What a beautiful setup, beautiful gear, and a beautiful tone. The only person I've ever seen perfectly match Lifeson's incredible diverse library of tones. Hope to see you all play live one day!
I'm so happy you demo'd "Prime Mover"--that's my college graduation theme song XD I love Alex's 80s tones. I also have a Roland rackmount that he used in the late 80s.
Glad I touched on a favorite of yours! Prime Mover is a great song and one of my favs too. What model of Roland? Amp or effects? I used to have a Gallien-Kruger 2100SEL which was the amp Alex used on Hold Your Fire. Solid state, not tubes, but it was stereo and it rocked. But it broke for the last time many years ago.
Amazing explanation of your setup man! A rig as complex as Lerxst's is not an easy thing to accomplish. But you nailed a bunch of the eras in Rush's catalog!! Those clean chorus sounds were extremely authentic to my ear. And that distortion is very much a part of his 80s into 90s modern crunch tones. Big like and keep it up! 🎸
I know this is a few years old, but wow. Loved the Prime Mover demo. I never realized how much roar there was on his guitar for the HYF album. While I love HYF (was what introduced me to Rush in 87’) That album would have done much better had they stripped down the overdone sequencer parts. Alex’s guitar parts are soooo good , but sooooooo buried. Thanks!
Thanks! Yeah, there is a lot of Alex brilliance masked under some of those synth parts. I liked the synth era albums even back then, because the guitar parts were there when you cranked the album up and soooo good (as you say!). Hearing the songs live, the guitar tends to be more prominent, so I loved going to the Rush shows in the 80s and hearing things I didn't necessarily key in on listing to the albums!
@@wooliegeek I have flirted with that AxeFX route, they are great boxes! I am sure that, within 5 years, I won't have tube amps in the picture, but I haven't been able to get away from them just yet.
This is the best rig rundown. I wish others were as thorough. I am a big dancin and Rush fan and have many of the same rig parts and guitars as you. It's just a lot of fun. I'd love to see a second video getting into how you approach chorus, delays, EQ and distortion settings. More more please. Thanks!
Thanks Rick -- much appreciated. I think that is a great idea, to pick a few songs and go through the settings in depth. Though the switching can be complex, I keep my effects like chorus, delay and reverb very simple -- the hope is to enhance the sound without clouding it. At gigs, the high volume can make your reverbs and delays more pronounced and sound washy -- especially if the delays are not tempo-synced. Less is more, and you can really hear that in Alex's late career sounds -- lots of meat and judicious use of effects. I'll try to do an effects run-through sometime soon.
@@BigDancin I saw a video of Rush's sound guy walking the arena's nose bleed section with a wireless mic and an ipad. He was playing a Rush recording over the PA then measuring the frequency response with the wireless mic from the listener's position. Then he had both the mic's EQ response overlaying the recording's actual target EQ pattern. He could easily see the deficient house frequencies. He'd adjust the EQ on the ipad for each of the PA speaker cluster and head back to his base. I think he said he'd download the settings from ipad to the board for that show. How cool is that? It's like tone matching the house to the recording. He said that's how he ensures the best audience experience. He''d also adjust the reverbs that way in case the venue had too much or little reflection or booming. We all need this capability!
@@rpbale Yeah, it is really impressive. They would play show captures from the previous night, even in the same venue, to fine tune the sound. What a cool job it would be to do that kind of live sound work. Of course, it is tough now though with Covid, like many other jobs.
Sure -- The G-System provides chorus, reverb and delay mainly. And some compression on clean sounds. And flanger in limited songs (used in The Spirit of Radio and some songs from Signals as examples). For chorus, I like a good spacious sound, with depth usually around 6 and speed around 4. Reverb is sometimes a hall and sometimes a spring depending on the song. Delays are synced to song tempo, normally at quarter notes unless the song requires something different. Delays and reverb are normally mixed in at 20 to 30 percent, but also varies by song. Other effects on the shelves include a DLS Boost pedal specifically made for Alex Lifeson for the R40 tour -- hard to find but a friend bought it for me. I use that on heavy sounds, and on clean sounds I use a Lehle Sunday Driver for clean boost and signal integrity (the G-System I have has an unbuffered input stage and there is tone loss without the Lehle). My amp is the H&K Grandmeister 40 Deluxe. It also has built in effects, but I use those sparingly. Mainly, I'll use the phaser on that for 2112 and some older songs. G-System effects sound better to me, so I stick with those where there's overlap. And EVH Wah, which has great growly mids. Hope that helps!
Nice description and nice sounds. I too have the AL LP, have you done the (so-called) McDLT to it? Just as a note, I use the Helix, a stereo power-amp and an FRFR cab, which is great because the Helix has two inputs, two signal chains and you can do some wonderful stuff with it with this guitar.
Hi Brian -- thanks for your message. I always have a laugh when someone mentions the "McDLT," because I actually coined that phrase on the Gibson message boards re this guitar and was the first one to try it. However -- another user gets credit for the idea of actually doing it. Then, before a Rush show, I had the privilege of chatting with Alex Lifeson's then-guitar tech Scott Appleton, and he acknowledged that the same mod had been performed on Alex's guitars (maybe before any of us even had ours). To me, that mod is a no-brainer -- it eliminated any effect of the circuit board and battery on the mag pickups, which made a noticeable improvement in the mag sound. By the way, I like the setup you describe -- I imagine it sounds awesome! Someday I am going to simplify my rig and may end up with something similar.
@@BigDancin Hey. Thanks for the reply. I have tried chasing this down on forums ever since I got the guitar...no-one seems to know, and Gibson didn't help either when I mailed them. Do you have a circuit diagram for the mod? There was an image on one of the forums, but as luck would have it, the image is gone.
@@joh22293 Slowest response ever, here, Brian! I just realized you had asked me this and I never answered. I did not do the mod myself -- the legendary Jim Foote did it for me (Redondo Beach, CA). I told him what I wanted and he figured it out. He did a great job. To me, it was an essential mod. I have no regrets. Most experienced techs will be able to figure out what wires are going where and make the right changes to do the McDLT.
dude i'm still old school trying to play old rush with a tele and a twin reverb with pedals! more power to you with the tech. sounds great but you are killing me moneywise. however thanks for the insight i buy new gear when i can.
You can get some great sounds out of that Tele and setup Casey! Enjoy what you've got -- But if there's anyone to blame for draining the wallets around here, it's Lifeson himself! Ha!
Great tones!! does the piezo always route through the Furman Aura? Apart from turning that clean sound on and off or blending it, do you change that piezo sound much or does it stay the same? Do you use the same setting on the Forman?
Thanks -- I usually don't change the piezo sounds other than as you say -- level and blending. But, on a few presets, as I mention, I switch away from the piezo's fixed reverb and delay, and instead use the reverb and delay on the G-system so that I can vary things like the delay repeats or reverb tail.
@@vicseven6456 The Furman is just a power conditioner. It's basically just a power hub for the rack portion of my rig but has isolated power stages to reduce noise.
@@vicseven6456 Ah! The Fishman has a number of IR profiles that shape the sound of the Piezo. AL used the same unit for his piezos and gave me the idea. The Fishman Aura is more traditionally intended to be used with piezo mics on acoustic guitars, and the idea is that you can make one acoustic guitar sound a bit more like a different type of acoustic guitar, or just generally enhance the sound. But it works well for this type of use as well, and just adds more natural "body" to the piezo sound, to round it out.
@@BigDancin Thanks, man. I like the 'tone fingers' analysis. With Covid almost in the rear mirror, I hope your band is making full use of the Summer. Keep good...
@@duaneraymond4252 Thanks Duane! I am now in a new Rush trib called Mood Lifters. We're playing shows in SoCal, and Digital Man is on the next setlist!
@@BigDancin Digital Man is my favourite Rush song. Like all Rush songs, it's tied to a special place, time and emotion. You have fun and keep flyin' the Rush Flag!
Can you answer a question for me? Can I take my Lifeson LP...go into a Fishman Aura Spectrum...and then out to an acoustic amp like a AER... I want to be able to go “mag” to my standard amp and “life-o-sound” to an acoustic amp....and play out loud, not a computer or desk. Or do I need something like a Tech 21 Power Engine? HELP!!!!
What a beautiful setup, beautiful gear, and a beautiful tone. The only person I've ever seen perfectly match Lifeson's incredible diverse library of tones. Hope to see you all play live one day!
Thanks JFFox!
I'm so happy you demo'd "Prime Mover"--that's my college graduation theme song XD
I love Alex's 80s tones. I also have a Roland rackmount that he used in the late 80s.
Glad I touched on a favorite of yours! Prime Mover is a great song and one of my favs too. What model of Roland? Amp or effects? I used to have a Gallien-Kruger 2100SEL which was the amp Alex used on Hold Your Fire. Solid state, not tubes, but it was stereo and it rocked. But it broke for the last time many years ago.
Thank you Man for taking the time to explain how you manage your Rush sound !!! Really appreciated :-)
You've done some fab Rush guitar covers over the years, good luck when the band can eventually do live shows :-)
Thank you so much!
Thanks for sharing this Ben King! Awesome work! Wishing you well in 2021 with the band!
WOW, SUCH LIQUID TONE! Thank You for this!
Thanks and thanks for watching!
All this info lends itself to come up with an ebook, pdf, book. Great job! 👍
Amazing explanation of your setup man! A rig as complex as Lerxst's is not an easy thing to accomplish. But you nailed a bunch of the eras in Rush's catalog!! Those clean chorus sounds were extremely authentic to my ear. And that distortion is very much a part of his 80s into 90s modern crunch tones. Big like and keep it up! 🎸
Thanks Jose, and stay tuned -- for sure I will have some more Rush covers up here in the future.
GENIUS! Very glad that you have been inspired to create your rig. 👍
Oh man the incredible tones you get in this video literally gave me goose bumps! Amazing stuff! Thanks very much for sharing 👍
Thanks Anthony, glad you enjoyed this!
I know this is a few years old, but wow. Loved the Prime Mover demo.
I never realized how much roar there was on his guitar for the HYF album.
While I love HYF (was what introduced me to Rush in 87’)
That album would have done much better had they stripped down the overdone sequencer parts. Alex’s guitar parts are soooo good , but sooooooo buried.
Thanks!
Thanks! Yeah, there is a lot of Alex brilliance masked under some of those synth parts. I liked the synth era albums even back then, because the guitar parts were there when you cranked the album up and soooo good (as you say!). Hearing the songs live, the guitar tends to be more prominent, so I loved going to the Rush shows in the 80s and hearing things I didn't necessarily key in on listing to the albums!
That was very cool - you got the sounds perfect!
Thanks! Glad you liked this.
I remember buying a farewell to kings never listened to kiss after that 😂
You took a much different approach than I did. What you have is mighty impressive. Wow!
Thanks Steven - what was your approach?
@@BigDancin AxeFX, no amps and lots of guitars. 🤓. That being said, we don’t go past 1984 (except for Animate)
@@wooliegeek I have flirted with that AxeFX route, they are great boxes! I am sure that, within 5 years, I won't have tube amps in the picture, but I haven't been able to get away from them just yet.
@@wooliegeek I just checked out one of your show vids on YT - you're getting great tones out of that AxeFX!
@@BigDancin not sure what those videos are. Hopefully soon I will have some actual shows to present. We are still learning the set.
This is the best rig rundown. I wish others were as thorough. I am a big dancin and Rush fan and have many of the same rig parts and guitars as you. It's just a lot of fun. I'd love to see a second video getting into how you approach chorus, delays, EQ and distortion settings. More more please. Thanks!
Thanks Rick -- much appreciated. I think that is a great idea, to pick a few songs and go through the settings in depth. Though the switching can be complex, I keep my effects like chorus, delay and reverb very simple -- the hope is to enhance the sound without clouding it. At gigs, the high volume can make your reverbs and delays more pronounced and sound washy -- especially if the delays are not tempo-synced. Less is more, and you can really hear that in Alex's late career sounds -- lots of meat and judicious use of effects. I'll try to do an effects run-through sometime soon.
@@BigDancin I saw a video of Rush's sound guy walking the arena's nose bleed section with a wireless mic and an ipad. He was playing a Rush recording over the PA then measuring the frequency response with the wireless mic from the listener's position. Then he had both the mic's EQ response overlaying the recording's actual target EQ pattern. He could easily see the deficient house frequencies. He'd adjust the EQ on the ipad for each of the PA speaker cluster and head back to his base. I think he said he'd download the settings from ipad to the board for that show. How cool is that? It's like tone matching the house to the recording. He said that's how he ensures the best audience experience. He''d also adjust the reverbs that way in case the venue had too much or little reflection or booming. We all need this capability!
@@rpbale Yeah, it is really impressive. They would play show captures from the previous night, even in the same venue, to fine tune the sound. What a cool job it would be to do that kind of live sound work. Of course, it is tough now though with Covid, like many other jobs.
Sounds GREAT!
Excellent !!
That sounds great. Thank u for sharing
Great video! Many thanks!
"Xanadoodz" - HA! Great name
This is very very good.
Can you go into detail about what effects you're using and the settings? What amp are you using?
Sure -- The G-System provides chorus, reverb and delay mainly. And some compression on clean sounds. And flanger in limited songs (used in The Spirit of Radio and some songs from Signals as examples). For chorus, I like a good spacious sound, with depth usually around 6 and speed around 4. Reverb is sometimes a hall and sometimes a spring depending on the song. Delays are synced to song tempo, normally at quarter notes unless the song requires something different. Delays and reverb are normally mixed in at 20 to 30 percent, but also varies by song. Other effects on the shelves include a DLS Boost pedal specifically made for Alex Lifeson for the R40 tour -- hard to find but a friend bought it for me. I use that on heavy sounds, and on clean sounds I use a Lehle Sunday Driver for clean boost and signal integrity (the G-System I have has an unbuffered input stage and there is tone loss without the Lehle). My amp is the H&K Grandmeister 40 Deluxe. It also has built in effects, but I use those sparingly. Mainly, I'll use the phaser on that for 2112 and some older songs. G-System effects sound better to me, so I stick with those where there's overlap. And EVH Wah, which has great growly mids. Hope that helps!
Nice description and nice sounds. I too have the AL LP, have you done the (so-called) McDLT to it?
Just as a note, I use the Helix, a stereo power-amp and an FRFR cab, which is great because the Helix has two inputs, two signal chains and you can do some wonderful stuff with it with this guitar.
Hi Brian -- thanks for your message. I always have a laugh when someone mentions the "McDLT," because I actually coined that phrase on the Gibson message boards re this guitar and was the first one to try it. However -- another user gets credit for the idea of actually doing it. Then, before a Rush show, I had the privilege of chatting with Alex Lifeson's then-guitar tech Scott Appleton, and he acknowledged that the same mod had been performed on Alex's guitars (maybe before any of us even had ours). To me, that mod is a no-brainer -- it eliminated any effect of the circuit board and battery on the mag pickups, which made a noticeable improvement in the mag sound. By the way, I like the setup you describe -- I imagine it sounds awesome! Someday I am going to simplify my rig and may end up with something similar.
@@BigDancin Hey. Thanks for the reply. I have tried chasing this down on forums ever since I got the guitar...no-one seems to know, and Gibson didn't help either when I mailed them. Do you have a circuit diagram for the mod? There was an image on one of the forums, but as luck would have it, the image is gone.
@@joh22293 Slowest response ever, here, Brian! I just realized you had asked me this and I never answered. I did not do the mod myself -- the legendary Jim Foote did it for me (Redondo Beach, CA). I told him what I wanted and he figured it out. He did a great job. To me, it was an essential mod. I have no regrets. Most experienced techs will be able to figure out what wires are going where and make the right changes to do the McDLT.
dude i'm still old school trying to play old rush with a tele and a twin reverb with pedals! more power to you with the tech. sounds great but you are killing me moneywise. however thanks for the insight i buy new gear when i can.
You can get some great sounds out of that Tele and setup Casey! Enjoy what you've got -- But if there's anyone to blame for draining the wallets around here, it's Lifeson himself! Ha!
@@BigDancin I've already ordered new gear, next week maybe a Lifeson les paul or PRS
Great tones!! does the piezo always route through the Furman Aura? Apart from turning that clean sound on and off or blending it, do you change that piezo sound much or does it stay the same?
Do you use the same setting on the Forman?
Thanks -- I usually don't change the piezo sounds other than as you say -- level and blending. But, on a few presets, as I mention, I switch away from the piezo's fixed reverb and delay, and instead use the reverb and delay on the G-system so that I can vary things like the delay repeats or reverb tail.
@@BigDancin Thanks for the reply.
What is the Furman adding that you like?
@@vicseven6456 The Furman is just a power conditioner. It's basically just a power hub for the rack portion of my rig but has isolated power stages to reduce noise.
@@BigDancin Im so sorry, I meant Fishman!! could you read my last question again but insert FISHMAN.
@@vicseven6456 Ah! The Fishman has a number of IR profiles that shape the sound of the Piezo. AL used the same unit for his piezos and gave me the idea. The Fishman Aura is more traditionally intended to be used with piezo mics on acoustic guitars, and the idea is that you can make one acoustic guitar sound a bit more like a different type of acoustic guitar, or just generally enhance the sound. But it works well for this type of use as well, and just adds more natural "body" to the piezo sound, to round it out.
I wanna lick that guitar like a lolly pop!
Can you tell me the effects used by Alex in Digital Man. Any patches for GT1?
I don't have a GT1, but the sound in that song uses delay, reverb, chorus, an intermittent flanger, and amazing amount of "tone fingers" from Alex.
@@BigDancin Thanks, man. I like the 'tone fingers' analysis. With Covid almost in the rear mirror, I hope your band is making full use of the Summer. Keep good...
@@duaneraymond4252 Thanks Duane! I am now in a new Rush trib called Mood Lifters. We're playing shows in SoCal, and Digital Man is on the next setlist!
@@BigDancin Digital Man is my favourite Rush song. Like all Rush songs, it's tied to a special place, time and emotion. You have fun and keep flyin' the Rush Flag!
@@duaneraymond4252 That's awesome, thanks! I love it too. Stay well Duane!
Can you answer a question for me?
Can I take my Lifeson LP...go into a Fishman Aura Spectrum...and then out to an acoustic amp like a AER...
I want to be able to go “mag” to my standard amp and “life-o-sound” to an acoustic amp....and play out loud, not a computer or desk.
Or do I need something like a Tech 21 Power Engine?
HELP!!!!
I don't have an acoustic amp, but what you are describing should work just fine -- and sound fantastic!
@@BigDancin Cool...well, I’ll take the leap and get an Aura. I’ll let you know how it goes! Thanks for the advice
Where are you guys located?
Southern California -- play around LA, OC and San Diego.
is a LCR effect ok
Jeff, I am not sure what an "LCR effect" is?