Geddy's bass sound - what happened?

[Tim See]

The more I hear stuff like this, I wonder why the heck he felt the need to go all distorted etc. I just found this - blown away.

The drums sounds really nice too.

 

[JimmyM]

People's tastes change over the decades.

 

[India_Sierra]

It's Geddy Lee. Being creative is his own right. I thought his decision to move from Wal back to his jazz bass was a tonal misstep, but it didn't stop me enjoying the music. Rush were always about taking creative risks to push things in a new direction, change and evolution were part and parcel of that.

 

[scowboy]

It's Geddy Lee. Being creative is his own right. I thought his decision to move from Wal back to his jazz bass was a tonal misstep, but it didn't stop me enjoying the music. Rush were always about taking creative risks to push things in a new direction, change and evolution were part and parcel of that.

As a 40+ year Rush fan, oh man not me. I remember the day that I first heard the Counterparts album back when it was released and I was overjoyed hearing that he'd left the Wal and its nasal tone behind (for good as it turned out). Counterparts is to this day one of my favorite Rush albums, it has great songs and sonically is just killer. Kevin Shirley masterfully engineered that record and to this Rush fan was literally like they got their b*lls back. From my point of view, they desperately needed a huge sounding record compared to the previous ten years or so. They more or less maintained a similar sound until Clockwork Angels which is my one of my favorite records period. Let the flaming begin

Bonus points: While we are talking about his tone, I thought the R40 tour was the pinnacle of Geddy Lee's tone, it incorporated all of the best parts about his playing and sound over his career to this point. It was absolutely epic to hear how he sounded on such a massive cross section of instruments such as the Jazz, P-bass, Thunderbird, Rick, etc. He still of course sounded like him but he really allowed for the character of each instruments tone to be in the forefront. Alex too for that matter.

 

[hbarcat]

To my mind, part of the greatness of RUSH is the way they sound so different live compared to in the studio.

The album Permanent Waves sounds incredible to me and I think Geddy's bass sound is perfect. But I'd be disappointed if that was their live sound. I know that it's too over the top for some, but the huge, distorted bass sound from RUSH in Rio is appropriate for that particular album.

I really enjoy how Geddy always sounds different.

 

[Tim See]

I guess I just like actual bass tone, and not some bunch of distortion and other crap. T4E (live sound) was the end of the line for me and it was pushing it. RiR is an exact example of how not to do things sound-wise for all kinds of reasons, and I totally disagree that there was much point in bringing all the different basses out for R40 just to run them through the same junk - pointless. Sure they sound different relative to each other, but hearing how each bass actually sounds? No way.

 

[Craig T Vector]

Clockwork Angels is their best work in a long time, and I think Geddy's tone on that album is fantastic. The Ric tone from 2112 era is awesome as well. That's what I love about Geddy, and Rush in general; as previously stated they kept growing and taking risks.

 

[Tim See]

Man, you guys really don't want to hear what I have to say about Peart then....

 

[chanson]

His tastes changed over decades of progression. I think his tone evolved to fit their song writing. If I was him I probably wouldnt want to stick with the same tone for 40 years either.