G&L L2500

[Essential Tension]

I bought this:



It still has the factory fitted strings - D'Addario EXL 170-5SL I believe - but I want to fit Thomastik Jazz Flats. Will I need to file the nut for the B string? Anyone know?

[Barklessdog]

Nice bass, I love the blue burst.

How does it sound?


I have always been temped by G&L's, especially the ASHAT's. I have never heard anything bad about them (neck dive with Tele). One of the keys to be a bass success is to have your own look pickups, bridge & sound. Leo went the right direction, improving on a proven formula, vs Gibson's stubborn do it my way attitude.


Leo sure knew how to strike gold several times over, but poor Gibson continues to be driving to continued failure, much like the Chicago Cubs.

[Essential Tension]

Nice bass, I love the blue burst.

How does it sound?


I have always been temped by G&L's, especially the ASHAT's. I have never heard anything bad about them (neck dive with Tele). One of the keys to be a bass success is to have your own look pickups, bridge & sound. Leo went the right direction, improving on a proven formula, vs Gibson's stubborn do it my way attitude.


Leo sure knew how to strike gold several times over, but poor Gibson continues to be driving to continued failure, much like the Chicago Cubs.

Hello John, I hope it will sound great but today it's still in Germany with it's present owner. It should leave for the UK tomorrow, and I hope to have it at the weekend. It's my first ever five string but I needed somewhere to put my thumb. 

[Essential Tension]

How does it sound?

Well, I played it on a few songs at Saturday's gig and, wow, those are powerful pickups. I didn't even have the preamp switched on and it was like holding a wild dog on a very long leash. I didn't feel in control and was speechless. The drummer, who had my Ampeg 410 right in his left ear said: 'F***ing H*ll man, what is that?'.

'It's a G&L' was all I could reply. I need to learn how to use it.

[gweimer]

I've got a couple G&L basses.  Since they're set to overdrive with the pots wide open, it does take a little getting used to.  My rat bastard L-1000 is a far better bass than my old '64 Precision was.

[Chris P.]

I saw a sunbutst four string version in a shop today. I kinda like it. I like alll those small toggle switches. Three good reasons to buy one!

[PhilT]

I was thinking about a Tribute L2500 when an old Spector Rebop 5 popped up, which has a very slightly wider neck and 35" scale, so I went for it. I still think the G&L looks nicer. Turns out the Rebop is a monster too, I'm swapping the Spector preamp for an Aguilar OBP1 to try an calm things down a bit. I guess flats might help as well.

[Barklessdog]

Leo could do little wrong, where Gibson only does things wrong it seems.

[Chris P.]

Hey!?!?! Be a guy and post this at the Gibson thread!!!

[Essential Tension]

Well, I've learned to control the tone and volume of the L2500 and it does sound rather good through an Ashdown ABM600 and an Ampeg 810. 

However, I'm still confused by having five strings - I'll well away, playing fine for ages, when I suddenly find myself either fretting the wrong string or plucking the wrong string, or sometimes both. 

Then I'm slow to get started again due to a state of confusion. It's as though I've been playing four string for so long both my muscle memory and my mental memory grind to a halt when suddenly confronted with the fifth string. Strangely, I experience the confusion of the fifth string in two ways. There's an extra string on the bottom (obviously!) but somehow there's an extra string 'in the middle' when there should not be a 'middle' string at all. 

Despite these issues I'm very pleased with the L2500 except for one thing and that's the slightly narrow string spacing - which I guess may be a factor in me plucking the wrong string sometimes. So I've been half thinking I might try to trade it for a Lakland 55-02 or for an Fender American Standard Precision V, both of which have a .75 string spacing at the bridge, I believe.

Or I might just stick to four string as most of the time I'm not playing any of the extra five notes that are available anyway!

BTW, the L2500 weighs 10lbs exactly - am I right to think that's on the light side for a five string?

[PhilT]

My Spector's about 9lb. The same as my basswood Precision.

The first 5-string I bought was a cheapo Vester. The problem I had with that was the neck was too narrow and I kept getting my fingers jumbled up and missing the strings. Spector nut width is 1.84", which is fine for me. Spacing at the bridge is 0.66", but that doesn't cause me any problems. I am playing with a pick though.

Generally I only play the 5-string on songs where I need the low notes. I think a 4-string tuned BEAD would have done the job just as well.

[Essential Tension]

My Precision is only 8lbs 5 oz so the L2500 does seem slightly heavy at 10lbs but I'd thought that might be light for a fiver.

You might have something on the 'B-E-A-D rather than a five string' idea - perhaps I should be thinking about trading the L2500 for an L2000 and set it up B-E-A-D.

[rockinrayduke]

Just got an early 90's L2000 over the weekend and I know what you mean about controlling this beast. Hadn't had an active bass in a while. It's fun but probably weighs 10 lbs.

[Essential Tension]

Hey, that's a very nice green!

[rockinrayduke]

I do like green.