Geezer Butler tone on Slipping Away

[Mo Boogs]

I'm trying to get Geezer's tone on his solos on Slipping Away. Running my p-bass into a Swollen Pickle and messing with the knobs right now. Is it me or does the Pickle have a constantly sweeping filter going? Kinda thinking about using one of my Big Muffs instead.

Also what's considered a good Big Muff for bass? Used to own the big muff bass deluxe And now I just have the muff with tone wicker and the russian muff.

 

[kyral210]

A number of questions here.

Geezer Tone: In his autobiography, Geezer said Pele ask him hope to get his tone, and he just said he plugged his bass in and got a tone out. His live tone now is very different to his old tone, so you have freedom to be creative. Having said that:

- P bass
- Flatwound Strings
- Fingers
- play close to the/ over the neck
- play hard
- cable
- amp with some drive (Ampeg?)
- large cab (8x10?)

Bass Fuzz: there's a lot of great fuzzes out there, so try as many as you can. The EHX Deluxe Bass Big Muff is probably all the bass fuzz you'll ever need.

 

[JimmyM]

A number of questions here.

Geezer Tone: In his autobiography, Geezer said Pele ask him hope to get his tone, and he just said he plugged his bass in and got a tone out. His live tone now is very different to his old tone, so you have freedom to be creative. Having said that:

- P bass
- Flatwound Strings
- Fingers
- play close to the/ over the neck
- play hard
- cable
- amp with some drive (Ampeg?)
- large cab (8x10?)

Bass Fuzz: there's a lot of great fuzzes out there, so try as many as you can. The EHX Deluxe Bass Big Muff is probably all the bass fuzz you'll ever need.

Geezer used rounds in Dio era Sabbath and still does. Pretty sure he switched to rounds as soon as he could, like one of the first. But you're basically right that it was achieved by an amp with some drive into a big cab…cranked up as loud as possible, I might add.

I wouldn't use a Muff based fuzz, though. I'd use a Rat based pedal like a Fuzzrocious Cat Tail or MXR Bass Distortion. More available mids, which is key for a Geezery sound.