Series/Parallel Functions for L1K???

[Olds455]

Greetings group. I recently purchased a L1K and admit I don't know much about the controls, specifically the series/parallel toggle switch. Can someone explain the forward, center, and rear position functions? I'm new to this group and this is my first post so try to go easy on me, lol.

[bdgotoh]

Welcome and congratulations on your L-1000. The switch positions should be:

Towards neck - parallel
Center - single coil
Towards bridge - series

The series mode is special on L-1000 basses, there's a capacitor hooked to one coil to reduce highs, so the bass seems to be boosted even though the L-1000 is completely passive. Many people call this the OMG switch setting. Older L-2000 basses had OMG series but they stopped wiring them like that in the late 90s.

[Olds455]

Thanks, bdgotoh. The more I learn about this bass the more I like it! This forum is awesome.

[gthyni]

I desoldered one of the legs of the capacitor of the OMG/serial mode and got a clearer tone, still meatier than the parallell mode but a bit more useful imho.

[derick]

I did this same, very simple mod as well. I agree that the series is more useful than the parallel, but I also think that OMG is also too good to delete from the switching options. Quite simply, I view the "single coil with bass boost" setting (OMG) tonally as a variation related to straight single coil, but series humbucking is a different animal entirely.

[El Tookay]

Tried that mod many basses ago, but there’s nothing like OMG to drive a band. Took my ‘75 Jazz to the gig Friday night, sounded growly and adequate. Took the hog Wunkay on Saturday night, and the rest of the band turned around with big grins...like crackin’ the throttle on a big Harley. Power.

[derick]

... there’s nothing like OMG to drive a band.

This does beg a question... Since the OMG mode was present in early 2Ks, why do you suppose that it got such little love on that instrument that it was deleted from the switching options in the late 90s? The pre-CBS Fender bass sound was definitively single coil, as is the heart of OMG in my opinion. But if you want single-coil in a 2K then you have to mod it, or specify the factory "K" option on it.

Did OMG on the 2K just get lost and unappreciated in the mix of humbucking settings, or are the 2K's other settings actually "better?"

[bdgotoh]

... there’s nothing like OMG to drive a band.

This does beg a question... Since the OMG mode was present in early 2Ks, why do you suppose that it got such little love on that instrument that it was deleted from the switching options in the late 90s? The pre-CBS Fender bass sound was definitively single coil, as is the heart of OMG in my opinion. But if you want single-coil in a 2K then you have to mod it, or specify the factory "K" option on it.

Did OMG on the 2K just get lost and unappreciated in the mix of humbucking settings, or are the 2K's other settings actually "better?"

I prefer pre-1998 L-2000s and I love the OMG series setting best. My personal guess is people didn't like the noise that can come along with the OMG wiring, that's the only downside for me.

I've also heard people mention that the huge difference in output between OMG series and parallel was the driver, normal series vs parallel is more manageable in terms of output.

One other thing to keep in mind is G&L made a bunch of changes around that time so it might not be for a single reason. They also changed the body shape, neck bolt attachment, and headstock shape and angle.

[derick]

Yes I suppose that, with more than a dozen switching options, the ones with the most noise are easily discarded.

The headstock shape was changed in 1983, was there another change in the 1990s in the "shape and angle" of the headstock?

[bdgotoh]

I forgot to add the slightly longer neck after 1998, introduced with the 6 bolt change, look at the fingerboard beyond the last fret.



I may be crazy, but the necks before that time seemed to have pretty consistent headstocks from around 1984 to 1998ish. Then the angle seemed to tilt right which made the headstock shorter, put a smaller circle on the end of the headstock, and minimized the point. The tuners also seem to be closer to the edge of the headstock, there's less wood to the left of each tuner post IMO. The two on the right below are 1997 with the larger, straighter headstock and big point. The two on the left are 2013-2015 and have the more angled, shorter, smaller headstock.



What's strange is some sneak out that look like the earlier headstock, check out the red L-2000 third from left and the gold JB-2 in the middle - those were both made in the past 4 years and the headstocks look just like the 1997s on the left!