EMG GZR P-Bass pickup review
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- Опубликовано: 20 окт 2024
- Here are my first impressions of the GZR PU's by EMG in my '75 P-Bass. Sorry for the constant ringing and dinging (emails, facebook, etc.) in the background... ;-)
And the audio quality could be better, all has been recorded with an iPhone!
But I hope that you still get some impressions on how these PU's sound.
![The P Bass tone I've been looking for?! | EMG Geezer Butler Pickup [Review/Comparison]](/img/1.gif)
years later and no one has remarked how you are smiling after putting in these pups? that's the greatest tribute to the change in the sound.
legolwa Cool! ;-) And that’s exactly the reason why they are still in there! I totally enjoy these pickups! And by the way, it’s still the same set of strings today on this bass! Thx a lot for watching and commenting! All the best!
I have lost all hearing in one of my ears , but even listening to you play on this video I can indeed hear the difference in tone . And , you’re a good bass player . You make it sound even better .
Thx so much for these kind words, brother. All the best, and please stay safe and healthy.
Just installed these pups on my 70s classic vibe P Bass with Labella Tapewounds, plugged it straight into the amp with flat EQ and it sounds phenomenal. One thing with these pups if ever you find them to rest quite low, the foam in the box can be used to elevate them and allow for more adjustability. Your videos convinced me to get these pups, Vielen Dank!
Bought these pickups last summer thanks to this nice video and they were very succesful on some gigs and rehearsals. People love the sound and everyone wants to play my bass. I put them on a Japanese 70's RI with alder body and rosewood fingerboard and old flats of course! Works perfectly together.
sehr gutes video und richtig coole bassline
Wasi Moto Very nice to read about the positive results you get with these PU‘s. And cool, that my video was helpful for you as well! All the best, und viel Spaß weiterhin! :-)
You were right! The Geezer was just installed in my Fender P bass this past week and it's incredible. Exactly what I wanted in a pickup. Thanks for the review and helping me with deciding on this purchase.
Thanks a lot! I am glad that my little video helped you with making the decision! ;-)
Very nice demo - very helpful - Thanks! I kept thinking it was my laptop dinging, haha!
I know, sorry about that, bro! ;-)
I proper love your playing so fluid.
Great video by the way.
I'm sold!
Thx a lot for these kind words! Glad, you like it! All the best! ;-)
Put these babies in my Squier 70s p bass last night. All I have to say is...WOW!!! Huge improvement. Well worth it to invest in these.
Yeah, glad you like it! I love this pickup!
This is right up there with the great Ed Friedland in terms of gear demos. Great job man!
Thanks a lot! Ed is a killer player, and one nice guy!
Abd his videos are very well done, I am just filming with an iPhone here, but I might do an upgrade anytime soon!
Keep it low, bro! ;-)
excellent review sir.. the emg signature geezer butler system is amazing.. i just put the p j version in my esp vintage 214 bass .. excellent clarity.. and major punch..
So true, and that's what I've bought them for! I simply love them!
Thank you for this video. I bought a fretless PJ bass as a work project and was looking for a decent pick-up set. Your video gave me all the info I needed.
Cool! Glad I could help you!
Love the tone and feel of your playing. Ill be installing one on my p bass next
Thanks a lot!
You'll love this PU!
Would like to hear your opinion, one you got it installed!
Keep it low, bro!
Thanks for posting this. I was looking for a set of passive pickups to replace the weak electronics in my P bass and wanted to hear this before making a decision. I'll be ordering this package to put into mine.
Dale Cauthen Thanks for stoppin' by and commenting, buddy! Glad, I could help you with your decision! ;-) You'll love the EMGs! Stay safe!
Great playing in the pocket. Thump up! Thinking about this GZR set for my Affinity P bass myself.
Thanks a lot! Yeah, give them a try, I am pretty sure, you´ll love them!
Holy crap-Bernard from Westworld is reviewing bass pickups.
;-) Thx for watchung and commenting!
Original pickups: 7:45 mix: 9:00
GZR pickups: 10:27 mix: 11:34
Thanks for your effort!
Thanks for this video- I just bought these to replace the cheap stock from my $179 fender p bass I got as a kid. Seems to be they will help bring this old beauty up to speed with the collection. Amazing bass playing btw!
Thx a lot for these kind words! I´m sure, you´ll love these pickups! All the best and stay safe!
Outstanding video! Love you summary and your playing is quite excellent! I think the band I just joined needs to hire you instead of me! Thanks for posting this video!
joe helton Thx a lot for these kind words, Joe. I’m very glad that my review video was helpful for you! Stay safe & all the best! 😃👍🏻
really good demo. best non metal demo out there. I am sold!
Thanks a lot, bro! ;-)
I am pretty sure, that you will love these pickups!
Actually, I wanted to do that. But to be absolutely honest, I really love this pickup, so I am cool with promoting it and having the logo on it! ;-)
But as I read on a forum, it shouldn't be too hard to get rid of it!
Awesome review! Had no idea that this pickup was based off of Bobby Vega's P. Love the tone man!
joe bjornrud Thx a lot for these kind words! Glad, you like it! Yeah, the Bobby Vega thing immediately caught my attention, when I was looking for a fitting pickup! I still love the sweet sound of this bass! :-) All the best.
Love your video, amigo, and i bought that pick up yesterday Morning. Thanx
Hi there! Great to hear, that my video was helpful for you. ;-) have a lot of fun with that excellent pickup. I still love mine.
thanks for this review. it made me go out and get these pickups for my affinity series pbass. i love the tone i get out of them. i play mostly funk, gospel, and pop music and it does great. they have alot of vintagey punch.
Darius Ari Thanks for stopping by and commenting! Great that I could help you with my video! The GZR are really wonderful pickups! All the best!
To me the EMGs sounded a bit thicker and darker. The stock ones sounded pretty good too!
Absolutely, the bass sounded very good in stock condition. The sound I wanted to hear was just s but more defined and punchy, with a little more accentuated midrange. And the EMGs just brought that. Not a huge difference, but these 15-20% were worth the money I spent.
after this review. im sold on these particular pick-ups..
Hi there! Glad, I could help you with your decision! You´l love these pickups! ;-)
Thank you for this video. It helped me choose this pick ups. I have an ash body as yours and it does sound amazing. Thanks again.
Antonio López-Canino Thx for these kind words, Antonio! And I‘m very glad that I could help you with making the decision! All the best!
Oh I'm getting this for my Highway One P. How good are the pots and the jack? Was it easy to deal with the ground wire? I'm glad I can do all this without soldering, and also get rid of the greasebucket which does nothing for me.
the pots are excellent. the whole value for money is just amazing!
I think the EMG's have more mids. They have better clarity but still sound vintage.
That's exactly what I've been looking for.
I bought a cheap Toby bass and took out the pickups and put in EMG J series active pickups and turned a decent cheap bass into a monster, great Jazz tones now ring from my sexy wooden beast sounds dirty but if you played it would be like musical sex so I am very happy with them with that being said.
Great to hear that you like them! I love these pickups for a good reason, you know? ;-) All the best!
Michael Schmitt Yes sir I do know and I'm thinking of installing these in the Fender P bass I just ordered, I wanted an American standard P bass was told they have been discontinued due to fender changing their line I always wanted a white P bass with maple neck and fingerboard I can only get mexi standard in this color and neck brand new, so I will play with it first and see If I want to change anything I might not even have to at all if I like the sound.
W4RD1N8ER Correct. I wouldn't change something on an instrument just for the sake of putting something different in there! The mexican P and J are great basses!
Michael Schmitt Yes I agree but sometimes your missing that fullness of sound that you just can't produce no matter how much playing with your settings. EMG delivers a good set of options to try I have stock low cost bass guitars that I would never change due to the fact I get the sound Im looking for using that bass and some are just good right outta the box.
Superb! I'm getting a set now I've seen this. Thanks for making such a good video.
ordered my p/j set the other day. had trouble ordering online on the phone, so called emg, and was very pleased with the customer service. the guys even gave me a discount (code:EMG10). so i got em for the same price i got em off of ebay, but purchased direct from emg. theyll be replacing some 80s emg actives. updates soon to come. d
Cool So, how do you like ´em?
Stand alone sound is good , but with backing you hear and understand how well it fits into the music
paul torr Exactly! That’s why I love the Precision Bass, and this EMG pickup so much! Thx a lot for watching & commenting!
Michael Schmitt you are welcome , I have some Bill Lawrence pickups on one precisión looking to the emg for another bass
paul torr Cool, Paul! Have fun with it, and stay low! ;-)
I just traded a set of Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounder P/J for a set of EMG GZR P/J, and I'm absolutely blown away ☺️
I think it´s one of the best passive pickups available right now!
Have a lot of fun with it! Stay safe!
Nicely done. Great groove as well. I know this is an older video, so how did these pickups hold up? Still using them or did you swap them out? Cheers
Thx a lot. Still using them, still loving them.
Hi michael!
Erstmal super Review!
Ich hab eine Frage: Sind die Potis und der Output-Jack dabei oder hast du da eine Art Set bestellen müssen?
Grüße, David
Hi! Alles was Du brauchst ist in der Verpackung! Gelötet werden muss auch nichts, der Einbau geht wirklich schnell und problemlos!
Nice review! exactly what i was looking for :P ( personal i liked your original sound better, but its just my taste ) could i ask what is the song you play?
Just a bass line I came up with before I recorded the video! ;-)
Nice review! I've added the pickup to my "think about" list. What about the logo on the pickup? Did you get rid of it?
For me, this pickup did the trick. It turned a wonderful sounding vintage P into my main bass! ;-)
I actually wanted to remove the logo. But, I really love this pickup and its sound, so I am cool with promoting it and having the letters on it! Stay safe, bro!
+Michael Schmitt thanks for your answer. one more question. did you compare it to Steve Harris signature Seymour Duncans? If I get it right, they are designed "around" the original vintage sound too.
i have a MIJ 70s reissue that im thinking about dropping these in, did you use your original pots?
I used everything that came with the EMG pickup in its packaging. It is all pre-wired, and the connections are all solder free, just clips you have to attach to each other. Therefore, it's very easy and quick to install! Have fun with it, buddy!
I have 70's MIJ reissue as well and I just ordered Geezers :)
+Andrii Taran I have a 93 MIJ reissued P in natural what do you have?
Oh, it looks like I have a different 70's. Mine is Classic 70's Precision in Olympic White with maple bounder neck with black inlays.
+Andrii Taran that is different
I have to ask , how you get that echo sound ,. Is it compression or another effect
I always use a bit of delay and reverb during my practice sessions. Otherwise, the dry bass sound is too much for my ears! ;-) Thanks for commenting!
@@MichaelSchmittEleven Make sure you apply low cut to the wet (delay & reverb) signal. Delay and reverb on the top end would sound brilliant but on low frequencies they cause too much muddiness and ruin an otherwise great demo video.
Thanks for this video. It is the best sound test for the EMG GZR out there. You have excellent technique! My only criticism is when you play with a drum track, you're a bit on top of the beat. It gives me anxiety. You should teach yourself to play on the backend of the beat. It's a subtle thing, but it will make your awesome technique shine, and it will really add the sex to this great bass line. Thanks again!
Thanks a lot!
no your timing and feel is impeccable!
Thanks, buddy! ;-)
Do the old knobs fit the new pots or does the package come with new knobs as well ?
great review.
The original knobs fitted perfectly onto the new pots! No problems at all, installation is very quick and flawless!
Michael was wondering if you still happy with these ?? thing about ordering some my self....
I couldn't be happier! I play this bass very often, and the older the Chromes on it get, the better it feels and sounds! These pickups are a perfect match for this maple/ash P-Bass!
thanks for the video by the way great job !!
Thank you so much for your kind words!
Thanks for this video
Thx for commenting! Glad you like it! ;-)
Great review!
Thanks a lot, bro.
How did you install the pick ups? Got them all wired up and no sound ):
If you do it as described in the install manual, it should be very easy to do. Did you get it working?
Hi Michael,
Thanks for the review, nice playing too !
I'm considering buying the EMG geezer butler pickup but l have a few questions :
Does it sound like a vintage warm Fender pickup as l've read the EMG geezer butler has been designed from 60's p bass pickup ?
EMG tend to sound a bit too hi-fi and cold and l was wondering if this one was an exception or not?
Also how does it sound in a band setting? Is it supportive while having growl and bite to cut through?
Thanks by advance for the reply.
Cheers !
Actually, all these questions are answered in the last part of the video! ;-)
To sum it up, it sounds like a vintage P Bass pu, it´s actually modelled after the pu of Bobby Vega´s 60s P-Bass. Therefore, it´s totally different to the stuff, EMG normally does.
I love this pu, and due to its pronounced mid range response, it sits in the mix exremly well.
Thx a lot for watching and commenting! :-)
@@MichaelSchmittEleven Thanks a lot for having taken the time to answer ! That 60's vintage vibe is what I am looking for so l know what will be my next purchase 😉
Sébastien F BASSISTE You’re welcome! And, you won’t be disappointed! ;-)
Solo'd it sounds about the same but it really jumped out in the mix
That's the important part, right? ;-)
I felt the same
great video..very informative
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for commenting! Stay safe!
Nice review man!
Thank you!
So, like I said on another video, I did the change of pickups searching for mids for my japanese fender p bass.... When I bought it, it cames with SPB 3 (tone chart: bass: 7, mids - 4, highs - 6) and I missed some mids.... than I put the Spb 1 (B - 5, M- 4, H-5). Actually, I realized that for my needs, the best choice would be the SBP 2 (B- 5, M - 6, H - 5).... But I got used to it, compensating with amp settings..... Maybe one day I´ll try the SPB 2, or those EMG´s... Here in Brazil the dollar is so high...
The results aren't that dramatic, but in my case, the EMGs brought exactly the improvement that I was looking for! Good luck, and greets to Brazil!
Nice! Thanks for the attention, and by the way, nice funk videos with the p basses too
Thanks a lot for the nice words, glad you enjoy my little videos!
8:53 Omg, that groove...
Thx a lot for these kind words, buddy!
Feel so good! Can you say me the name of back track ?
Unfortunately, it doesn´t exist anymore on RUclips...
Ahaha the foam in the box is made for the PJ set XD.
I noticed that also .
Not bad at all for an iPhone. Danke.
Sehr gerne. :-)
I know this was filmed with an iPhone so the audio isn't the best but I think the EMG's sound "thinner" and less "vintage" than the stock Fender pickups. From this recording I don't see a reason to switch. I'm going to look for additional video and audio clips so that I may get a better example of the EMG tone. As they say, different strokes...
I f you would hear it in person, you would definitely recognize the difference. The mids are much more present, and the bass is deeper and rounder. Plus, the sound with the tone control fully opened, and fully closed, is much nicer and useable, so the variety of possible tones increases dramatically!
I agree with Michael. Try it in a live setting as well. Very noticeable and killer sound.
Are you using flats or rounds?
These are D'Addario Chromes, 045-100
This is a passive emg?
yes
I liked the original pups better,as far as liveliness and treble. The Emgs sound darker and with less definition, but it's very hard to tell with this recording-the "meat" in the middle I could not really discern.
It's only an iPhone recording, nowadays I record with a DSLR, which provides much better audio and video quality. And, at the end of the day, it's all personal taste. I am a working musician, and I needed a bass that fits virtually any needs, style and situation wise. The difference might be a subtle one, but if you would have heard it in person, you probably would understand why this pickup turned a wonderful sounding vintage P into my main instrument.
Thanks for commenting, and stay safe, buddy!
The emg logo bothers you? Weird
Well, if you want to keep a vintage instrument original (at least look wise), that could be a concern. ;-)
I´ve decided, that it doesn´t bother me, so this pickup is still in my bass, with the logo is still being on it! ;-) Thx a lot for watching and commenting. Stay safe and healthy.
Nice playing, but maybe play some heavy metal if you're going to be reviewing GEEZER BUTLER pickups. The majority of players considering these pickups are probably playing metal bass and would like to hear some metal instead of soft jazz.
Ever tried burying PICK UPS?
I know
jazz drummers bury cymbals to age them
Lol, sorry but no. Too little time to do that... ;-)
You got a 75 p bass and didnt like the sound? And then proceeded to swap the pickups?! If ever an atrocity was committed against a P Bass, this is it
Well, you can hear a difference between the two PU's, even though it's only an iPhone video, right?
It's not a huge one, but when heard live and in person, it's definetely exactly the bit of more punch and response in the midrange that I was looking for. These EMGs aren't active, there are copies of old 60's P-Bass PU's, and in my opinion, that's exactly how they sound, and that brought an improvement over the original set.
Yes I can. I mean it's all personal preference, but the 70's P Bass sound is not easily copied and it's super desirable not just because of it's age but because of it's super cool tone as well.
Do you still have the original pickups? Would you consider selling? I'm really interested
That's it, bro! ;-) Personal taste, and to me, the bass sounds just about perfect like it is now!
Sorry, but I won't sell the original PU's, just as I won't sell this bass, it will stay with me for sure! I did the fault to sell a Feb '70 Jazz Bass some years ago, and I regret that ever since! ;-) Fortunately, I found a stunning '73 Jazz Bass, and these two old basses are more or less everything I need!
Just because they are 75 Fender originals doesn't make them perfect. Magnets decay. Tone changes...etc. The nice part of this EMG kit is you can remove your original pickups and pots without unsoldering in most cases and install the EMG no solder push on pots and pickup connectors. Put the originals aside and safe and sound. 😉
Everyone install those bad boyz and none of you plays some sabbath riffs or some doom/stoner drop tunning :)) you just slap and play some squishy swing notes =)))))
Well, yeah. That's right. 😉