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G&l or fender bass

G&l jb2 sonic blue or Fender road worn 60s fiesta red?

  • Fender road worn 60s

    Votes: 73 33.0%

  • G&l jb 2

    Votes: 148 67.0%
  • Total voters
    221
#41
@TDR1138 I hear ya on that, theres always something you can change to make a bass more personal

@kmon from what I've read online the jb2 uses the same pups as the US aswell, waiting to hear when the jb2 sonic blues will be back in stock...might be awhile. I guess in the mean time I'll have to make my way to the music store and try a road worn. It's too bad I cant take a g&l for a spin
 
#42
I will just say that I had a rough experience with G&L and would say try before you buy. I got a G&L custom JB and had countless problems with it. Went back and forth with them and sent the bass back 3 times. Dead spots all over the necks and each neck they tried was a ski jump at the end. Absolutely could not get rid of string buzz on top of the dead notes. Also during this process I had it into two different highly reputable luthiers and they couldn't do anything with it either. One re-Plek'd it and tried to shim the neck...all to no avail. Ended up stuck with a bass that was not up to standard and had to sell it at a massive loss. This was around 2012/2013. My guess is that they had a bad batch of wood or something. The bass was nowhere near as good as the one I played at NAMM that made me want to purchase it. G&L tried to make it right but in the end told me to go through the place that I purchased it for a refund. Unfortunately Bass Central is a bunch of crooks and wouldn't stand behind the lemon I was sold.

The positive: The bass looked absolutely gorgeous. The sound/tone from the Alnico PUPS was incredible. Both luthiers were equally impressed with the tone from the bass and said do everything you can to get it the way you want it because it's an incredible sounding bass. Tonewise I would say it runs circles around the Fender and Fender is certainly not without their build flaws.

I hold no grudge against G&L. I think I was just the unlucky 1 out 100 unsatisfied customer. I've played several since and they have been great. Ended up with a Sadowsky MV4 to replace the dud that I had and it's an incredible bass but there was something I really loved about the tone from the G&L JB's.

Moral of the Story: Either test them before you buy to make sure you get a good one or make sure you purchase from a place that will stand behind it and has a solid return policy that gives you time to have it set up properly and play it for a bit. I purchased it through Bass Central and they were a total nightmare to deal with. DO NOT BUY from them. If you get a dud they'll just tell you to kick rocks.
 
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#43
Yango said:
Nice looking bass. I see that you've replaced the standard Fender Garbage Bridge that comes installed on almost all of their basses. I was pretty surprised that my American Jazz Bass Deluxe came with such a crappy bridge... considering how much the bass cost, they could have buried a lump of gold somewhere under the bridge.
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I actually like the vintage threaded saddle bridges that these come with. I also replaced the bridge on my MIJ 62 reissue P bass with the vintage threaded saddle one, I put this high mass Fender bridge on my Jazz just for aesthetics, I think it looks cool!
 
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#44
4stringkyle said:
Dammnn that's a nice bass! I dont mind the G&l headstock shape. Its grown on me and now when I see one I instantly think g&l lol that's the idea right?

If anyone has photos of their Fender road worn or G&l jb2s post them up!
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I had a Kiloton Tribute for a short time and it was a killer bass that I didn't even think about the headstock, but if would of been a crappy dog bass I think the headstock would of killed it for me sooner..
 
#45
4stringkyle said:
Dammnn that's a nice bass! I dont mind the G&l headstock shape. Its grown on me and now when I see one I instantly think g&l lol that's the idea right?

If anyone has photos of their Fender road worn or G&l jb2s post them up!
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This one is when they first came out in 2008 it has the rosewood board as opposed to the recent ones that have paio fero, I scored this from GC last year for 600.00!
 
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#47
G&LTributeJB-2 - 1.jpg
JB-2 with Barts Installed - 1.jpg

This is my G&L Tribute JB-2. Other than the pickups—which I didn't care for at all and have now replaced with lovely Bartolinis—this is a splendid bass. [For reference, I have a US-made JB-5 which has wonderful pickups.] The JB-2 is interesting because it's a jazz bass pickup and control set-up in an L-series body: that is, without the offset, heavier body. It plays nice with sit-in guitar stands. Great value.
 
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#48
This isn't a serious question - - gimme the G&L any day of the week. Whether its the low-cost Tribute or the better built USA models, you'll get a much better bass with G&L. The pickups are absolutely superb and they have a broader range of tones than Fender can deliver. They play great and they simply have a lot more soul.
If you get into the USA range, they offer a very broad selection of finishes, neck sizes, and other options such as binding, painted headstocks -- much more than Fender offers unless you get into the CS models for major money.
Get a G&L - - you'll love it.
 
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#49
@uwrossl Of course I would love to play the G&L before purchase but I cant, no one has one anywhere around here. The fender road worn wont be test driven either cuz the one I want is rosewood and the one I'd be testing is pau ferro. I'd much rather the darker rosewood.

@jmlee thats a great looking jb2. I'm guessing no issues? What didnt you like about the stock pups and were there any issues with installing the aftermarket pups?

@Gizmot the g&l is 400 bucks cheaper... but what is it about these road worns?
 
#60
4stringkyle said:
@uwrossl Of course I would love to play the G&L before purchase but I cant, no one has one anywhere around here. The fender road worn wont be test driven either cuz the one I want is rosewood and the one I'd be testing is pau ferro. I'd much rather the darker rosewood.

@jmlee thats a great looking jb2. I'm guessing no issues? What didnt you like about the stock pups and were there any issues with installing the aftermarket pickups?
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No significant issues at all. A tiny bit of fret sprout from winter dryness but that was easily filed down. We’ve had some discussion in the G&L club about how the J-style pickups in the Tribute JB-type basses were, at least for some period, rather thin and nasally and *not* like the American version. That was true with mine. The later Tribute LB-100 P-type pickups seem to have not been affected, so perhaps this problem is behind them. [I’ll note here that the MFD pickups in the Tribute L, M, Kiloton, and SB series are all the same as in the US models.] The Barts were an easy install (I *love* Barts), bearing in mind that the JB-2 has two *equal-sized* pickups, not a longer pickup in the bridge position. I ordered accordingly. The JB-2 has a 6-bolt neck inherited from the L-series body and the great G&L inset, locking bridge, so the sustain is excellent. It’s a terrific instrument. Too bad it’s gone from the US-made line.
 
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