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Geezer's Tone
- Thread starter tonyciv
- Start date
precision, yes. amp was some old laney tube amp with a 412 that had a broken speaker. strings are some sort of flats.
From Geezer's own words: When we recorded black sabbath , I had a 70-watt Laney guitar amp and a park 4x12 cabinet with only three speakers in it and two of them were wrecked. That's how I got that really distorted sound. Actually I hated the tone of that record at the time...
Did he continue using that ratty cab for the next albums? Or did he change setups? I'm pretty sure he continued using P-basses, at least in studio. My favorite bass sounds from him are on Master of Reality and Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath.
i think sbs was when he went to the john birch eb-3 replica, right? but no matter what he uses, geezer's going to sound like geezer no matter. he's geezer.
Yeah, he pretty much always sounds pretty much the same with a couple minor variations.
I didn't know he'd used an EB-3 type bass. The studio shots I'd seen of him he was always using a Fender... as far as in concert goes, he's used tons of different basses but still seems to mostly sound the same, whether on Fenders, myriad 70's basses, that one taped concert with the rick, BC Rich, Vigier and now Lakland.
I didn't know he'd used an EB-3 type bass. The studio shots I'd seen of him he was always using a Fender... as far as in concert goes, he's used tons of different basses but still seems to mostly sound the same, whether on Fenders, myriad 70's basses, that one taped concert with the rick, BC Rich, Vigier and now Lakland.
Judging from the sound, I dont think he used that busted cab on other recordings, the bass sounds alot better from Paranoid on. I'm also guessing it was a P-bass up thru Master, after that his sound is different (though they were also using different producers and studios)
I read where Geezer also used to fingerpick up over the neck. Really works for Paranoid. And you should be able to turn the bass tone back up.
I actually prefer the overall sound of the first album to Paranoid. The second album just sounds thin in general, to me. Especially when compared with the next albums.
I just meant it sounds "cleaner", not ratty, I personally prefer his tone on MOR, I think that was when they started detuning which might explain why Paranoid sounds thin in comparison
As Seanm pointed out, playing over the neck is a big part of his sound/style
Got to disagree there. The first 3 Sabs albums all have a similar tone (although with obvious differences in recording and production), but from Vol 4 onward his tone is completely different, far less treble and bite. Also, for the next few albums his presence in the mix seemed to drop considerably.
On Never Say Die his bass sound changes again, he used a Rickenbacker 4001 strung with flats. You can clearly hear it on the intro to 'Junior's Eyes', it sounds very similar to Roger Glover's tone on Machine Head.
Amusingly Geezer always insists that he never recorded with that Rick, but it's all over Never Say Die.
Ric5
Inactive
- Jan 29, 2008
- 29,772
- 30,452
- Disclosures
- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
Got to disagree there. The first 3 Sabs albums all have a similar tone (although with obvious differences in recording and production), but from Vol 4 onward his tone is completely different, far less treble and bite. Also, for the next few albums his presence in the mix seemed to drop considerably.
On Never Say Die his bass sound changes again, he used a Rickenbacker 4001 strung with flats. You can clearly hear it on the intro to 'Junior's Eyes', it sounds very similar to Roger Glover's tone on Machine Head.
Amusingly Geezer always insists that he never recorded with that Rick, but it's all over Never Say Die.
Ah, well, haven't listened to that one (Never Say Die) in ages. Will have to give it another spin.
I dunno about Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath and Sabotage having no treble and bite, though. The tone on the title track of the former and on "Hole in the Sky" is pretty snarly.
