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Should I buy a Tribute L2000.... or something else?

johnbegone

johnbegone

Sep 16, 2004
984
269
Los Angeles, CA
www.hiddenhospitals.com
#1
Alright, Talkbass. I've done the requisite research I think to post a new topic about this. I just read through every thread from the last year that mentioned the L2000's.

The next three paragraphs are all background on me and what I'm doing right now if you want to invest that time to give you some context, if not, feel free to skip to the end to get the quick gist!

Here's the deal: I'm jonesing for a new bass right now and I'm looking for something with a different flavor than what I have currently. My current crop of basses features (2) Fender 50's Classic Precision basses and a Squier VM P bass. Before that I had a USA G&L SB-1 that I liked a lot. Long ago I had a MIM Fender Active Jazz Deluxe that I don't remember much about. I pretty much ran it like a pbass I think.

Anyway, this is our band: http://music.hiddenhospitals.com. Tough to describe, but it's more closely relatable to 90's alternative rock than anything currently being put out, although Muse, Mutemath, Mew, Minus the Bear and Thrice all probably have a place. After releasing two EP's we are getting down to the business of writing a full length so one of the guitar players and I are literally "gearing up" for that. We want to really expand upon the tonal sounds that you hear in "modern rock" music right now. So far I've gone out and fuzzed up (ss/bs TAFM, Swollen Pickle, Wooly Mammoth, T21 Red Ripper), octaved and synthed up (Markbass Super Synth, CopilotFX Cubic, Red Ripper, and I use my M5 as an octave as well). Got drives covered (modded TS-9, Fuzzrocious Rat Tail, Catalinbread SFT, OCD, will get a B3K soon). Working on beefing up my modulation stuff right now, currently using a Pigtronix EP-2 and a cheap-o DOD envelope filter.

I love the sound of my pbass through all my stuff. I'm making radical noises already, and our core bass guitar sound will always be a pbass through an SVT, so thats all good. But for the effects stuff, I want to branch out into some more hi-fi stuff.

You can start reading HERE if you're skipping the context stuff. Basically, I love the pbass sound, but want some more tonal varieties to start dialing in interesting sounds as we starting writing and doing pre-production on this record. I've always really dug Stingray's but the active electronics wreck my pedal setup (could be accomodated for I'm sure, but that's the sticking point currently). I had a Fender American Precision Deluxe for a while with the humbucker in the bridge and really liked that bass, but again - active electronics made it impossible to switch between basses for me (I know the new ones can switch to passive, but I've heard so many nightmares of shielding issues). I recently started looking into the Gibson Ripper/Grabbers and have been eyeing an Epiphone Ripper RI with the P/J configuration. Also checked out the new Reverend basses and really liked those a lot as well (only played the Decision, but the idea of the Thundergun sounds pretty awesome/ideal).

But then all of this brought me around to the G&L L2000. I've never played one but I've done all the reading I can and watched a bunch of videos. I understand that it can do the P / J / Ray thing all adequately and do some of its own stuff. That sounds like a really good fit for me to dial in new sounds and the ability to go into passive mode sounds like a winner as well. There is a local tribute (black w/ maple - it'll match perfectly with my other basses) on craigslist I can go snap up for around $350 and that kind of seems like a no brainer to give one a go, but wanted to get some feedback first.

I know this was way too long, and I sincerely appreciate any feedback you guys can give me. This forum has been my main resource for everything bass for the last decade so I know some of you have some ideas for me this time around as well. Thanks in advance! :help:
 
#3
rodl2005 said:
I didn't like the tribute L25k I had. Lotsa tones, none worked for me.
Love Pbasses, love my Stingray 5 & love my Gibson G3.
Ymmv:cool:
Click to expand...

+1, lots of tones, none worked for me. but try one out there are nice to play and if you are running tonnes of effects through it, it might not be that big a deal.
sounds like you like the pbass sound so i would suggest a special or deluxe to get a bit more.
 
#4
To be honest, listening to a couple tracks at the link you gave, I found myself reaching for my Bunny 6 rather than my L2K. For that style, my personal preference is the smoother, hi-fi sound of my Carvin.
I <heart> <heart> my '89 L2K - it's the best Fender bass you can buy - but it's a lot more middy and wooly sounding, something I'd be more inclined to use for perhaps hard rock or fingerstyle funk. Not really what my taste is for a kind of progressive sound like what I gather from ya'lls style of music.

Definitely try the L2K and see what you think, though. It may work, you never know. But for progressive, smooth styles, I muchly prefer my Carvins, especially the 6 string. But that's just my personal preference.

The G&L, like I said, is the best Fender available at any price, so it's the way to go for a Fender like tone. So you won't be disappointed with it if you do go that way.

LS
 
#5
I play mine with my 'ole Ampeg V4, and it sounds fat and punchy!
You can't go wrong with a L2000 Tribute.
You have to tweak the pots a little to find your sound, because the MFD have a hot output!

If you buy it, do a favor to you, add the K mod to have the single coil option along with the OMG setting, and i'll have a thunderous bass!:bassist:
It can mimic a PBass without problem when you only use the neck pickup with the inner coil.
 
#7
The L2K is very high output even in passive mode and has a reputation of overrunning input stages, and some have reported shielding issues. The tributes tend to be better than US models in the latter regard, though. The pups have metal springs underneath on the Tributes, those can make a ringing sound when amplifying with high gain (distortion). All of this can be easily fixed but one should be aware that you may run into issues to some extent when driving complex pedal chains, with any bass and in any price range, for that matter.

Sondwise, L2K's are very well suited for the experimental bassist IMHO and if you're not shy of using a soldering iron their sound palette can be well expanded beyond the stock capabilities.

I own a Tribute L2K in blueburst which really is a remarkable instrument for it's prize. My ash-bodied bass has for sure a powerful and multi-facetted personality and a very dynamic response. I admit that I cherry-picked it from a bunch of L2K's. Some were a bit less snappy and had less growl than the one I've ended up with but that's probably more a setup/string thing.
 
#8
I had the G&L SB-1 with MFD's, so I'm aware of the hot output of the G&L pups. I think that's fine. I don't really need it to cop a pbass tone at all as I've got that stuff covered. For the writing/recording process I'm really just hoping for some J sound, some 'ray sounds, and if this bass can offer more - all the better I would think.

Thanks for the ideas so far and the honest opinions. Still slightly on the fence, but leaning towards picking one up and just giving it a go.
 
#9
johnbegone said:
I had the G&L SB-1 with MFD's, so I'm aware of the hot output of the G&L pups. I think that's fine. I don't really need it to cop a pbass tone at all as I've got that stuff covered. For the writing/recording process I'm really just hoping for some J sound, some 'ray sounds, and if this bass can offer more - all the better I would think.

Thanks for the ideas so far and the honest opinions. Still slightly on the fence, but leaning towards picking one up and just giving it a go.
Click to expand...

A jazz bass sound will probably be the hardest to get, at least not without going after it with the soldering iron. The bridge PU in parallel mode gives a barking sound that's kind of jazz like, but with a little less nasality. Here's mine recorded on my iPhone leaning against the grill of my roland practice amp (mine's also an FL model which takes a lot of the clack out of it that you'd normally get with a fretted one).
https://soundcloud.com/unclejane/girard

but with the single-coil mod, you might be able to thin it out even more.

LS
 
#10
unclejane said:
A jazz bass sound will probably be the hardest to get, at least not without going after it with the soldering iron. The bridge PU in parallel mode gives a barking sound that's kind of jazz like, but with a little less nasality. Here's mine recorded on my iPhone leaning against the grill of my roland practice amp (mine's also an FL model which takes a lot of the clack out of it that you'd normally get with a fretted one).
https://soundcloud.com/unclejane/girard

but with the single-coil mod, you might be able to thin it out even more.

LS
Click to expand...

I have no problem opening it up and doing the mod I've seen posted a few times. I'm above average at soldering, at least. I can always enlist help if needed. Just found Femto's page of soundclips after he modified his for inside/outside single coil. Big improvement for going after those P and J tones. Seems well worth it.
 
#11
I sold my Tribute L2500 because it wouldn't play nice with my pedals. Sounded awesome clean but when I ran it through dirt and stuff it either fed back like crazy because of the insanely hot pickups or choked my signal...because of the insanely hot pickups. And that was just in passive.
 
#14
johnbegone said:
Is there anything that will sound like a Stingray and be passive and play nice with overdrives and fuzzes?
Click to expand...

If you mod for inner coils, you should be able to get pretty close. I prefer to run that configuration in active, though. I have the volume rolled back to ~80%, and don't have any problem with it playing nice with any of my pedals.
 
#15
johnbegone said:
I have no problem opening it up and doing the mod I've seen posted a few times. I'm above average at soldering, at least. I can always enlist help if needed. Just found Femto's page of soundclips after he modified his for inside/outside single coil. Big improvement for going after those P and J tones. Seems well worth it.
Click to expand...

Then you should be fine with the mod. I never did it on mine because without the frets the little extra opening up of the highs wasn't really worth me getting in there and messing it up lol.

As for a Stingray sound, you can approximate it with the series modes. I had a late model L2500 for about a month before it got stolen; it copped a really good Stingray sound in parallel mode (it was an FL also). My L2K is an older one which sounds much woolier in series mode so it won't quite do the Stingray.

It'll do a really good precision bass sound with the neck PU screwed down hard against the body (with the mounting springs removed) and a mile below the strings. Especially in parallel mode with the neck PU soloed.....

LS
 
#17
Cool. I had an L2K and it was the best bass I had played up till then. I was in a cover band and I could get workable P, J and SR sounds. But then I fell in love with an actual P (and am buying an actual StingRay this week) and the band loved the Precision so much there was no point in keeping the Tribute. Great bang for the buck, nicely finished and put together.

WildWillies4.jpg
 
#18
IF you could deal with it being active, I find my EBMM Bongo HH to be a chameleon sound wise. With the dual H, fader, 4 band active EQ, you can dial up a lot of variety. Roll it back to the bridge pup and you get a pretty close 'ray, lean on the neck pup and it becomes more p like, and lots in between.

Best of luck.
 
#19
Well, I went out and got the bass last night. Couldn't test it out because we met in a parking lot. Got it restrung, cleaned up, etc. when I got it home and plugged it in. All was well in passive, he said he just left the battery out to use the active switch as a kill switch - no problem. Put a new battery in there and... no dice. Tried four different batteries. Something's wrong with the preamp section, I'm just getting no sound. Probably a simple fix, but there are a billion wires and I didn't have time to trace them all yet. Also noticed some grounding issues when playing in passive. Buzzing unless I was touching a switch or a knob.

Kind of bummed out right now. Not sure whether to work out something on getting it fixed and keep the bass, or whether to just return it to him and look elsewhere. Obviously I want to do the K switch / coil mod, so I could take it to a tech and have them do everything in one fell swoop, including adding some shielding.
 
#20
My L2K hasn't had a battery in it for about the last 11 or 12 years, no idea if the preamp even still works or not but when it did have the batt in it, it wasn't really that lovely. The MFD's were able to overload it when I plucked particularly hard.

Obviously, if it's a warranty type situation probably best to return it, but if you got it for a song.... it will work fine as a passive bass.

The electronics cavity on the G&L is a little bit notorious for being a rats nest and having no shielding - I just consider it part of the charm on mine. But a really bad ground problem shouldn't be there. Also, it should humbuck well in parallel mode or with both PU's on. In series mode it'll buzz like any other single-coil bass, of course.

So like I said if you got it for cheap it's probably worth a DIY fix and using it as-is....

LS
 

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