Geezer Butler

Geezer Butler is the bass player for Black Sabbath, and Dunlop describes him as a pioneering rock 'n' roll bassist whose "growling bass tones and heavy, swinging bass lines have helped define entire genres of hard rock and heavy metal"¹. He is credited by both Dunlop and Premier Guitar as the first bass player to ever record with a wah pedal¹².

His sound and how he plays it

Guitar World's reviewer describes the foundation of the classic Sabbath bass tracks plainly:

He is, in the same reviewer's words, "not big on overdrive, broadly not a high-gain sound"³.

Signature gear

Two makers have built signature products around Butler's sound:

• Dunlop Geezer Butler Cry Baby Bass Wah. Dunlop's first signature Cry Baby Bass Wah, designed in collaboration with Butler and voiced to his specs, with auto-return switching so he can step in and out of the effect easily¹². Premier Guitar's reviewer noted that "the pedal comes with the Q knob positioned to Geezer's preferred setting"⁴.
• Ashdown Geezer Butler Pedal of Doom. A dual five-band EQ pedal with an A/B switch for different tones and levels of grit, plus a separate Doom fuzz circuit and a balanced, transformer-isolated XLR DI output⁵. Guitar World reports that Butler co-created it with Ashdown, and that it is one of two signature products celebrating him, the other being the limited-edition Head of Doom 600W bass amp head³⁵.

Butler has also been named by Premier Guitar as a user of the vintage wah circuit on which the Wilson Effects Freaker Wah is based⁶.