EMG GZR Geezer Butler vs Seymour Duncan SPB-4 Steve Harris

[@jkf9167]

The Steve Harris pickups sounds better for playing Geezer, and the Geezer pickup sounds better for playing Steve Harris.

[@chrisparker5278]

Tell me more

[@alyxyates655]

Exactly my thought

[@secularstranger5750]

Reason that happens is because when playing finger style, he’s playing both pickups Steve Harris position wise, closer to the bridge. Geezer, especially in the early days, played it much closer to the neck for a much dirty low end style.

[@bassimprovjams3772]

I didn’t agree at first but 3/4 way through the video I gotta say I go agree with you on that

[@guelintonquiu6933]

Well if you look at geezer, cisneros, al-issa, even tony levin, they use to play much closer to the neck because you get a lower oversaturated tone with less high notes frequences and a massive mid-range, this tone gets specially familiar with a fuzz. I specially like al cisneros tone, he got it onto meditative states

[@HaevyGlow]

Geezers sound much more "open". Perfect for a P-bass with rounds!

[@Luthiart]

Geezers sound good with flats too.

[@cliffords2315]

@@Luthiart ever try Ground Wounds? the outer part of the round=wounds are ground down to make them Smooth to the touch but still has the Round Sound. Routosound used to make them they are called Solo Bass 55 now.

[@lavanyavenkatesan3684]

this is the best pickup demo that I have ever seen. keep up the great content.

[@OliverTobyn]

Thank you very much! Hopefully I'll get better and better :) subscribing to the channel would be very helpful if you haven't done it yet!

[@lavanyavenkatesan3684]

@@OliverTobyn I have subscribed to your channel and liked the video. If you have any humbucker pickups, please review those. I know that a humbucker demo will turn out to be a fantastic video.

[@OliverTobyn]

@@lavanyavenkatesan3684 thank you very much! I very appreciate it! If I could I'd love to demo literally every possible pickup and bass haha! I only have one bass with humbuckers, which is a G&L, but I don't think the amazing pickups Seymour Duncan and EMG make fit in it. In the future I'd definitely love to

[@raymartin9146]

I put Geezer's on my Mexican Fender P and the sound is awesome. I love them.

[@cliffords2315]

as long as you have good wood on a cheap bass, you can electronically turn it into a super bass

[@devlintaylor9520]

@@cliffords2315Wood doesnt matter

[@ionehkontehdiabo7627]

@@devlintaylor9520the density can very very subtly make a difference, but most of the difference would be acoustic, I used to say the same thing til I realized I didn’t like the way most basses with Poplar bodies sound no matter how I eq’d it or what pickups I tried

[@jcburn1973]

I own a bass that I put the EMG GZR P in, and I do like the pickup but I am kinda liking the slightly fatter (with subdued treble) of the Harris pickup on this demo. I play with a bit of overdrive and I think the SPB-4 would lend itself to that nicely.

[@pigxstix]

I liked the Geezer pickup through the Harris settings the best.

[@Bassmeister_Jay]

I had the EMG GZR PJ set in my fender performer precision. They were good but just found them lacking in the low end. Swapped them for the Seymour Duncan SPB-3'S. Looking to get a second performer precision and put the SPB-4 and a SJB-2 in. Fantastic demo Oliver, thanks alot for these!

[@karlbjornsson9090]

They sound both great 👍 just different 😃 I need two basses, thanks for the useful video

[@1thess523]

I preferred the Steve Harris pick ups 👍

[@deanaf]

I'm sold 100% on the EMGs after this.

[@facedowngaming]

The Iron Maiden tunes just sounds better on the Duncan’s than the EMG’s. Might as well go out and buy two P Basses to play each band separately 😅

[@OliverTobyn]

You always need more than one P Bass

[@danadane2501]

Great comparison vid bro . I saw your vid where you did a shootout with stock pickups in your customized fender P with S.D. Steve Harris pickups . I liked the brightness and cut of the stock pickups . However I know you wanted the fatter sound of the S.D. magnets . I really like how compared Geezer and Harris on this vid . Easily the most influential bassist in Heavy Metal . Lemmy and Cliff not withstanding. Also for my needs I would choose the emg pickups out of these 2 . Just a personal preference . The notes have more clarity in my humble opinion between the 2

[@GozhouCS]

Useful comparison, it really gives an idea of the differences. Grande!

[@uslawman1983]

I don't necessarily think one is better than the other. It's a matter of personal taste and what tone you're going for the most. I have GZR's on two of my Fender basses (one P-bass and one PJ) and both perfect for my style of play, tone, pick or fingers, the type of strings, amp, pedals, etc. I have SD Quarter Pounds on two other Fender basses (both PJ's) and they sound amazing too. At some point I will try the SH pups but I have no doubt that they'll sound great on whatever I put them on.

[@jasontanner5836]

Excellent technique. Tones are both amazing too

[@bassman108]

I love the EMG GZR Geezer Butler pickups so much that I put them in both of my Fender P basses.

[@SprunkCovers]

Awesome comparasion, I was expecting something like this on youtube

[@paperclihp3588]

Geezer pickup is perfect for rounds and the Harris pickup is good for flats. I thought that the Harris pickup had way too much treble but it seems that you are using rounds.

[@ushnicyuvnikof2748]

GZR with rounds and some distortion are God like!

[@TheBassManimal]

an EMG P pickup simply cannot be beat

[@geraldp494]

Sure?

[@knifetothebass1642]

I watched your videos and decided to go with the GZR EMG Split coil with kick ass bridge and damn! That thing is HOT ROAST BEEF now! Make my Jackson bass with humbucker sound like little girl crying! Thanks for the demos!

[@OliverTobyn]

I'm glad the demo was useful, EMG GZRs with a Hi Mass bridge are absolutely killer!

[@peterfischer9751]

I have decided to go with the Billy Sheehan Pickups from Dimarzio.

[@iamgribs]

Those sound amazing

[@Jacob-Laeby]

Love the EMG Geezer P, what I have installed in my main bass. So much clearer and defined than the SPB-4 which in comparison sounded somewhat muffled and blanketed in my opinion. The Geezer also have a nice amount of snap and bite that I love. Possibly the best P pickup out there, and then it is also absolutely dead quiet, even when installed in a bass that has not been properly shielded,thanks to it being internally shielded. Must admit I love the DiMarzio Model P too, but that's for if you want a fatter, more aggressive and punchy tone, the Geezer however still wins in clarity, definition, articulation, snap and bite, and also the Model P is also much more noisy in comparison to the Geezer.

[@Highrollinhunter]

My Ibanez Roadstar II rb650 bass has Dimarzios and telling you they sound good and clacky when the mids are turned all the way up.

[@pastedtomato]

Part of me wonders, how would they compare with some old school flatwounds (Think, LaBella 1954)?

[@OliverTobyn]

I don't usually compare using flats because they really don't cover the whole pickup sound range. Having said that, one could easily download the audio of the video (or plug it in your amp) and try the eq settings you like to have a better idea. Flats usually don't have much above 1kHz

[@iamgribs]

I like the Emg. This particular sd , in the recordings i have heard on KZbin, didn't really do it for me. One thing i like about the emg gzr is the top end clarity, and how well it works with overdrive. Spb4 just... i dunno, i think it would sound better for rnb than metal, it doesn't clang the way I'd like it to in this example here.

[@stefanos80]

I prefer the GZR

[@michaelb.42112]

I have Seymour Duncans in my Peavey Foundation S P/J bass, but after seeing this, I may want to switch them to Geezers.

[@rickyt11010]

I came to this video trying to figure out what I wanna put in my new P and now I just want to buy another new P and have both

[@jasoncherry3404]

They are both great pickups, it really comes down to the style of music you’re going to play over one pickup being better than the other. With quality hardware like that you’re really curtailing the hardware to the style of music. Both of them sounded great in their own right but I wouldn’t use them for all styles of music.

[@jimobrien1550]

Great comp video! Have you tried these pickups with more down tuned songs? Like I would love to hear how these would hold up for a song like “Into the Void” or doom metal.

[@OliverTobyn]

Thanks! I made a demo of just the Geezers using a bass tuned to DGCF if you're interested. I haven't tried much down tuning on the Harris set but works just fine!

[@hotwater8473]

@@OliverTobyn would you mind linking your video where you played the geezers in the D tuning?

[@simebaljak8470]

Hey really loves the video! I have one question: with the geezer pickups, can you also play with a more warm tone (r&b, funkier basslines), and have that classic pbass tone, with not much gain? Or any other sort of pedals and all that. Because most of the video it had that classic metal tone, so I was just wondering. Thanks!

[@OliverTobyn]

Thanks for watching! I feel like they are quite a versatile pickup, though they do have more output and a tighter sound compared to your usual P Bass sound. But still, they have a nice woody midrange that works well with any genre

[@simebaljak8470]

@@OliverTobyn thanks!!

[@jamesbunn4739]

The GZR 👍

[@muhammadnoorbinrohani39]

Black Sabbath Geezer Butler is the world best Bass Guitarist in the world.

[@DarthCiliatus]

Nah. He’s good but the best is Les Claypool from Primus.

[@OVS888]

Not

[@DropDee44]

I freaking love the tone of the GZR here! I currently use the Duncans SPB3 and really want to change them out just to change things up since I have rocked them for over 10 years now. Been really keen on the GZR P but also on the Dimarzio Model P. Do you like the Dimarzio or the GZR better for nice P Bass Punk tone played with a pick?

[@OliverTobyn]

I've compared the GZRs to the Quarter pound set as well, check it out! The Di Marzio Model P and GZRs are probably my absolute favourites, the Di Marzio has probably some beefier tones and clearer on some dynamics, the GZR is a nice vintage, but focused sounding pickup with some nice woody mids. It's a tough one!

[@DropDee44]

@@OliverTobyn I have already checked that out and in both videos I liked the GZRs and the Model P better so this really is a tough one. However I'm kinda leaning towards the Model P because it sounds a little more modern.

[@EmptyDomoKanti99]

GZR easily

[@charlieburns1385]

Thanks good comparison

[@nunoharris]

Hi. Do you think that the Steve Harris SPB 4 with Flats can get a more overdrive sound ? Thanks

[@georgevacca1714]

I’d like to hear the geezer pup with flats and with a flanger or chorus..they both sound good for playing rock though the geezer one is definitely more punchy 👍🏻

[@chrisprecision]

Buongiorno e buona domenica Thank for the video , you know i am a huge fan of "Harry" and Steve Harris is a fan of geezer !!

[@OliverTobyn]

Haha thank you, e anche a te! Unfortunately I had to edit and upload the video again due to some copyright claims

[@rsaathoff]

Geezers sounds more open. I aquiered a p bass that had the Steve Harris in it. This demo shows me all the fuss about the EMG GZR.

[@joannmannello9158]

no comparison both guys have thier own sound and geezer has that low snappy sound and harris has the sharp snappy which works for their style both souns excellent!

[@67NewEngland]

I think I like the Harris SPB-2 better in these sound samples anyway. It has a more subdued attack without being bland ,closer to a more vintage or traditional Precision tone. The Geezer seemed to stray a bit from traditional P tone. They sound a little over the top. Or like they’re doing their own thing and straying from the norm, which is ok too, if you like that.

[@robbiehanson4901]

Thats exactly what I thought.

[@robbiehanson4901]

I think some people just wanna buy "loud".

[@samf113]

I like both player but for MR I prefer the GZB EMG’s. Thank you for this comparison, it was great.

[@OliverTobyn]

Thank you for watching! I'm glad it was useful. I really like both, so I have two basses with each one, hah

[@joshuamcmichael4121]

EMG GZR

[@stevemustard1889]

Rounds or flats

[@aliveinlight6604]

Im conflicted i was all for the EMG but the Duncan sounds better .. my question is can both these passive pickups be heard over a treble guitar with active EMG and drums.

[@OliverTobyn]

They both have nice presence in the midrange, around 1kHz, which is one of the frequencies, along with 2kHz, which allows to sound to cut nicely through the mix. As long as you don't cut those frequencies you shouldn't have any problems at all

[@jgl8552]

@@OliverTobyn Thanks bro. Great video really all the internet needs to make their choice. I think I'm going with SH pickup because I think with some adjustment you can get a Geezer sound out of it all while having a 80's heavy metal pick up. But I suppose you can do that with the Geezer as well lol \\ Take Care!

[@dodjiegarcia2320]

GZR PJ

[@wilfredovazquez2942]

Nice video. Both amazing pickups.

[@thesteveus]

Are these pickups ACTUALLY the pickups used by these artists?

[@OliverTobyn]

@@thesteveus yes

[@rebelmastermind2350]

Time to get a Steven Harris set and play it only with a pick

[@joaquin7010]

Excellent video 🤟🎸👏👏

[@HighlanderNorth1]

☹️ I went out and bought the GZR pickups, but they sounded nothing like Geezer's tone! Reluctantly, I read the manual, only to discover that having the pickups attached to an actual bass guitar was a prerequisite to achieving the desired sound. The news only got worse, as I was told I'd need an amplifier, along with something called "skill"... That last one requires things known as "lessons" and "practice", whatever the hell THAT means!!🥱 👌🤡👍 So I decided to adopt a musical genre that requires NONE of ^those things! That was my ticket to success! It's how I became the famous rapper known as "Eminem"! 🤑

[@nategin9009]

That's because you aren't geezer butler

[@charlieburns1385]

I prefer the geezer They seem to have more articulation in the sound

[@muhammadnoorbinrohani39]

Iron Maiden Steve Harris is the world best master Bass Guitarist in the world.

[@nategin9009]

Nah without geezer, Harris never would have picked up a bass

[@Jacob-Laeby]

Hardly. Not even remotely close. Most prog metal and jazz bassists could easily play circles around him.This guy though might be: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jJaWaHlpespshdk

[@nategin9009]

@@Jacob-Laeby you're foolish if you think geezer didn't pave the way for those genres to even exist and not even worth my time checking out, because I never said geezer was even the best. Just shut the fuck up

[@Jacob-Laeby]

@@nategin9009 No, but the OP (Muhammad Noor...) did, which was who I replied to, not you. - **roll eyes** - And no, while Geezer is a great bass player that in many aspects did pave the way for more modern metal bassist, he hardly had much to do with the invention of progressive rock, and even less jazz, which existed as a genre decades before he even was born. How about you calm down and read what I actually wrote. - **geeze** - No one is attacking you, you are being paranoid!

[@nategin9009]

@@Jacob-Laeby you came back after five months to say that and project your bullshit?

[@williamdon3442]

I have to give it to the Duncan’s

[@AugustThor438]

Shouldn’t you have flatwounds on your bass for this kind of test? :)

[@OliverTobyn]

Well, I tried to keep it as neutral as possible :) The signature flatwounds have a very characteristic sound

[@errornosignal]

especially considering they both run flats....

[@thesteveus]

The EMG GZR pickups sound more Iron Maiden-y.

[@NodakSavage]

Your pick ups look pretty flat. IDK why I was always under the assumption that they need to be angled. I'm gonna flatten mine out and see what happens

[@OliverTobyn]

Doesn't make a massive difference, just different volume levels. I always set them so the level is balanced between all strings

[@NtWarlock]

Anche a me capita di avere richiami per violazioni, però alla fine non bisogna fare niente. L'unica cosa è che non si possono monetizzare i video.

[@OliverTobyn]

Finché si tratta di cover, tanto quanto. Dato che qui dietro c'è stato un bel po' di lavoro, mi secca che tolgano la monentizzazione

[@joaovictorsilvabernardes2912]

Emg

[@samboyd4393]

I have the EMG's in a Yamaha Attitude Plus P-bass and couldn't be happier.

[@ushnicyuvnikof2748]

EMG won this by a mile

[@rohantiwari7801]

Steve Better

[@greyfoxzero]

Or just get a Lollar P pickup

[@Kreln1221]

*The Steve Harris model only sounds like Steve Harris if they're used with monel flatwounds... With roundwounds, they're WAY too bright and clangy...*

[@alessandroroggiolani9283]

Salve. Da possessore di un P-Steve Harris posso dire che hai parzialmente ragione; io ho trovato la soluzione ideale per me usando corde D'addario 0.45-1.05 roundw. per un paio di settimane per far perdere un po' di brillantezza e poi le tengo montate per diversi mesi e il loro suono caldo e vintage è fantastico!

[@13andersons]

Achei o captador da emg bem melhor q o da saymour ducan

[@dolfanrob262]

neither one sounds worth the money unless you have extremely cheap pickups in the bass you have now.

[@jeremiasnovaisteodoro9809]

Steve harris , é fraco. Tem milhões de baixistas bem.melhores que ele