Ashdown Geezer Butler Pedal of Doom

The Ashdown Geezer Butler Pedal of Doom is a signature bass pedal co-designed with Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler. It combines two switchable EQ sections, a switchable drive stage and dual VU meters in one unit, and Ashdown says it delivers everything from subtle grit to full-on doom-laden distortion¹. The circuit is inspired by the tones of Geezer Butler's Head of Doom amp, and it is one of two signature products celebrating him, the other being the limited edition Head of Doom 600W bass amp head¹².

The pedal sits in Ashdown's wider range of bass effects, which includes the Ashdown NM2 Nate Mendel double distortion, the Ashdown Triple Shot three-band overdrive and the Ashdown Lomenzo Mega Drive, but the Pedal of Doom is the only one built around a dual EQ plus drive format with VU metering¹.

The controls

The front panel is organized around two ideas: shape the tone with two EQ presets, then add as much doom as the song needs. Each EQ side includes Bass, Lo Mid and Hi Mid controls, with a single Treble control shared between both channels¹⁴. The left footswitch switches between EQs 1 and 2, so you can set up two different voicings, for example one for a clean section and one for a heavy passage, and jump between them⁴. The right footswitch engages the Doom drive circuit⁴.

The Doom section is a built-in drive stage with gain and volume controls, which can be balanced against the overall master volume of the pedal⁴. Guitar World's reviewer noted a detail that matters for how you place it on a board: the EQs affect the signal when the Doom circuit is off too, so the pedal can be combined with other effects to shape a clean signal as well as providing an extra gain stage⁴. In practice that means it can work as a straight EQ pedal, a drive pedal, or both at once.

On the connections side, the pedal carries a 1/4 inch input, a 1/4 inch output and a pro balanced DI output for front of house or line level inputs¹². Power comes from a 9 to 18V external supply with a center pin negative, drawing 100mA¹³.

History and design

The pedal was co-designed and approved by Geezer Butler, and Ashdown says it was born from 18 months of internal discussions before it took its final form¹³. Its tones are inspired by Geezer Butler's Head of Doom amp, the signature head it launched alongside¹². Butler has favored Ashdown amplifiers in recent years, which is how the signature relationship came about⁴.

The build reflects Ashdown's engineering approach: the pedal is engineered in Essex and housed in a rugged 1.6mm Zintec steel chassis with a 0.9mm alloy over panel for durability¹. Guitar World's reviewer described a feel of over-engineered solidity⁴. All Ashdown products include a 5 year warranty¹.

Before release, Butler himself endorsed it in Ashdown's own words:

What reviewers said

Guitar World reviewed the pedal and rated it four out of five stars for sounds, three out of five for usability, and four and a half out of five for build quality⁴.

The reviewer's reasons to buy included warm and characterful vintage tones with plenty of EQ shaping, the option to run at 18V for more headroom, apocalyptic fuzz sounds, and the feel of over-engineered solidity⁴. The overall verdict was more nuanced than the name might suggest:

That verdict is worth reading carefully if you are buying it for one specific reason: the reviewer found it delivers the heavy, fuzzed-out sounds its name promises, but did not consider it a shortcut to Butler's classic recorded tone. Taken on its own terms, as an EQ and drive box with a DI output and tank-like construction, the reviewer found it sturdy and useful⁴.

For players comparing it against other bass drive options, the Ashdown NM2 offers dual-channel distortion in a simpler format, and the Ashdown Triple Shot splits the signal into three frequency bands with separate distortion for each, where the Pedal of Doom keeps one drive stage and puts its flexibility in the dual EQs instead¹.

Videos

Click to load

Click to load

Click to load

Questions