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Getting Geddy's Sound :D

T

ThePowerOfOne

Guest
Jan 6, 2005
3
0
38
Canada
#1
Hello everyone! I absolutely love Geddy Lee and his sound. I have his signature bass and the Tech 21 Sans Amp RBI preamp he uses. I have been trying to mimic his tone with not too much success :(. Do any of you know how he sets his preamp or know somewhere that I could find out? Thanks alot for the help.
 
#3
Well before someone else say's it's in his fingers, The way he plays now it actually is in his index finger. He uses his index finger and fingernail to rake the string, makes a distint "Dugga-dugga-dugga" sound.

If your talking about the past, He's had many different tones in the past with his Wal's, Steinbergers, Ric's
 
#5
Hello again, sorry for not being clearer on what I'm aiming for. The tone im trying to get is his more modern stuff like on Test for Echo, Vapour Trails, and Rush In Rio(drools). Sorry for not saying that earlier. Thanks again!
 
#6
ThePowerOfOne said:
Hello everyone! I absolutely love Geddy Lee and his sound. I have his signature bass and the Tech 21 Sans Amp RBI preamp he uses. I have been trying to mimic his tone with not too much success :(.
Click to expand...

So let me get this straight.

You love Geddy Lee so you bought his signature bass, you bought the same pre-amp he uses AND you're Canadian and STILL can't mimic his sound?

:smug:
 
#13
FWIW, when i look for a geddy tone i play much nearer to the bridge and dig in. I also set up my sans amp with all controls at 12 except i turn treble down to about 11 o clock, juice presence up to about 1 or 2 o clock, and set the drive to the point where it just begins to distort a tiny bit on the attack of the notes. The other thing i noticed is that the fender 75 reissue jazz sounds a lot more "geddy" than the geddy lee jazz. I've been told that the pickups in the 75 reisue have a lot to do with this. You might want to think about buying a set of the pickups fender puts in the 75 reissue and dropping them into your geddy jazz
 
#16
ThePowerOfOne said:
Hello again, sorry for not being clearer on what I'm aiming for. The tone im trying to get is his more modern stuff like on Test for Echo, Vapour Trails, and Rush In Rio(drools). Sorry for not saying that earlier. Thanks again!
Click to expand...

During this time, he was using a bank of 4 front-loaded electric dryers. When they're on the 'Permanent Press' setting, they put out those signature Geddy tones. :D

Seriously though...it's really in his hands. If you've got all that gear and still can't cop his tone, it just comes down to the fact that you're you and he's Geddy, and ne'er the twain shall be the same.
 
#19
bimplizkit said:
His 'sound' (although slightly influenced by the hardware) comes from his fingers. He doesn't fingerpick the traditional way (traditional: allowing the string to vibrate cleanly with no string and fret interference noise)

He uses a more aggressive motion, pushing strings toward the body with his right hand fingers which causes the string to purposely rattle against the fretboard. This rattling effect, when done cleanly and with proper eq, give the Geddy growl. His fingers are in very good shape and to play with this technique for any length of time, they have to be. I guarantee a Rick, a Jazz, or a Steinberger won't give you the "Geddy" sound as much as the above technique will.

Good luck. ;)
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It's not the gear, it's the technique.
 

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