1980 Gibson Grabber G-3 Bass Guitar Review Scott Grove
Video Rating: 4 / 5
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@ArmageddonProphet I just plugged it into my guitar amp that was in the room at the time. I didn’t even grab a bass amp for it. So, just dialed in a nice, low volume tone through a Johnson Millennium 2X12″ guitar amp.
What are your amp settings in this video?
@ArmageddonProphet Yeah, the early ones sound the same. Superb basses and they don’t weigh a ton either. They are MUCH thinner than they look from the front. Plus, they just have that great vintage…cool factor. Nothing sounds like them, and that’s a great thing.
@groovydjs Thanks! I was thinking of purchasing a natural finish G-3 from ’75, and I just wanted to ask about the pickups’ sound (whole reason for buying the bass… and that it’s vintage).
@ArmageddonProphet Not even a little bit. They threw the black covers on all of the Bill Lawrence pickups starting around ’79 just to make them look different. But the sound is identical. I have tons of Gibsons with these pickups in them and covered and uncovered and all sound the same. They all sound great. I’ve actually been thinking about grabbing some old sets of these and cutting a special pickguard and dropping them in my Fenders. They just have that great sound and are so quiet.
do the black and clear pickups differ in sound at all?
@zmoney682 So many guitarded folks that just need to be blocked, I just love that feature.
@godofwatt Nope, they are Bill Lawrence single coils. Google it and come back and say you’re sorry. No humbucker sounds this good. lol This was Gibson’s answer to the Fender Jazz bass and they are very much single coils. When will kids ever learn? lol
those are humbuckers
@thillwl That is the way I am. Always chasing after the ones that I let go. I’ve been able to land a few. You are right, the Grabber is cool again and people are paying through the nose for a good, clean one.
@groovydjs My first bass was a ’78 Grabber, and being a stupid teen at the time, I didn’t realize what I had and sold it. I’ve been trying to find another for for the last 25 years, but they’re now so popular that they’re priced out of my range.
@thillwl You said a mouth full there. Very true.
Gibson Grabbers are the most underrated basses in my opinion.
@groovydjs too bad i wasnt around to see him play it in the 70′s ha
@lBenHarrison I do too. I’ve loved these things since I saw Gene Simmons playing them back in the 70′s.
@groovydjs well i think this bass looks and sounds kickass.
@lBenHarrison Oh, I know, sorry if that came out bad. It actually does look like a pickup cover used on some of the older Fender and Rickenbacker basses. I never could figure out why those were on there or for that matter, why this is on here. lol Makes string changing a bear.
@Baklap94 Cool, you’ll love it. It can growl too with the best of them, I just like the bright, funk sounds so that’s what I usually dial in. But most old Gibson basses were not capable of a nice, clean Jazz bass type of sound and this one does it very well. You are very correct with your comparison to the Alembic tone. They are amazingly close. With the advent of the whole You Tube thing, people are finding out about these basses and buying them up now. Hard to find these days. Get it!
@groovydjs yea man, im not saying you changed it or anything, i was just saying that it looks like a pickup cover
Hmm, sounds really trebley, almost Alembic-like. I like it! There’s one for €600 on the dutch site Marktplaats.nl, so i think i’m gonna buy it
@lBenHarrison It’s 100% original. Most people take them off and lose them. Then the value of the bass goes down. Not a good thing.
The bridge cover looks like a pickup cover.
@panhead1219 Yeah, it’s got a great sound even with all the funky things they did with it. lol
Hmmm. That’s the first time I saw strings with the felt un the tuning pegs and nut.
Still, they sound very bright considerning you said they were old.
(Perhaps the guitar amp had something to do with it?
@shaggy281992 I’ve actually got my eyes on a couple of them now on Ebay and I’m after the sunburst Victory. Lots of red or black one’s out there. Just have my heart set on the sunburst and it must be in good shape and all original. So, I’ll be more than happy to do a review on it as soon as I real one in.