NBD..... G&L JB Tribute. Mmmm Jazz....niice

[Jonesy]

Well, it's not quite a NBD as I've had it over a week now and wanted to get to grips with it before saying anything.

Anyway, I saw this on guitarguitar at a decent price a couple of weeks ago and pulled the trigger. I'd been eyeing up a jazz for a few months and was thinking of either the G&L or a classic vibe Squire and have to say that I'm really glad I went with G&L. It's a lot of bass for not a lot of money. 

I managed a socially distanced jam on Friday so got to crank it up to decent volumes and loved hearing that jazz honk! My only gripe sound wise is that the tone knob is a bit on/off, but I'll live with it for a while and if it's a bother I'll give ki0gon a shout. 

The neck is erm....... a jazz neck, so you know where you are with it. I had played the blue version with a Brazilian Cherry board in Andertons and thought it may be a bit chunkier than the maple? I could well be remembering that wrong, but either way it's a joy to move around. I really like lacquered/finished necks and there's a nice grain to the maple too. 

I've never owned a sunburst bass before and really like the 70s look with the black guard and blocks. The grain in the body is well matched and its not as red as the pics show. If I was to be really picky there's a few blemishes in the binding and a couple of dot markers that look to be cut in half (tried to show them in the pics below), but nothing to worry about and nothing you'd notice unless you were looking for it. 

All in all I'm over the moon with it and wouldn't hesitate to buy it again. 

 

Edited June 22, 2020 by Jonesy

[ClassicVibes]

Love these Jazz basses. Though the G&L offering has always been a little on the weighty side - not sure if this is the case with your bass? Congratulations anyway on picking up a gem. 

[la bam]

Nice!

Remember to tighten the bridge (theres a side screw) when adds a new dimension to the sound.

[Jonesy]

1 hour ago, ClassicVibes said:

Love these Jazz basses. Though the G&L offering has always been a little on the weighty side - not sure if this is the case with your bass? Congratulations anyway on picking up a gem. 

It's tough to call on the weight side of things. I normally play a Ric or and Ash bodied MIJ P, both of which are pretty heavy so I'm kinda used to lumbering around a heavy bass. Having said that, it's not a feather and maybe not one for the light brigade. 

I've just tried to weigh it on the bathroom scales and it comes in at 4.9kg (you've sparked an interest now and I have 4.6kg for the P and 4.2kg for the Ric). So it's def a chunky monkey!! 

[Jonesy]

1 hour ago, la bam said:

Nice!

Remember to tighten the bridge (theres a side screw) when adds a new dimension to the sound.

Was one of the first things I did! Have to admit that I was a bit skeptical when I first heard about it, but after watch the bass whispers vid on it and hearing it for myself, it contributes a lot more to the sound than I would have thought.

Normally I find a j bridge pup solo'd to be a bit weedy, but this one sounds fantastic. Maybe the bridge tightening gives it a bit more depth? 

[jassbass]

2 hours ago, la bam said:

Nice!

Remember to tighten the bridge (theres a side screw) when adds a new dimension to the sound.

What does this do?thanks 

 

[Jonesy]

It's hard to put words to (kinda makes it fuller sounding I guess), whack some headphones on and give this a listen..... 

 

[White Cloud]

Very nice 👌

[jassbass]

9 minutes ago, Jonesy said:

It's hard to put words to (kinda makes it fuller sounding I guess), whack some headphones on and give this a listen..... 

 

Cheers 

[Mudpup]

Nice snag cousin! I wondered when you would hit the button on something like this - that lockdown boredom finally got you 😂  Must be something in the air......i grabbed a Sire V7 last week (and 10 mins after it arrived busted my finger so had to lay off playing it for a few days!)

[Jonesy]

26 minutes ago, Mudpup said:

Nice snag cousin! I wondered when you would hit the button on something like this - that lockdown boredom finally got you 😂  Must be something in the air......i grabbed a Sire V7 last week (and 10 mins after it arrived busted my finger so had to lay off playing it for a few days!)

Hahahaha, yeah - it's been a long time coming and a few things coming together 'forced' me to get it. Guitarguitar dropped their price and then guitarists in both the bands I'm playing with both got 2 new guitars each in the course of about 2 weeks. With GAS, jealousy and boredom all against me I stood no chance!!!

Ah, how are you getting on with the Sire? Would have thought the neck is too skinny for you? The pre-amps on them are lovely though and you can get a huge range of sounds out of them. How are you getting on with it (in that 10mins!)? And how'd you bust your finger? Having too much fun on the bike??

Edited June 22, 2020 by Jonesy

[Mudpup]

2 minutes ago, Jonesy said:

Hahahaha, yeah - it's been a long time coming and a few things coming together 'forced' me to get it. Guitarguitar dropped their price and then guitarists in both the bands I'm playing with both got 2 new guitars each in the course of about 2 weeks. With GAS, jealousy and boredom all against me I stood no chance!!!

Ah, how are you getting on with the Sire? Would have thought the neck is too skinny for you? The pre-amps on them are lovely though and you can get a huge range of sounds out of them. How are you getting on with it (in that 10mins!)? And how'd you bust your finger? Having too much fun on the bike??

Hah! A fatal combination :-) 

Just doing a NBD post now :-) all will be revealed.

Squashed it moving a table. Not very rockn'roll....could just about play but wanted to wait till the bleeding stopped in case i stained the neck 😂

[Lozz196]

1 hour ago, Jonesy said:

It's hard to put words to (kinda makes it fuller sounding I guess), whack some headphones on and give this a listen..... 

 

Makes it sound more focused & tight, but not at the expense of any low end, if anything it adds to it.

Great looking bass btw Jonesy, just screams 70s - which is a good thing imo.

Edited June 22, 2020 by Lozz196

[la bam]

2 hours ago, jassbass said:

 

Yeh, I think (if I can remember the speil) is it makes the bridge one solid acoustic unit, rather than 4 individual ones.

I didnt think it would make a difference, but it really did.

I do love the g&l lb100s (or l100) whichever model it is. Total bargain for beautifully made bass.

[Jonesy]

1 hour ago, Mudpup said:

Hah! A fatal combination 🙂

Just doing a NBD post now 🙂 all will be revealed.

Squashed it moving a table. Not very rockn'roll....could just about play but wanted to wait till the bleeding stopped in case i stained the neck 😂

Ace, looking forward to it! The Sire's are really nice and I almost got one before the world went to poo so wanna hear all about it. 

Moving a pool or black jack table around in your den.............? Hmm, its pretty hard to make that story remotely rock n roll!! Looking forward to the Gene Simmons part of the next Yellowhouse show!! 

55 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

Makes it sound more focused & tight, but not at the expense of any low end, if anything it adds to it.

Great looking bass btw Jonesy, just screams 70s - which is a good thing imo.

Yeah, you're right. I think that's why it's so hard to explain. It adds depth, punch, definition and pretty much all the other adjectives we use when it comes to describing tone. I think the scientific term is......... It just makes it sound betterer? 😂

[dub_junkie]

I bought one of the JB basses from Guitar Guitar a couple of weeks back. Weighed it at 4.5kg/9.9lb. It has a different tone from the JB-2 with the same pickups and controls and the bridge pickup is closer to the bridge on the sunburst JB (60s vs 70s?)
I am a late convert to black blocks and binding on a maple neck but it looks great with the sunburst and black pickguard. My one has some unusually heavy figuring in the ash which I’m not 100% sure about on a burst finish but that aside I can’t fault the bass. It and an LB-100 will be my gigging pair when (if) everything returns to normal.

[Jonesy]

What a lovely G&L family you have there! I really like the figuring on both of yours and you've captured the burst a lot truer than I have, my phone camera just seems to make up its own colour tones I think. 

How do you find the tone switch, is there much range to yours? 

Really dig the LB 100 too. What's the neck like on it? I was thinking about getting one once upon a time but thought it might be a bit too chunky for me. Admittedly though, I haven't played one. 

Snap! On the choice of P finishes, here's mine..... 

[dub_junkie]

No not as much range to the tone control as I have been used to on other passive basses. The Tributes don’t seem to back off to zero and do that woolly no treble sound (for want of a better description).     I didn’t find much change on the LB-100 either and I actually though the tone pot was duff on it when I got it. 
I have mostly been playing through my mixer and studio monitors or on headphones at lower volumes and I have noticed more difference in the tone settings when plugging into my TC head and cabs and cranking it up a bit. Still not like how I expect the tone to travel from full on to full off. Backing off the tone pot, it doesn’t do that much until about where 3 or 4 would be, when it noticeably changes. Becomes duller but not the woolly, undefined no treble sound we are all used to. Is not a deal breaker for me as I would very rarely if ever back the tone off like that. For me it just adds to the instrument’s character if anything. 
 

The LB-100 has a big neck. Quite a handful  and I think I would find it exhausting on my left hand to play it for a whole gig. Do love the bass though. It sounds great and occupies its own space the way P basses do. I also wanted the ash/black/maple look so much. It’s very, very likely a keeper and actually keeps me from getting my MusicMan Cutlass out of its case which is high praise indeed!

The sonic blue JB-2 has just been sold. I couldn’t keep both it and the JB. Sold the JB-2 not because it’s any less useful than the JB, but because I have played JB-2s a while now and wanted another Tribute with different pickups than J/J.  I’m 100% sure I’ll get another JB-2 as those basses have their own vibe that I like. For now though I bought a Kiloton from jezzaboy on here. That’s another killer bass for the money and I’m really liking it so far. Sounds like a passive L-1500 in an SB-2 body. 

[la bam]

When I had my lb100 I used it slightly differently after watching a video from the bass whisperer.

He used to recommend different tones by backing off the volume control as well. Ie 3/4 gives you a more vintage tone etc.

[Jonesy]

5 hours ago, dub_junkie said:

No not as much range to the tone control as I have been used to on other passive basses. The Tributes don’t seem to back off to zero and do that woolly no treble sound (for want of a better description).     I didn’t find much change on the LB-100 either and I actually though the tone pot was duff on it when I got it. 
I have mostly been playing through my mixer and studio monitors or on headphones at lower volumes and I have noticed more difference in the tone settings when plugging into my TC head and cabs and cranking it up a bit. Still not like how I expect the tone to travel from full on to full off. Backing off the tone pot, it doesn’t do that much until about where 3 or 4 would be, when it noticeably changes. Becomes duller but not the woolly, undefined no treble sound we are all used to. Is not a deal breaker for me as I would very rarely if ever back the tone off like that. For me it just adds to the instrument’s character if anything. 
 

The LB-100 has a big neck. Quite a handful  and I think I would find it exhausting on my left hand to play it for a whole gig. Do love the bass though. It sounds great and occupies its own space the way P basses do. I also wanted the ash/black/maple look so much. It’s very, very likely a keeper and actually keeps me from getting my MusicMan Cutlass out of its case which is high praise indeed!

The sonic blue JB-2 has just been sold. I couldn’t keep both it and the JB. Sold the JB-2 not because it’s any less useful than the JB, but because I have played JB-2s a while now and wanted another Tribute with different pickups than J/J.  I’m 100% sure I’ll get another JB-2 as those basses have their own vibe that I like. For now though I bought a Kiloton from jezzaboy on here. That’s another killer bass for the money and I’m really liking it so far. Sounds like a passive L-1500 in an SB-2 body. 

I thought exactly the same as you and that maybe I had a dud tone control when I first picked it up. Good to hear that it's just a 'feature' and nothing to worry about. I'll be completely honest and say that I normally play with the tone maxed out anyway, so it's no bother to me. 

The kiloton looks pretty tasty too! The 3 way switch must give you a range of tones to play with. It's a shame they don't make a tribute SB1, I'd quite fancy an aggressive p with a slimmer neck.