G&L L-2000 Bass - Anyone finding it underwhelming?

[spufman]

I like good ol' XL170s on mine. I'd never describe it as dull. It has a pure clean-playing focused tone that is tricky to tame, but rolling back the controls is essential. I nearly always use passive mode, but the preamp does give a nice kick when needed.

 

[bassliner50]

Sold my USA L2000. Swamp ash was heavy. Sound and articulation very good, but did not bond with active bells and whistles. I'm back to passive simplicity with an always satisfying tone.

 

[StringslamDan]

I just changed the strings on my L-2500 to DR Nickel Loriders and it's a completely different animal! It mellowed out the harsh highs that it had and tightened up the lows. Don't give up, it's a great bass if you hang in there! You might have to tweak your amps eq to accommodate those insanely hot pickups.. they sound great once you get her dialed in though!

 

[AngelCrusher]

I believe the L2000 preamp controls are active (ie boost/cut) and not passive (ie cut only). Likely they’re flat in the middle of their sweep.

You would want to restrain something if it wasn’t sounding how you wanted and needed a change. It sounds like you do. Knobs are meant to be turned.

No they are cut only. At max they are at zero.

 

[AngelCrusher]

I've had the bass now for about 6 years. Removed my preamp and tone controls, made each pick up switchable from parallel to single to series a while back. It helped a little in the tone. Ran that way for a bit, but just wasnt happy with it. So I put it back to stock wiring again with the preamp and tone controls, just not digging it. Dull sounding, even with the bright switch enabled, it peaks in the upper mids, not the good ones. Was hoping that with all the switching, I could get something a little more "modern" sounding. Big influence here lately has been Dave Hollingworth from Dorje and Toska. The G&L cant seem to get the clarity on the mids through top end. Looking at just the pickups straight in on a spectrum, there's tons of lows but no high end. Its also missing that low mid growl.

Trying to figure out where to go with it. It was given to me years ago by a friend and would be hard to sell it. New preamp? Pickups?

Thats weird because on a spectrum, my L2500 has a lot happening around 100 hz.

But honestly, no bass puts out of ton of high end on a spectrum. My active Sadowksy may do that if I boost the treble knob all the way up, but that sound is not good to me. Any bass will have pronounced lows and roll off the higher you go.

The L2500 is nice and warm and I love that. I also think the best way to get a sound is to turn the tone knobs all the way off and then bring them back in, starting with the bass. It’s kind of dramatic how effective that method is. It also brings out the low mids a lot.

I’m going to look up the artist you referenced and see if i have suggestions for you there. No bass can do every sound. The G&L is an active bass for those who like passive warmth, imo

 

[MultiScaleMale]

I had an L2500 for awhile and thought it was too “active”. Never bonded and it went to another home.

 

[AngelCrusher]

Ok, this guy uses a ton of pedals to get his sound. That’s half of it right there.




I actually love the G&L sound for heavy music. I always think of the early Helmet records..just glorious stuff.

Anyway, suggestions for you from a few guys I know who make really heavy records for multiple labels. These are their favorite basses to track : Spector Euro, Fender Jazz bass, Dingwall.

 

[JIO]

This is the first time I've heard of someone wanting to change an L-2000 - a bass that doesn't need changing. I'll go as far to say the L-2000 is one of those basses that really shouldn't be 'modded' - it's right-out-of-the-box spot-on. I can't image why anyone would mess with an L-2000, seriously.

 

[jd56hawk]

I have to agree.
Every once in a while I see an L2000 with different pickups and I think "Damn, this guy should've just bought a Precision or a Jazz bass or a Stingray or a Thunderbird or a Ric or a Warwick, etc, etc etc."

 

[Scoops]

True they are very heavy on the low end.

I'm getting what I want (more mid and high end) by hard wiring the pups in series, in a V-V-T config. No Preamp. More bridge pup than neck pup, with the amp low end frequency response bumped up a bit. The trick for me is to bring in the neck pup to just the right spot to get a good full tone with mice balance of tone.

I'm going to rewire the neck pup soon to parallel to get it a little less boomy

TI strings

 

[Keger Jupit]

I love mine! I agree with everyone who's already mentioned fiddling with the knobs; it's a bit unconventional from a "standard" layout. Fiddle with 'em! Wide open usually isn't the best way to go, but it is one of the MANY ways to go with the L2K

 

[3bc]

I never understood the L2000 reputation as being this ultra versatile bass. Like my old Warwick, it had a sound that was inherent to the bass that you couldn’t EQ out. Like a signature sound of the neck pickup on a strat. But I always found that sound to be a bit metallic and annoying on the G&L. I’m not a fan, but Dingwall seems to be a bass for you, it has a similar sharp bite to the bassists tone you mentioned. I have found the treble tone control on the lakland LH3 preamp system to be the most musical treble control i’ve ever heard, it gets very bright without getting crispy or cannibalizing the low end, but that reference bassist has a bit of a crispy sound, and the Dingwall might be perfect.

 

[Bass V]

I never understood the L2000 reputation as being this ultra versatile bass. Like my old Warwick, it had a sound that was inherent to the bass that you couldn’t EQ out.

that's my experience too, but it is sensitive to string changes. I'll be trying flats, tapes, etc. asap.

 

[birminghambass]

I've owned several L2ks, the last one was perfect in every way: j neck, low action, zero dead spots, perfect balance. Ended up doing what I do with every L2k, I sold it. Never bonded with that massive tone.

 

[thevintagesound]

Hey guys
Thanks for the heads up on the tone controls. I found it a little weird that you have to cut to get it to sound right. Not knocking the bass, its a solid beast (weighing in around 9.8 lbs!). Just having trouble bonding with it.

Some of Dave's other tones, without the pedal board have that growl that I have been digging. Another modern bass player is Jon Stockman from Karnivool.

 

[JIO]

The thing about an L-2000 is that it's an active bass, and a passive bass. In it's passive mode - it does not sound like an active bass. So it can be played primarily as a passive bass and sound great, and if and when 'more' is wanted/needed - it's a click away. (or two if you want full-on active) But having said that, unlike other active basses with passive settings - I've never felt an L-2000 in any setting is too anything. It's why I would either own one or not own one but I would never alter one.

 

[silky smoove]

No they are cut only. At max they are at zero.

Oh, wow. I always thought all the bands were active. I forget, is there a mid band, and is it active or passive?

 

[JIO]

Oh, wow. I always thought all the bands were active. I forget, is there a mid band, and is it active or passive?

3 knobs/pots = V/T/B - 3 mini-toggles> 3-way: pu selector - 2-way: series/parallel - 3-way: passive/active/active treble boost

 

[bwildt]

I like my '98 L2500. A lot of my basses wear flatwounds, but I'm happy with DR Lo-Rider stainless on this thing. The Lo-Riders are a little more low-mid forward than the DR High Beams. Stainless because they stay live longer than nickels and I don't want to be buying strings all the time. I run mostly in passive mode. I also agree that it can be kind of wooly with the tone controls set flat (all the way up). I almost always have both the bass and treble tone pots rolled back a little. Usually I also have the volume rolled off just a little bit, especially in series mode.

 

[AngelCrusher]

Oh, wow. I always thought all the bands were active. I forget, is there a mid band, and is it active or passive?

Its crazy. It is active but sounds amazing in passive as well.Its really like a passive sounding bass and then you flick it to active for that boost and then it goes even farther with an active +treble knob. So 3 options with a quick flick. Passive is such a legit option on this bass that some people have taken their battery out and use the active switch as a mute.

No mid band, but the mids get crazy the lower the treble and bass tone is. If you roll the tone off totally its this really awesome burpy, r&B/fusion type sound you would hear on a LPF filtered bassline.

If some wants warm, thick bass, this thing brings it. The only time it ever sounds active is if I slap on it. It has a really nice slap tone. Not even sure how to describe it besides modern but warm. The main thing I like about this bass is it does not have that hi-fi, sterile sound to it. Sometimes that hi-fi sound is what is needed, but I have a Sadowsky for that (which is awesome too).

But yeah, its a bass where you don't start at zero, since zero is max. You want to start at negative with the tones rolled off and then add what you want. Once I got that down, it became a monster.