Thanks for that information. I am still sure that I need to change strings. Unplugged I can hear that tinny metallic sound that I am hating. The pickups are just reporting what they are hearing. I don't know what they string these things with but they are awful. But then again, everyone loves D'addario and to me they sound like fingernails on a blackboard. I mean, it should be in the ballpark of a P and right now it is nowhere close. Just makes me wonder how I would have felt about the L2000 with different strings- DR Pure Blues for me. I was about to throw away my first bass before I put those on. Suddenly I had a bass guitar instead of a nasally, annoying squeak box.
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G&L L2000 vs P-Bass
- Thread starter ChiaBass
- Start date
I love this but different P bass tone . Woody, organic and humming.....
It is the pickups and the placement. Why are you getting a clone when you can get the real deal. Obviously you want Fender sound. Go get what you want..... a Fender. Sometimes nothing else will do. The LB-100 isn’t designed to be an exact copy. It was designed to be an updated version. That bass was designed to give brighter sound that was popular during that era. Close, but no cigar .
It is the pickups and the placement. Why are you getting a clone when you can get the real deal. Obviously you want Fender sound. Go get what you want..... a Fender. Sometimes nothing else will do. The LB-100 isn’t designed to be an exact copy. It was designed to be an updated version. That bass was designed to give brighter sound that was popular during that era. Close, but no cigar .
lowdownthump is right. Just get a Fender P. The budget Squier CV Ps are very good for the money. There is something about G&L pickups in my experience you can't get rid off.
Are you sure it's actually an LB-100 they sent you?
Seriously, once you plug it in, there's just no universe in existence in which an LB-100 can sound almost exactly like an L2000.... So somethin' aint right, but I have a suspicion it might not be just the bass....
Let me explain: first impressions are the worst impressions on any unfamiliar bass. In the first day, about all you can really and truly conclude about a new bass is if something isn't busted or defective, Is a fret missing, is there a speed hump in the middle of the board, do the knobs work, does it make any sound at all when I plug it in, are any of the screws missing or stripped, just how bad is the factory/dealer setup, can I push the strings down on the first fret at all without breaking my arm...
And so on. I'm being a little facetious, but the point is the first day when you first take the bass out of the case is the point where you're the furthest from really knowing if it's a bass you really want that makes the tones you really need. You can only get a ballpark assessment at first.
For example, my Tony Franklin when I first got it didn't sound even remotely, "to me", like a Precision bass. Even though it said "Fender Precision bass" on the headstock and it looked like a P bass, it just sounded totally alien and not like a P bass. In fact, it took about a month for me to acclimate to it and get it setup, kill the zingy roundwound strings on it, and start learning to pluck over the split-P pickup to get anything that I thought sounded to me like a P bass tone out of it.
You can get in the ballpark on the first day or two, but to really nail if it's going to suit you takes a lot longer than that. And even some work on it with tools too, I'm referring here to the setup and evaluating/fixing any defects, etc.
My goal is just to save you some money - I see guys flipping basses and losing tons of money all the time because of "gut feelings" on the first day they take a new, unfamiliar bass out of the case. The action is a mile high and so is the nut, the fingerboard looks like a banana and the pickups are a mile below the strings, which are brand new and brighter and shimmery-er than an old Polaroid flash bulb. An hour later, their arm is broken from trying to mash the strings down and their ears are ringing from trying eke out a good sound from their 800 watt amp and they go "we just didn't click" or "it's just not the bass for me" and it goes up for sale.
Again I'm only exaggerating to make the point
. I'm just saying don't be that guy. Note lots of smileys here . Or at least, don't throw it away quite yet. It may yet be a perfectly good bass for your needs and you may not have to lose any more money trying to flip it if you work with it a while.As for the strings, they probably are EXL 170's - that's what's on my new L2000 - and they sound awful when new. Zingy, clangy and stringy and no pop or thump. You have to kill them with a ton of playing before they start to give you an actual note that doesn't sound like it has 100 tons of chorus on top of it.
Anyway, I'd say get it setup first, then give it, say maybe a week of playing time. If you don't start to hear some Precision bass after that, then go ahead and try something else...
My .02,
L
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Yeah, I hear ya. This may be the case. I tried a bunch of Fender P's in store, And I liked the $699 version the best. I will definitely change strings first. The sound of those godawful DaDarrios could ruin the finest bass in the world, IMHO. I mean, the G&L quality is what I am after. But if the string replacement doesn't do it, the $699 Fender P it is. Fender also puts strings on their basses that gasp- allow a Bass to sound like a bass. The DaDarrio obsession is mind-boggling for me. And a slightly brighter P is what I was after. Something when dimed you could get a more modern, slap tone from. Seemed perfect in theory.It is the pickups and the placement. Why are you getting a clone when you can get the real deal. Obviously you want Fender sound. Go get what you want..... a Fender. Sometimes nothing else will do. The LB-100 isn’t designed to be an exact copy. It was designed to be an updated version. That bass was designed to give brighter sound that was popular during that era. Close, but no cigar .
Good points, yeah I'll see if my buddy can help me set it up and I am definitely changing those crime against humanity strings. I suspect that they are 99% of the problem.Are you sure it's actually an LB-100 they sent you?
Seriously, once you plug it in, there's just no universe in existence in which an LB-100 can sound almost exactly like an L2000.... So somethin' aint right, but I have a suspicion it might not be just the bass....
Let me explain: first impressions are the worst impressions on any unfamiliar bass. In the first day, about all you can really and truly conclude about a new bass is if something isn't busted or defective, Is a fret missing, is there a speed hump in the middle of the board, do the knobs work, does it make any sound at all when I plug it in, are any of the screws missing or stripped, just how bad is the factory/dealer setup, can I push the strings down on the first fret at all without breaking my arm...
And so on. I'm being a little facetious, but the point is the first day when you first take the bass out of the case is the point where you're the furthest from really knowing if it's a bass you really want that makes the tones you really need. You can only get a ballpark assessment at first.
For example, my Tony Franklin when I first got it didn't sound even remotely, "to me", like a Precision bass. Even though it said "Fender Precision bass" on the headstock and it looked like a P bass, it just sounded totally alien and not like a P bass. In fact, it took about a month for me to acclimate to it and get it setup, kill the zingy roundwound strings on it, and start learning to pluck over the split-P pickup to get anything that I thought sounded to me like a P bass tone out of it.
You can get in the ballpark on the first day or two, but to really nail if it's going to suit you takes a lot longer than that. And even some work on it with tools too, I'm referring here to the setup and evaluating/fixing any defects, etc.
My goal is just to save you some money - I see guys flipping basses and losing tons of money all the time because of "gut feelings" on the first day they take a new, unfamiliar bass out of the case. The action is a mile high and so is the nut, the fingerboard looks like a banana and the pickups are a mile below the strings, which are brand new and brighter and shimmery-er than an old Polaroid flash bulb. An hour later, their arm is broken from trying to mash the strings down and their ears are ringing from trying eke out a good sound from their 800 watt amp and they go "we just didn't click" or "it's just not the bass for me" and it goes up for sale.
Again I'm only exaggerating to make the point
As for the strings, they probably are EXL 170's - that's what's on my new L2000 - and they sound awful when new. Zingy, clangy and stringy and no pop or thump. You have to kill them with a ton of playing before they start to give you an actual note that doesn't sound like it has 100 tons of chorus on top of it.
Anyway, I'd say get it setup first, then give it, say maybe a week of playing time. If you don't start to hear some Precision bass after that, then go ahead and try something else...
My .02,
L
Well even a new set of good strings is still going to sound like that, so personally I wouldn't spend the money on super-good strings. In fact, the good strings may take longer to die and you'll have the same problem for even longer, and you'll be out even more money
.When the D'addarios die, they sound fine. They're actually pretty good strings; all roundwounds sound like a reverb spring on steroids for at least a few days so you'll have that with expensive ones too. I've used Daddarios for years and I like them because they're everywhere so you can get em at the local gas station, they're cheap and once dead they still sound as good as more expensive ones.
If you really want that nice chocolaty cardboardy P bass sound immediately, you might instead invest in a set of flats. They have much less zing when new and they die in just a few days of steady playing, in fact sometimes in just a few hours they'll quiet down nicely....
I use Fender 9050's on my jazz bass and they sound great.
L
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It was on the first run back in the '90s, and on the first few years of the reissue.
It was moved up to the standard P position a couple years ago.
Original position
G & L LB-100 Bass 1999 Teal Metallic | The Guitar Broker | Reverb
Updated
G&L LB-100 Bass USA Candy Apple Red Metallic | George's Music Center | Reverb
Interesting. Learn something new every day!
IME, P basses, in regards to pickup placement, are pretty forgiving basses. Pickup placement is key to the harmonic tonality, changes to the placement have a greater effect on the tone as you move towards the bridge. Also take into consideration the tone of a split coil, series wired P pickup--it has a big low mid bump and subdued highs--both of which kind of smear the subtitles of location.
Looking at those two LB100s, the 90s pickup location seems to be about 3/8" towards the bridge vs the revised location. This is an eyeball estimate, as a P bass coil is about 1" wide and I used that pickguard screw right above the E/A coil as the landmark. Typically, a Fender split coil P bass pickup is centered about 28.5" from the nut, which is right in the middle of the green belt for pickups--the space between the end of the fingerboard and the bridge. I assume that 28.5" spot is pretty much the same for the revised G&L position-if you want to sell a P bass killer or alternative, this is the spot to drop that pickup. Since this is the alnico loaded LB100 'P bass' vs a MFD loaded SB1 'G&L flavored P,' I assume that is the goal with G&L and their marketing of the LB100.
I have found P bass pickups located anywhere from 28" to 28.75" from the nut to all sound harmonically the similar, relative to the 28.5" standard. This is especially true when any harmonic detail is masked in a mix or played live. However, as you move towards the bridge, the pickup location makes a bigger difference. For example, the 70s Jazz bass bridge pickup is also about 3/8" closer to the bridge vs the 60s location, and the tonal difference is quite noticeable by most bassists. On the other hand, if you changed the location of a Ric or EBO neck pickup 3/8", the difference would be unoticed by 99.9% of bassists.
G&L certainly voiced the LB100 to be a touch brighter than the typical P recipe, but finding the appropriated sized tone cap, adjusting the pickups and choosing strings for your playing style and tonality go a long way with the P bass. If a garden variety P bass tonality can't be had with a stock LB100, I wouldn't blame the bass. I have a parts P with a Squier Dirnt body, Squier CV '51 neck and a pickup from a 2004 American Standard P (standard wound Alnico) as well as a Peavey Forum Plus PJ with a Wilde P46 and J45L. Both of these basses sound like P basses.
The angles aren't quite the same so its difficult to compare. But look at the state of those strings! They look like they've been on since the 90s...
Can’t say I’d ever have described either my L-2000 or LB-100 as thin and metallic. Maybe a little clanginess with new strings, but that should fade pretty quickly.
Maybe I missed it, but what sort of amp/cab are you using?
I have a Fender Rumble 500, and the Ibanez sounds 1,000 times better through the same amp. I ordered the exact strings that come on the Fender P's, I think that will make a huge difference. Like I said, I had DaDarrio's on a prior bass and I was ready to burn it until I changed the strings. I just hate those things.
Ok, just wanted to make sure you weren’t running through a guitar amp or a small speaker/cab that would/could accentuate the upper frequencies.
I’m not a D’Addario XL fan myself, but have used them. I don’t find them overly bright or metallic. Any new strings are going to be bright to begin with. They do need to break in. But I won’t stop you from starting with the strings.
If you’re sure it’s the P sound you want, then the LB-100 should get you there with no problem. Ps can be fairly mid-heavy when played solo/isolated, but that inherent tone is what helps them sit so well in a mix. So I’m wondering if there’s a disconnect between what you’ve heard others playing in a band setting vs what you’re hearing at home.
With your Ibanez, does it have an onboard preamp, and if so, how are you setting it?
I’m not a D’Addario XL fan myself, but have used them. I don’t find them overly bright or metallic. Any new strings are going to be bright to begin with. They do need to break in. But I won’t stop you from starting with the strings.
If you’re sure it’s the P sound you want, then the LB-100 should get you there with no problem. Ps can be fairly mid-heavy when played solo/isolated, but that inherent tone is what helps them sit so well in a mix. So I’m wondering if there’s a disconnect between what you’ve heard others playing in a band setting vs what you’re hearing at home.
With your Ibanez, does it have an onboard preamp, and if so, how are you setting it?
Better visual here.
Original
Rocket Music - GLLB100NaturalSOLD
Updated
Rocket Music - GLLB100RoyalPurpleMetallicSOLD
Original
Rocket Music - GLLB100NaturalSOLD
Updated
Rocket Music - GLLB100RoyalPurpleMetallicSOLD
In my opinion, the L-Series neck pickup in Series-Split-Coil (aka OMG mode) gets as close as humanly possible to a P while not being a P (a very raspy P at that). With my L2500, I don’t have GAS for a P or the P-tone.
Also, in my opinion (maybe I’m just a biased G&L fanboy), but the LB-100 is the best playing, and best sounding P I’ve ever played...
Also, in my opinion (maybe I’m just a biased G&L fanboy), but the LB-100 is the best playing, and best sounding P I’ve ever played...
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Yeah I played a bunch last night and it started to settle in and the sound started growing on me. As you can see, I am also staunchly against DaDarrio's which I'm sure is a huge factor. and yeah, these G&L's play and feel great. And I really like the growl when dimed. I will definitely A/B this against Fenders in store once I swap the strings.In my opinion, the L-Series neck pickup in Series-Split-Coil (aka OMG mode) gets as close as humanly possible to a P while not being a P (a very raspy P at that). With my L2500, I don’t have GAS for a P or the P-tone.
Also, in my opinion (maybe I’m just a biased G&L fanboy), but the LB-100 is the best playing, and best sounding P I’ve ever played...
Just that first moment of plugging in, with those brand new strings hit my ears hard. The strings are already losing harshness and the bass is sounding much larger and warmer like I was expecting.
