fund it, which means I'd have to sell
it and sit on the money burning a hole in my ass while waiting for a 2nd hand American to
show up (not very good at that), unless I find a very rare bird who'll hold one until I sell, which don't seem
likely!

Cheers Maurie.
 
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