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

[jfh2424]

I find it unfortunate when we call each other idiots on TB.

You never know who is behind their screens, reading this. Or the impact of it on these folks.

Sure most people don’t get affected but some do. And is that really what we want?

John

 

[Maxdusty]

Anybody who sees a L2000 for what it is: it's just a bass, not the bass Jesus played after the last supper or something.

Jesus. So much bitterness.

Love the comment....but exactly. Even though I love my Trib L2000, I don't expect others to feel the same way about it and there will be people who will absolutely hate it, that's okay - we all have different tastes. In the case of the OP, I don't think it's the ideal bass for the kind of tone he's looking for.

It's not heresy to dislike any bass, or Tort pickguards for that matter.

 

[/\/\3phist0]

I find it unfortunate when we call each other idiots on TB.

You never know who is behind their screens, reading this. Or the impact of it on these folks.

Sure most people don’t get affected but some do. And is that really what we want?

John

Yeah well Geddy did this to his Precision

 

[Cuzzie]

I agree with all the above thoughts, I do try and stress how well made the G&L basses are, been through 3 different neck profiles, lived with an ASAT, ASAT semi-hollow and L1500 and believe me getting them in the U.K. is no mean feat and not easy!

Call it my set up, call it my playing style, maybe the sausage like quality of my fingers but I couldn’t get it to work for me, but by god they were beautiful, esp that semi hollow.


I could not get them to work for me, maybe I could now and I often think About going back to them being a bit wiser, but I found with Sandberg it just fits.

Enough about other basses, I say mod away to your hearts content so long as it can be restored to original and no harm is done, I did it with the L1500 to make it less treble harsh and a sub machine with a useable tonal range, tweak your EQ etc. But there comes a point and someone will probably want what you have so you can sell it on!

@/\/\3phist0 good work on doing your own bass, it’s very satisfying

 

[Cuzzie]

I agree with all the above thoughts, I do try and stress how well made the G&L basses are, been through 3 different neck profiles, lived with an ASAT, ASAT semi-hollow and L1500 and believe me getting them in the U.K. is no mean feat and not easy!

Call it my set up, call it my playing style, maybe the sausage like quality of my fingers but I couldn’t get it to work for me, but by god they were beautiful, esp that semi hollow.


I could not get them to work for me, maybe I could now and I often think About going back to them being a bit wiser, but I found with Sandberg it just fits.
View attachment 3439683
Enough about other basses, I say mod away to your hearts content so long as it can be restored to original and no harm is done, I did it with the L1500 to make it less treble harsh and a sub machine with a useable tonal range, tweak your EQ etc. But there comes a point and someone will probably want what you have so you can sell it on!

@/\/\3phist0 good work on doing your own bass, it’s very satisfying

 

[Maxdusty]

You are right to a degree, the problem is not the bass, but the MFD pick ups.
IMHO Leo was compensating for hearing loss, and hence made pick ups which were far too hot.
L1500 being a classic example of being way too harsh like finger nails on a blackboard.
I also had an ASAT and an ASAT semi hollow - clarity wasn’t there.
Basses are fantastically well made, shame about the pick ups and electronics, and they should have made the enclosures regular size to enable easy change outs.

lol......you may be on to something here, but Leo was no bass player, nor was he a guitar player. He couldn't play either instrument. What Leo was known for, he was a pragmatist - everything had a logical reason.
Think of the music of the era when the P and later the Jazz were first designed and sold in the late 50s early 60s. Guitar playing at that time did not use distortion or overdrive pedals, usually it was clean. Jump to the 80s with Eddie Van Halen, heavy guitar pedal usage -- maybe, just maybe Leo designed these hot pickups for the bass to keep up in terms of power with the heavy use of guitar effects of that time. He wanted to design a bass that could sonically counter this. The Stingray and later the G&L basses can certainly punch through layers of heavily distorted guitar playing on a track.
I remember when this song first came out and wondering what bass the bassist was using as it had a terrific low punchy sound for this song. My jazz clone at the time couldn't do it and as a young bassist just didn't have a rig I could EQ properly.

Back to the OP topic though, I honestly don't think the G&L would work for what you're looking for. Worth trying to make it work? That's up to you.

 

[/\/\3phist0]

I agree with all the above thoughts, I do try and stress how well made the G&L basses are, been through 3 different neck profiles, lived with an ASAT, ASAT semi-hollow and L1500 and believe me getting them in the U.K. is no mean feat and not easy!

Call it my set up, call it my playing style, maybe the sausage like quality of my fingers but I couldn’t get it to work for me, but by god they were beautiful, esp that semi hollow.


I could not get them to work for me, maybe I could now and I often think About going back to them being a bit wiser, but I found with Sandberg it just fits.
View attachment 3439683
Enough about other basses, I say mod away to your hearts content so long as it can be restored to original and no harm is done, I did it with the L1500 to make it less treble harsh and a sub machine with a useable tonal range, tweak your EQ etc. But there comes a point and someone will probably want what you have so you can sell it on!

@/\/\3phist0 good work on doing your own bass, it’s very satisfying

@Cuzzie
Clarify, I worked on it, while on the production line as an employee of G&L, it went out into the world and got the snot played out of it.
Found it's way back to me and during disassembly I found my initials on the neck (so I shaped it and did the fretwork, fretwork was my main station)

I knew Leo well, ate lunch with him, drove him home, and he helped me change the generator belt on my 56 VW Kombi. Irreplaceable memories !!!
*Edit : one of my bandmates at the time was out of work. I could not get him in at G&L, nor Rickenbacker (a few miles away) and Charvel was too far of a drive. He got an interview at Fender, and a job. He's still there, one of the well known master builders...

 

[/\/\3phist0]

lol......you may be on to something here, but Leo was no bass player, nor was he a guitar player. He couldn't play either instrument. What Leo was known for, he was a pragmatist - everything had a logical reason.
Think of the music of the era when the P and later the Jazz were first designed and sold in the late 50s early 60s. Guitar playing at that time did not use distortion or overdrive pedals, usually it was clean. Jump to the 80s with Eddie Van Halen, heavy guitar pedal usage -- maybe, just maybe Leo designed these hot pickups for the bass to keep up in terms of power with the heavy use of guitar effects of that time. He wanted to design a bass that could sonically counter this. The Stingray and later the G&L basses can certainly punch through layers of heavily distorted guitar playing on a track.
I remember when this song first came out and wondering what bass the bassist was using as it had a terrific low punchy sound for this song. My jazz clone at the time couldn't do it and as a young bassist just didn't have a rig I could EQ properly.

Back to the OP topic though, I honestly don't think the G&L would work for what you're looking for. Worth trying to make it work? That's up to you.

The stingray and Musicman started with Leo too.
The sickle (g&l) headstock.. came in part due to me screwing around with the headstock on a neck that was rejected. One of my tasks was to cut the headstocks off of the reject necks.
I hated the (snaggletooth when it was introduced) so I cut it off with a bandsaw, and nipped off the tip of the headstock ball,
Showed it to Lloyd Chewning, who ran it by Leo....

 

[2F/2F]

You are right to a degree, the problem is not the bass, but the MFD pick ups.
IMHO Leo was compensating for hearing loss, and hence made pick ups which were far too hot.
L1500 being a classic example of being way too harsh like finger nails on a blackboard.
I also had an ASAT and an ASAT semi hollow - clarity wasn’t there.
Basses are fantastically well made, shame about the pick ups and electronics, and they should have made the enclosures regular size to enable easy change outs.

Interesting, as I have never found the MFDs on any of my G&Ls to be overly hot...and I like "vintage" output pickups. I have also found them to be some of the least muddy and most clear pickups I've played outside of classic Fender designs. Every G&L I own still has the stock pickups. The MFDs are also highly adjustable. It would be easy to tame one that seemed overly hot for the job at hand.

 

[vlsndgrdn]

I love my L2000, had play it for years no noise, no hiss no problems so far.

The thing just sits in the mix nice clear and contundent with an more clásic feel than lets say a Warwick or a more "modern" active sounding bass and it just get the job done.

But i been in the OP place before i just hate jazz basses to the core of my soul, not a bad instrument but that thin scooped tone coming from weak noisy pickups add to that the weird long offset body shape that just don get centered with your own body and the almost implayable smurf hands neck... Ufff

My humble advice por the OP get another bass don't stay with it its just not your stuff.

I had a jazz bass before and end up stop playing bass then the PBasses and the L2000 saved my soul.

 

[Smooth_bass88]

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?

Any L-2000 I've played or heard sounded great. But for my personal preference, they have too many tonal options making if difficult to decide on one. I prefer a simpler setup. But again, I find them to be great instruments.

 

[Gizmot]

I have a L-2500 and its been fantastic. Now - let's be clear about a couple of things. The built-in preamp is a cut-only design, meaning if you want more tone-shaping capability, then an M-2000 / M-2500 or other bass with a more versatile preamp might be better for you. On the other hand, the built in preamp sounds pretty good and the bass is phenomenal - solid, clean and it cuts through well on stage.

 

[/\/\3phist0]

I have a L-2500 and its been fantastic. Now - let's be clear about a couple of things. The built-in preamp is a cut-only design, meaning if you want more tone-shaping capability, then an M-2000 / M-2500 or other bass with a more versatile preamp might be better for you. On the other hand, the built in preamp sounds pretty good and the bass is phenomenal - solid, clean and it cuts through well on stage.

To clarify, the preamp has NO tone shaping, with the exception of the treble boost!
The preamp was only there to increase the signal to compensate for signal loss from long cable runs.
The tone controls are cut only and 100% passive. And fully functional in passive and active mode (still a passive cut only circuit)

 

[/\/\3phist0]

Any L-2000 I've played or heard sounded great. But for my personal preference, they have too many tonal options making if difficult to decide on one. I prefer a simpler setup. But again, I find them to be great instruments.

Try an SB 1 or 2 all passive. In the case of an SB-2 it's vol/vol only, no tone !

 

[FunkHead]

I find it unfortunate when we call each other idiots on TB.

You never know who is behind their screens, reading this. Or the impact of it on these folks.

Sure most people don’t get affected but some do. And is that really what we want?

John

What bothers me is the guy who said it just came right out of the blue with it. It was not provoked.
I have gotten warnings for less and that was after sticks were poked in my cage. LOL

Try an SB 1 or 2 all passive. In the case of an SB-2 it's vol/vol only, no tone !

Or an SB-2T which has tone control. Right now it's the only bass I can get to sound right.

40+ years and I still can't find my tone. I am pretty sure it's me and not the basses.

 

[/\/\3phist0]

What bothers me is the guy who said it just came right out of the blue with it. It was not provoked.
I have gotten warnings for less and that was after sticks were poked in my cage. LOL


Or an SB-2T which has tone control. Right now it's the only bass I can get to sound right.

40+ years and I still can't find my tone. I am pretty sure it's me and not the basses.

True that's a recent option, I forgot about !

 

[/\/\3phist0]

What bothers me is the guy who said it just came right out of the blue with it. It was not provoked.
I have gotten warnings for less and that was after sticks were poked in my cage. LOL


Or an SB-2T which has tone control. Right now it's the only bass I can get to sound right.

40+ years and I still can't find my tone. I am pretty sure it's me and not the basses.

Fwiw I reported that post: uncouth, uncool and uncalled for. Bring on the flames!
*Edit @Ian McLaughlin you can go back and delete or edit your post if you wish*

 

[swafran]

more "modern" sounding. Big influence here lately has been Dave Hollingworth

Ok so you want super clanky high end scooped modern metal sound. A cheap warwick rockbass will get you there right away. But you should be able to get that with an L2K too. Lighter gauge strings ?

 

[Rabidhamster]

To clarify, the preamp has NO tone shaping, with the exception of the treble boost!
The preamp was only there to increase the signal to compensate for signal loss from long cable runs.
The tone controls are cut only and 100% passive. And fully functional in passive and active mode (still a passive cut only circuit)

However you effectively can boost frequencies by running in active mode with the volume knob rolled back a ways to about equal with the passive volume.

To boost treble, you roll back the bass. That is an increase in treble over passive.
to boost bass, you roll back the treble. Increase in bass over passive.
To boost mids you roll back bass and treble and turn up the volume to equal levels. That is an increase in mids over passive.


I think people are happiest with this preamp when they treat it like an onboard amp/Baxandall tonestack combo for tone shaping. The pickups are far clearer with the volume knob rolled back to about half, then just use the rest of the volume travel for when you need a boost or a thicker, more aggressive sound.



Also, to OP - the L2000 fretless basses allegedly had a taming resistor that made the bass sound too subdued. It may be theoretically possible you got one of those preamps by mistake, in which case snipping one resistor leg should put the stank back in it. You'll have to google or search the forum for the pics, I've never had one to need it.

 

[jd56hawk]

Hold on a sec, the L2000 is active?