I own a '81 G&L L-1000. I love this bass so much. It is by far one of the best sounding passive basses ever made. I've been playing for 14 years and have had tons of high end basses. I don't know why more people aren't familiar with G&L. I have been getting frustrated recently because nobody knows about this bass. I went to the studio to record bass for a band about 5 months ago. They didn't know anything about this bass. They said it wasn't good enough and tried to make me record with a Squire P-bass Special! Needless to say I just walked out. Within the last week alone I have had two people comment about how I need a new bass, saying that in the professional circuit I can't get away with playing a "crappy" bass. Apparently I am better off with a P-bass. Don't get me wrong, the P-bass is a fine instrument and I have even owned a couple MIA P-basses, but IMO it is not even comparable to Leo-era G&L's. The build quality, tone shaping and overall sound of G&L's is far superior to anything coming out of Fenders doors since the mid '60s. It seems that it is more important to have an instrument people have seen before than one that sounds great. Anybody else have this problem with G&L instruments?
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G&L L1000 Frustration
- Thread starter TakePride
- Start date
Don't own one but am definately considering purchasing an L-2000 and I can imagine stuff like that would make me pretty annoyed. Why not tell them that it is a high end instrument and better than most fenders?
dukeplaysbass
Supporting Member
- Aug 25, 2007
- 835
- 6
- Disclosures
- I manufacture for several companies including but not limited to: Bridge City Sound, Catalinbread, more.
yeah thats pretty stupid. if most people would stop to look at the instrument for half a second then they might realize that the build quality alone gives it away as a fantastic instrument.
I'd be happy to take your "problem" off your hands.
Anyone who calls your L1000 a "crappy bass" knows zero about basses.
When G&L started, I had the chance to buy one of the first L1000s at the store where I worked. Kicking myself to this day.
Anyone who calls your L1000 a "crappy bass" knows zero about basses.
When G&L started, I had the chance to buy one of the first L1000s at the store where I worked. Kicking myself to this day.
This reminds me of the thread where the guy showed up at an audition with an Aguilar rig and was told that he was told he needed "professional equipment"!! Maybe he showed up with a 1k too! LOL!!
dukeplaysbass
Supporting Member
All goofing aside, we go through this because engineers "know" how to record a P or a J and when you bring them in something else, they freak because either a) they don't have any idea how to get a good bass sound and their ignorance will be exposed; or b) they are just too lazy.
I have never had somebody tell me that my G&L was sub-par. I get a few who know the G&L story, but more often I get something like, "Holy smokes, what IS that thing? It sounds HUGE!!!" Then I get to explain about St. Leo's vision for a better P-bass.
I have never had somebody tell me that my G&L was sub-par. I get a few who know the G&L story, but more often I get something like, "Holy smokes, what IS that thing? It sounds HUGE!!!" Then I get to explain about St. Leo's vision for a better P-bass.
dukeplaysbass
Supporting Member
Thanks. I chased that blue one of yours for a while - it was listed on the SF Bay CL a bunch of times, right?
Yep that is the one, it was listed at least twice before I saw and bought it. It plays like a dream.
Odd... everyone I know knows of G&L - - it's not a mystery brand or anything. Sounds like the folks you're working with might be just a bit isolated...
Being that this was a recording session, you should have told them to listen with their ears, not their eyes. And, when they get a moment to pull their head out of their...uh...headphones...spend a little time self-educating about G&L instruments.
Aspidites - That L1k is BEAUTIFUL!!
Nope. No problem here....
Mine was pretty much identical to your burst with maple (second from right). I thought it was a great bass. I had it for at least 13 years.
I finally sold it for two reasons:
1) It was one of the first 500 made, but it had a "hump" around the 3rd fret that made it difficult to get a great set up on it. I didn't want to mess up a "vintage" instrument but I was never thrilled with how it played.
2) I had a hard time getting away from OMG mode. It sounds so good soloed. But it was hard for me to hear myself in a band situation, so I kept getting bigger and bigger amps and more and more complaints about being too loud.
I have no regrets getting rid of it. After 13 years or more of it being my primary bass it was time for it to go. My primary bass now is an old Tokai (just post-lawsuit) '57 reissue style P-Bass with Duncan Antiquities II pickups. It's the right bass for me. My weakness for OMG mode made the bass unsuitable for me. The P-Bass slots right in. None of this is to say that the L-1000 is a bad instrument, but my L-1000 wasn't right for me.
It's funny - the people I play with could care less about what the pedigree of the instrument is, as long as the tone fits in and the playing is OK they wouldn't care if it was a Sadowsky or a Rondo SX. I don't know why anyone should.
KO
Being that this was a recording session, you should have told them to listen with their ears, not their eyes. And, when they get a moment to pull their head out of their...uh...headphones...spend a little time self-educating about G&L instruments.
Aspidites - That L1k is BEAUTIFUL!!
Thanks!
dukeplaysbass
Supporting Member
Hey Harry, I think you nailed it right there. You and I both live in Southern California, and I've found the folks in this area to be far more knowledgeable about G&L than in the Northeast, where I grew up. I bet in some parts of the country, it'd be like owning a bass made on Venus.
Crappy? Tell them it was good enough for Dee Murray when he worked for Elton John. People are idiots.
I used to have one of those! I had it before I started playing Yamaha basses. That is a great bass! The pickup is by far the most lively passive pickup I have ever heard.
My guess as to the studio situation you endured. The guy who told you that your bass was not good enough, is used to the sound of a P-Bass.
Your bass sounds different than a P-bass for sure! That doesn't mean your bass in no good, it's just different than what he is used to.
Did you have fresh strings? Is your bass set up with proper intonation? Do your volume knobs/input jack make cracking noises? Are there any other minor maintenance issues that should be looked at on your bass.
These are the things that once plugged in at the studio become glaring problems. You can take a $5000. bass and leave old dead strings on it, and have bad intonation, and it will sound like a piece of crap too.
If none of these thing are an issue, I can't understand why there would be a problem recording with it.
That is a cool instrument, I unfortunately lent mine to a "friend" who wanted to learn to play bass about 20 years ago. I got it back 3 weeks later with a broken truss rod. I guess he though he would play better if he tightened it up until the truss rod snapped?
I agree with not using and instrument that is crappy, but it doesn't have to be expensive to not be crappy. It just has to be well maintained, and a good fit for you. I have played the same $349.00 Yamaha BBG-4 for the last 14 years. All I did was replace the stock pickups with EMG-J pickups. I have used it to record on countless studio sessions, and I have toured heavily with it, it has never ever let me down.
Good luck, and hang on to that bass!
Craig
LOL. Total studio fail. POS Squier P-Bass better than an L-1000? I don't think so.
