Surprised by my G&l L-2500....

[engedi1]

Here is my story... For the last 5 years, I have mostly played a Sadowsky M5-24 with maple board for almost every situation. Smooth jazz session, country or CCM session, rock or blues gig. It has done a good job for me and I change strings to try to get it to fit whatever I am doing. However, I have recently started playing a cover band that does 4 hour gigs and it was killing my back! Also, it has a grindy tone which is a little over the top when paired with my somewhat grindy amp (TC RH450). I have noticed that when the volume has gotten loud on my last few gigs, I am losing bottom end and punch-the balls are gone from my tone. I have been blaming the amp, which gets fuzzy at loud volumes...
I had also acquired a G&L l-2500 USA Fretless for a jazz group I was in. This group is no longer together, and I had this bass fretted, as I never really loved it a fretless. I had only had flatwound strings on it, which were pretty good for some Americana gigs.
Then, for my gig last weekend , which is a country/rock band in a smoky honky tone, I put on some old Slinkys I had lying around and was totally BLOWN AWAY! Huge, ballsy, aggressive tone with much cleaner low end than I have been used to. I had never heard this bass with rounds, and was amazed at what a great rock n roll tone it gets.
I was running it in active mode, in series I think (which ever is less hot) Also, what really impressed me, and I am not sure why, is that the B string was cleaner and a little more solid sounding than on my Sadowsky. Competely impressed. Also, impressed with the Slinkys which I haven't used in 10 years or more. Great strings at a low price.
I think I have found my rock n roll club bass! It is lightweight due to the alder body, looks cool due to the Ebony board with no dots, and feels great due to the smaller string spacing (I have small hands) I now am starting to get why everyone raves about these basses so much. This bass also has the best gun oil neck finish I have EVER come across, which I prefer over a lacquer finish.
I might just stop blaming my amp....

 

[cableguy]

Oh you can still blame your amp.......

I agree with the G&L though. It is a great bass. I have two. An 81 L-1000 and a 2K L-1505 with the 2500 next on my list. I haven't played many basses but I love my L-1000's tone the moment I first played it in the 90's sometime. Glad to hear the G&L love from someone who I would bet is a much better and more experienced player than me.

 

[Selta]

G&Ls are amazingly under-rated basses. I've "moved on" to EBMMs, but I loved my L-2500 (also USA) when I had it. Kinda wish I never sold it, but it wasn't getting played once I got my first EBMM anyway.

 

[Jason Brown]

I've always wanted to try an L-2500, but have never seen one in person. I finally put the order in last Friday for one. I can't wait for the next 3 months to pass.

 

[smperry]

G&L L2500s are great basses IMO.

 

[vettfingers]

Love my L2500!! Eveybody raves about the tone I get from this bass.

 

[lowfreqgeek]

I had a fretted (maple) L2500 that was just perfect for my original rock band gig. I sold it, preferring a little wider spacing and a different sound for most of the other work I do, but I still have and use my fretless L2500 for the original rock gig. I really like the Slinkys on that bass...

I keep thinking I need to pick up a Tribute L2500 just to have another fretted one around, even if it doesn't get used all the time. Such a great bass with such a huge, but defined low end. I'd love to try a Rosewood/Ash L2500 for something a little different.

Great basses!

 

[BadJazz]

G&Ls are amazingly under-rated basses. I've "moved on" to EBMMs, but I loved my L-2500 (also USA) when I had it. Kinda wish I never sold it, but it wasn't getting played once I got my first EBMM anyway.

I went the other way and sold my Stingray and Sterling after getting my first L2K. heh

 

[StuartV]

I have had an L-2500 (w/Single Coil option) for over a year now. And I just picked up an EBMM Stingray 5 H about a month ago. Neither one is for sale!! They are both awesome!

 

[Tunaman]

Tried a L2000 the other day, I'm grabbing one as soon as a sale shows up on Amazon

 

[Tupac]

I was never a fan of the G&Ls.

 

[lowfreqgeek]

I was never a fan of the G&Ls.

Yeah, I think we know how you feel about G&L, despite your extremely limited experience with them.

How many have you owned and for how long, and how many gigs have you played on one?

It's cool if you have real-world experience with something and don't care for it, but trying one in a shop once and then bashing every one ever made is totally not cool.

 

[chadhargis]

I have a soft spot for G&L's. I think they are fantastic basses.

 

[engedi1]

I thought you might chime in Chad! Good to hear from you. You are understating your love of G&L's. I think I remember you saying something like "I just want to bow down in front of it every time I play it" or something like that. Considering that I paid $900 for this used off of Ebay, it is an amazing bass for it's price. The neck in particular is what I am impressed with. The fastest five string neck that I have ever played, and I have played nothing but 5 strings basses for the last 10 years. For some reason I can't get the action on the G string quite where I would like it, but since I have been playing so much upright lately my hands are getting a lot stronger and I don't need as low of action as I used to!
I would love it more with the single coil option instead of the parallel/series option but that is Ok. You can't have everything! I am going to put some Rotosounds on it and see how those work, although I was really pleased with the nickel Slinkys.

 

[Toastfuzz]

Yeah, I think we know how you feel about G&L, despite your extremely limited experience with them.

How many have you owned and for how long, and how many gigs have you played on one?

It's cool if you have real-world experience with something and don't care for it, but trying one in a shop once and then bashing every one ever made is totally not cool.

Despite MY extremely limited experience with one, I don't like G&L's either. I was in the market for a 5 string, and there was a L2500 at a local shop that I came in to play at least 5-6 times before finally moving on. The reason I came back so many times is from the praise they get here, I couldnt figure out what I was missing. Got an old 90's Carvin and have been happy with it.

So pretty limited experience, but I dont like em either. Neck was too chunky for me, I didnt care for any of the finish choices, and personally I thought the pickups with the big exposed poles looked cheap. The tones I got in the store on those 5-6 occasions wasn't enough to convince me past those initial observations, so I passed.

Why are you so offended at someone expressing their opinion?

 

[Selta]

I never understood why any person feels the need to air their displeasure at a product, in a thread that is to talk about how nice those products are. You don't see me jumping into Carvin threads saying how "bad" they are (IMO), or Ibanez threads etc. etc. I guess I just don't get the reason why people have the impulse to thread crap.
"If you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all."

If only people had more consideration

 

[lowfreqgeek]

Despite MY extremely limited experience with one, I don't like G&L's either. I was in the market for a 5 string, and there was a L2500 at a local shop that I came in to play at least 5-6 times before finally moving on. The reason I came back so many times is from the praise they get here, I couldnt figure out what I was missing. Got an old 90's Carvin and have been happy with it.

So pretty limited experience, but I dont like em either. Neck was too chunky for me, I didnt care for any of the finish choices, and personally I thought the pickups with the big exposed poles looked cheap. The tones I got in the store on those 5-6 occasions wasn't enough to convince me past those initial observations, so I passed.

Why are you so offended at someone expressing their opinion?

Ok, you gave it a fair shake (5-6 times) and stated what you didn't like about it. Fair enough, and I have no problem with that. I will say - from experience - that the real beauty of a G&L's tone comes out in a gig, NOT in a shop. Especially when you are unfamiliar with the tone controls and how the bass/treble controls work. You really do have to put it into the real world to "get it".

Tupac, on the other hand, started a troll-thread (which was shut down) regarding his displeasure with the one G&L he tried. Then he came in here and says "I was never a fan..." as if he had some actual experience.

There are plenty of basses I just won't even give second thought to even after having tried a few here and there. You won't see me bashing it though. I might voice my displeasure with something that I've given real consideration to (like the Markbass amp I once purchased and tried to gig with and took back after the gig). Otherwise, if I don't like it - move on. Someone else does and will like it.

It's not my job to prevent others from liking what I don't like.

 

[perkidan]

A G&L L-2000E was my first real bass. Loved it. It had the smaller neck(can't remember the number). Had an early SB2 with the Jazz style pickups that was killer. Also had an L5500 five string with the EMG pickups, also great bass. However after moving over to Pedullas, then Lakland, I cant get on with the neck anymore, but nonetheless they are stellar instruments.

 

[Toastfuzz]

Ok, you gave it a fair shake (5-6 times) and stated what you didn't like about it. Fair enough, and I have no problem with that. I will say - from experience - that the real beauty of a G&L's tone comes out in a gig, NOT in a shop. Especially when you are unfamiliar with the tone controls and how the bass/treble controls work. You really do have to put it into the real world to "get it".

Tupac, on the other hand, started a troll-thread (which was shut down) regarding his displeasure with the one G&L he tried. Then he came in here and says "I was never a fan..." as if he had some actual experience.

There are plenty of basses I just won't even give second thought to even after having tried a few here and there. You won't see me bashing it though. I might voice my displeasure with something that I've given real consideration to (like the Markbass amp I once purchased and tried to gig with and took back after the gig). Otherwise, if I don't like it - move on. Someone else does and will like it.

It's not my job to prevent others from liking what I don't like.

I feel ya on that, however, he wasn't "bashing". He voiced his displeasure just like you said, and if his or mine or your criteria for critique differ, that happens. He didnt say "all G&Ls suck you're stupid for playing one." As he was simply stating his own personal opinion, and I had no idea about any past threads or history, I read YOUR post very negatively, you may not realize it but for every blind hater out there, there are blind fanboys as well.

I guess I just don't get the reason why people have the impulse to thread crap.

The fact that you take offense at anyone speaking a negative opinion about your preferred brand just shows blind fanboyism, which isn't really great when alot of people on these forums buy basses blindly from the internet, based on the opinions of people who post here. Someone who only gets to hear the positives will find unexpected negatives they knew nothing about. Would you rather TB be the Ric Forums, where anyone stating anything resembling a negative comment about Rickenbackers gets banned from the forum? No, I'd rather have objectivity and free speech and expression. Thats why TB has so many members, and so many people praise these forums for the wealth of information and experience that they could not get elsewhere.

I'll throw out there too, I had no intention of commenting on this thread. I wanted to read how OP was surprised, since in my experience I could never get into em. And my comment was purely in response to lowfreq (no offense), as for 1: it appeared he was just attacking someone JUST because they DIDN'T like G&L and 2: Tupac obviously isn't going to dissuade the OP's opinion, and an opinion with no basis or details isn't going to sway a casual reader researching G&L's. However, if 20-30 people chimed in that they didnt like G&L, then they'd have a popular influence, and I bet you'd give that opinion more merit.

I'm just defending free speech. He didn't say anything offensive, attacking, or rude.

 

[engedi1]

G&L's did go through a chunky neck phase, and mine seems to be from a different, slimmer necked era. I have played a few with massive necks that I couldn't handle, just like I can't handle huge warwick 5 string necks. I used to have a lakland 44-94 deluxe (usa) and the neck, while pristine, was too big for my hands. This neck is simply great. Not too wide or thin. I will admit that the finishes are NOT spectacular on their factory models. I am not saying these basses are as good as Fodera's. What I am saying, is that for $900, it might just be the perfect bass for ME, for my many bar gigs. Do you guys really want to take your $4000 lakkie to a craphole honky tonk? I don't like taking my Sadowsky to these gigs and won't any more. These are working man's basses, designed for that purpose, not fancy showroom models. They get a beefy muscular tone that is great for rock (I'll keep my Sadowsky for my jazz gigs) and country and music where a powerful tone is what is needed. My surprise was at how this bass outperformed my Sadowsky in the barband context. I am NOT saying they are the perfect bass for every context (such a bass doesn't exist) Let's not start arguments on this thread please.