Geddy Leeing up my tone. Advice?

[bl2112]

Cut off Geddy's hands and the wrist and have them grafted onto the top of your wrists.

That way you can cop the "geddy tone" whenever you want and then flip them off like folded mittens when you need to sound like yourself

the frankenstien approach works every time!

If that was the point I would have done that about 6 years ago.

But using a jazz bass with no favored pick up and a little more the treble control and more mids on the amp will give you a good tone.
BUT!!!!
You have to get attack correct. And not just beating the
S#!@ out the string. Just like slaping theres a wrong way and the correct way. Look on Bass player TV theres an interview with Geddy explaining his attack and watch Rush in Rio alot.

 

[FenderP]

Also remember Geddy's technique changed a bit over the years. Same tone (give or take), but it certainly helps if you only use one or two fingers, or better yet, the claw

 

[john_g]

I have a Geddy Jazz and to be honest, I get closer to Geddy's sound playing with a pick than I do playing with my fingers. He has always said he liked the sound of a pick but it felt unnatural to him. I think he developed that flamenco picking style to get him the "pick" sound he wanted but still play with his finger. This is IMHO of course.

 

[back as a wolf]

I have tried to cop his tone unsuccessfully with the MXR-M80. Normal distortion doesn't cut it. What you need is some tube overdrive; the Sansamp Bass Driver does wonders with this. Put the Drive and Blend full on, and cut the Bass just a tad. Adjust Treble to taste. Also, like many others have said, there is a certain way of attacking the strings that helps you get there too. On your amp you may want to boost the high/low mids only a bit. Oh, it also helps a lot if you actually have his replica Jazz

 

[tZer]

I get a hybrid, Geddy/Squire sound through my gear. I am 41 and started playing when I was 15 and was influenced mainly by Geddy, Chris Squire and John Paul Jones. So I spent many years learning Rush, Yes and Zep tunes and 90% of the time bumming that I never sounded like any of these guys. I always assumed it was because I was playing a P-Bass through a Peavey TNT 130 (solid state/NO TUBES), and just wrote it off to having the wrong gear. I thought I needed a Rickenbacker 4001 - run stereo, Sunn Amps (+ a Marshall for distortion) - I did end up getting a Rick - but not the rest - never got Geddy or Squire...

In hindsight, I realize that I new NOTHING about my bass, my amp, tone settings, compression, NOTHING... So I may have been able to dial in a tone through the amp that approximated the toothy Geddy/Squire thing - but I just don't know.

Today I have a Fender Jazz V (passive) and a MusicMan StingRay 5 (Active) and I play through an Ampeg SVT II PRO and SVT810e.

Almost without trying, I get much closer to the Geddy/Squire tone - especially when I play my Jazz. If I want more Geddy, I play fingerstyle and dig in hard. I usually favor the neck pickup, but have both almost dialed up full. Roundwound strings and a goodly amount of compression, tone up almost full = pretty close to Geddy - and I am not even really trying to get that sound - it's just the sound that this rig, bass and playing technique generate, which seems to echo what many are saying.

I have the drive on the Ampeg up at about 12 o'clock so I get a lot of nice tube warmth and grit, the rest of the pre-amp tone knobs are at 12 noon too. I boost the Graphic EQ at 180hz about 2db...

If I pull out a pick, Chris Squire shows up. If I play with the pick up near the neck, I get the fat, Squire sound like on "Long Distance Runaround" in the middle section - "I still remember the dream there..." - if I dig in near the bridge, I get the toothy snarl like the beginning of "L D Runaround" or the intro of "Roundabout".

Mind you, I cannot play like Geddy or Squire, but I do end up inadvertently, through nurture, nature and serendipitous gear acquisition doing a pretty fair imitation of their tone.

To sum it up:
Ampeg SVT II PRO - all dials at noon (not counting gain and master volume), Graphic EQ bumped at 180
Ampeg SVT810e
Fender Jazz V or EBMMSR5 + roundwounds
Finger Style + dig in (and years of listening and being both overtly and subliminally influenced by Geddy Lee and Chris Squire)

Oh yeah, playing at a nice, beefy volume sure doesn't hurt things any!

 

[ksandvik]

Yes, I appreciate musicians such as Geddy Lee, Squire, Jeff Beck et rest where their style comes out from how they play their instruments, independent of a big set of pedals and effect/amp trickery. I think that's the way to go in future as anyone could get a big rig cheaply nowadays, but sounding unique with just a bass and an amp (and a cable helps, too), that's special.

PS: Don't mention that to music manufacturers as a large part of their sales are targeted towards people who want to sounds like X, Y or Z.