NEW G&L MATADOR Double P Pickup Bass

[bigsmokebass]

Oh god no! What have you started? I got you @Cuzzie😂😂😂

The pickups in this G&L are actually pretty good in fairness but MFD... Nope! It's commonly known about Leo Fenders hearing loss and how he'd overwind pickups to compensate for it. 

Well made instruments, granted I've owned a few G&L guitars and basses but mentioning MFD's, I can only hold Cuz back so much before he lets loose 😂

[Cuzzie]

Split coil may be slightly different............but as @bigsmokebass said, The MFD range (pick ups alone) overwound, too much Treble to compensate for Uncle Leo’s overall hearing and high end hearing loss, they also shot themselves in the foot with their neck options, they had so many good ones, really amazing profiles, and in the end the default #12 falls between lost gaps and achieves nowt

Still good basses tho

Edited October 8, 2019 by Cuzzie

[Opticaleye]

On 08/10/2019 at 18:13, Cuzzie said:

Split coil may be slightly different............but as @bigsmokebass said, The MFD range (pick ups alone) overwound, too much Treble to compensate for Uncle Leo’s overall hearing and high end hearing loss, they also shot themselves in the foot with their neck options, they had so many good ones, really amazing profiles, and in the end the default #12 falls between lost gaps and achieves nowt

Still good basses tho

I have a '81 L1000 that is hot but quite muted in the high end. It may be something that's occurred over decades but I'd expect an Ash/Ebony bass  to be brighter. The hotter output was probably designed for the unique subtractive passive EQ circuit.

I did try a P style MFD in my Sandberg VS4 but found it too aggressive for me and settled on an EMG Geezer Butler P. which is more vintage sounding. I do have a spare Geezer P which I could put in my VS4 to make it a double P...

[Cuzzie]

7 minutes ago, Opticaleye said:

I have a '81 L1000 that is hot but quite muted in the high end. It may be something that's occurred over decades but I'd expect an Ash/Ebony bass  to be brighter. The hotter output was probably designed for the unique subtractive passive EQ circuit.

I did try a P style MFD in my Sandberg VS4 but found it too aggressive for me and settled on an EMG Geezer Butler P. which is more vintage sounding. I do have a spare Geezer P which I could put in my VS4 to make it a double P...

Reckon that may sound cool, but would you want a slightly hotter output on the bridge split coil, to help pop through a little bit?

I built a P recently with a Creamery 58 pick up which I love and was considering routing and adding a wizard Thumper which is super hot, but have decided against it for now, give me a nudge if you want to try that P in it if you do rout the VS4

[Opticaleye]

28 minutes ago, Cuzzie said:

Reckon that may sound cool, but would you want a slightly hotter output on the bridge split coil, to help pop through a little bit?

I built a P recently with a Creamery 58 pick up which I love and was considering routing and adding a wizard Thumper which is super hot, but have decided against it for now, give me a nudge if you want to try that P in it if you do rout the VS4

Over the years I haven't been a fan of super hot pickups (except for the L1000's MFD) I'd hope that I'd be able to compensate for volume disparity with pickup height. Can't be worse than the average PJ I'd have thought. Thanks anyway🙂.

 

[Opticaleye]

Also a switch to select the middle 2 of the splits might be cool.

[TRBboy]

Oooh, very nice! Do they do a 5 string? Asking for a friend..... 😏

[gary mac]

Like @ped, I love the MFD pickup in my SB1. Yes it's hot and clanky with the volume full on but just rolling the volume knob back very slightly puts in vintage Fender P bass territory. The tone pot gives further manipulation, so all in all I find it a very versatile pickup, with very usable sounds.

[Lfalex v1.1]

Is it really an issue that the MFDs are too hot/bright? 

The instruments do have tone and volume controls.

That, or roll off the gain and treble at the amp end.

It's easier to remove something that there's to much of than to try and add something there's not enough of ( Confucius probably didn't say that!)

[Ben Jamin]

16 hours ago, TRBboy said:

Oooh, very nice! Do they do a 5 string? Asking for a friend..... 😏

It's custom shop so probably!

Edited October 10, 2019 by Ben Jamin

[Ben Jamin]

I've had my L2500 for several years now - and despite it being pretty heavy and the neck being a bit too much of a baseball bat for my liking - the pick-ups and the pre-amp are the reason I've kept hold of it! I love the sound of it.

I accept that I am also a bit of a G&L fanboy. 😎

[Cuzzie]

2 hours ago, Lfalex v1.1 said:

Is it really an issue that the MFDs are too hot/bright? 

The instruments do have tone and volume controls.

That, or roll off the gain and treble at the amp end.

It's easier to remove something that there's to much of than to try and add something there's not enough of ( Confucius probably didn't say that!)

In short, it really can be (for me anyway) others have found it to be so, but of course others are ok with it.

Take the L1500 as an example, it was made to be very treble harsh which was like fingernails on a blackboard and the provided pre amp did not really address or roll it off enough. In order to make it manageable you had to change a resistor (R7 if I remember right) and then add another capacitor to the tone pot to make it useable - and it did work.

What I found was that the bass hit any pre amp so hard up front, it decreased  any ability for tone shaping which I consequently found easier with ‘gentler’ pick ups.

I have always thought they would be great basses for just bass and amp - no fuss, alas in my youth I messed with pedals etc. Now I am older and grumpy and play a lot more straightforwardly I would prob like them more!

For me they need to keep the #7 and #8 necks and it’s a winner

[Sven]

Going back to the Matador topic, I wonder why they chose to put in two traditional P pickups instead of the P from the SB 1 ou 2... Nothing against this traditional P pickup but it's less G&L-ish than the other one...

[Cuzzie]

They prolly sound better....

[dub_junkie]

#8 neck shape on the USA SB-2 and Asat basses I had was great to play. Also had that same neck carve option on a flame maple topped L2K too and I preferred it over the standard 1 3/4” nut width on that model.