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Geddy Lee & Chris Squire sound

#41
Brian_L said:
Cool.

One thing I noticed with the rig is that I can increase the Drive to a certain level, and then dial it up just an RCH more and it's like everything falls off a cliff, and the low "E" starts farting out. All the knobs on the VT are VERY interactive and making a change to one may mean making a change to one or more other knobs. That is why I went with the Deluxe after deciding that I liked what I was hearing with a regular VT Bass; I needed to have the presets to save my settings.

Brian
Click to expand...

I agree! That's why it's not easy to find the right sound, knobs seem to work together and you have to be quite precise.
 
#42
Floyd Eye said:
Squire also has an odd picking technique ( which I inadvertently copped a long time ago). He holds the point real close and lets part of his thumb break across the strings after the pick. You can cop Squire tones reasonably close with almost any amp, a 4001 and this technique.

Geddy's Ric has stock hi-gains and his tone ( Ric tone that is) can be copped almost exactly using a 4001 and an RBI.

Just my opinion of course.
Click to expand...

Agree.
I heard many that gett nice Geddy tone with a Rick and GK amps. I think he used GK sometime in the 80's as well.
 
#44
Seans said:
Having just rushed through the thread, I see no one has mentioned that Squire used a fuzz box on one of his amps, a Marshall Supafuzz to be precise, he quoted this in an interveiw in the 70's.
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Yes, but I think it was not mentioned as this fuzz is used only on certain songs. anyway, it is a Maestro fuzz that he uses, not a Marshall, maybe he used the Marshall fuzz before he got the brass master. He uses a Marshall 100w guitar head with 2 Ampegs SVT pro 2
His current rig is btw is well described on his web site, chrissquire.net
 
#46
I fooled around for about 2 seconds on my SVT and got a decent agressive tone akin to Lee and Squire.

Ric-O-Sound

Treble into the Bright on Channel 1
Ultra High On
800 Hz
Ultra Bass in the middle on 0
Treble at 1 oclock
Mids almost at 3, where the number 10+ would be
Bass at 7 O'clock

Neck pup in normal channel 2 input
No ultra high
Ultra Low on
Treble completely cut
Bass at 4 oclock


Geddy never used Gallien Kruger in the 80s, he used BGW power amps and different pres depending on the tour. Ashlys and BGW 750Bs in the early 80s, and Furman PQ-3s and BGW 750Cs in the late 80s.

Then he switched to other pre amps, and eventually a Trace Elliot backline.
 
#47
Seans said:
Yes, but I think when people refer to 'The Squire' sound they mean 'Close to the edge' and Siberian Khatru in particular, the peak of his grinding treble and the very clever fuzzed deep bass and often misread as distorted treble.
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Yes I agree, Close to the edge is what most think about as the Squire tone. For me it is whatever tone he gets :)
I love his tone on Tormato with all the choruses, envelope filters etc.

Thanks for the info I<34080.
I thought he used. GK as Line6 bass pod manual hints that he did. In addition I've heard several persons on YT that nails the Geddy tone with a GK (even a small combo) and a Rick.

For my part, I can for now only play 3 Rush songs which are Tom Sawyer, Bravado, The Pass and the start of Free Will. I have a Geddy jazz and a sansamp PBDDI and a sansamp Oxford pedal. I find the Oxford (orange) better/ easier in order to get Geddy's tone, specially his later live tone on the jazz. With the PBDDI I can come close to some of his studio tone, but I need to use the Bad Monkey in addition.
 
#48
I<34080 said:
Ric-O-Sound

Treble into the Bright on Channel 1
Ultra High On
800 Hz
Ultra Bass in the middle on 0
Treble at 1 oclock
Mids almost at 3, where the number 10+ would be
Bass at 7 O'clock

Neck pup in normal channel 2 input
No ultra high
Ultra Low on
Treble completely cut
Bass at 4 oclock
Click to expand...
^^^^^ what he says


I posted some patches for the VB99 for these if you happen to have one.

I use engine A for the neck pickup signal chain and engine B for the bridge pickup signal chain

Here
 
#49
I<34080 said:
I fooled around for about 2 seconds on my SVT and got a decent agressive tone akin to Lee and Squire.

Ric-O-Sound

Treble into the Bright on Channel 1
Ultra High On
800 Hz
Ultra Bass in the middle on 0
Treble at 1 oclock
Mids almost at 3, where the number 10+ would be
Bass at 7 O'clock

Neck pup in normal channel 2 input
No ultra high
Ultra Low on
Treble completely cut
Bass at 4 oclock


Geddy never used Gallien Kruger in the 80s, he used BGW power amps and different pres depending on the tour. Ashlys and BGW 750Bs in the early 80s, and Furman PQ-3s and BGW 750Cs in the late 80s.

Then he switched to other pre amps, and eventually a Trace Elliot backline.
Click to expand...

Nice, just tried it at practice tonite, SVT 1970 and 810AV, did sound good but kept the mids around 1 oclock 2 oclock (or did you mean 10 oclock).
Is it me or does the bright channel cut the volume quite a bit.
 
#51
Geddy had a great,, if not the best Rick tone back in the day. But,,when he found his Jazz, I think he also found Tech 21. I find it easy to dial in Ged's tone with a Sansamp.

Chris on the other hand, is a little tougher, everyone agree's that there's a Marshall guitar amp in there somewhere, and a Maestro Brassmaster, but where? neck pickup? bridge pickup? ..............I've also heard that Squire's horseshoe was completely disconnected during this critical "tone" period, and was reconnected at the RIC factory in the early '90's? and that he preferred to run his effects off of the neck pickup.

You can see his rig on his homepage, but it doesnt say how he splits the signal. I really think his tone is all in his hands.

I can acheive a reasonable facsimile of his tone with my rig,,, and thats good enough for me, I actually prefer a little more low end in my tone,, but I do bow down to the man,, for he owns his tone.
 
#52
I'll just put in my little say regarding Geddy:

If you want to nail his tone off the first album, I recommend an old Sunn tube amp and a Precision bass. That's what he used on that first album, and I believe that is his set up on the Fifth Order of Angels bootleg (he may have switched to a Ric bass by then).

I use this setup, a P-bass with Swing 66s, into a Sunn 2000s+2x15. You plug into the bright channel, with treble and contour all up, and bass backed off, and you can pretty well nail his early tone.
 
#55
After decades of attempting to achieve Squire's Yes Album, Fragile and Close to the Edge tones, which will more than compensate for Wisbone Ash, Greg Lake, Genesis, Strawbs, The Move, Renaissance tones. I believe the following:

If I was to use Squire's basses and rigs or Geddy's, I would only sound like me playing through their stuff. And...

Regardless of choice of basses, amps, pickups, long or short scale: 90% of THAT TONE can be achieved by using Roto-Sound Swing bass 66 round wound strings [ or other brightly toned rounds ] and ANY BASS with tone full up, played with a pick close to the bridge. THAT TONE is short-lived; from a day or so up to a few short weeks, dependent upon how many hours new strings have on them. Most of us cannot afford to change strings daily or after each gig.

The remaining 10% is amp tone, effects and Squire's or Geddy's touch alone. I emulated Squire's Yes Album, Fragile and Close to the edge tone as best I could for decades; always disappointed as I was always lacking that certain something. Again that tone covers the early prog tonal pallet.

Now, I am a tonal chameleon; wanting to serve the song, not [MY] tone, unless I am playing "originals".
 
#57
zon6c-f said:
After decades of attempting to achieve Squire's Yes Album, Fragile and Close to the Edge tones, which will more than compensate for Wisbone Ash, Greg Lake, Genesis, Strawbs, The Move, Renaissance tones. I believe the following:

If I was to use Squire's basses and rigs or Geddy's, I would only sound like me playing through their stuff. And...

Regardless of choice of basses, amps, pickups, long or short scale: 90% of THAT TONE can be achieved by using Roto-Sound Swing bass 66 round wound strings [ or other brightly toned rounds ] and ANY BASS with tone full up, played with a pick close to the bridge. THAT TONE is short-lived; from a day or so up to a few short weeks, dependent upon how many hours new strings have on them. Most of us cannot afford to change strings daily or after each gig.

The remaining 10% is amp tone, effects and Squire's or Geddy's touch alone. I emulated Squire's Yes Album, Fragile and Close to the edge tone as best I could for decades; always disappointed as I was always lacking that certain something. Again that tone covers the early prog tonal pallet.

Now, I am a tonal chameleon; wanting to serve the song, not [MY] tone, unless I am playing "originals".
Click to expand...

I must say I was struggling getting close to Chris tone on my Geddy, but after I've got my 4003 where I've kept the pup cover (due to Chris doing it) I've came much closer. I can hear now when he plays in front of the pup cover or behind it (close to the bridge) and also I can easier guess his pickup switch mode/ choice.
On Amplitube for iPad I choose the the Ampeg for his darker tone or the Marshall for his brighter tone. I wish I could choose both for dual amping, then I would come much closer as his tone contains both amps.
 
#58
I have a Line 6 Variax bass and a Line 6 BassPOD XT Live. There are settings for both the Rush "Tom Sawyer" sound and the Yes "Roundabout" tone in the Pod (which can control the bass model on the Variax). I don't have them here at work for reference, but if nobody else follows up on it before I get home tonight, I can post specific bass/amp/effect settings that Line 6 represents as close facsimiles.
 
#59
Duke21 said:
For which song? Chris do not use a fuzz on many songs. Most of his tone is based on quite clean bass on his SVT and some OD on his Marshall amp for the treble side.
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Well, I have "Close To The Edge" in mind or songs on Tales From Topographic Oceans or their cover of "America" for example.

But maybe the fuzz I'm talking about is the od on his Marshall you're talking about actually ;)

Do you get good results for this overdrive sound with Amplitube?
 

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