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That Geddy Lee Overdrive...

Thunder_Fingers

Thunder_Fingers

Jun 24, 2004
1,942
132
39
Norway
#1
Yeah, i know, get a Sansamp Bass Driver...

But thats not the tone im after, i want that tone Geddy have on "Limelight", That Fat, warm, Wonderful tone...

Anyone Know what Pedal that can give me that?
Im looking at the Marshall Guv'vor 2(heard it supposed to be good for bass) Electro-Harmonix Big Muff USA, Electro Harmonix BassBalls and the EBS Valvedrive...(Way to expensive though...)
 
#2
um...Geddy has always had a real growly, punchy, and Rickenbacker type tone, and I have never really heard him with a real warm or fat tone. I would suggest checking out his signature jazz bass or a Rickenbacker, which he used in the good old days.

It never really sounded like he was using much overdrive in his tone, but I may be mistaken.

BTW, geddy uses a Jazz bass on Limelight. Apparently he used it for moving pictures and Permanent waves.
 
#4
I know the growl of which you speak -- For me I *do* find a bit of warmth and fatness in some of Geddy's tracks -- especially on Moving Pictures.

I consider myself on a mission to find the Holy Growl, as defined by Geddy's tone on Moving Pictures, so this thread is down my alley.

I don't know the answer to your question, but perhaps I have some insight. I have found some things that worked pretty well for me. If you search on growl (and I bet you might have already), you'll see various people have different solutions, but I think there is truth in all of them depending on the context. For me (and note I'm exclusively recording, not performing live), the following have been influential
- EQ -- boosting the lower mids, and in general avoiding scooping the mids.
- The bass -- Playing a Jazz with the bridge pickup solo'd, and playing closer to the bridge. Note, this isn't a truism -- I've had some decent success getting geddy-like growl out of my Stingray.
- Recording onto two tracks, one clean one effected. I read about it here, as well I've always thought that on YYZ Geddy's tone sounds doubled, like there's a overdriven/distorted track alongside a fatter, cleaner one, each panned slightly to different sides, resulting in an almost chorused sound of pure delight.
- Effects -- I'm using a (gulp) Bass POD. I hated it for a while, but setting it to SVT, diming everything, and then a few tweaks has given me tracks that I found workable. Hate the tone when solo'd but has worked in the mix.

For fun I've recorded my own personal versions of Limelight and Subdivisions. I'm very happy with the bass tone, although they're still not right. The quest goes on.

Note that, as you noticed a lot of folks recommend the SansAmp. I'll probably get one eventually because of this. The time I borrowed a friend's BDDI (the pedal), I felt it was a bit too mid-scooped for me, but you can read how to avoid that by setting the controls, or getting the RBI or the programmable one on which you can directly control the mids.

Talk soon,
HooBass
 
#5
Most of his sound is in the way he plays, low action, strong attack, imo. He still sounds like himself even when he was playing that steinberger or wal.

I can tell you 100% the bassballs will not get you a geddy lee tone though.
The bassballs pedal is an envelope filter with a fuzz built in, think funk, not geddy lee.
 
#6
Hmmmm, thanks for the help...

The Sound in the Solo on "Limelight" have to be some kinda overdrive... i dont think even a Rick can get that tone alone, no mather who plays it... when i think about it, it kinda sound like a thin Z.Vex Wolly Mammoth... but they are to expensive :p

i used to own a Geddy.. never got that tone though, but im not Geddy either...
 
#7
EddieTheKiller said:
The Sound in the Solo on "Limelight" have to be some kinda overdrive... i dont think even a Rick can get that tone alone, no mather who plays it...
Click to expand...

IMO, there is overdrive on that tune. First off, Geddy definitely gets a lot of his tone because of his technique, attack, etc. However, that's only part of it (again, in my opinion); Geddy wouldn't sound like Geddy if he played air bass, so the gear has something to do with it (IMO).

So the question is, since we aren't Geddy, how do we get tone that we like (which, in this case happens to be Geddy's -- I'm trying to inoculate against any comment about how one should strive for their own tone -- that's true to a degree, AND I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting your tone to have elements of things you hear in others' tone that you like/love/would give your left thing-a-ma-bob for).

I'm not familiar with any pedals for bass, so I'm of no use there, but by exploring the components of the sound (pedals, preamps, EQ, basses, technique, etc.), I'm sure you can get it.

I just a/b'd my private version of Limelight with the original -- I do a decent job of recreating his tone there. (i.e., I was happy with it, but I would understand folks saying it falls short). If I knew how to share it with you without infringing their copyright I'd do that. In the meantime, I can say that I 1) used my Geddy Lee bass, 2) emphasized the bridge pickup, 3) played through my Bass POD on the SVT setting with everything dimed, 4) recorded two tracks, one clean and the other effected and 5) EQ'd flat except for a low-mid boost (can't remember the specifics but could find out). And I'm sure there are myriad other ways (some betters than others). I'm going to search for them!


EddieTheKiller said:
i used to own a Geddy.. never got that tone though, but im not Geddy either...
Click to expand...

When I first got my Geddy, I remember thinking "OK, this isn't going to sound like Geddy" when I first plugged it up at my house, and feeling really let down that it sounded even worse than I thought it could. I bought on great deal at GC where it was virtually impossible to hear oneself play. I.e., I had to mess around to get that bass plus the settings, gear, etc to give me what I wanted.

And like I mentioned before, I've gotten some HooBass-pleasing Geddy-like tone from the Stingray. I now definitely don't think it *has* to be the Jazz, although that's part of it (I seem to hear that nasally jazz tone in Limelight, assuming like I've heard others say that the Jazz was used on that song; I seem to remember that being the case in the video from way back when).


Talk soon
HooBass
 
#8
Technique and gear are important......Geddy has an unorthodox way of plucking the strings, watch R30 and you'll get an eyeful. Rotosound Swing Bass, J Bass, Sansamp RBI's(2)....all making that "sum of all parts" current sound. He's played Wals,Fenders,Rics,Steinbergers....it always sounds like Geddy. It's like trying to emulate Steve Harris or Chris Squire. You can buy all the gear but nailing the tone is somewhat impossible because IMO those guys just have a method of playing that defines their sound. BTW, Geddy overdrives quite a bit on Vapor Trails......awful mixdown doesn't help and it's probably my least favorite tone he's layed down. I'm into that "Roll the Bones" "Show don't Tell"sound. The older stuff is just as good, I'm just digging that era right now.

Keep trying, the search is half the fun.
 
#9
Oh God, I never understand people saying he always sounds like Geddy no matter what bass he is playing. You should listen more carefully to his Wal and his Rickenbacker. Very different..

Now here is the "secret" for the moving pictures sound. I read in an interview that Moving Pictures he started to use "distortion" for the first time. The albums before he just used some overdrive from the SVT and Sunn heads.
Some good overdrive(like the Sansamp RBI) and a bit of chorus(!) gives you a warm overdrive, like on Moving Pictures. At least that my experience, worked for me!
I also use Rotosound stainless steel strings, a Rickenbacker and play with a fairly hard attack..
Goodluck!
 
#10
him666 said:
Oh God, I never understand people saying he always sounds like Geddy no matter what bass he is playing. You should listen more carefully to his Wal and his Rickenbacker. Very different..
Click to expand...
I'm saying that no matter what bass he plays I can tell it's him playing.

If you read my post you can see that I imply his tone changes from time to time based on his gear. That would also imply that you need to determine what timeframe of his career you want to emulate. Sorry I didn't spell it out for you.

Understand now?
 
#13
I think I like his sound of "By-tor" the most.
But my two favourite albums are Farewell to Kings and Hemispheres. Actually I like Permanent Waves aswell. And Moving Pictures was my first Rush album.. I don't really have a favourite :)
I don't really like the Rush from after 1982, although I do like the live sound he has now with his sig. Fender. Someday I will have one too :bassist:
 
#14
him666 said:
Now here is the "secret" for the moving pictures sound. ... Some good overdrive(like the Sansamp RBI) and a bit of chorus(!) gives you a warm overdrive, like on Moving Pictures.
Click to expand...

I agree with this -- I've recently been working up my own version of YYZ, and have found myself adding a bit of chorus along with some overdrive (and of course the two-tracks-panned thingy, which is another source of chorus feel). Seems to work nicely, and A/B's well, especially when listening under headphones (can here the chorus effect).

Talk soon
HooBass
 
#16
him666 said:
Now here is the "secret" for the moving pictures sound. I read in an interview that Moving Pictures he started to use "distortion" for the first time. The albums before he just used some overdrive from the SVT and Sunn heads.
Click to expand...

+1


‘some’ is the keyword. The distortion and delay are so slight you hardly notice. That said, it does contribute to the killer bass sound!

In the studio, there must be a split of the bass signal into an un-effected bass and effected one. The good news is a lot of distortion boxes have a wet/dry mix to accomplish this. Because of the ‘warmth” of the Moving Pictures distortion, it was probably done by overdriving a tube pre-amp.

Even though Moving Pictures was from Geddy’s Rickenbacker era, he used his Fender Jazz bass for Limelight . The J-bass has a natural ‘growl’ to it. To emphases the growl, try boosting the EQ around 800hz.
 

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