Thank you. I was guessing all that, but I wanted some input by folks more knowledgeable than I. I played it in church yesterday morning and was surprised at the hum in my in-ears. It was slight, particularly since I had bass pretty hot in them. I could only hear it when everyone was silent, so maybe nothing to worry about.
The resistor should make it so the pot doesn’t totally go to “0” in its rotation. Basically just keeps it from that fully closed position to eliminate that totally closed off mud tone. I don’t recall it on the Ls, but I do know it was used on the SB-1 circuit. Eliminating it shouldn’t be causing your issue. I’d double check your grounding.
In looking at the wiring diagrams for an L-1000 and an L-2000, the L-2000 diagram does not have that resistor on the treble cut, but the L-1000 does. I used a .022 cap on the treble, so it doesn't roll off the treble as much as the usual .047. That's why I deemed that resistor unnecessary, but when I heard that hum in my earbuds, I wondered if leaving it out would cause that hum.
Churches can be notoriously noisy environments. Unless you’re in a new state-of-the-art church, most tend to be older electrical environments that have been upgraded in pieces over time. Add to that, many tend to use dimmers, which are a great source of noise.
Yeah, those dimmers are bad news. I play at this church a couple times a month and have only heard a slight hum once when I had my Kiloton in single coil. The bass I played yesterday was a Squier Jazz Bass that I've completely re-wired, not being much of a fan of a stock jazz bass tone. I've played it there before with no hum, but something in my latest re-wire experiment could be sensitive to something there. It's not bad enough to be a real problem, just a mystery I feel unreasonably compelled to solve.
Other thing to always check is if the ground lift switch/button on whatever DI you’re using wasn’t switched to the wrong selection. At churches, I never trust that things are how I left them. Always double check.Yeah, those dimmers are bad news. I play at this church a couple times a month and have only heard a slight hum once when I had my Kiloton in single coil. The bass I played yesterday was a Squier Jazz Bass that I've completely re-wired, not being much of a fan of a stock jazz bass tone. I've played it there before with no hum, but something in my latest re-wire experiment could be sensitive to something there. It's not bad enough to be a real problem, just a mystery I feel unreasonably compelled to solve.
Good idea. The church has its own preamp / DI. It's reputed to be high quality, but I've never used that particular one, so I'm not familiar with it. I'm free to bring my own if I prefer, but I prefer to travel as light as possible to do four songs.
It doesn't appear that anyone has done what you are inquiring about. Frankly, I haven't either. One thing you might have to give up when installing an after-market preamp in an L-series bass is treble and bass control in passive mode (If you still even have passive mode). My first G&L bass was an L-2500 that I bought used online. The seller advertised that he'd replaced the G&L preamp with a Seymour Duncan preamp, which "improved " the sound. When I got it, it sounded dreadful, like somebody had stuffed a hamper-full of dirty underwear into a tuba. (Yes, really. I conducted that experiment, and they both sounded the same. If anyone is interested in buying a used tuba, please contact me. There might still be a pair of dirty underwear stuck way down in there, but otherwise, it's fine.) I called Seymour Duncan about that preamp. After I filled them in on what was going on, they told me that preamp would never work right in that bass, and that the preamp for that bass was proprietary. I ordered a new one from G&L, installed it, and it transformed that bass into one of the finest sounding basses I've ever owned. So I say beware of messing with Leo's electronic setup for this bass. It's odd, but it's damn near perfect the way it is, IMO.
Agree with this. Other than I am willing to do any of the known mods that work (K-Mod; Preamp removal/swap with treble cap switch). Basically if you can find a G&L schematic for it, then mod away. Outside of that, I would worry about the preamp disagreeing with the output of the MFD pickups.
Agreed. My L2500 is set up so I could switch each pickup individually into SCM using push / pull switches in the volume and treble pots. Other than that, it's stock. It still has that G&L preamp and that unmistakable MFD sound. Now the M-series is a whole different animal. But even with that, it's solid as is. I made a couple mods to my MJ-4 (the M2000 with noiseless single coils instead of MFDs). In the end, I went back to stock because it still sounded best to my ear. But it's a tempting platform for modding, and it would probably be improvable with the right mods. Side note: I've owned both an M2000 and an MJ-4. To me, the MJ-4 sounds better than the M2000 when both are stock.
Great looking combination! Really love the dark fretboard, too.
Beautiful. That's a great combination that I've never thought of. I've owned one short scale, and that was over 50 years ago. I almost bought another one off Reverb, an Eastwood copy of a Mosrite. But short scales scare me. I'm afraid I'd get so comfortable with one I'd have to sell all my full scale basses.
I have liked them more than I expected to. I mostly play 5 string basses (to the point that I sold off all but 1 of my 4 string basses). Bought my first short scale and I played it nearly as much as my 5 string basses. That turned into a second short scale. Both short scales are 4 string. May end up adding a 5 string one at some point.
Honestly they’ve all got their place. Short scales are a little easier for the finesse and easier movement around the fretboard, but there’s nothing like chugging along with 8th or 16th notes on a beefy neck.
