Show us your G&L

[bullitproof]

A pair of lefty Interceptor basses

 

[Heisenbass]

1999 flamed amber burst maple top on swamp ash w/ birds eye maple neck. Don’t think it can get much better than that. Bought it in 2013. Features a strange mod: when you pull the volume pot, all the tone controls seem to be bypassed and the full signal goes out. Anybody ever come across this?

 

[fishdude101101]

I remember quite a few years ago ogling an L-2500 that was for sale. I'm a massive burst fan and it was a gorgeous cherryburst. But the owner had started a new job and was moving and decided to just keep it.

Several years later I saw that he re-opened the ad and contact him right away. It turns out he moved to Virginia and lived just a few minutes where my son was going to college at the time. So, rather than ship it, we agreed to meet at a local Guitar Center, I tried it out, and he gave me a nicely discounted price for not having to ship it or even travel to a central meeting point. Besides being a finish I absolutely love, he had also had neck issues early on and sent it back to G&L for replacement and this time asked for an unmarked maple fingerboard and matching headstock to replace the original rosewood. And, while it was there, he also had them install a factory K-mod.

I used it for quite a while and it did a great job in my classic rock band. Then, over time, I learned how much I liked Musicman basses and bought a Big Al two years ago on the condition that I sell my L-2500. That was over two years ago and I still haven't worked up the guts to sell it. A few weeks ago we were talking gear after a rehearsal and our new guitar player said "You have a G&L?!?!" So I took it to our gig a few days later so he could see it and hear it. I really do prefer the feel of my Stingrays and Big Al feel, but the L-2500 is a beast of a bass and sounded so good on our play list even though I typically use the same setting all the time - passive mode, series, neck pickup, and tone controls adjusted to taste. Now I don't think I can actually sell it, especially with the apparent demise of G&L.

View attachment 7347201

I took this "glamour shot" a few years ago and have since replaced the knobs with G&L chrome knobs to better match the rest of the hardware. I know some people poo-poo the 3+2 headstock but I like it. It's a distinctive look that makes it stand out.

Man when I play m l-2500s at home I'm never blown away but I love them live. Listen to play back of shows I'm always blown away by how they sound in the mix.

 

[atquinn]

My G&Ls are currently in flux. This one I'll never get rid of though. Fretless JB with ghost lines and a great finish. And as a bonus, it's also the lightest bass I own!

 

[Alan Ace Cooper]

Mine....

I imagine of I take it to the local vintage shop for a repair, they’ll charge me $75 just for opening the cover!

 

[svtbass]

Man when I play m l-2500s at home I'm never blown away but I love them live. Listen to play back of shows I'm always blown away by how they sound in the mix.

This, my friends, is the absolute musical magic of Leo Fender.

It's not all about bass; OK, yes it is BUT: it's all about bass defining itself in the mix.

 

[fishdude101101]

This, my friends, is the absolute musical magic of Leo Fender.

It's not all about bass; OK, yes it is BUT: it's all about bass defining itself in the mix.

I don't disagree, but I feel like without some help I find my Jazz bases getting lost in the mix. But not the G&L's, stingrays, or Precision derivatives.

 

[Ricky Rioli]

A pair of lefty Interceptor bassesView attachment 7352699

I was very much expecting someone to write something like, Gentlemen, we have a winner

 

[jglunt]

This, my friends, is the absolute musical magic of Leo Fender.

It's not all about bass; OK, yes it is BUT: it's all about bass defining itself in the mix.

Leo was a genius. Not perfect--he hit a clunker now and again--but a genius. I love the MFD pickup, so much so that I put a split-coil MFD into my Tribute LB-100 and added a 2-band active preamp. It sounds incredible. And let's not forget his many guitar designs. The Strat and Tele are particularly iconic. And what about his amps? Best bass tone I ever got was playing a 1970 P-bass through an old white-knob Bassman with a Presence control on the right. Unfortunately, it was only about 40 watts...powerful enough for the time, but wimpy by today's standards. That begs the question, why were there never any G&L amps?

 

[svtbass]

Leo was a genius. Not perfect--he hit a clunker now and again--but a genius. I love the MFD pickup, so much so that I put a split-coil MFD into my Tribute LB-100 and added a 2-band active preamp. It sounds incredible. And let's not forget his many guitar designs. The Strat and Tele are particularly iconic. And what about his amps? Best bass tone I ever got was playing a 1970 P-bass through an old white-knob Bassman with a Presence control on the right. Unfortunately, it was only about 40 watts...powerful enough for the time, but wimpy by today's standards. That begs the question, why were there never any G&L amps?

Of course it's similar with G&L guitar MFD's. I've had a number of those and currently have a '97 ASAT Special in bowling ball flavor and the just acquired 2002 custom Comanche to replace the incredible ASAT Z3 I'd sold. Both pickup sets are, IM(notso)HO, among the ultimate guitar pickups. Z-coils launch a Stratocaster far into the Stratosphere. Makes my 1st Fender, a '62 fiesta red Strat I purchased used as a 15yr old guitarist in 1967, pale by comparison.

There were some G&L amp designs and a few were produced.

My uncles bass player (10 yrs older than me) had an old white Bassman set up. I loved sitting in with them and playing that one, Though they sounded fantastic, the Fenders and Sunn's in that time period (and agree) lacked the power for larger rooms. I am SVTbass, so the various one's I've had from Blueline to Skunkworks were my go to back in the day. That was after I switched to Ampegs after a few years with a pair of Acoustic 360's and an extra 2X12 cab. Thank god for roadies.

 

[jglunt]

Yeah, I have a guitar-playing friend who has two Comanches and an ASAT. He never plays anything other than one of those three, preferring the Comanches because of the lack of hum. I used to have a limited edition Tribute Comanche, but I seldom play guitar any more, so a few years ago I traded it for a Fernandes 8-string bass. I should've kept the Comanche. The 8-string bass is an interesting novelty but not much good for 99% of stuff.

 

[axxtion]

 

[fishdude101101]

Leo was a genius. Not perfect--he hit a clunker now and again--but a genius. I love the MFD pickup, so much so that I put a split-coil MFD into my Tribute LB-100 and added a 2-band active preamp. It sounds incredible. And let's not forget his many guitar designs. The Strat and Tele are particularly iconic. And what about his amps? Best bass tone I ever got was playing a 1970 P-bass through an old white-knob Bassman with a Presence control on the right. Unfortunately, it was only about 40 watts...powerful enough for the time, but wimpy by today's standards. That begs the question, why were there never any G&L amps?

Always preferred tone of the bassman to the ampeg stuff snd I even have a soft spot for modern fender amps.

 

[jglunt]

I imagine of I take it to the local vintage shop for a repair, they’ll charge me $75 just for opening the cover!

This is 2025. They'll charge you $175!

 

[jglunt]

Always preferred tone of the bassman to the ampeg stuff snd I even have a soft spot for modern fender amps.

I've owned a couple different Fender guitar amps over the years, but that old Bassman head with that presence control played through a 4 ohm JBL 15 is the only Fender bass amp I ever owned. I wish I'd never traded that off.

 

[jmattis]

I don’t have a pic to share at the moment, but it really bums me out that this has happened with G&L. I was a single bass guy (a 5 string Fender Jazz, the third bass I ever owned) for a long time until our car was broken into and it was stolen after a gig in NYC back in 2007. I replaced it with a tobacco burst L-2500. That bass was phenomenal. But I didn’t really have the means to have a collection back then and sold it to try out a Stingray. I sold that to get one of the BABP black burst L-2500s and have had a bit of a revolving cast of basses ever since. Back around that time, I visited the G&L factory and absolutely fell in love with the company. Will Ray played and I was able to meet and get a signed card from Phyllis Fender. And the entire staff couldn’t have been cooler and more welcoming. I do have a USA Legacy on the way and plan on picking up an L-2000 when I can find the right one. I hope they’re somehow able to make a comeback, but it sure doesn’t seem it will have much semblance of what the company once was.

 

[fishdude101101]

All 5

 

[pbass2]

Man when I play m l-2500s at home I'm never blown away but I love them live. Listen to play back of shows I'm always blown away by how they sound in the mix.

I've had several L2500's, and currently my #2 (sometimes numero uno) is a Kiloton 5. They can sound downright ugly solo'd, even more than a regular P or J. But IME, even with all their rep for being so aggressive-sounding, they're actually real "sit in the mix" instruments, to the point of being actually...subtle, in the right way. Just good, solid...bass. I think the aggressive rep is based on how hot the MFDs are more than the actual tone when adjusted well and mixed properly.

 

[lowfreqgeek]

I was in Austin in 1999 when Monte Montgomery was all the rage there (I was at a MM show at Saxon Pub one night when the fire marshal showed up and shut it down until about 1/2 the audience left due to being over-capacity). Chris Maresh was playing his early L2500 (the original 4+1) with Monty. That sound has stuck with me for the past 26 years. I've had my fretless L2500 since 2010 and it sounds fantastic in a mix.

 

[axxtion]

Marty Bell custom paint