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I've known players that put their Ibanez above their Fender. Which one do you have that needs upgrading? I would buy anything from your list.
I live 30 miles from the Roscoe HQ's....tried one of the basses out at a local store, OMG, that's the bomb! Will be retiring in a couple of years, thinking about saving up for one of those beauties. JMO.
Kiloton, without a second thought...really no need to be active with this one.
(Bought both of my L2000s from Reverb without even having the opportunity to play them.)
(Bought both of my L2000s from Reverb without even having the opportunity to play them.)
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Coincidentally, I tried the D-Roc and the Kiloton at my local shop at the weekend. I'd not played anything with fanned frets before, hence trying the D-Roc. I found it to be a lot easier than I thought it would be. Looking down, I could obviously see the frets were differently laid out but my fingers just seemed to naturally go to the right place. Darndest thing, it didn't feel any different than playing my normal basses. I suspect some kind of sorcery. Anyway, I couldn't get any output from the D-Roc (either the batteries were dead or there's an on-switch I couldn't see) and there was no assistant handy, so I looked round and saw this cherry red Kiloton hanging on the wall.
A G&L is on my B GAS list and I've been leaning towards an blue burst L-2000 (I already have a 4H Stingray, so this felt like a natural progression). Darndest thing: part II though was I ended up falling a little bit in love with the Kiloton. It was comfortable to hold and play, it sounded really nice; also the passive electronics, satin neck, maple fretboard, block inlays (probably stickers but ok with that) all tick my boxes. Seriously, I could have sat there and played it all day and if I'd had £399 on me, I'd have walked out with it. I'd been on the lookout for a replacement for my old ATK 300 and it looks like I've found it. On with the saving up...
A G&L is on my B GAS list and I've been leaning towards an blue burst L-2000 (I already have a 4H Stingray, so this felt like a natural progression). Darndest thing: part II though was I ended up falling a little bit in love with the Kiloton. It was comfortable to hold and play, it sounded really nice; also the passive electronics, satin neck, maple fretboard, block inlays (probably stickers but ok with that) all tick my boxes. Seriously, I could have sat there and played it all day and if I'd had £399 on me, I'd have walked out with it. I'd been on the lookout for a replacement for my old ATK 300 and it looks like I've found it. On with the saving up...
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I’m with you on #2. At the intro, I think it was $1500 USD. Compared to other US Fenders, it would be my buy. I could be wrong but the $$ went up pretty fast. Don’t understand when you look at Fender site so many basses not in stock… seems like they never are ???? Oh well, I have as many as I need.
I love my G&L Kiloton.
Sleek body design, super-comfortable.
And that MFD pickup in series mode is super super loud - I keep it at about 7/10 in series. Wide open is overkill. Also, the single coil gives a nice crisp sound, and parallel approximates of a J bass with both pickups on full.
I think these Kilotons are versatile and way underappreciated.
There are no batteries in a D-roc they are all passive, they also pretty high output so something must have been off somewhere.
You won't be sorry.
Mine quickly rose to favorite status.
A G&L Kiloton and a Warrior Messenger both made your short list, but no Stingray?
I got a Stingray earlier this year, and I've been kicking myself everyday since then for not getting one sooner. Maybe it's a little out of your budget, but they're really killer basses!
Of the basses you have listed, I'd personally go with the Warrior just because it's Stingray-ish, and it's unique.
The way the neck feels is a big deal to me. I don't know your whole list, but I do know what a G&L and what a Fender would feel like to play in comparison to an Ibanez. Ibanez tends to have tighter spacing, and can have a flatter or even compound radius with a narrow nut width, which will feel different from a 9.5" radius with a little wider nut width. So, tone a bass can can produce aside, how it feels when you play it could either positively or negatively impact how you feel about said bass...
Having said that, the G&L would be my pick. Now I'm an FSO (Fender Shaped Object) passive player, so I'm going to gravitate to that neck profile and am going to favor the P-Bass w/flats tone, so out of that list, of course I'm going to pick the G&L... I like how there is a series/single-coil/parallel switch onboard. I think I could cover the genres/types of music you mentioned with one. Especially if used with some kind of active preamp like maybe a sansamp bass DI. - One thing to watch out for on the Kilotons they can go heavy and I'll bet that Ibanez you've been used to is pretty light. Weight might be one more thing to consider.
Having said that, the G&L would be my pick. Now I'm an FSO (Fender Shaped Object) passive player, so I'm going to gravitate to that neck profile and am going to favor the P-Bass w/flats tone, so out of that list, of course I'm going to pick the G&L... I like how there is a series/single-coil/parallel switch onboard. I think I could cover the genres/types of music you mentioned with one. Especially if used with some kind of active preamp like maybe a sansamp bass DI. - One thing to watch out for on the Kilotons they can go heavy and I'll bet that Ibanez you've been used to is pretty light. Weight might be one more thing to consider.
- Current USA Fenders are overpriced IMO, so if I wanted a high end J bass I might consider that Roscoe just out of spite. But I vastly prefer a P bass, generally speaking. So eliminate all Jazz basses and USA Fenders.
- D-Roc and Warrior are a very different aesthetic from the typical Fender-shaped "standard". If that works for you, great. But it's a non-starter for me personally.
- I am curious about G&L, but I'm not sure that a Kiloton would be my first choice over a L-2000 or SB-2.
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