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Big Geezer Butler fan

#61
Probably safe enough to say without too much objection, but what hard rock or goth or punk or metal bassist isn't a fan or influenced by Geezer Butler??!!? If not directly, I'd bet your hero is. His impact is major... understatement I suppose.

Choosing great Geezer Butler tracks is like shooting fish in a barrel. Probably best, at risk of lazy, advice is to dive right in and just listen to all the albums from the beginning. Ozzy stuff, Dio stuff, unreal. Into the Void, Fairies Wear Boots, Mob Rules, Heaven and Hell, Children of the Sea.

Big fan since a kid, only got to see them a couple of times during the Born Again tour and remember one show at the Nassau Colliseum and Geezer abusing a BC Rich Mockingbird and hearing everything just so clear and perfectly it was amazing.

Heard his first bass was a junked-up tele guitar with bass strings, mightve used it on first record, not sure if that's myth or even possible.

New record rocks.
 
#65
pfox14 said:
Geezer started off with a P-Bass - that's documented.
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PFOX14 -- not trying to be a know it all or anything like that but I honestly recall reading that a very long time ago in some fan mag. Anyhow, I found a recent interview with him talking about moving to bass, so I wasnt completely off, nor were you...

Geezer: I still had my Fender Telecaster, but Tony said, “I don’t want to play with a rhythm guitarist—you’ll have to switch to bass. I had never played bass before, so I started really listening to what Jack Bruce was doing. I couldn’t afford a bass, so I’d tune my Telecaster down. Eventually, I bought a Top Twenty bass and played it through a Selmer amplifier. I borrowed a friend’s Höfner “Beatle” Bass on the way to one of our gigs, which was the first time I had ever played bass on stage.

He then went on to say he swapped his Tele for a Fender P.

Happy New Years all a TB!
 
#66
That's a very interesting bit of information from that interview. However, I believe he's talking about pre-Sabbath when the band was called Earth. The earliest live stuff I've seen is from 1970 in Paris and Geezer is definitely playing a P-Bass. I am sure that's what he used on the first Sabbath album.
 
#67
Yeah, sounded like when he was just getting started for sure. What do you think of the new album? I love it. During pre-production, before they begin witing and recording Rick Rubin had them listen to their early albums together. There's some real excellent Geezer on 13 and even though Bill Ward isnt on it, Brad Wilk does a great job even if he's more straight ahead. I remember when Ward left the first time during the Dio era and Vinny Appice brought in his thing, but no one looked down on it. Mob Rules.
 
#68
Hey all, is this the start of the fan club? Are we doing numbers?

Geez is it. Definitely a huge influence on me and my sound
Added bonus I use Bassically as my go to riff when the store kids are trying to show off. Takes them awhile to figure out what happened long after I wonder off
 
#71
Snakeman1066 said:
Geezer has stated several times that he never wanted a "Signature" bass...and has been approached before about it....however recently...

say hello to the Lakland Geezer Signature Model

Link Removed


He has been playing Glaub and Osborn model for some time
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i heard this a while ago and i was told it was in limbo. i hope you're right dude. but please LAKLAND....PLEASE make this affordable to the poor people of the world. USA model ONLY not a skyline. there is no reason this bass has to cost as much as the other USA models. the number of instruments you would sell for roughly half the cost of current USA models should more than make up for production costs i would think.
 
#73
thedovewarlord said:
Yeah, sounded like when he was just getting started for sure. What do you think of the new album? I love it. During pre-production, before they begin witing and recording Rick Rubin had them listen to their early albums together. There's some real excellent Geezer on 13 and even though Bill Ward isnt on it, Brad Wilk does a great job even if he's more straight ahead. I remember when Ward left the first time during the Dio era and Vinny Appice brought in his thing, but no one looked down on it. Mob Rules.
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I have to admit that even though I am a very big fan of Geezer, it just not the same without Bill Ward. I like the stuff that they've done without him, but it sounds so ordinary compared to the stuff with him. There are certain guys who always sound better when playing with their "other half". To me anyways.
 
#75
pfox14 said:
No reason to believe that a sig model made in the USA will be less than a non-sig model. Probably the opposite. Wouldn't be surprised if it was $3500 or there abouts.
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i know but man o man, they would sell like hot cakes for around $1700 ish i would think. if the price was $3500 i wish them luck selling a lot of them because it just won't happen in this economy. $3500 is ridiculous for a P bass copy that probably doesn't sound as good as a $1200 MIA Fender. but the fact that it is a GEEZER signature model alone will drive the price up. gotta love this country. and then we wonder why USA business's are becoming extinct.
 
#77
DavidEdenAria said:
Yeah I knew about the P basses and others....more interested in bass amp/speaker rigs, wah pedals etc.
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found this
http://www.black-sabbath.com/theband/butler/

"Here’s an email from Geezer about the basses he used in the 70′s:

I used Laney amps and Laney cabinets [mainly 4x12] in the early 70′s; I gradually switched to various pre-amps going through Crown power amps and custom built JBL speaker cabinets. I started off with a Fender Precision bass, but was forced to switch to a Dan Armstrong plexiglass bass when someone in Canadian customs chopped up my Fender [its a long story]. After that, i had custom made John Birch and Jaydee basses, and occasional Rickenbackers.

Geezer."
i also seem to remember he used a pedal called tychobrain, or something like that. it was the pedal he used on the song "the writ". he als ostated that he borrowed tony's crybaby for the intro to NIB on the first album. amps wise, besides laney, i know he's used orange, ampeg and most recently, hartke.
 

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