Even him having said he used the 4001 on Limelight, I'm actually surprised how much you made a Jazz Bass sound almost exactly like a 4001. That's incredible. I have to go play mine now.
I'd like to edit myself here 5 years on. Limelight is 100% a jazz, and a little bit of bridge pickup can help smooth the mids a bit. Geddy, his tech, and fender have stated in the years since that his original bass's bridge pickup had a broken winding and had shorted partially, so it was way overpowered by the neck pickup but it is partially present. I get a similar sound by using my geddy sig into an svt with the gain up to overdrive, and neck with a sprinkle of bridge.
@@iloverush123 Its funny. I've gone through the same beliefs as you. I totally agree it's the Jazz now, but what really sold it for me was lack of string buzz compared to other isolated clips from MP. If you listen to songs like Tom Sawyer and Vital signs (which no one is arguing against), there is not as much fret buzz as the obvious Rick tracks.
It's also ironic how I got the closest tone to limelight with the same rig as well. Here's a quick sample of my SVT. th-cam.com/video/OQp6q_RVUP0/w-d-xo.html
I’ve spoken with Terry Brown who produced many of their albums and he said the he used a RCA BA6 compressor. At that time he also said Ged was using the Ashly SC-40 pre amps.
You mentioned this at the end but I feel it deserves more attention: a big part of Geddy’s sound is how his bass is setup and how he plays it. The action is set very low which creates a lot of fret buzz and he plays very aggressively which adds even more fret buzz. That buzz when combined with the overdrive creates a unique sound that is all Geddy.
Rickenbacker 4001, great base I bought mine 40 years ago , after I got to meet the band backstage at Mapleleaf Gardens right after right after Geddy recorded with Dave & Rick , Bob and Doug McKenzie both dave David & Rick we're backstage , I was with Geddy's hairdresser from the rainbow room , so we were in the dressing room area, one big room with a big couch lol as I sat with my rock 'n' roll heroes , after that, I found a Rickenbacker 4001 red, bass advertised in the newspaper, in Toronto , I think I paid 800 bucks , or maybe even less than that , I still have the base , love it and I'll never forget that night at Mapleleaf Gardens .. I guess my bass guitar is worth a lot of money, according to Google searches , but to me, it's priceless. It represents that memory thanks for your post mattlth ;)
If you wanna nail that "Geddy" tone, you REALLY need passive pickups for a better low and mid response. in my experience with my "Bass Of Doom MKII", a 1996 Fender Japan Jazz bass, the EMG pickups (And I had EXACTLY the same pickups your basses have), the EMG pickups have WAY too much treble despite their better hum cancelling due to the preamp. So while you CAN get that tone out of them, it takes a LOT of post-processing to get as close as you can with just a straight SansAmp DI, passive pickups, a mid-boost and a sh^t-tonne of compression as you've just shown.
This is very cool. I'm a Squier Mod guy and the first thing I do is get rid of the plastic nut. Makes a difference. Also CTS pots into the Squier make it fuller sounding. Great video man.
Kudos to the individual who originally created this video and analysis of Geddy Lee's phenomenal bass tone on Limelight. My teenage self would have been dying to get this kind of information back in the day. I hope that younger developing bassists will come to this video and learn much about the kinds of steps it takes to achieve an interesting and great bass tone. However, it is for these developing and younger musicians that I offer a word of caution in regards to all of this information. That word is context. Consider that these were three professional musicians who played together for a long time and learned to adapt their playing style and sound to make the most impact as a whole. I guarantee that for as much time, effort and thought that was spent by the entire production team to get this great bass tone, even more time, effort and thought was spent on making that tone sound just right in relation to the band and all the instrumentation. Not to mention the vocals. There was a strategic method to how they applied the equalization, what frequencies were either enhanced or diminished. In other words, without what Neil Peart and Alex Lifeson (as well as the keyboards and vocals) are playing, this bass tone wouldn't be so significant. Gestalt is the idea I am getting at here. Audio is an amazing thing and for as awesome as Geddy Lee's isolated bass sound is, it sounds even greater when heard in context with everything else. All this is to say, learn and take away as much as you can from this kind of analysis and then learn to manipulate the sound you want of your instrument in relation to the songs and musicians *you* are playing with. Happy journey!
Geddy said he believes it’s the Rick on limelight but I don’t know if his memory has served him terribly well. For instance he’s said that the Jazz didn’t start making an appearance until moving pictures but then there was this interview from 79 or 80 where he says that half of permanent waves is the Jazz. What also gives it away is the lack of fret buzz and overdrive compared to the Ric on Barchetta and the Camera eye. I’d say his main moving pictures tone that it’s predominantly the neck pickup through a tube compressor into a single Ashly SC-40 and perhaps some extra tube warmth added in mastering. I think the Jazz bass tone on Signals is after he got the bridge pickup fixed or something as it sounds a little more scooped and Jazz bass-like.
I have a Hamer explorer bass and you can get that clanky Rick sound , eq the tone but technique is the ticket. Badass bridge is bonus for the sound as well. Did I mention a nice tube bass amp as well??? I like Hiwatt. Cool video
What you actually need are two Ashly SC-40 pre amps, or a distortion that sounds like what they produce when modded, which what I've been trying to find. The Geddy sansamp doesn't quite have it. GK amps seem to have a similar overdrive to them when pushed, and there is another guy on youtube that uses two to get his sound.
@@kevinsheppard2312 definitely appreciate it. The sounds from your Ric and Jazz are excellent. Interestingly enough, with an Aria pro 2 SB-R60(single coil mode, tone at about 70-75% open), dUg Pinnick DP-X3 (bi-amp distortion preamp pedal), Morley power wah boost (boost intensity knob at around 8 o'clock) and mxr limiter , you can get quite close to Geddy's Limelight tone.
In Geddy's Big Beautiful Book of Bass, he mentions that his Fender 72' Jazz bass was used on Tom Sawyer and Vital Signs. He doesn't mention any other tracks for Moving Pictures that the Jazz was used on and in an interview he says, "Limelight is the Rick I think." This isn't to discount the work on this video as I think this is a fantastic recourse and I gotta say that using just the neck pickup on my Squire Jazz ass got me closer to Geddy's tone on this tune! Another resource is that the guy who actually rewound the pickups that are currently in his 72' Jazz bass is producing some pickups that are supposed to sound near identical! Along with this, Tech 21 is producing a line of preamps and pedals that Geddy uses and they even come with presets that show you how to get his modern tone. If you are interested in emulating some of these sounds, I think these are worth checking out! Link to interview: th-cam.com/video/Wma2NtQ1CIE/w-d-xo.html Link to pickups: www.solomusicgear.com/product/geddy-lee-4-string-jazz-bass-pickup-set/ Link to Tech 21 Geddy gear: www.tech21nyc.com/products/sansamp/
I can get it on an ibanez even if soundgear as long as i have a bit of overdrive and front pickup on with roundwound strings. Rotosound works the best. Hit the strings hard.
geddy lee probably had a clean and a driven track, since he was used to recording the pickups from his rickenbacker separately. maybe the large mid boost is where the two tracks overlap
Incrível esse vídeo! Já havia uma desconfiança que ele usava um timbre com uma captação mais do braço que da ponte. Agora uma pitada de overdrive e compressão (talvez um flanger ... que tal) para se aproximar é possivel com uma pedaleira tipo GT-1B da Boss. Obrigado pelo excelente vídeo!
I was pretty sure geddy split his pickups and put them through different amps - at least on the ric. Also there was a wiring problem on his jazz bass so if he was using that, the bridge pickup probably wasn't off but the bass sounds different because of that. There is definitely some midrange growl from the bridge mixed in. Also I hear a clean tone mixed with a distorted tone (kind of like parallel distortion). Geddy was known for doing that. Again this is due to the fact that he always split his signal into 2 or 3 amps. You can slam the distorted signal with a compressor and lightly compress the clean signal to get that sound and still keep the body of the bass.
I like it. I put a Hipshot Brass bridge on my Squire along with S/D Quarter Pounders in it. Then into a SansAmp Prog DI into my head set flat. Pretty damn close LOL
On my hot rod Ibanez..ive put Seymour Duncan pickups..kick ass bridge G-teach machine head's E-ball flat wounds.. Gett would be proud. I've been playing 50 year's. Best sounding bass ever.
I like your suggestions for getting the Geddy sound. Excellent results. Cubase sure has come along over the last 10 years. I tried it once but found Logic to be much more intuitive for my brain. Your video makes me want to give Cubase another try. Your demonstration brought home a little lesson. When I started trying to emulate my pedal chain with a fancy, new, digital multi-effects unit, while many of the classic pedals are spot-on, one lesson I eventually figured out that for some, the original may or may not be available, but a similar type of pedal may be... no matter; sometimes I actually got much closer with a completely different pedal model. Perhaps what I'm saying is that 'for every task there is indeed a tool,' but sometimes there may be a better tool!
Great exercise! You might try slapping a tube overdrive with minimal distortion/drive in front of everything to push the compressor a bit more. Sounds great though. Thanks for sharing!
Listen to the isolated tracks. Limelight, yyz, Tom Sawyer, and (to my ears) witch hunt are all the Jazz Bass. I think they are hard to tell apart on the low end, but the J-bass gives it away when it’s played up high. It’s so much more mellow. The Ric has that gnarly sound across the range.
I'm a bass player. Here is my opinion about JAZZ BASS TONE: Three great classic rock albums that feature amazing Fender Jazz bass tone are the first two records by Blue Cheer.."Vincebus Eruptum" and "Outsideinside" and the one great album by Blind Faith. The tone is heavier and fatter because the basses have flatwound strings. So much more round and dense sounding. That is the tone I most appreciate.
Nice presentation! The thought of the front PU never occurred to me? I had to fake it on a Music Man for a few years , but it worked as long as I played the right notes. ha!
Geddy has said he always runs both pickups wide open with the tone open too. So, I’m not convinced it’s just one pickup. EMGs are not the way to go for Ged’s tone. They couldn’t be farther from what Geddy uses. You want Tom Brantley Geddy Lee Jazz Bass Pickups, the same ones that are in all of Ged’s Jazz Basses. Next get one of SansAmps Geddy Lee models, I use the GED-2112 (same as Geddy uses), but the stomp boxes will work too. Then really dig in over the neck pickup (this is why the tone is so neck pickup heavy.) personally I back off the bridge pickup just a hair, it still keeps the hum down, but with less scoop and you also get a small bump in output.
+Deacon John Why wouldn't they? Geddy used EMGs as well. For the purpose of this video the EMGs were certainly better than the Squier, and apparently even better than the GL signature Jazz. It sounds like you might have missed the point of the video.
very interesting to see how what you did to make that tone. what I would do to improve it, is that I will record it will some fresh pair of rotosound 66 bass strings and put in the original pick ups just to get a little closer with the growl. just my intake
This is cool! Thanks for putting this together. In my mind Geddy's Moving Pictures tone is the Holy Grail of recorded bass tones. Your right, according to Geddy's bass tech, Geddy's back pickup on his '72 doesn't really work... so favoring the front pickup is the way to go. But it sounds like to me there's some Chorus or Flange on the original track as well. Do you hear this? Maybe this is what brings out more of the growly overdrive.
Sounds good! The only difference to my ears is the EQ curve. You seem to boost a narrow band of frequencies around 700 hz, whereas the original tone sounds boosted closer to 1000 hz or so, and with a less pronounced boost. I'm sure with a bit of tweaking you would get it dead on.
I get my geddy sound from my jazz by turning the neck to 80% or close to it then the Bridge pickup is at 90% tone to taste. Fresh Strings are important. I also use a tech 21 sans amp bass DI with a Aphex Optical compressor.
Good job, I always thought it was his Rickenbacker, but you got this pretty close any tribute band would be wise to take this advice, because it gets you that much closer, thank you!
Matthew I have watched many of your Cubase courses on MacPro Video 👏, I’m wondering if this vid is part of a course or just a stand alone video?I have tried this very thing using Spectrasonics Trilian and more recently Toontracks EZ Bass, with a varied degree of success. I’m enjoying CB 12 so far. Your work has helped me a great deal. Thx 🙏
Thanks for that, Donald. This video is indeed a stand-alone. It wasn't really Cubase-centric, and I'd had a bunch of people ask about how to cop Geddy's tone. I've since learned that he likely used his Rickenbacher on the track, but I've left it up to give people ideas.
Nice attempt! I'm going to try similar settings on my american jazzmaster. His and Chris Squire's sound are so difficult to achieve. I hear Geddy actually got his inspiration for that tone from Chris. If we could just wrap it into a one button effects pedal.
It's way too loud, try cutting more with the EQ before boosting that much. Also agree with the dude below that the boost is closer to 1k than 700, there's this smooth curl to the distortion on Ged's tone that your approximation is lacking. Not trying to bust your balls, there are a lot of Gedologists trying to cop that sound.
I used to own a Rickenbacker but it was a mono 4003s, now I own a Jazz but not a Geddy Jazz & the body wood's not the same. This is a fascinating video, but the way I would want to approach the problem, if I was in a band that seriously wanted to attempt that song, I would want a Ric, and use the Rick o Sound, that's what he did live in Exit Stage Left. Will we ever know how exactly it was done in the studio, I mean he could have had it plugged into the TARDIS PA ffs.
Y'all might think I'm on crack... I played my MIJ GL Jazz along with the iso track... DAMN!!! Dead on. I will say it has Seymour Duncan 1/4 Pounders in it like I said a year ago in my Squire.
Thnx... But ur over thinking this. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in the 80's Geddy admitted to using the 72 Fender bass. He also stated that the processing on the bass track was overkill "we threw everything including the kitchen sink" in on the bass tracks for the album. Geddy mainly used the Rick for live shows and that's why people think he used the Rick in studio.
man, thank you! it was bugging me trying to figure this out. a prog band i like from sweden has a similar tone on bass and i've been wanting to figure this out!
sounds pretty close even tho your using emg's..its the tone were listening for, tho it sounds a little hotter in relation to geddy's track...but close enuf...good comparison imo
The original sounds so much better, I think you need to split the signal and find a mix between the approximate tone you came up with and the DI track.
In my opinion, Geddy's BEST base tone came from the Steinberger L2 and the Wal. Active, poppy, and ballzy. I have both his Wal and Berger, but the Xl2, not the L2, which was the prototype. I prefer the Big Money and Turn The Page tone over that of anything on Moving Pictures, since it's much cleaner and poppier.
It's the Jazz Bass, its always been the Jazz Bass. If you own both a Rickenbacker and Jazz Bass then YOU KNOW THE DIFFERENCE! The Rick was on Red Barchetta and the Camera Eye, that's it. Rest is Jazz Bass.
Even him having said he used the 4001 on Limelight, I'm actually surprised how much you made a Jazz Bass sound almost exactly like a 4001. That's incredible. I have to go play mine now.
I'd like to edit myself here 5 years on. Limelight is 100% a jazz, and a little bit of bridge pickup can help smooth the mids a bit. Geddy, his tech, and fender have stated in the years since that his original bass's bridge pickup had a broken winding and had shorted partially, so it was way overpowered by the neck pickup but it is partially present. I get a similar sound by using my geddy sig into an svt with the gain up to overdrive, and neck with a sprinkle of bridge.
@@iloverush123 Its funny. I've gone through the same beliefs as you. I totally agree it's the Jazz now, but what really sold it for me was lack of string buzz compared to other isolated clips from MP. If you listen to songs like Tom Sawyer and Vital signs (which no one is arguing against), there is not as much fret buzz as the obvious Rick tracks.
It's also ironic how I got the closest tone to limelight with the same rig as well. Here's a quick sample of my SVT. th-cam.com/video/OQp6q_RVUP0/w-d-xo.html
I’ve spoken with Terry Brown who produced many of their albums and he said the he used a RCA BA6 compressor. At that time he also said Ged was using the Ashly SC-40 pre amps.
The Ashley's are the key.
You mentioned this at the end but I feel it deserves more attention: a big part of Geddy’s sound is how his bass is setup and how he plays it. The action is set very low which creates a lot of fret buzz and he plays very aggressively which adds even more fret buzz. That buzz when combined with the overdrive creates a unique sound that is all Geddy.
Rickenbacker 4001, great base I bought mine 40 years ago , after I got to meet the band backstage at Mapleleaf Gardens right after right after Geddy recorded with Dave & Rick , Bob and Doug McKenzie both dave David & Rick we're backstage , I was with Geddy's hairdresser from the rainbow room , so we were in the dressing room area, one big room with a big couch lol as I sat with my rock 'n' roll heroes , after that, I found a Rickenbacker 4001 red, bass advertised in the newspaper, in Toronto , I think I paid 800 bucks , or maybe even less than that , I still have the base , love it and I'll never forget that night at Mapleleaf Gardens .. I guess my bass guitar is worth a lot of money, according to Google searches , but to me, it's priceless. It represents that memory thanks for your post mattlth ;)
If you wanna nail that "Geddy" tone, you REALLY need passive pickups for a better low and mid response. in my experience with my "Bass Of Doom MKII", a 1996 Fender Japan Jazz bass, the EMG pickups (And I had EXACTLY the same pickups your basses have), the EMG pickups have WAY too much treble despite their better hum cancelling due to the preamp. So while you CAN get that tone out of them, it takes a LOT of post-processing to get as close as you can with just a straight SansAmp DI, passive pickups, a mid-boost and a sh^t-tonne of compression as you've just shown.
Exactly. When I saw he was using the EMGs I was like, seriously? Those pickups HAVE to be a passive if you want that tone!
This is very cool. I'm a Squier Mod guy and the first thing I do is get rid of the plastic nut. Makes a difference. Also CTS pots into the Squier make it fuller sounding. Great video man.
I heard for the most it was a unit called a Sansamp. What this means is you can plug a Jazz or Ric and get pretty much the same tone.
Kudos to the individual who originally created this video and analysis of Geddy Lee's phenomenal bass tone on Limelight. My teenage self would have been dying to get this kind of information back in the day. I hope that younger developing bassists will come to this video and learn much about the kinds of steps it takes to achieve an interesting and great bass tone.
However, it is for these developing and younger musicians that I offer a word of caution in regards to all of this information. That word is context. Consider that these were three professional musicians who played together for a long time and learned to adapt their playing style and sound to make the most impact as a whole. I guarantee that for as much time, effort and thought that was spent by the entire production team to get this great bass tone, even more time, effort and thought was spent on making that tone sound just right in relation to the band and all the instrumentation. Not to mention the vocals. There was a strategic method to how they applied the equalization, what frequencies were either enhanced or diminished.
In other words, without what Neil Peart and Alex Lifeson (as well as the keyboards and vocals) are playing, this bass tone wouldn't be so significant. Gestalt is the idea I am getting at here.
Audio is an amazing thing and for as awesome as Geddy Lee's isolated bass sound is, it sounds even greater when heard in context with everything else.
All this is to say, learn and take away as much as you can from this kind of analysis and then learn to manipulate the sound you want of your instrument in relation to the songs and musicians *you* are playing with.
Happy journey!
Geddy said he believes it’s the Rick on limelight but I don’t know if his memory has served him terribly well. For instance he’s said that the Jazz didn’t start making an appearance until moving pictures but then there was this interview from 79 or 80 where he says that half of permanent waves is the Jazz. What also gives it away is the lack of fret buzz and overdrive compared to the Ric on Barchetta and the Camera eye. I’d say his main moving pictures tone that it’s predominantly the neck pickup through a tube compressor into a single Ashly SC-40 and perhaps some extra tube warmth added in mastering. I think the Jazz bass tone on Signals is after he got the bridge pickup fixed or something as it sounds a little more scooped and Jazz bass-like.
I have a Hamer explorer bass and you can get that clanky Rick sound , eq the tone but technique is the ticket.
Badass bridge is bonus for the sound as well. Did I mention a nice tube bass amp as well??? I like Hiwatt.
Cool video
Have you tried adding dubley?...
What you actually need are two Ashly SC-40 pre amps, or a distortion that sounds like what they produce when modded, which what I've been trying to find. The Geddy sansamp doesn't quite have it. GK amps seem to have a similar overdrive to them when pushed, and there is another guy on youtube that uses two to get his sound.
I’ve been experimenting with Two of my SC-40s combined with my Jazz and Rick. You may appreciate it.
@@kevinsheppard2312 definitely appreciate it. The sounds from your Ric and Jazz are excellent. Interestingly enough, with an Aria pro 2 SB-R60(single coil mode, tone at about 70-75% open), dUg Pinnick DP-X3 (bi-amp distortion preamp pedal), Morley power wah boost (boost intensity knob at around 8 o'clock) and mxr limiter , you can get quite close to Geddy's Limelight tone.
In Geddy's Big Beautiful Book of Bass, he mentions that his Fender 72' Jazz bass was used on Tom Sawyer and Vital Signs. He doesn't mention any other tracks for Moving Pictures that the Jazz was used on and in an interview he says, "Limelight is the Rick I think." This isn't to discount the work on this video as I think this is a fantastic recourse and I gotta say that using just the neck pickup on my Squire Jazz ass got me closer to Geddy's tone on this tune!
Another resource is that the guy who actually rewound the pickups that are currently in his 72' Jazz bass is producing some pickups that are supposed to sound near identical! Along with this, Tech 21 is producing a line of preamps and pedals that Geddy uses and they even come with presets that show you how to get his modern tone. If you are interested in emulating some of these sounds, I think these are worth checking out!
Link to interview: th-cam.com/video/Wma2NtQ1CIE/w-d-xo.html
Link to pickups: www.solomusicgear.com/product/geddy-lee-4-string-jazz-bass-pickup-set/
Link to Tech 21 Geddy gear: www.tech21nyc.com/products/sansamp/
Le Studio had a Trident A-Range console at the time Moving Pictures was recorded. If you want to get really nitpicky, UA makes a vst version.
I can get it on an ibanez even if soundgear as long as i have a bit of overdrive and front pickup on with roundwound strings. Rotosound works the best. Hit the strings hard.
I think he used the Rick with a lot of compression on this track.
geddy lee probably had a clean and a driven track, since he was used to recording the pickups from his rickenbacker separately. maybe the large mid boost is where the two tracks overlap
Actually he probably always had 3 tracks. clean, driven, and DI.
I beg to differ on the original pickups on the GL. I think they are perfect.
Exactly what I thought, definitely far from boring lol.
+Brian Walker I'm curious how you could know what his stock GL pickups sounded like since he didn't use them.
Zeupater What do you mean 'his' stock GL pickups? We don't need 'his' stock pickups to be able to know what stock GL pickups sound like.
Agreed. That really disappointed me as far as this comparison goes. They put those pickups in the GL Sig for a reason
Incrível esse vídeo! Já havia uma desconfiança que ele usava um timbre com uma captação mais do braço que da ponte. Agora uma pitada de overdrive e compressão (talvez um flanger ... que tal) para se aproximar é possivel com uma pedaleira tipo GT-1B da Boss. Obrigado pelo excelente vídeo!
I was pretty sure geddy split his pickups and put them through different amps - at least on the ric. Also there was a wiring problem on his jazz bass so if he was using that, the bridge pickup probably wasn't off but the bass sounds different because of that. There is definitely some midrange growl from the bridge mixed in. Also I hear a clean tone mixed with a distorted tone (kind of like parallel distortion). Geddy was known for doing that. Again this is due to the fact that he always split his signal into 2 or 3 amps. You can slam the distorted signal with a compressor and lightly compress the clean signal to get that sound and still keep the body of the bass.
+Steffan Zarakas I've never heard of him splitting his jazz, but I know he always ran his ric in stereo
if you killed a little top end and compressed more, you had it nailed.
I like it. I put a Hipshot Brass bridge on my Squire along with S/D Quarter Pounders in it. Then into a SansAmp Prog DI into my head set flat. Pretty damn close LOL
On my hot rod Ibanez..ive put Seymour Duncan pickups..kick ass bridge
G-teach machine head's
E-ball flat wounds..
Gett would be proud.
I've been playing 50 year's.
Best sounding bass ever.
Awesome! Never tried to achive his tone using this perspective. Always used both pickups. I definitely will try this out!
I like your suggestions for getting the Geddy sound. Excellent results. Cubase sure has come along over the last 10 years. I tried it once but found Logic to be much more intuitive for my brain. Your video makes me want to give Cubase another try.
Your demonstration brought home a little lesson. When I started trying to emulate my pedal chain with a fancy, new, digital multi-effects unit, while many of the classic pedals are spot-on, one lesson I eventually figured out that for some, the original may or may not be available, but a similar type of pedal may be... no matter; sometimes I actually got much closer with a completely different pedal model. Perhaps what I'm saying is that 'for every task there is indeed a tool,' but sometimes there may be a better tool!
This was incredibly interesting. I'm not one to mimic's some one else's tone, but this was impressive.
Great exercise! You might try slapping a tube overdrive with minimal distortion/drive in front of everything to push the compressor a bit more. Sounds great though. Thanks for sharing!
THE SOUND IS IN YOUR HANDS!!!!
The original had a little more hiss/sizzle. I think that is what you are talking about at the end with his action being lower.
Rickenbacker was used for the entirety of Moving Pictures, except for Tom Sawyer, which used the ‘72 Jbass
No, limelight and yyz were the jazz as well.
@@Dinozzo1995 NOPE....>>>>!!!!
@@Dinozzo1995 N0PE!!!
@@Dinozzo1995 Nope, he's right - Geddy has openly said he only used the '72 Jazz on Tom Sawyer, the rest was his R4001
Listen to the isolated tracks. Limelight, yyz, Tom Sawyer, and (to my ears) witch hunt are all the Jazz Bass.
I think they are hard to tell apart on the low end, but the J-bass gives it away when it’s played up high. It’s so much more mellow. The Ric has that gnarly sound across the range.
I'm a bass player. Here is my opinion about JAZZ BASS TONE: Three great classic rock albums that feature amazing Fender Jazz bass tone are the first two records by Blue Cheer.."Vincebus Eruptum" and "Outsideinside" and the one great album by Blind Faith. The tone is heavier and fatter because the basses have flatwound strings. So much more round and dense sounding. That is the tone I most appreciate.
Nice presentation! The thought of the front PU never occurred to me? I had to fake it on a Music Man for a few years , but it worked as long as I played the right notes. ha!
Geddy has said he always runs both pickups wide open with the tone open too. So, I’m not convinced it’s just one pickup.
EMGs are not the way to go for Ged’s tone. They couldn’t be farther from what Geddy uses. You want Tom Brantley Geddy Lee Jazz Bass Pickups, the same ones that are in all of Ged’s Jazz Basses. Next get one of SansAmps Geddy Lee models, I use the GED-2112 (same as Geddy uses), but the stomp boxes will work too. Then really dig in over the neck pickup (this is why the tone is so neck pickup heavy.) personally I back off the bridge pickup just a hair, it still keeps the hum down, but with less scoop and you also get a small bump in output.
Why in the world would you think EMG pickups woul come close to the stock Fender '72? Those pickups sound like ass.
+Deacon John Why wouldn't they? Geddy used EMGs as well. For the purpose of this video the EMGs were certainly better than the Squier, and apparently even better than the GL signature Jazz. It sounds like you might have missed the point of the video.
What are you talking about? Geddy never used EMGs
The Steinberger had EMG's...... Oops.
I love Geddy Lee's sound. Great video.
very interesting to see how what you did to make that tone. what I would do to improve it, is that I will record it will some fresh pair of rotosound 66 bass strings and put in the original pick ups just to get a little closer with the growl. just my intake
Geddy definitely had some bridge pickup blended in on his recording. You can hear the difference
This is cool! Thanks for putting this together. In my mind Geddy's Moving Pictures tone is the Holy Grail of recorded bass tones. Your right, according to Geddy's bass tech, Geddy's back pickup on his '72 doesn't really work... so favoring the front pickup is the way to go. But it sounds like to me there's some Chorus or Flange on the original track as well. Do you hear this? Maybe this is what brings out more of the growly overdrive.
Sounds good! The only difference to my ears is the EQ curve. You seem to boost a narrow band of frequencies around 700 hz, whereas the original tone sounds boosted closer to 1000 hz or so, and with a less pronounced boost. I'm sure with a bit of tweaking you would get it dead on.
I get my geddy sound from my jazz by turning the neck to 80% or close to it then the Bridge pickup is at 90% tone to taste. Fresh Strings are important. I also use a tech 21 sans amp bass DI with a Aphex Optical compressor.
Good job, I always thought it was his Rickenbacker, but you got this pretty close any tribute band would be wise to take this advice, because it gets you that much closer, thank you!
Matthew I have watched many of your Cubase courses on MacPro Video 👏, I’m wondering if this vid is part of a course or just a stand alone video?I have tried this very thing using Spectrasonics Trilian and more recently Toontracks EZ Bass, with a varied degree of success. I’m enjoying CB 12 so far. Your work has helped me a great deal. Thx 🙏
Thanks for that, Donald. This video is indeed a stand-alone. It wasn't really Cubase-centric, and I'd had a bunch of people ask about how to cop Geddy's tone. I've since learned that he likely used his Rickenbacher on the track, but I've left it up to give people ideas.
Great tutorial! I really enjoyed this. Thanks for posting.
Nice attempt! I'm going to try similar settings on my american jazzmaster. His and Chris Squire's sound are so difficult to achieve. I hear Geddy actually got his inspiration for that tone from Chris. If we could just wrap it into a one button effects pedal.
The Sansamp 2112 Ged pedal. Close enough, lol.
I believe the original recording used a rickenbacker. I own a rick bass and the tone is unmistakable
I would tweak it further by severely trimming the lowest bass frequencies (say
Sounds good. Close enough for rock and roll.
It's the Rick. He said it himself in an interview. Oh well. Who cares ? Rush is awesome 🤘
I love treble on Bass Guitar
It's way too loud, try cutting more with the EQ before boosting that much. Also agree with the dude below that the boost is closer to 1k than 700, there's this smooth curl to the distortion on Ged's tone that your approximation is lacking.
Not trying to bust your balls, there are a lot of Gedologists trying to cop that sound.
"Rush isn't hiring any new bass players".
HAH. Love it. Thank's for the tone emulation tutorial.
Low action rotosound 66 and a sansamp bass driver with blend knob and presence at full are working for me and my squier jazz bass modified
Thank you for doing this video, much appreciated.
Hmmm, I hear quite a bit of rear pup on a lot of RUSH songs.
that is pretty close!! Great video!!!!
I used to own a Rickenbacker but it was a mono 4003s, now I own a Jazz but not a Geddy Jazz & the body wood's not the same. This is a fascinating video, but the way I would want to approach the problem, if I was in a band that seriously wanted to attempt that song, I would want a Ric, and use the Rick o Sound, that's what he did live in Exit Stage Left. Will we ever know how exactly it was done in the studio, I mean he could have had it plugged into the TARDIS PA ffs.
Dude, this is fan-damn-tastic. Thank you!
Well done!
Y'all might think I'm on crack... I played my MIJ GL Jazz along with the iso track... DAMN!!! Dead on. I will say it has Seymour Duncan 1/4 Pounders in it like I said a year ago in my Squire.
awesome video. thanks for sharing!
I think you did a top notch job of duplicating the classic Geddy Lee sound Sir ! ☺🎸
I got this geddy sound on my Dingwall ng3
Thnx... But ur over thinking this. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in the 80's Geddy admitted to using the 72 Fender bass. He also stated that the processing on the bass track was overkill "we threw everything including the kitchen sink" in on the bass tracks for the album. Geddy mainly used the Rick for live shows and that's why people think he used the Rick in studio.
man, thank you! it was bugging me trying to figure this out. a prog band i like from sweden has a similar tone on bass and i've been wanting to figure this out!
What’s the name of the band??
Big compression needed!
the original bass line sounds more like a rickenbacker to me (with a lot of compression), but maybe I'm wrong,who knows?
I thought he used the Rickenbacker on "Limelight"
Amazing information thanks for this.
Very interesting...and well done. Yes...! I also had a sudden urge to listen to Moving Pictures. Haha
Very interesting, from mix engineering standpoint. My question is: do you suppose Geddy tweaked this sound before or after the take?
Remember every bass sounds very different
He was actually playing his rickenbacker, Geddy said it in several interviews
NO...
No. Jazz Bass all the way
On some songs, yes, but not Limelight.
Mike Enos no I believe it was the Jazz. Even in the video it's the Jazz. He played the jazz way more than what people think
If I remember correctly, he said he "thinks" it was the Rick, but he wasn't really sure. To me, the bass in Limelight sounds too dark to be a Rick.
sans amp bass pre amp and a jazz bazz will get you real close
tone ster yeah, that pedal is a real beauty
tone ster like the one in my Tech 21 landmark \o/
His sans-amp tone is more recent, with both pickups on his jazz up full
What settings for sansamp?
Really interesting, thanks!
A lesson on how to make your Jazz bass sound like a Rickenbacker. :)
mrpositronia that's a jazz on limelight
@@stevedunch581 Incorrect, Geddy has openly discussed he used the Jazz on Tom Sawyer only.
The secret to a good sounding jazz bass is alnico v magnet jazz bass pickups and good strings like DR's.
Fantastic video!!
sounds pretty close even tho your using emg's..its the tone were listening for, tho it sounds a little hotter in relation to geddy's track...but close enuf...good comparison imo
I would have blended some clean sound for the bottom end, that I feel it was lacking
I agree.. the eq adjustment was way too extreme
Great explanation! A big than you ! from a gedd fan....
I thought Geddy said in an interview this was the ric?
It was, only Tom Sawyer had the '72 Jazz on it.
That is a 72, front pickup ( stock ). Passive is the way to go.
Awesome dude! nice tone! How did you find out?
The original sounds so much better, I think you need to split the signal and find a mix between the approximate tone you came up with and the DI track.
What music program did you use?
NICE !
I'm not a bass player, however, it sounds to me, like Geddy has more of a musicman G&L stingray smooth yet distorted tone going on...
Nice Video!
Seems to me that the original is much more compressed.
Great video, thanks for sharing :) I like the sound of Geddy's Wal and Steinberger better, but this is a great point to start experimenting.
Recommendation:
Get a pair of Curtis Novak JB Pups.
IMO, Geddy could pick up a pool cue and play it like Willie Mosconi.
Nailed it
In my opinion, Geddy's BEST base tone came from the Steinberger L2 and the Wal. Active, poppy, and ballzy. I have both his Wal and Berger, but the Xl2, not the L2, which was the prototype. I prefer the Big Money and Turn The Page tone over that of anything on Moving Pictures, since it's much cleaner and poppier.
You are wrong and you can't even spell bass correctly.
It's the Jazz Bass, its always been the Jazz Bass. If you own both a Rickenbacker and Jazz Bass then YOU KNOW THE DIFFERENCE! The Rick was on Red Barchetta and the Camera Eye, that's it. Rest is Jazz Bass.
I was disappointed to find out that Rush wasn't auditioning any new bass players!
Do you play drums?
I'm not sure of the point! ? It's sounds kinda similar but you took the body of the sound out ! Telephone like!
Original sounds like Rickenbacker
limelight is the ric, Tom Sawyer and Yyz is fender , limelight and red barchetta is Ric
Limelight is the Jazz Bass. Red Barchetta is the Ric.
Thanks. One nit pick: Both pickups are *front* pickups. The term neck and bride, as you have marked on the tracks, would be a more meaningful term.