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With you on that. I've got a Pro JZ3 from Audere in my US JB-5 and it's terrific. I'm a big fan of Audere's stuff: sonically neutral when on the centre notches, doesn't heat up the output, and there's a huge range of variation in tone to be had. Add that to how well their stuff is constructed and it's a real win.
When I swapped press on my JB5 I was between this and the East J-Tone. Opted for the J-Tone to maintain passive capability. How do you like the Z-Mode switch? I had a Z-Mode pre in a Peavey Millennium and had a bit of a love hate relationship with it. For me, it only worked well on certain pickup mixes (I had a coil tap on the MM pickup), so I mostly left it in the Mid Z setting.
Was this direct fit on the Tribute or did you have to enlarge the route? I quickly discovered that the route was a little small on my Tribute ASAT Special when I swapped in a prebuilt passive system with a 4 way pickup selector. Easy fix, but curious if it is an issue on the Tribute basses as well.
This is the more recent version of the Z-Mode switch where you can program a bunch of different options into each of the 3 settings. I also have a couple of the 3-choices-is-what-you-get version in other basses. You're right that I often leave it centred; however, I have used it to go dubby for a tune or do little tick-tack things from time to time. There's so much range in the EQ controls and they're so musical that the Z-Mode seems a bit of overkill mostly. I don't miss a passive mode here because with the EQ flat, the output and tone sound indistinguishable from passive (at least to my old ears).
Was this direct fit on the Tribute or did you have to enlarge the route? I quickly discovered that the route was a little small on my Tribute ASAT Special when I swapped in a prebuilt passive system with a 4 way pickup selector. Easy fix, but curious if it is an issue on the Tribute basses as well.[/QUOTE]
It was kind of tight but I slipped the battery under the wires and then moved the wires to one side . The part of the circuit board that sits above the battery is very narrow so with the battery , pickup and ground wires off to the side it fit . I had my cavities copper foil shielded before and the whole thing seems very noise free even with the pickups soloed . I'll have to check that again when I get back to practicing with my bans when I can really crank things . But yes , I didn't have to enlarge the route , it took some moving things around to get it in place but the batteries last a long time so I shouldn't have to change it for a year or so . This is before the Audere .
It was kind of tight but I slipped the battery under the wires and then moved the wires to one side . The part of the circuit board that sits above the battery is very narrow so with the battery , pickup and ground wires off to the side it fit . I had my cavities copper foil shielded before and the whole thing seems very noise free even with the pickups soloed . I'll have to check that again when I get back to practicing with my bans when I can really crank things . But yes , I didn't have to enlarge the route , it took some moving things around to get it in place but the batteries last a long time so I shouldn't have to change it for a year or so . This is before the Audere .
This was my experience on the Millie. Flexible EQ without the Z mode. Mid Z sounded like what I would expect passive to sound like (didn’t run the Barts in it passive but played similar pickups passive before). My main reason for wanting dedicated passive was to get around needing a battery. Given how obsessively I monitor my batteries, probably didn’t need to worry about it (but I did).
Planning to go look at the Tribute L2500 for sale near me tomorrow afternoon, if it is still available then. Any tips on what to pay careful attention to when looking one of these over? The weight concerns me so I'll try to see if I can handle it. Any weak spots in the electronics, switches, etc.? Any fit and finish issues to look for?
For those who are interested (I know it's all of you) my custom shop L-2500 neck has finally be done 95% correct (They missed the model decal I had asked for). I don't think I'll get any better so you can check out full photos here: NBD: G&L Custom Shop CLF L-2500
Here's a preview:
Here's a preview:
Beautiful! What radius is that neck? It seems more curved than the typical 12”.
It's a 9.5" radius. I had a Reverend Mercalli 5 with a 12" radius and didn't warm up to the fretboard. The bass was fantastic in all other ways.
Wow, that's pretty! The "reverse" color scheme (black body with wood binding and the maple neck with black binding and blocks) is a really cool look.
I prefer the black. I am in general a fan of white covers (like it with that blue), but the off-white against a white guard bothers me. Maybe if you switch the pick guard color the white would work for me.
The pickguard is new. The covers are 27 years old. They may have been whiter at some point.
If it were an SB-1, I would say leave the whites on, for a good early 80s vibe, but since the LegacyB-100 is channeling something different, go for the classic black
(Off)white if you switch the pickguard to an aged pearl.
Otherwise, black covers w/white pickguard.
The original guard is aged pearl. Never was a fan of it with the white covers, which is what led me to getting black ones to begin with.
Looks yellower in person.
