GGB BASSES Patented Pickups—THE SECRET WEAPON
The design for the Quad pickup began forming in my mind back in Australia in the early 90’s.
I have always favoured a P-bass split Humbucker sound, but had always demanded more from an instrument than being a one trick pony so to speak.
I developed my playing to cover the different sounds I needed—Fingers, pick, occasional thumb and keyboard bass. Plus I would use FX pedals, such as fuzz, drive, Octaves and synth, etc., to work towards using just one or 2 basses live.
I also used a midi bass live for a while, that’s what I’m playing on a few songs at Wembley Stadium in 91. But that required a rack of samplers and a lot of time spent programming and setting up the sounds. Plus it became unreliable at times which was not an option. I just wanted to simplify everything, so it kept coming back to what sounds could I get out of one bass.
I started out finding smaller vintage pickups that I could pull pieces from to build my own designs. When I had worked out the best way to make it work thru number and direction of winds— ohmage, polarity, use of different magnets and wiring options—I got myself a pickup winding machine and built some prototypes. I heard enough good stuff from that prototype to then work with Dave Shepard at Mojotone to build version one of the GGB Quad Coil, in both 4- and 5-string.
The resulting pickup was a revelation to me, all the sounds I wanted, one pickup, no active circuitry (not really a fan), and all in a tidy package.
Fast forward to 2023, I am working on improvements to the original design with Carey Nordstrand, a very talented and knowledgable maker. Carey and his team at Nordstrand have now worked with me to build a new improved version of the “Quad” and and I am very grateful for their involvement.
I will always be in a quest to make things better.
— GGB
Controls for GGB BASSES
BALANCE CONTROL - CENTER DETENT - FULL HUMBUCKER
WITH PUSH / PUSH (TONE) KNOB IN DOWN POSITION
FULL CLOCKWISE - TRADITIONAL SPLIT HUMBUCKER
FULL ANTI-CLOCKWISE - REVERSE SPLIT HUMBUCKER
WITH PUSH / PUSH (TONE) KNOB IN UP POSITION
FULL CLOCKWISE – SINGLE COIL LEFT SIDE MAGNETS (NECK)
FULL ANTI-CLOCKWISE – SINGLE COIL RIGHT SIDE MAGNETS (BRIDGE)
Hear Garry’s patented pickups
The 4 String bass sounds you hear are all from the same bass at the same session - the Candy Apple Green in the main basses page - Roundwound strings- direct to mac – no amps, plug-ins. EQ or effects used for the main audio clips.
Below those clips are the same bass tracks but now thru an Amgeg amp with some flange and fuzz coming in later in the tracks. They are all recorded direct into a UA interface.
I have played what I felt are basic lines to show how the sounds sit and how the notes ring differently between pickup choices. Please note that my Quad pickups are very responsive to each player’s individual style, attack and overall playing method.
The pickups are strong and drive effect pedals and amp gain stages perfectly. as you can hear in the amped tracks. That’s where you can really hear the difference in the sound choices.
For me personally I use the reverse split Humbucker or Single coil neck for fingers as these tend to be more mid scooped and detailed in sound.. More transparent. I often use the full Humbucker or Single coil bridge for pick and aggressive sounds and for certain FX such as Octave pedals. The single coil selections really cut thru with mod effects and some added grit. Also note that the center onboard knob is a balance control so you can really fine tune the balance between the coils to find your sound.
It’s great to have these sound variations both live and on recording- they may sound similar in some ways but they can really cut thru on different sounding stages and in different types of song recordings.
— GGB
4 STRING PICKUP
4 string SPLIT HUMBUCKER
Split Humbucker, “P Bass”, Fingers
Split Humbucker, “P Bass”, Pick
4 String REVERSE SPLIT HUMBUCKER
Reverse Split Humbucker, Reverse P Bass, Fingers
Reverse Split Humbucker, Reverse P Bass, Pick
4 string FULL HUMBUCKER
Full Humbucker, “stingray” -Fingers
Full Humbucker, “stingray” -Pick
4 string SINGLE COIL, NECK
Single coil Neck, “56 P bass” -Fingers
Single coil Neck, “56 P bass”-Pick
4 string SINGLE COIL, BRIDGE.
Single coil Bridge, Fingers
Single coil Bridge, Pick
5 STRING PICKUP
PLEASE NOTE THAT THE 5 STRING USED HERE IS THE XS-5 PROTOTYPE WITH THE PICKUP CLOSER TO THE BRIDGE.
THE NEW XS-5 WITH HAVE A MORE CENTERED PICKUP FOR A FULLER SOUND OVERALL.
5 STRING SPLIT HUMBUCKER
5 string Split Humbucker -Fingers
5 string Split Humbucker - Pick
5 STRING FULL HUMBUCKER
5 STRING FULL HUMBUCKER - fingers
5 string full humbucker - pick
5 STRING SINGLE COIL - NECK
5 STRING SINGLE COIL NECK- FINGERS
5 STRING SINGLE COIL NECK - PICK
Fretless 4 string
FRETLESS 4 STRING FULL HUMBUCKER - FINGERS
FRETLESS 4 STRING REVERSE SPLIT HUMBUCKER - PICK
Fretless 4 string, SINGLE COIL BRIDGE, Fingers
