What is Steve Harris Iron Maiden bass tone supposed to sound like?

Steve Harris is considered one of those most influential heavy metal bass players of all time, and the simple answer to the question of “What is Steve Harris bass tone?” is P bass. Lots and lots of P bass.

Typical to many hard rock/metal recordings of years past, the bass is usually placed squarely in the upper-midrange/treble end within the mix, such as heard in the song 2 Minutes To Midnight:

In that song, Harris’s bass is clearly heard as the bass frequency is turned down, midrange turned up and treble turned up to the point where fret clacking (which totally works here) really comes through.

Is there a Steve Harris bass pickup? Yes. It’s made by Seymour Duncan and we carry it.

Are there signature Steve Harris bass strings? Also a yes, and we carry that too.

HOWEVER…

The Harris pickup and Harris strings won’t automatically get you that glorious punchy metal P bass sound. A huge part of what makes for the Harris tone is technique.

Rather than show an isolated bass track, here is someone actually playing a cover of the song above, bass completely in front and even louder than the original studio recording:

You’ll notice the playing style isn’t about forcibly slamming the strings but rather playing in a way to get every note as clear as possible.

Or said another way, play with precision on your Precision Bass. For Steve Harris Iron Maiden bass tone, that’s what works. And remember that for recording, edging down the bass frequencies and punching up the midrange and treble helps. A lot.