Holy crap, I had no idea. (L-1000 content)

Welcome to the club. I have an early '80's L-2000 that was my first bass. It still blows me away when I break it out. The notes just have a lot of "gravity" to them. I don't know if the L1000 has active electronics or not. On the L-2000 I've actually started rolling back the tone controls a little.

 

The L1000 is all passive.
It adds bass in that setting-which is single coil btw-by adding two caps to the circuit.

I roll bass off on mine frequently; especially in bass boost mode.

If I could only have one bass, it would be the L1000.
Congrats, and get thee down to "Club Wunkay" in the G&L forum.

post pics, plz!

 

These are heavy weighing basses, don't ya agree? Sound awesome with the pickup in the "money spot". There is an early 80s L1000 in Burgandy w/ defretted maple board for sale at a 'mom & pop' music shop in Denver. A previous owner did an amatuer de fret job to it. Someone tore the frets from the board with pliers and filled the gaps with wood filler. Dang, everytime I see that sweet sounding L1000 hanging on the wall I reach for my wallet but never take it out.

 

A 1981 L-1000 which I bought new was my main bass for years and years, and it's the one and only bass I'll NEVER sell! I've since switched to P-Basses only because they are more forgiving weight wise.

To answer your question, yes, I always use the bass-boost setting, and slightly roll off the bass pot. Incredible presence live and records terrifically; I have had engineers working on recording levels tell me "the bass sounds distorted, a little farty..." I tell them to roll off the input level. It is a great recording bass, and one of Leo's finest moments in my opinion.

 

They are heavy beasts for sure.I thought the L1000 might be all passive. I used to play the L2000 active all time with the tone knobs all pegged. I've finally started exploring the passive mode and the series/parallel switch and backing off the tone knobs a little. It really opens up the tone a lot. Not trying to derail, Cheers on the L1000. Hard to go wrong with an old G&L.

 

My L1000 weighs a little over 9lbs (Ash/rosewood).

I disconnected the bass boost cap on the toggle switch and the options are now - parallel/ single coil/ series (without bass boost). I find this more useable for me considering I'm strung with flats. The series option still has plenty of bottom end and I don't have to roll off all the bass.

Great basses - congratulations.

 

I loved the bedroom tone of the Bass Boost, but it made it too difficult for me to hear the note in an ensemble. I loved my 1980 L-1000 and I had it for 14 years. In the end I went to a P-Bass because I also love the tone of a P-Bass and it's easier for me to hear in a band. Quirkiness with the neck on mine led me to eventually sell it. I still have an incredible soft spot in my heart for the L-1000.

KO

 

The thing with G&L controls is this:
"use them."
It ain't like my take on most things Fender, which is to run them all the way open, or nearly so...

None of the positions have to be overly bassy or boomy: cut bass.

The coil tap all the way towards the neck seems to be "most Precision-ee" to me; but, I tend to like the OMG-or single coil with bass boost-best....but I tend to run the bass cut down to about 20-30%.

It can be helpful to think of the G&L treble and bass as "boost and cut, centered at 50%" as a beginning tutorial kinda thing, and move on from there. Even tho they're not. Kinda.

 

I have severe GAS for a L-1000. Do any of you guys know any dealers who have any of the reissues in stock? (if they even shipped out yet)

 

I believe Guitar Man (http://www.guitarmannyc.com/) is the exclusive dealer for the L1000 reissues. Last I talked to them, they were $1350 + shipping, and were taking about 6 - 8 weeks for delivery.

 

Never played one but I'm not surprised.
Leo Fender had more great bass ideas and innovations in a day than all the others combined and over their lifetimes.
Leo was Howard Rourke, the rest are Peter Keatings.

 

I have a L-1K from the early 80's and it is a fine instrument. I always leave it in bass boost (OMG) mode...sounds huge.