Q's about 1505

Compared to your current two basses, the L1500/1505 is quite different. This is a result of pickup placement (compared to the L-2500's bridge pickup) and pickup type (compared to the 'Ray's alnico pickup).

The closest in sound would be a Sterling 5H. Pickup placement is close to the same and the pickup types are both ceramic. The G&L is a more aggressive sounding bass than the Sterling.

Ken...

 

There are, of course, capacitors in the circuit of the L-2500. They can be found on the bass & treble pots as parts of the EQ stack and on the preamp board as support components to the opamp. AFAIK, my new L-2500 has no caps as part of series/parallel switching. I've not looked under the hood of an L-150x, but I believe any differences to be slight (if any).

From a global and aural perspective, the L-2500 on both pickups will be a loud and ballsy bass, particularly in series. I have one of these beasts. On the bridge pickup only, it'll sound, well, like the bridge pickup only. Thin sounding in comparison to both, but with great definition.

The L-1505 has a single L-2500 pickup in the classic "StingRay" location. Being a bit further from the bridge than the the bridge pickup of the L-2500, it's going to see greater string excursion and therefore make a bigger signal. It's also in an oscillation node sweet spot, which also makes for relatively large string excursions, on a harmonic, right over the pickup. The combination is loud, ballsy, and damned aggressive.

I've played an L-1500 as well as its old cousin the Climax. Either of them are more aggressive sounding than my L-2500, SUB5 (poor man's SR5), or Bongo 5HHp. Any of these are basses can rip out the front row. The L-150x throws the front row to the back of the room.

Ken...

 

People always seem to forget that there is much more to it!!!
U'll throw the front row to the back of the room if you like but u can also play it soft , roll of a bit of the bass frequencies play it closer to the neck and get a pretty nice p bass tone for exemple. I play all kinds of music and after 3 weeks of using my L1500 i m so much in love with it! Motown fingerstyle funk blues jazz , i found a good sound for everything. 5 only play it passive since my preamp is broke now. Still didn t find the right settings for slapping yet but i m sure it will come!

 

That's pretty accurate.

I've done battle with my L-1505 for a few years now.

The thing I keep coming back to is that it's way more complicated that any other bass I have owned.

It's way more aggressive than anything else I have, or likely, ever will, own. Even when I need it to be a big snarling beast I feel I have to haul the reins in on it.

But it also has the capacity to be very warm and give nods to other classic sounds with a little EQing (both on board and externally). The best thing I ever did for that bass was get ahold of an EQ pedal to boost the lows; it totally made the difference with getting more usable tones out of it.

It's very much its own dog that way. But even after a few years I still find that when I go to it and put in the time I get some great workable sounds. It takes some work sometimes, but they're there.

 

I have an L-1500, and my experience is similar. Instead of a straight EQ pedal, I use an Aphex Bass Xciter when my 1500 encounters a rig that emphasizes the "honk" factor over the "slam" factor. It makes a huge difference, as it evens out the response all over the fretboard.

I think you've hit the nail on the head about the 1500 taking some work. Many useful tones are there, but it isn't "plug-and-play" like a J or P-bass, because it sounds so different through different rigs IME. Through my Roland Cube 100, the tones are right there, but it's tricky through my G-K 700RB-II/Neo112 rig unless I use the Xciter. Ideally, I'd want a head with parametric EQ for low and high mids to dial in the 1500, but c'est la vie.

 

Until now it goes straight in my LMII head through an ashdown mag410 cab. The EQ on the head is flat as always with either of my 3 main basses.... I use the bass cut and my fingers only to deal with the sound!
Need to get lower tension strings on my L1500 and i ll b in heaven!

 

I don't know what you're using now, but DR Lo-Riders are relatively low tension, and I think they're amazing on the 1500.

 

Well i had it for about a month now.... It came with big fat strings that i removed straight away... Then i tried Marcus Miller DR and some fender flats that sounded fantastic on it. For a funky gig i tried some d addario half round that got real high tension thinking i could keep the feel of the flats but also having some brightness for a little slapping maybe , it sucked. I ll never buy half round ever again. I ll go for T.I jazz flats on my G&L and stick to my MIA Jazz deluxe for the slapping mood , sometimes. Is it just a feeling of the bass or is there more tension than on my fender with the same set? it feels that way at least

 

As it happens, I had the D'Addario Half-Rounds on my 1500 before the DR's. Just like you, I couldn't stand them, largely because of the insanely high tension, but the tone was nothing special either. Since the G&L and Fenders are the same 34" scale, there shouldn't be any tension difference with the same strings.