Give me Geddy's 'old' midrange growl!

[marantz10]

So everyone is ranting about Geddy's tone and saying get a Sansamp BDDI/RBI/RPM. Now, that is for his "modern" tone during his DI days (before Orange and after whatever SVT crazy setup he had).

I'm looking for his old tone. There are some good Rush songs out there that I define as being this good midrange growl--particularly from 2112 thru Moving Pictures. Sure, he was running a Ric with or without stereo. But he had that midrange distortion.

I have been reading that the Sansamp VT has a good midrange distortion and some have said that can sound like Geddy.

What do you guys suggest to pull off this old tone of his? I'm using an Ampeg BA115 (100 watt, 15" combo) and got room on my pedalboard for more stuff, although a new amp is out of the question until I buy a house because this thing is loud enough as it is.

If you must ask why copy his tone, in the future I will be trying out for Rush tribute bands and want to nail his tone as best as I can.

Thanks!

[rratajski]

The first thing that I thought about was the cab/head. I know that buying a new cab is not in your budget, but some extra speaker options would help.

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/archiv.../t-535267.html - this thread is one of many Geddy threads.

...and this: Geddy's bass tone

Also, an EQ before dirt might help. It will take a lot of playing around.

[marantz10]

Originally Posted by rratajski

The first thing that I thought about was the cab/head. I know that buying a new cab is not in your budget, but some extra speaker options would help.

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/archiv.../t-535267.html - this thread is one of many Geddy threads.

...and this: Geddy's bass tone

Also, an EQ before dirt might help. It will take a lot of playing around.

I've actually read through those threads already :P Much of one is about his new Sansamp tone with his live DI setup.

EQ sounds like a good possibility. I can change so much just with my Sansamp BDDI with treble and bass knobs but a full spectrum EQ sounds like a good idea at this point.

Thanks for the input!

[jgroh]

The VT Bass might be a good thing to have. And as Im sure you know, at some point you will need to get a more powerful amp/cab setup. 100 watts probably wont be enough depending on the situation of course. I can get a Geddy tone regardless of the bass Im playing (well, most basses!) by using primarily the bridge pickup and some overdrive. Then its all about the attack...he hits the strings hard. For a good reference, download the bass isolation tracks from Moving Pictures, its pretty awesome. I got mine from some torrent somewhere.

[marantz10]

Originally Posted by jgroh

The VT Bass might be a good thing to have. And as Im sure you know, at some point you will need to get a more powerful amp/cab setup. 100 watts probably wont be enough depending on the situation of course. I can get a Geddy tone regardless of the bass Im playing (well, most basses!) by using primarily the bridge pickup and some overdrive. Then its all about the attack...he hits the strings hard. For a good reference, download the bass isolation tracks from Moving Pictures, its pretty awesome. I got mine from some torrent somewhere.

Oh yeah, 100 watts won't do. I'll get a proper gigging rig when I can afford it, at which point I'll go all out and get something like a SVT or something along those lines because I'm such an Ampeg fan.

I find the best Geddy tone I can get so far is with full on neck pickup and a slightly tapered bridge pickup (maybe around 80% but not all the way up). I have learned to yank on those strings to get those Rotosounds to ring.

The bass isolation tracks are a good reference point for me--especially when I'm trying to emulate the exact rhythm and pitches for those tunes.

Thanks

[Bigjohn]

For 2112 through Moving Pictures, get a Rickenbacker.

[varunkapahi]

yeah vt does it very well, i got this tone with a stock squier jazz and vt recorded direct.
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=8653741

[marantz10]

Originally Posted by Bigjohn

For 2112 through Moving Pictures, get a Rickenbacker.

I thought he used the Rickenbacker up until Permanent Waves when he moved to using Jazz Basses (which includes Moving Pictures). It'd be nice to have a Ric anyways for playing the 2112 and Hemisphere tunes, but $2000 is out of my budget. I'm just a college student.

Originally Posted by varunkapahi

yeah vt does it very well, i got this tone with a stock squier jazz and vt recorded direct.
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=8653741

That sounds good, do you have anymore samples that I can hear? Just wondering what it sounds like if you turn the 'gain' up a tad more (just a little to get a bit more distortion).

In particular, I feel that the prime distortion of his would be "Witch Hunt" (from Moving Pictures) @ 1:35 which has a good amount of growl. If I can hear something that sounds like that from a VT, then I'd know any distortion level of his would be possible

[bigchiefbc]

Originally Posted by marantz10

I thought he used the Rickenbacker up until Permanent Waves when he moved to using Jazz Basses (which includes Moving Pictures). It'd be nice to have a Ric anyways for playing the 2112 and Hemisphere tunes, but $2000 is out of my budget. I'm just a college student.

Get a Peavey T-40. Nails the Rickenbacker tone for 200-300 bucks.

[Nolifer]

If you feel like tinkering a little (or a lot), then maybe this thread might be of some help to you To build a Peavenbacker!

[varunkapahi]

Originally Posted by marantz10

That sounds good, do you have anymore samples that I can hear? Just wondering what it sounds like if you turn the 'gain' up a tad more (just a little to get a bit more distortion).

In particular, I feel that the prime distortion of his would be "Witch Hunt" (from Moving Pictures) @ 1:35 which has a good amount of growl. If I can hear something that sounds like that from a VT, then I'd know any distortion level of his would be possible

btw, i used to play with finger nails to get that sharp pick like attacky sound you hear in the recording but i dont do that anymore. also, that tone came from single coil jazz pickups (wired in series i think) which i dont have anymore

ironically i have a geddy lee jazz now but it has sadowsky hum cancelling pickups which sound really different, infact vt's drive doesnt sound the same at all with these pups. but the stock geddy lee jazz pups are the shinz for THAT tone

so two things, nails and single coils. the series wiring part isnt really an essental part behind this tone. and of course low action to get the fretbuzz clank
i have none of those anymore heh

but with a tad more distortion it would only sound a tab bit more distorted really, i had cranked the character knob a bit which really got this sound. i really dont know how distorted it is really as i have never heard those solo tracks, mine was just a random estimation but imo it came out quite neat

[Mark Olson]

To be perfectly honest this should be more a question of amps than pedals. That is how I see it.

[I<34080]

Originally Posted by ProfGumby

Watch out, some of MP was the jazz.....

So was some of Permanent Waves.

[ProfGumby]

If you have an hour or two, good reading here -
Geddy's bass tone