NBD - G&L L2000E 1982

[ped]

A little premature perhaps but I finalised a deal on a bass this morning. It might take a while to arrive but maybe someone can guess what it is 😆

 

 

[AndyTravis]

It’s a G&L…

 

the dot on the back of the head tells me that…

[ped]

I should have known better than to try and post a teaser on here!

[AndyTravis]

And I’m going to say…1981 L-1000

[ped]

4 minutes ago, AndyTravis said:

And I’m going to say…1981 L-1000

 

Substitute those 1s with 2s and you've got it!! I shouldn't be surprised, you probably owned it at one point 😆

[ped]

It should be a perfect match for my equally worn black/maple/black crackle paint SB1

 

 

[AndyTravis]

Never owned a G&L…

 

Which is a regret.

 

and a surprise as I’ve had millions of fender and musicman basses…

 

I thought it may have been this one…

[Newfoundfreedom]

4 minutes ago, ped said:

 

Substitute those 1s with 2s and you've got it!! I shouldn't be surprised, you probably owned it at one point 😆

 

A 2982 L-2000. Wow! 😲

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

7 minutes ago, ped said:

 

Substitute those 1s with 2s and you've got it!! I shouldn't be surprised, you probably owned it at one point 😆

The odds were definitely with you with that assumption 😂

[ped]

That does look like a nice one. I was holding out for the perfect colour and ended up with exactly what I wanted and for a decent price, too. 

 

It took me ages to get round to trying G&L and never really had much interest until I assembled my 'Holy Trinity' P, J, MM setup and realised the L2000 really contributes a definitive evolution of Leo's design. I have been so taken with my SB1; it's become my go-to, so I thought why not... I will also get the local tech to install the K-mod so it can cop a Jazz vibe, making it basically the opposite of the SB1, hopefully in all but feel and playability.

[Chienmortbb]

3 minutes ago, ped said:

That does look like a nice one. I was holding out for the perfect colour and ended up with exactly what I wanted and for a decent price, too. 

 

It took me ages to get round to trying G&L and never really had much interest until I assembled my 'Holy Trinity' P, J, MM setup and realised the L2000 really contributes a definitive evolution of Leo's design. I have been so taken with my SB1; it's become my go-to, so I thought why not... I will also get the local tech to install the K-mod so it can cop a Jazz vibe, making it basically the opposite of the SB1, hopefully in all but feel and playability.

Now I am interested. What is the K mod?

[ped]

1 minute ago, Chienmortbb said:

Now I am interested. What is the K mod?

 

It adds a third position to the series/parallel switch which splits the coils. So in this position you can for example isolate the outer coils of each pickup for a J bass sound (although I'm unsure of the spacing, it sounds sort of in between 60s and 70s, nice and raspy). 

 

I think it can also be done by way of a 'pull out' pot on the volume pot, and you can also choose the inner coils if you prefer. I think adding a switch to choose between inner and outer would be one step too far on a bass with hundreds of possibilities already, which I think I'll probably use most in the Smith-esque all on/series mode as a counterpoint to the P.

[Guest]

In your shoes, I would start off with the battery out, and get to know it all just passive. Then I could see just how much / how little tonal variety the active adds. Some people think it simply makes it louder, since the treble and bass controls are cut-only, but there are plenty of half-deaf people opining about basses on the internet....

 

The guy on TB who supplied those demos of the inner coils – I thought that individually they sounded great, but a bit undercooked when combined. I wonder if your doing the outers will give you something the other way – when soloed, a pair of sounds that are a bit extreme to be useful, but the blended tone being good and characterful?

[ped]

5 minutes ago, Ricky Rioli said:

In your shoes, I would start off with the battery out, and get to know it all just passive. Then I could see just how much / how little tonal variety the active adds. Some people think it simply makes it louder, since the treble and bass controls are cut-only, but there are plenty of half-deaf people opining about basses on the internet....

 

The guy on TB who supplied those demos of the inner coils – I thought that individually they sounded great, but a bit undercooked when combined. I wonder if your doing the outers will give you something the other way – when soloed, a pair of sounds that are a bit extreme to be useful, but the blended tone being good and characterful?

 

I don't think I've seen an inner coil demo, got a link? And yes I never pan my pickups on jazz basses; it's dead centre for me every time!

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, ped said:

 

I don't think I've seen an inner coil demo, got a link? And yes I never pan my pickups on jazz basses; it's dead centre for me every time!

 

"Here are some home made clips for ped" 

[ped]

6 minutes ago, Ricky Rioli said:

 

"Here are some home made clips for ped" 

 

I totally missed that post!! Thanks. It's hard to tell, tbh - the standard sounds are quite different to others I've hard, influenced a lot by the string type and other settings. I think it's going to be just a bit of trial and error.

 

As you suggest, I'll keep the bass in passive mode and play with the sounds that way to get to 'know' it, before trying active sounds, and eventually I'll get the K-mod done with outers and perhaps try inners after that. It'll give me something to play with...

 

I'll probably put rounds on it

[Guest]

46 minutes ago, ped said:

I'll probably put rounds on it

 

I found it interesting that he and someone else in that discussion mentioned using DR Pure Blues on their L-2000s - elsewhere those strings seem to have a reputation for being a bit anemic, but in those clips they sound very strong and vibrant.

[ped]

10 minutes ago, Ricky Rioli said:

 

I found it interesting that he and someone else in that discussion mentioned using DR Pure Blues on their L-2000s - elsewhere those strings seem to have a reputation for being a bit anemic, but in those clips they sound very strong and vibrant.

 

I won't touch anything other than Elixirs when it comes to rounds! I can't be doing with rounds that lose their edge.

[cocco]

Lovely looking bass! I have an 82 L-2000 with the newer head stock but black hardware and I love it dearly. 

 

It's the same colour as the L-1000 at bass direct too. 

 

Tempted. 

[Cosmo Valdemar]

I'd recognise that Encore headstock anywhere!

[LukeFRC]

19 hours ago, ped said:

It should be a perfect match for my equally worn black/maple/black crackle paint SB1

 

 

Looks lovely! 

[Guest]

This story is stolen from TB, but it's stolen from a thread I started last autumn, so it's mine right?

 

Funny story about the many wondrous tones of the L-2000.

 

I got mine in 1997, as a b-day/Christmas gift. I still have it.

The bass had no manual. I was a high school senior, and had no idea what all the switches did. I knew it was an active bass, so it needed a battery, and that battery needed to be changed periodically. I knew what the volume, bass, and treble knobs did. But that's it.

 

So I plugged the bass in, turned on the amp, and started flipping switches. I found "the" tone on the bass – MY tone. This was December 1997. I literally have not touched the switches since! They have remained at "the" tone – MY tone for 23 years straight. All I have done is to change the battery out every now and then.

 

At some point, maybe 10 or 12 years later, when I got way more into the technical elements of things, I actually looked up what the switches on an L-2000 do. Much to my surprise, I determined that the entire time, the bass had been set to: neck pickup only, series coils, passive. In other words, a classic P Bass ... and no need to have been changing batteries all those years.

[ped]

1 hour ago, Ricky Rioli said:

This story is stolen from TB, but it's stolen from a thread I started last autumn, so it's mine right?

 

Funny story about the many wondrous tones of the L-2000.

 

I got mine in 1997, as a b-day/Christmas gift. I still have it.

The bass had no manual. I was a high school senior, and had no idea what all the switches did. I knew it was an active bass, so it needed a battery, and that battery needed to be changed periodically. I knew what the volume, bass, and treble knobs did. But that's it.

 

So I plugged the bass in, turned on the amp, and started flipping switches. I found "the" tone on the bass – MY tone. This was December 1997. I literally have not touched the switches since! They have remained at "the" tone – MY tone for 23 years straight. All I have done is to change the battery out every now and then.

 

At some point, maybe 10 or 12 years later, when I got way more into the technical elements of things, I actually looked up what the switches on an L-2000 do. Much to my surprise, I determined that the entire time, the bass had been set to: neck pickup only, series coils, passive. In other words, a classic P Bass ... and no need to have been changing batteries all those years.

 

Good story - meanwhile I'll be probably spend well into the New Year critiquing the sound of the switches themselves 🤣

[Chienmortbb]

Does anyone have experience of the difference between the Fullerton and Tribute versions of the same bass?

[ped]

21 minutes ago, Chienmortbb said:

Does anyone have experience of the difference between the Fullerton and Tribute versions of the same bass?

 

I'm pretty sure the Tributes use USA hardware and electronics, so the difference is in the wood and finishing. The tributes look like fantastic value, but then again the USA models feel amazing and go for a steal on the used market compared to their better known relatives. I've never played a tribute or seen one in the flesh, though. Based on video evidence alone I'd say the difference in sound is negligible. With any product like this with a diffusion line it's normally the higher priced line which is more consistent, the attention to detail such as the fretwork and feel of the neck etc will be paid more attention, but the import model will be more variable - potentially the same on a good day, especially given the same fittings.