The Interceptor Guitar & Bass: The Interceptor Bass
Sat Mar 18, 2017 7:45 pm
This is the last in a 7 part series. This time, all omissions, mistakes, and errors are all mine. Previous installments can be found here:
It can be argued that Leo’s largest contribution to society and the music world in particular is not so much the development of great amplifiers and guitars but rather the invention of the electric bass. Imagine what life was like when you had to schlep your double bass around and how that changed when you could throw your Fender bass into the trunk of your car!
At G&L, low enders were not overlooked either. Ever since it inception, the line-up included both the L-1000 (aka ”Wunkay”) and L-2000 basses. Both of these sported a single and two MFD humbuckers, respectively, with a fairly large footprint. Like Leo did in developing the narrower GHB humbucker (see e.g. this HG-2 prototype) and its slanted cousin HG-2R featured on the Cavalier, he also came up with the narrower Bi-Pole MFD bass pickup. The first instrument featuring these pickups was the El Toro, like the aforementioned guitars introduced in mid-1983.
Note that the El Toro was available with or without a preamp. But just as for the L-2000 vs L2000E, it turned out customers liked the versatility of the preamp. Hence, shortly after its introduction, i.e. within the first 3 months, only the El Toro-E was available. Being basically an El Toro with a different form factor, the Interceptor Bass was never available without a preamp. It first appeared in the January 15, 1984 price list alongside the El Toro-E.
I'm not entirely sure from which year the "KINGS Of The Road" campaign is (the Gallery has it as from 1988!?) but it shows the early version of the Interceptor Bass and mentions it merely to be a "Futuristic body and headstock design. Pickups and controls are the same as the EL TORO-E". So here is my "futuristic" S/N B015185:
Like the early Interceptor guitar of that era (see Installment 2), the controls were initially mounted on a separate black wrinkle powder-coated panel. On the Interceptor this panel had more of a boomerang shape compared to the gentle crescent shape on the El Toro, as can be seen in the ad above, but all electronics was essentially the same. The large black switch at the top is the pickup selector. The red 2-way mini-toggle switch is the so-called parallel/series bass boost switch. When the pickups are in parallel (switch towards the bridge), the setting allows the use of the pickup selector switch. If in series (towards the nut), both pickups are always on and hence the pickup selector switch has no effect. The white mini-toggle switch at the bottom allows one to switch between high-impedance (towards bridge) and low-impedance mode. The latter setting engages the preamp and loads the battery, but allows one to drive long cables. As can be seen, the battery compartment is easily accessible on the back. This bass has the Saddle-Lock bridge but it should be noted the Interceptor Bass was also available with Kahler flat mount Bass Vibrato in 1985 and 1986.
When the 3rd-style Interceptor was introduced (see Installment 4), the Interceptor Bass underwent a similar change, as shown here on S/N B019510:
The controls are now rear-mounted and the battery is accessible by taking off the large cover. As can be seen there is quite some stuff in that cavity! Check out that op-amp!
What stays constant though is the beautiful and ergonomic shape mainly due to the bevels on the body.
Both of these basses have beautiful rosewood fingerboards, but throughout its existence the Interceptor Bass was also available with maple fingerboard or an ebony board for the fretless version, although rosewood was used for that purpose only in 1988.
Similar to what happened to the guitars, the later Interceptor Bass also received the Ray Ransdell redesigned, sleeker headstock.
How about the sonics? They sound fantastic! Snappy, articulate, well defined. The sound I like the most (on both) is passive, both pickups, preamp off, and using a palm-mute with thumb technique. "Silly Love Songs" is many times the first warm-up exercise. I have to wonder why they are not more popular. A "form over function" handicap? Too radical? Don't know. But let it be noted the El Toro had the same problem. Both models stayed in the line-up up to the end of 1991 when BBE took over.
I couldn't readily find albums in the the Gallery but had more luck on YouTube. To see a similar bass in action, watch this vid. No affiliation with the band but it is a good, representative sample of its sound. They have a slew of them featuring the Interceptor Bass. Just search for "G&L interceptor HEATBALL" on YT.
Well, that's all folks! Look forward to your comments and own experiences.
- Jos
- The Interceptor Guitar & Bass: Introduction and history
- The Interceptor Guitar & Bass: 1st X-body Interceptor II
- The Interceptor Guitar & Bass: 1st X-body Interceptor III
- The Interceptor Guitar & Bass: 2nd X-body Interceptor HH
- The Interceptor Guitar & Bass: 3rd style Interceptor HSS
- The Interceptor Guitar & Bass: 3rd style Interceptor SSS
It can be argued that Leo’s largest contribution to society and the music world in particular is not so much the development of great amplifiers and guitars but rather the invention of the electric bass. Imagine what life was like when you had to schlep your double bass around and how that changed when you could throw your Fender bass into the trunk of your car!
At G&L, low enders were not overlooked either. Ever since it inception, the line-up included both the L-1000 (aka ”Wunkay”) and L-2000 basses. Both of these sported a single and two MFD humbuckers, respectively, with a fairly large footprint. Like Leo did in developing the narrower GHB humbucker (see e.g. this HG-2 prototype) and its slanted cousin HG-2R featured on the Cavalier, he also came up with the narrower Bi-Pole MFD bass pickup. The first instrument featuring these pickups was the El Toro, like the aforementioned guitars introduced in mid-1983.
Note that the El Toro was available with or without a preamp. But just as for the L-2000 vs L2000E, it turned out customers liked the versatility of the preamp. Hence, shortly after its introduction, i.e. within the first 3 months, only the El Toro-E was available. Being basically an El Toro with a different form factor, the Interceptor Bass was never available without a preamp. It first appeared in the January 15, 1984 price list alongside the El Toro-E.
I'm not entirely sure from which year the "KINGS Of The Road" campaign is (the Gallery has it as from 1988!?) but it shows the early version of the Interceptor Bass and mentions it merely to be a "Futuristic body and headstock design. Pickups and controls are the same as the EL TORO-E". So here is my "futuristic" S/N B015185:
Like the early Interceptor guitar of that era (see Installment 2), the controls were initially mounted on a separate black wrinkle powder-coated panel. On the Interceptor this panel had more of a boomerang shape compared to the gentle crescent shape on the El Toro, as can be seen in the ad above, but all electronics was essentially the same. The large black switch at the top is the pickup selector. The red 2-way mini-toggle switch is the so-called parallel/series bass boost switch. When the pickups are in parallel (switch towards the bridge), the setting allows the use of the pickup selector switch. If in series (towards the nut), both pickups are always on and hence the pickup selector switch has no effect. The white mini-toggle switch at the bottom allows one to switch between high-impedance (towards bridge) and low-impedance mode. The latter setting engages the preamp and loads the battery, but allows one to drive long cables. As can be seen, the battery compartment is easily accessible on the back. This bass has the Saddle-Lock bridge but it should be noted the Interceptor Bass was also available with Kahler flat mount Bass Vibrato in 1985 and 1986.
When the 3rd-style Interceptor was introduced (see Installment 4), the Interceptor Bass underwent a similar change, as shown here on S/N B019510:
The controls are now rear-mounted and the battery is accessible by taking off the large cover. As can be seen there is quite some stuff in that cavity! Check out that op-amp!
What stays constant though is the beautiful and ergonomic shape mainly due to the bevels on the body.
Both of these basses have beautiful rosewood fingerboards, but throughout its existence the Interceptor Bass was also available with maple fingerboard or an ebony board for the fretless version, although rosewood was used for that purpose only in 1988.
Similar to what happened to the guitars, the later Interceptor Bass also received the Ray Ransdell redesigned, sleeker headstock.
How about the sonics? They sound fantastic! Snappy, articulate, well defined. The sound I like the most (on both) is passive, both pickups, preamp off, and using a palm-mute with thumb technique. "Silly Love Songs" is many times the first warm-up exercise. I have to wonder why they are not more popular. A "form over function" handicap? Too radical? Don't know. But let it be noted the El Toro had the same problem. Both models stayed in the line-up up to the end of 1991 when BBE took over.
I couldn't readily find albums in the the Gallery but had more luck on YouTube. To see a similar bass in action, watch this vid. No affiliation with the band but it is a good, representative sample of its sound. They have a slew of them featuring the Interceptor Bass. Just search for "G&L interceptor HEATBALL" on YT.
Well, that's all folks! Look forward to your comments and own experiences.
- Jos
Last edited by yowhatsshakin on Sat Jan 23, 2021 2:39 pm, edited 4 times in total.
Re: The Interceptor Guitar & Bass: The Interceptor Bass
Sun Mar 26, 2017 7:36 am
Bump. Made a couple of small corrections and improvements.
- Jos
- Jos
Re: The Interceptor Guitar & Bass: The Interceptor Bass
Mon Mar 27, 2017 3:55 am
That gold and yellow is an interesting combo.
y2kc
y2kc
Re: The Interceptor Guitar & Bass: The Interceptor Bass
Tue Mar 28, 2017 2:16 pm
great work Jos !! ..... love everything about the Interceptor's