You’re at band rehearsal, playing your beautiful L2000 in active mode with crisp treble boost (that's how its done, right?), as you notice the dreaded hissing of a dying battery. You switch to passive mode with the swiftness of a hungry cheetah, but the guitar player already gives you the look. Of course he has noticed. He always does. You did only pretend to notice the pre CBS mojo of his '62 Strat though. Take that, Mr. all-passive-signal-path.
As the song is done, you put the bass away. No way you’re changing the battery right here on the spot, with all those witnesses. This dirty secret must stay between the L2000 and you, they must not know! They have no idea that this is Leo’s actual masterpiece, not some overpriced 60s guitar. You touch the little switches, toggle them one by one, the click is as satisfying as on the day you brought it home. It takes some time to understand them, sure. To you, they are no mystery. Of course there are a lot of wires needed for all this flexibility, only a fool would not understand that. „Volume - Volume - Tone.. Pathetic!“ you mumble to yourself a little louder than intended. By now the drummer also looks at you. You go home. You wait until everybody is asleep and start silently searching for the screwdriver. You bite your tongue as you open the electronics compartment. You just can’t stand that mess. This instrument deserves better. You change the battery, put the bass aside and check to what dimensions the lead time for Wal MK2‘s has grown by now. You drool over that sweet, clean and well organized electronics box, that PCB: per-fec-tion. If you only bought one eight years ago, when you had the chance. While contemplating live decisions you hear a soft voice: Is everything okay, honey? It’s late, are you looking at bass guitars on the internet again? "Damn right I am, and I think I might have a plan" you say as you look up without blinking your eyes.
- single PCB with elegant black soldermask
- directly connected toggle switches, no extra wires
- additional single coil setting using only outer coils (K-Mod)
- original preamp circuitry using highest quality components:
- Wima MKP/FKP foil capacitors, Panasonic FC electrolytic capacitors, Yageo 1% resistors
- compatible with original LM4250 or alternatively TL061 op-amps
- fully open source KiCad project (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
- fits Tribute models made in Korea and Indonesia (no guarantee)
- banana shaped
I give absolutely no guarantee that the PCB and most important the position of the toggle switches will fit your bass. Glow was succesfully installed by me and others in four and five string indonesian and korean Tribute models (L-2000 and L-2500). Fit in USA models is unknown. It does not fit models with sheet metal cover on front/knob side. The stock 24mm pots are interfering with GLOW PCB and you need to use 16mm pots with at least 7mm thread length. For more information see BOM document.
This project would have been much harder without the extensive information found on bassesbyleo.com .