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Geddy Lee Exit Stage Left Bass Tone

#62
For what it's worth during the brief time I owned a Ric I also had a Korg Pandora PX4B. The Ampeg model Korg and a Ric get pretty close to the ESL Ric tone, when I found that particular patch it was an ah-ha moment!

I'm another lover of that album. I've still got it on vinyl and overtime I have my turntable in working order the I have to play La Villa Strangiato. Their playing was so fluid back then and Alex's playing on that particular version of LVS still gives me goose bumps. I think I better listen to it now in fact.

BTW I still think they are the best band on the planet!
 
#63
I'm still amazed this Rick/Jazz debate... The two basses sound very different. On Permanent Waves, it's easy to tell which song uses which bass. The Rick is far growlier, verging on distortion, and sits around the midrange. The Jazz is a lot cleaner, has more bottom and top. Very different sounding basses.
ESL is archetypal stereo Rick throughout.
The confusion is understandable on Moving Pictures as most of the bass tracks are heavily distorted to the point where the over-riding tone is that of the distortion rather than the instrument.
 
#71
I was too lazy to read the entire thread other than some of the folks on here that saw some of those tours remember certain things of what Geddy was playing live, me myself I saw Rush for the first time in May of 1978 at the Denver Auditorium on the Farewell To Kings Tour and the basses he played at that show was his Rickenbacker 4001 & his double neck, next tour I saw Rush on was The Permanent Waves Tour at McNichols Arena in Denver and the bass he played was his 4001 & double neck, next tour was Moving Pictures Tour at McNichols Arena in Denver and Geddy played his 4001 & double neck & his Fender Jazz, next tour I saw Rush on was the Signals Tour at McNichols Arena and Geddy played his 4001 & his Steinberger bass.
I remembered all of this because I was a SERIOUS DIE-HARD RUSH FAN, my first bass I ever bought was a Rickenbacker 4003 in Azureglo in 1980. All these shows meant so much to me I'm so glad I got to see them when I did, I still have all my concert tickets as well and also the Tour Programs from back then, the memories.
 
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#72
My favorite moment in Exit Stage Left:'

"Whoa whoa
You can be the captain..."

I just dig the unison moment, and I'm fascinated by the independent, robotic way he frets while singing "sailing into destiny". One goose bump inducing moment among many in that perfect concert film.
 
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#75
sloppy_phil said:
I disagree. To my ears, it is pure Ric tone; while Geddy's true tone is in his fingers, there is no mistaking that that ALBUM (not the rest of the tour, nor any other anything) is all Ric. Even Tom Sawyer, which has been admitted as being a 'Jazz' recording, was played with the Ric. YYZ sounds *exactly* the same, tone-wise, and there wasn't the benefit of 'studio magic' to change anything live. Using the huge stereo set-up that he did at the time which was built around his Rics, it would have made no sense for him to switch to an instrument which couldn't utilize it.

ESL was the last great Ric run; he retired the double-neck, and pretty much the 4001 (especially live) from then on.
Click to expand...

If 8 mm footage is to be believed, YYZ was played live on the jazz.

Edit: how did I miss this being a zombie thread? Ugh...
 
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#76
lijazz said:
They are one in the same tour. The live album is called "Exit Stage Left". He did indeed use the Jazz on that tour, just not on the shows associated with that album.
Click to expand...
Well, technically, there was a "Spring Training 82" tour between the release of "ESL" and "Signals". It was very similar to the MP tour (I saw them both) but the merch featured artwork from "ESL", so it was kind-of the semi-official "ESL" tour.
Anyway, they did play "Subdivisions" and "The Analog Kid" on this tour (before they recorded "Signals") and it was all Rick for those tunes, too.
 
#78
lijazz said:
...revisiting this thread

The V4B cabs were loaded with JBLs and the Thiele's were EV speakers, the latter being responsible for THE best Ric tone ever IMHO.
Click to expand...

I'm also curious what amps or cabs were used for Exit Stage Left. The Rick sound on that tour and record is the best. Does anyone really know what Geddy was using for that video/album? We all know it's the Rick but of course the sound is the amp too.
 

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