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Stoner/Doom Bassists Thread, Part 90: Maxed Out

#58,544
El_Charro said:
While we’re on the subject of pedals (Lol-are we ever NOT on that subject on this thread??? ;-) )…

I have found myself trying to jam along to Master Of Reality a lot lately…

Does anyone know what’s a good distortion/fuzz pedal to get Geezer’s tone on that album that won’t completely break the bank???…

Off the top of my head-I would think a Big Muff Pi would probably be a good place to start based on demos I’ve listened to on YouTube, but I feel like there’s gotta be some better options out there (or at least some Sabbath-eque specific bass pedals)…

As a side note-I have always liked Sabbath (probably bc they basically invented Heavy Metal), but the more I attempt to play their music the more in awe I am of just how freaking great some of their early stuff is…

Those first 4 albums in particular are just stellar IMO (especially the first 3)…

Of the tones off those four albums I think the sound on Master Of Reality is probably the most pleasing to my ears…

Trying to play along to that album is also getting me a little more comfortable with down-tuning (Lol-The slower tempo also helps me hide how much I suck at playing)…

And yes…I am aware that Google is an option to answer my question, but feel like I will get much better feedback/advice/thoughts/opinions by posting my question here…

Thanks! \m/
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I'm no expert (on bass, or Geezer) but I think the majority of his tone from that era is in the right hand. Play way up the neck...like 15th fret territory. Strike the strings so you get some clank on the frets (which also involves your setup). The icing on top would probably be a little bit of dirt like tubes being pushed hard, which you can get from any number of pedals.

AFAIK the reason Al plays way up the neck a lot is because of Geezer...

 
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#58,545
C_nut said:
Hell yes.

On the topic, which Youtube-channels do you guys watch for pedal demos? I noticed that Harsh Tones inc. does great demos on quirky boutique dirt and always features some bass riffs or a whole song in their demos. They are more on the noise-rock side, but good sludgy stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/c/HarshTonesInc/videos
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Not doomy, but I think this guy does excellent demos:

 
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#58,548
lucas303 said:
FWIW, I believe Nick McMaster (Krallica, Geryon) tri-amps in case you're looking for some inspiration.
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YawningJorin said:
Dylan Desmond (Bell Witch) tri-amps too!
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I need to investigate, thanks! :cigar:

220_Hz said:
Good to hear you’re safe and sound!
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Hi!! :) I hope everyone here is doing fine as well. :thumbsup:

C_nut said:
Hell yes.

On the topic, which Youtube-channels do you guys watch for pedal demos? I noticed that Harsh Tones inc. does great demos on quirky boutique dirt and always features some bass riffs or a whole song in their demos. They are more on the noise-rock side, but good sludgy stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/c/HarshTonesInc/videos
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I strongly, strongly, strongly recommend Dennis Kayzer's channel.
https://youtube.com/user/xtimehascomex

He won't go through all the features of each pedal, but he shows interesting examples of the potential and how to use them creatively.
Bonus points:
- great, tasteful riffs, very engaging
- he doesn't do any talking :smug:
- on the weird/unusual side as for the pedals choice.
 
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#58,551
Like some of the posters have said. Geezer is all about that right hand slapping the strings real real real hard. His strings were roundwound that were so worn out that they could pass off as flatwound. Back in them days, bassists would boil those old strings to get some new string clank but in Geezer's case he said, "On the debut album I was too poor to buy new strings, so they were always, like, 10 months old. I’d only replace them if they broke, so that’s what gave the record that dull, flat, thud sound". He partner with DR Strings to release Black Beauties strings. In the end, you can get either set of strings for your bass. Just play around with your tone knob to bring in brightness. Some people say to keep the tone knob all the way open or on to get close to his tone. I personally like mine to be completely off to get that dull, flat, thud sound. Those first four Sabbath albums were all recorded with a P Bass. It might have been a 69 P bass for the self titled debut and a 67 for the following three albums. He switched to a small scale Ampeg and Dan Armstrong bass after or during (can't remember the details) the Vol. 4 tour. After that was the John Birch white Coke bass. The P bass is mid heavy and so were the Laney amps he was using so remember the when you dial in your amp. I think he was scooping his mids by the Dio era. Don't quote me on that but that Mob Rules tone is killer.

Laney has a distortion pedal named Blackheath that can help.
GET THE SOUND – Black Sabbath, Geezer Butler on Digbeth. - Laney

I would recommend looking for the Does it Doom Walpurgis pedal. It was modeled after Tony's guitar rig but you can get a Laney Supergroup sound out it for bass if you keep it below 12:00. I have one and it makes my practice amp sound like a beast. They have Doomcaster which is a MOSFET boost and an attenuator but it is pretty price so any budget friendly boost pedal would do. I've seen both Geezer and Al Cisneros have the MXR MC401 Boost/Line Driver. You can get a wah too and according to Dunlop the signature Geezer wah was them taking, "...the aggressive Cry Baby 95Q Wah and modified its sweep so that, from the heel-down position, custom circuitry mixes in just the right amount of your dry signal." That GZR95 wah has gotten price so look for any bass friendly models.

See you at the Sabbath, my brother!
 
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#58,559
scabpicker said:
Heheheh, my understanding is that in the studio Geezer generally just used whatever guitar head Tony was using, into Tony's cab. I figure any high gain head into a bass cab would "work". Similarly, throwing a lot of gain at a tube preamp should work, with judicious work on the EQ.


Had the first practice with my new stoner/doom/space metal project this evening. I'm far more satisfied than I should be.

We finally worked out what covers we'd work on to start out, including a Sabbath cover, natch. One of the covers was a menacing pop song that I could hear in my head as a stoner/doom/space riff, but it'd been struggling with for a couple of weeks and couldn't get it to work just right. After hearing it for a few minutes and me whining about my struggles with it, one of the guitarists (who was my roommate 30 years ago) says "You wanna do it this way". He plays the riff and yeah, that's it. We grooved on it for probably 7 minutes, and then I stopped everyone and explained that the chorus was just the same chord for about 8 bars. At that point, we could have probably played the song straight through, but we got moving on to other things.

On top of that, we had a couple of good improvised jams that made me very satisfied with the set of guitarists this particular rhythm section has corralled. They did a great job of filling the space the other wasn't already occupying, and got along personally, too. I didn't get to work the synth as much as I'd wanted to, but that was part of it being the first practice I'd worked a synth, and I hadn't prepared well - I hadn't brought a mixer to be able to play both at the same time, and it was easier to concentrate on the instrument I knew much better. I'll be better prepared next time.
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—-———————

Thank you for weighing in…

One spin-off question for you (and to the general group if anyone else that wants to jump in here)…

What (if any) advantages are there to the Big Muff Pi Deluxe vs the original Big Muff Pi???…

I have been stalking the Big Muff Pi Deluxe for a while, but last night when I was looking at that pedal I asked myself if I really need that many knobs especially after being happier with fewer knobs on my favorite bass…

I have listened to demos online and really like what I have heard so far…

Also- (And apologies if this is a stupid question), but how versatile are those pedals for other Metal sub-genres outside of the Stoner/Doom umbrella???…

I still would like a Darkglass pedal at some point as it’s probably a much better/more apt tool for that job, however for the sake of simplicity-Will a fuzz pedal work for Death Metal or Thrash Metal if I set a different distortion level???

The whole distortion pedal vs fuzz pedal thing is sometimes hard to keep straight in my mind-Maybe it’s mostly just semantics???…(A fuzz pedal is adding distortion-Does it become considered a fuzz pedal bc it has the capability to add a whole LOT of distortion to the signal or does a distortion pedal behave different than a fuzz pedal???

Thanks! \m/
 

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