NBD - G&L Tribute JB jazz bass

[Grassie]

Ordered Wednesday, turned up earlier today. I love jazz basses and I also love G&L's saddle-lock bridges and their pickups, so when I saw this reduced by £70 I pulled the trigger...

Good things:

The colour - listed as Lake Placid Blue, this is more like an Ice Blue, and it's metallic, and looks the nuts. Much nicer than Fender's LPB. The back of the neck and headstock is also finished with a nice vintage amber tint.

The sound - sounds like a jazz bass should. Rear pup has The Honk, blended with the front pup it rounds out beautifully for a really versatile tone.

The bridge - these things are G&L's secret weapon. There is a protrusion under the bridge (downtown) which sits in the wood, sending lovely jazz vibrations through the body. Sustain and clarity for days, and also no dead spots around the 7th fret on any of the strings, maybe due in part to the headstock shape...

Set up: Really, really good, straight out of the box. The action is just how I like it, had to tweak the tuning slightly, and the E string seems a little duller than the others, but very impressed with that side of things.

 

The not so good things:

A very small dent in the finish near the control panel. Nothing serious, I'll get over it.

The binding - not real binding, but painted, and painted quite badly near the dusty end. Now I didn't know that quite a lot of manufacturers paint faux binding instead of installing the real thing, and that's OK I suppose (Its seems to be an aesthetic thing more than anything else) but really, whoever did this particular job needs to try again. Just not good enough, even for a far eastern instrument.

 

Anyway, here are some pics.  

Edited May 13, 2022 by Grassie

[uncle psychosis]

That's nice, that is. 

 

Good score. 

[theyellowcar]

Big fan of the colour. Almost iridescent. 

[Jonesy]

Lovely stuff, that finish is great. I have the maple board version and the neck on these is one of my favourites, feels slightly chunkier back to front than my Fender. The gloss feels really nice too.

 

Enjoy it!!

[Grassie]

39 minutes ago, Jonesy said:

Lovely stuff, that finish is great. I have the maple board version and the neck on these is one of my favourites, feels slightly chunkier back to front than my Fender. The gloss feels really nice too.

 

Enjoy it!!

Yeah, the neck is a little deeper than my Squier jazz but width wise it’s perfect. Much like my Kiloton, pretty much the same dimensions other than the extra couple of frets on the KT.

Edited May 13, 2022 by Grassie

[Grassie]

50 minutes ago, theyellowcar said:

Big fan of the colour. Almost iridescent. 

It’s never Lake Placid Blue, none of the online pics or videos convey that, but when I opened the box, I have to admit I did do a little “phwooaaarr”! 😂

[Bigguy2017]

Love it - I'm a sucker for block inlays on rosewood.

[Cosmo Valdemar]

I used to have one of these - best Jazz bass for the money IMHO.

 

That's a shame about the 'binding' though.

[Sibob]

Is the binding definitely painted? And not just badly applied binding? 

I have some pretty shoddy binding over the years haha.

 

Si

[Raslee]

Never owned a G&L but always been intrigued. Is it heavy? Sure i read somewhere that G&L can be in the upper weight range.

Cheers

[mikeycrikey]

I have the JB-2 in quite a shocking pink colour. It's the precision body shape that I prefer.

It's very light, really well put together and sounds fantastic. All the classic Jazz Bass sounds are instantly available.

The neck almost looks unfinished but it does  a very thin coating on it. Super smooth and really easy to play. Frets are all fine and it came with a Really good set up straight out of the box. Also love the G&L Bridge. No more saddle screws digging into my hand.

Very interested in trying out some other Models from the G&L range now

[Grassie]

3 hours ago, Raslee said:

Never owned a G&L but always been intrigued. Is it heavy? Sure i read somewhere that G&L can be in the upper weight range.

Cheers

No more than any other jazzes I’ve owned. A touch lighter than my old Sire V7 I’d say.

[Grassie]

4 hours ago, Sibob said:

Is the binding definitely painted? And not just badly applied binding? 

I have some pretty shoddy binding over the years haha.

 

Si

Yes, definitely looks that way. I can’t see a join of any description, but I can see what looks like brush marks… ☹️

[horrorshowbass]

On 16/05/2022 at 20:34, mikeycrikey said:

I have the JB-2 in quite a shocking pink colour. It's the precision body shape that I prefer.

It's very light, really well put together and sounds fantastic. All the classic Jazz Bass sounds are instantly available.

The neck almost looks unfinished but it does  a very thin coating on it. Super smooth and really easy to play. Frets are all fine and it came with a Really good set up straight out of the box. Also love the G&L Bridge. No more saddle screws digging into my hand.

Very interested in trying out some other Models from the G&L range now

@mikeycrikeyI'm looking to pull the trigger on the pink one. Any opinions on how it holds up to say a Mex Fender? 

[mikeycrikey]

Unfortunately I have never played a Mexican Fender. Did toy with the idea of a player series Jazz as I ready have the player series precision and I really like that. I think for the difference in price the G&L is a no brainer. I still really like mine and am using it over my precision basses.

Guitar Guitar are doing good deals on the G&L so may be worth checking them out.

Bottom line still really happy with G&L and can thoroughly recommend it.

[mikeycrikey]

2 minutes ago, mikeycrikey said:

Unfortunately I have never played a Mexican Fender. Did toy with the idea of a player series Jazz as I ready have the player series precision and I really like that. I think for the difference in price the G&L is a no brainer. I still really like mine and am using it over my precision basses.

Guitar Guitar are doing good deals on the G&L so may be worth checking them out.

Bottom line still really happy with G&L and can thoroughly recommend it.

The only other Jazz bass I have played was the Farida JB 20. This is the top of the Range model. Very nice, weighed a ton, but not better than the G&L.

[horrorshowbass]

11 hours ago, mikeycrikey said:

The only other Jazz bass I have played was the Farida JB 20. This is the top of the Range model. Very nice, weighed a ton, but not better than the G&L.

Thanks @mikeycrikey

I did have a player jazz and it was.... Ok

yeah guitarguitar @ £299 is great, very tempted. i have some quarter pounders i may put in it too.

I have an L2000 tribute and love it.

[Jonesy]

I haven't played the JB2, but I did compare a JB vs a player series Jazz & Classic Vibe J. There wasn't loads between them in terms of quality, fit and finish. I preferred the feel and sound of the JB, so went for that in the end. I'd always be tempted by a G&L Tribute over a MiM Fender, their bridges are better and they tend to be loads cheaper with not much (if any) difference in quality. If you don't like the pups then you can always get new pups and loom and it'd still be cheaper than the Fender.

 

I don't know what the neck on the JB2 is like, but the JB is fuller and more round in the hand compared to the player series. Personally I like it.

[andydye]

that looks reyt fit!!

[horrorshowbass]

2 hours ago, Jonesy said:

I haven't played the JB2, but I did compare a JB vs a player series Jazz & Classic Vibe J. There wasn't loads between them in terms of quality, fit and finish. I preferred the feel and sound of the JB, so went for that in the end. I'd always be tempted by a G&L Tribute over a MiM Fender, their bridges are better and they tend to be loads cheaper with not much (if any) difference in quality. If you don't like the pups then you can always get new pups and loom and it'd still be cheaper than the Fender.

 

I don't know what the neck on the JB2 is like, but the JB is fuller and more round in the hand compared to the player series. Personally I like it.

Cheers @Jonesy

Yeah the l2000 is an absolute baseball bat neck but I love it and I usually play super skinny ibanez necks