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Stoner/Doom Bassists Thread, Part 90: Maxed Out

Jumping in – did Geezer use flats, and if so which ones do you recommend to approximate his tone? I'm looking to put some on my P bass and I've never used them.
Maybe try the Black Beauties. It is what he uses now. They sound like a subdued round wound.
Or any hexcore nickle with the tone rolled off and playing just below the neck.
To be fair, there isn't really a single Geezer tone. After the first two albums, he has been all over the place tonally.
 
I also had no idea he used a Dan Armstrong. I used to have one that I bought because of a man crush on Greg Ginn. Couldn't ever find a happy place with it soundwise. I was able to tell people it was made of recycled stripper shows, though...
Ha. I don't think Geezer could find a good sound out of it either, as he moved on from it so damn fast. Though his tone on Masters is nasty!
 
Quick question for you guys/gals: what tuning do you play in? I got a 4 string jazz and tune in Sabbath tuning: C#.


half my basses i use Eb standard and will sometimes go to drop Db. the other half are C# standard which i also drop B on some songs.

Guitar is the same but he uses a few other tunings as well in the Eb setup. for example dropping to Bb or Ab but i stay in Eb in those cases.
 
Ha. I don't think Geezer could find a good sound out of it either, as he moved on from it so damn fast. Though his tone on Masters is nasty!

They're cool pieces of kit if you haven't tried one. There's a set-screw on the back, and the pickup easily slides in and out. So you trade out pickups to change your tone. I think if I'd taken time and communicated with Curtis Novak I could've found something I liked, but I was chasing other instruments at the time.

They're 30" scale, which I typically like with my garage rock band, but I can't imagine playing one tuned down!
 
I've had great luck with Mesa cabs over the years. The Mesa stuff is very well voiced for rock and heavier stuff, but it can clean up nicely for funky or jazzy stuff too. Very versatile. You can find some of the older powerhouse and diesel 1x15s for reasonably cheap, but they'll be on the heavier side. I currently use a Mesa Subway 1x15, and it punches as hard as my old Diesel 15 but has slightly more oomph in the low-end. You'll pay for the convenience of a 30 lb cab, but two of them will handle your business.
Thanks for the input. I've tried some of Mesa's heads, but haven't ever used their cabs. I'll do some looking!
 
I'm normally E, Eb, C# std or drop D or C#. Drop C isn't bad, but I've yet to find strings I like for C or lower. Right now I think ones E and the other Eb std.

I like some open tunings and BEDG tuning is a ton of fun.

I've had great luck with Mesa cabs over the years. The Mesa stuff is very well voiced for rock and heavier stuff, but it can clean up nicely for funky or jazzy stuff too. Very versatile. You can find some of the older powerhouse and diesel 1x15s for reasonably cheap, but they'll be on the heavier side. I currently use a Mesa Subway 1x15, and it punches as hard as my old Diesel 15 but has slightly more oomph in the low-end. You'll pay for the convenience of a 30 lb cab, but two of them will handle your business.

+1 have yet to try a mesa cab that doesn't get me excited. Somehow they always seem to give you what you want, regardless of the sound you're going for. Full, articulate, beefy
 
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Pretty interesting responses, lots of you guys are tuned way higher then I was expecting to see here. I use all 4 strings and .135 gauge set B standard for my sludge/doom band, for my solo stuff I do .135 gauge B standard and .110 gauge Drop D, and the band I am restarting uses .135 drop B. I'm a weirdo with basses though I don't like playing basses that aren't intonated for the tuning they are being played in (I feel like I can hear the intonation being off might be my imagination but it irritates me) so I have different basses for each tuning and I play really lightly so I've only broken one string in 15 years so I bring one that's not in the tuning I'm using for each project as a backup to shows but I've never really had to use one.

I'm actually about to get all my stuff setup and recently upgraded my MTD Z4 to Nordstrand Big Singles with an EMG 3-band preamp and can't decide which project to play it in. It sounds pretty fantastic, Nordstrand's pickups are every bit as good as good as advertised.
 
Friday's show, me making a dorky face:
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