G&L L2500 vs Stingray 5 vs Lakland

[NJE]

hello,

I have fallen for 5 strings recently and am looking around at the possibilities. Now I am not a small chap so something in the fender vein would be good, eg Lakland, MusicMan, G&L, and of course fender.

I absolutely love the stingray 5 neck and find it one of the best low B's around but what are the others like?

Is the G&L neck any bigger, than the stingray, and what are the lakland 5 necks like? is the DJ5 neck slimmer than the standard Lakland?

Any comments or info would be great please.

[Bigwan]

Can't comment on the G&L or DJ, but the 55 and JO Lakland necks are superb and, in my experience, superior to the Stingray neck, which I find too narrow. I'd have a Skyline JO over some much more expensive jazz type basses (Sadowsky for example). Just my 2p worth.

[WalMan]

Trying to think back to the SUB5 I had and the neck on that.

I [i]think[/i] that the neck on the L2500 may be a little wider, but I prefer the G&L to the SUB.

The SUB had been tinkered with (John East preamp inserted) but for the rock covers stuff my band does the L2500 has a much better tone and site in the mix really well

[NJE]

thanks for the comments.

I am looking at a few basses and one in the line up is an L2500 as well as the stingray. at the moment the G&L is coming out cheaper so wondering which to go for? the slim neck is what i like but wondering if I will learn to love a slightly bigger neck to save on some cash. I do love the versatility of the G&L's

we shall see what happens. the musicman ends before the G&L so if it goes to hight I might just have to go G&L.

Thanks again

[silverfoxnik]

Having had both a Lakland DJ5 and a SR5, I think the first thing to say is that they are very different basses. The Lakland string spacing is 19mm and I think the SR5 is something like 17-18mm. doesn't soun dlike much but it is when you play it. Also, the DJ5 is a 35" neck as opposed to the SR5, which is 34" scale. The SR5's I've played have all had excellent low B's but then so did the DJ5.

Problem is, with basses that are this different in feel, it'd be best to try before you buy.. but I realise that isn't always possible.

I've also had a chance to play on a USA G&L2500 and one of the Tribute models too and they are great basses. More versatile tonally than the SR5 and I personally prefered that.

From a value for money point of view, I don't think you could beat the Tribute L2500.

Good luck with it!

[mr_russ]

The lakland 55-02 was pretty good with barts, but the new lakland pickups and pre are fantastic! certainly worth considering if you're looking for the best of both worlds.

I sold an SR5 to get a DJ5, both have great low B's- as does my new roscoe beck 5.

The DJ5 neck is one of the best I've played, slightly shallower than fender's 5 string offerings but not too much- the bass set up really easily with a nice low action aswell.

I really like SR5's but they feel quite different due to the string spacing mainly.

GAK in Brighton now stock Lakland aswell as Musicman, a good place to try both out if you're near.

[stingrayfan]

SR5 or L2500, I don't think you'll go wrong with either. It's a buyers' market for Stingrays right now, so you might get a better deal on one of those.

[NJE]

Thank you all.

I am still mulling things over. I would LOVE to try them all but may have to just punt for one in the end. I have tried the tribute l2500 and they are good, just wondering if the american ones differ. (I assume they use same dimensions). If the stingray has the narrower string spacing I think thats got to be a fore-runner. I'm watching a few basses on evil-bay and there is a potential musicman in a well respected american store. The G&L is only £450 on ebay day to go, no bids.

STILL lots to considder. Funny you mention the Roscoe beck, it caught my eye in the sale thread and there is one at a good price in the same store as the musicman. I love active but the beck is rather beautiful though..... oh man I thought I had it down to 4 basses and another option comes along.

Edited May 3, 2008 by NJE

[WalMan]

Well the G&L's in the UK and does look nice.

It has a maple board, same as mine, and that does seem to have the odd effect of making the action look high when in fact, after being worked on by the guitar tech I use, measured it is now really low. It just doesn't look it - most strange.

You may have a few more options with the switching on the G&L with the passive/active/active treble boost switch and series / parallel switch, but your difficulty is trying one as they seem to be very few & far between over here.

The number of people who ask "what is that bass?" & "G&L? Never heard of them"

Edited May 4, 2008 by WalMan

[silverfoxnik]

[quote name='NJE' post='191228' date='May 3 2008, 02:25 PM']Thank you all.

I am still mulling things over. I would LOVE to try them all but may have to just punt for one in the end. I have tried the tribute l2500 and they are good, just wondering if the american ones differ. (I assume they use same dimensions). If the stingray has the narrower string spacing I think thats got to be a fore-runner. I'm watching a few basses on evil-bay and there is a potential musicman in a well respected american store. The G&L is only £450 on ebay day to go, no bids.

STILL lots to considder. Funny you mention the Roscoe beck, it caught my eye in the sale thread and there is one at a good price in the same store as the musicman. I love active but the beck is rather beautiful though..... oh man I thought I had it down to 4 basses and another option comes along.[/quote]
There's a Roscoe Beck for sale second-hand at the moment in a UK shop??? Buy it now! They're discontinued and they don't come up for sale that often, so it'll be an investment as well as a great bass to play and own.

[NJE]

Well some of you may have seen the other thread I started asking for info on warwicks. Unfortunately the G&L I was after on evil-bay went to someone else thanks to crappy windows deciding to have a strop (cant wait to get back to my mac). The musicman route is an option still but I am thinking it is a big amount of money to spend on an experiment having never really played a 5 string before. I was also thinking I need something with a different sound to the musicman, so now I am looking at a really nice used warwick streamer. Never expected to be GAS'ing over warwick but here I am.

With regard to the ROSCOE BECK if anyone is interested there is one going secondhand from an american store, (sorry maybe I wasn't clear on that). Its bass emporium in texas I believe, they ship here for not a huge amount and its going used for I think £600. I would buy it but it is a bit out of my league and a bit too much 5 string for me at this stage. Maybe someone on here will go for it.

Anyway thanks for all the comments, I think there will be a purchase in the next few days. Watch this space!

[silverfoxnik]

[quote name='gareth' post='192235' date='May 5 2008, 02:02 PM']You've got to add about 22% to the £600 for duty/vat and then probably about £75 for shipping

So thats £600 plus £125 plus £75 = £800, which is a good deal[/quote]
Definitely!

[dub_junkie]

SR5 - today,tomorrow and the day after that.

You just play those things and everythings good in the world

[Owen]

I've owned SR5s and Laks. FOR ME (YMMV) the B on the Laks were way better than the SR5s.

[Dusty]

I was a SR5 owner til I saw a Blue Lakland JO5 on evil bay which took my fancy. Put a bid in and won it.
The Lakland was so much better, the SR5 was on the bay within the week. I've since replaced the Blue one
for a natural one with a tort pick guard. The neck on the Laklands felt thinner anda lot more playable to me.

Try all before you buy if you can, chopping and changing can cost !!!

[hammer]

I've had both a USA G&L L2500 and a Lak Skyline DJ5 and prefer the DJ5. The low B is better and its the DJ5 actually easier to use. The G&L is an excellent bass but has so many options on it that you can get really lost trying to find them all. I also found the G&L very heavy. Not much difference in string spacing as far as I noticed but the SR5 has noticeably narrower spacing which is why I've never bought one despite the excellent reviews.

Ian

[EBS_freak]

They are all different. From a personal point of view, Lakland wins hands down on playability and the extra inch scale means the B really sings out. Really tight, precise, almost piano like clarity.

[Dusty]

We can all do with an extra inch !

[NJE]

Well I looked through ebay and missed out on some cool basses. I finally went with something I never thought I would buy in a million years but i fell in love. It is stunning and I am really really happy with it.

here is the link pictures at the bottom. [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=18793"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=18793[/url]

Thanks for all the wise words though.