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Steinbergers

C

Croozer

Feb 7, 2008
1
0
#1
Hi, Im a newb here with 35 years of playing to my credits. Looks like some good info on this site. Are there any early Steinberger players here? Not the Spirits but the Brooklyn and Newburg basses. (sorry Spirit players, but there is a real differance) I`d love so hear some of your thoughts, How long you have owned them and as players......Do you still feel they are the state of the instrument as advertised years ago. I do have a collection of vintage Bergers and play the tar out of all of them. My Fenders, Gibsons and a few other collectables are just gathering dust, All with their own beautiful sounds but not like the thunder of Neds finest. Thanks for the neet site.
 
#2
I bought my XL-2 new in 1988. I was in college and had only been playing for a little over a year, but I made the mistake of playing one in a store one day. The next day I went back and bought it, and it was my main bass for over a decade. A few years back, I started to get other basses, but it's still always one of my top three, and the only bass I will NEVER sell.

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Its design was pure genius, and the tone is unbelievable. Most people fixate on the body shape, but to me, it's all about that one-piece composite construction. Nothing else really sounds like an L- or XL-series 'berger, IMO.

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Still plays and sounds the same as the day I bought it. Never required any more maintenance than changing strings and batteries. NEVER goes out of tune.

If you have more than one, then you are indeed a lucky man.
 
#3
Hi, I've been playing an original XP-2 (griphite neck/maple body) since 85 or so. Could't afford an XL-2 back in High School! The thing that drew be to Steinbergers was the sound, neck feel, comfort and look. Still own that bass and have played the heck out of it. I've rebuilt the bridge twice, replaced the leg rest that snapped and it still blows most basses away. I never though about the "State of the Instrument" ad slogan much, but the original Steiny's will hang with any modern bass. While I still use it, I have ventured more to J-Bass styled basses in recent years, mainly my Warmoth Korina J-Bass body and Padouk/Ebony Neck. The ol' XP-2 is mainly tuned to Piccolo tuning these days. They make the best piccolo bass if your into that style.
 
#7
Benjamin Strange said:
I've got a couple of XM2s with TransTrems on them:

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They've been my main basses for years - I've modded them to death, so they aren't collector's pieces anymore, but who cares? I dig them.
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Cool duo there. I notice the Roland GK PUPs on them too. How's the performance of the GK PUP on these basses? I'd think that if any bass out there could improve synth tracking or latency it would be a Steinie with the graphite neck.

I own a very rare '89 lefty XL2. I had an '83 righty L2 first which I sold after I found the lefty, but in all honesty there was something about the L2 that sounded better to my ears - warmer, more organic. Steinies sometimes get a bad rap for sounding/feeling cold and sterile, but there are plenty of ways to warm them up. My XL2 still sounds great when EQ'ed properly, but I do miss that L2.
 
#8
pjmuck said:
but in all honesty there was something about the L2 that sounded better to my ears - warmer, more organic.
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I believe the sound difference in the L2 and XL2 came from pickups. The EMG-SS pickups in the L2 were internally wired out-of-phase unlike the later EMG-HB pickups used in the XL2 that were in-phase.
 
#13
Marcury said:
Always wanted an original Steinberger, but never got there. I'm wondering if any of you who know the originals know anything about the new Synapse models. i realize ther enot the same, but how do they stack up?
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BartmanPDX said:
it's all about that one-piece composite construction.
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Which Synapses don't have. That sums it for me, but anyway I'd like to hear from experienced guys/gals as well.
 
#14
pjmuck said:
Cool duo there. I notice the Roland GK PUPs on them too. How's the performance of the GK PUP on these basses? I'd think that if any bass out there could improve synth tracking or latency it would be a Steinie with the graphite neck.

I own a very rare '89 lefty XL2. I had an '83 righty L2 first which I sold after I found the lefty, but in all honesty there was something about the L2 that sounded better to my ears - warmer, more organic. Steinies sometimes get a bad rap for sounding/feeling cold and sterile, but there are plenty of ways to warm them up. My XL2 still sounds great when EQ'ed properly, but I do miss that L2.
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Those are Yamaha pickups on there - the Roland's wouldn't fit. As it was, I had to shave down the pickup ring on the bridge pickup to get the MIDI pickups to fit under the strings. I don't think it matters what bass they are installed on - they track the way they track and that's that.
 
#17
I have an original all-graphite L2. Neck is half a dowel. Chunky.

I also have a couple of clones; a Hohner fiver, and a Washburn 4 string Bantam. Both of wood.

Funny thing is...the NASTIEST, clangiest, most industrially metallic "berger" tone of all of them comes from the "Washburger"...NOT the Steinberger. It snarls.

The "Hohnerberger" sounds more like a J-bass.
 
#18
How's this? An L-2 from Brooklyn, #295. Previously owned by the late Dee Murray of the Elton John Band. Used to record the "Too Low For Zero" album and it's single "I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues".
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#19
I've got one of the originals (SN #178). I bought it about 1981 after I saw/heard Marcus Miller playing one with Miles. It was my main axe for about 20 years. A traditionalist friend I was working with urged me to resurrect my '60 P a couple years ago and as a result I've gone back to wood (and more conventional body shapes). My current main bass is a Sadowsky Modern 5 (all black, though, including headstock, hardware, and ebony fretboard. The Steinberger influence lives on in my life). But the Steinberger is a wonderful instrument: great sound, stable, sturdy. Funny looking on me, though: I'm 6'8", 250 lb.

-Steve
 
#20
I still have an original L-2 (serial # 368) that I got new in 1982. I will never sell that axe! It doesn't get used a lot live these days, but I take it to every studio session I ever do. Fabulous instrument, almost irreproachable.

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