Why Does Geddy's Jazz Bass......

[musicman5string]

sound so different on "Moving Pictures" from when he started playing it again, namely "Counterparts" and all other Rush output since?
His tone as of late is almost the exact same as Marcus Miller's tone except played fingerstyle. "Moving Pictures" is much more mid-rangy, almost overdriven, less new stringy twang.
Hmmm....I'm bored tonight.

[Peter Squire]

He was still playing the Ric on some of those songs. Also, he used overdrive back then. his amp set up was totally different too - not so much straight into the desk as he does today.

[WillBuckingham]

Originally Posted by musicman5string

sound so different on "Moving Pictures" from when he started playing it again, namely "Counterparts" and all other Rush output since?
His tone as of late is almost the exact same as Marcus Miller's tone except played fingerstyle. "Moving Pictures" is much more mid-rangy, almost overdriven, less new stringy twang.
Hmmm....I'm bored tonight.

Marcus Miller plays "fingerstyle", no?

[Papersen]

I guess the main factor is the rig he´s using. His actual live sound is a mix of Direct / Avalon U5 / Sansamp RBI that he didn´t use in the late 70's.

Besides his technique has evolved and his flamenco style strumming technique gives him a different sound, more aggressive generally.

If you check "Show don´t tell" from Presto, you´ll probably find a tone more similar to his 70´s than his 90´s, mainly during the bass solo.