My Alex Lifeson Guitar Rig

[PW_Guitarist]

That's an impressive collection of authentic equipment! You've obviously done your research very well. Please let us know when some clips are up!

 

I found trying to reproduce all the different eras of Alex's guitar sound to be almost impossible and too impractical to take live - too much gear, not enough stage space. I've had so many problems with stomp boxes and patch cords failing live, plus with all the bass pedals stuff already using limited floor space, that I had to compromise and simplify the guitar setup with rack effect processors and a MIDI switch. I settled for an all-purpose tone that works for me, trying to do something close to the way Alex sounds these days.

 

I was never able to pin down the Moving Pictures guitar sound. I think there was a bit of studio coloring in there, because his live sound on ESL was different from the studio sound even though he used much the same gear. I had a bit more success with Time Stand Still, with repeated trials and EQ tweaking. I didn't like the tone I ended up with, so I figured I might be close . When I mixed the rest of the band in, I understood the advantage, though - it was easier to make the guitar stand out, it was not buried in the mix (the way it was in Signals, for example). That was an interesting studio experiment, but I wouldn't try that live, I think the soundman would kill me!

 

[_pete_]

QUOTE (PW_Guitarist @ Jul 17 2006, 12:00 PM)

That's an impressive collection of authentic equipment! You've obviously done your research very well. Please let us know when some clips are up! I found trying to reproduce all the different eras of Alex's guitar sound to be almost impossible and too impractical to take live - too much gear, not enough stage space. I've had so many problems with stomp boxes and patch cords failing live, plus with all the bass pedals stuff already using limited floor space, that I had to compromise and simplify the guitar setup with rack effect processors and a MIDI switch. I settled for an all-purpose tone that works for me, trying to do something close to the way Alex sounds these days.  I was never able to pin down the Moving Pictures guitar sound. I think there was a bit of studio coloring in there, because his live sound on ESL was different from the studio sound even though he used much the same gear. I had a bit more success with Time Stand Still, with repeated trials and EQ tweaking. I didn't like the tone I ended up with, so I figured I might be close . When I mixed the rest of the band in, I understood the advantage, though - it was easier to make the guitar stand out, it was not buried in the mix (the way it was in Signals, for example). That was an interesting studio experiment, but I wouldn't try that live, I think the soundman would kill me!

I agree. It is hard to get all his sounds but I'm getting close.

I'm using a Hughes & Kettner zenTera modeling amp (Alex uses one now) and it really is good a nailing the various sounds. Most of Alex's sounds can be had with the 100W Plexi Marshall model, the cleans with a Fender Blackface or Roland JC-120 model. Some of the mid 80's tones use the 50W Marshall or Vox AC-30 model. I know Alex didn't use a Vox but nevertheless, the model nails some of the tones. The amp has great sounding effects in it ( 2 wahs, tube screamer, choruses, flangers, reverbs, delays, compressor, fuzz, and a mid boost) and they all are versatile enough to cover Alex's tones. The only outboard effect is a Roland pitch shifter.

The H&K is an expensive amp but it covers Lifesons sounds so well it was worth it to me.

I'm also using a Kustom acoustic amp for the piezo guitar.

 

So far I'm using 65 separate amp presets to cover the material we do. It's a lot simpler than it sounds.

 

The other piece of the puzzle is using different guitars to sort of "color the pallette". Currently I'm using a Fender HSS Stratocaster w/Floyd, the Hentor Strat, a Les Paul, a 335 type semi hollow, a PRS CE24, a Fender Showmaster with 3 single coils (nails the HYF Signature guitar tones), a semi hollow with Piezo for acoustic stuff, and of course a doubleneck for Xanadu.

 

It all works great. I can go from Mission to Animate with a quick guitar change and one footswitch to step on.

Edited July 17, 2006 by _pete_

[momosdanceparty]

QUOTE (PW_Guitarist @ Jul 17 2006, 12:00 PM)

I found trying to reproduce all the different eras of Alex's guitar sound to be almost impossible and too impractical to take live - too much gear, not enough stage space.

The only practical way to reproduce the different eras in a live setting is wth some form of programmable preamp. (The amp modeling in Pete's zenTera is a great example, although a pricey one). It's simply impossible to cover the gamut with a couple amps and a bunch of stomp boxes.

 

QUOTE (PW_Guitarist @ Jul 17 2006, 12:00 PM)

I was never able to pin down the Moving Pictures guitar sound. I think there was a bit of studio coloring in there, because his live sound on ESL was different from the studio sound even though he used much the same gear.

 

The Hemispheres through Moving Pictures-era studio guitar sounds are all about layering. Listen to Limelight, for example; in addition to some wacky EQ setting providing thickness, the main sound is two guitars hard panned with different degrees of chorusing on each side. In other words, Alex recorded a lot of parts twice while still trying to make it sound like a single guitar was playing it all. If your live guitar rig is stereo, there is a simple way to acheive this effect which y'all can figure out for yourselves.

 

Additionally, there is a lot of layering of both clean and overdriven guitar tones on the earlier albums, particularly in The Spirit of Radio and for the primary Hemispheres guitar sound. Live, it seems that Alex has two or three different feeds being used and combined in some form, although he never really got too crazy with it. The Signals tour seems to have had the most complex examples of layered guitar sounds in a live setting, such as the chorus section of The Analog Kid.

 

 

-------------------------

www.NotRUSH.com

 

 

[_pete_]

Mr. Momo is right on the money as usual.

 

Alex recorded most of his stuff double tracked and panned hard left & right. Another studio trick he used quite often was adding clean and dirty guitars to the double tracking.

Often he would double a Les Paul with a Tele to create huge and unusual tones.

 

I've been recently doing the same on my recording. I'll record two tracks with one guitar, pan them, and then add a sparkly clean guitar in the track but barely audible. It really livens up the sound.

Edited July 17, 2006 by _pete_

[rushfanNlv]

QUOTE (momosdanceparty @ Jul 16 2006, 02:14 PM)

QUOTE (rushfanNlv @ Jul 16 2006, 12:38 PM) Well, IMO, it's always better to use individual stompboxes rather than a multi FX pedal of any kind unless you are going to get into the big boy stuff like the TC Electronics G-Major which Alex has been using on the last few albums and tours.    Alex never chained stomp boxes together in his rig. Vintage effects pedals such as the Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress are notoriously noisy, for example, and any guitar tone is shot to hell if the unit is simply chained between the instrument and amp. By the Hemispheres/Permanent Waves era, Alex was using an active buffer/splitter switching system similar to the Bradshaw rigs that many pro guitarists began using in the 80s. This enabled him to use many effects pedals without sacrificing tone or gain, until he eventually ditched the stomp boxes for rack gear.   Also keep in mind that, at Terry Brown's insistence, Alex's guitar sound was always recorded dry with the effects added later on every album up until Grace Under Pressure. Nearly every guitar sound on Hemispheres through Signals is doubled (played twice, panned in stereo, and effected) for thickness.   I don't agree that the Power Windows/Hold Your Fire era is a "dark period" in regard to Alex's guitar sounds. Try duplicating the guitar tone on Time Stand Still; it's much more difficult to do than any sound from Moving Pictures.     -------------------------- www.NotRUSH.com He had to have chained his pedals together in the early days. But yeah, the switching system that came along around Hemispheres has been a dream of mine for a while. Trying to justify something like that to the wife is a pretty hard sell. Especially when I don't play in a band!   I'm sort of using something like that now with the Boss LS-2. I have the flanger, phase and one of the delays in the one of the pedals loops so I can remove them all from the signal chain with one stomp. I eventually plan to get this switching system or The Carl Martin Combinatorso I can only have the desired effects in my chain.   I personally like the PW and HYF years for guitar sounds. I just think that the general perspective is that the tone was very compressed and effect heavy. I love everything Alex has ever done. I've never tried to duplicate the tone but that's obviously not what my gear is.....geared for.

[1-0-0-1-0-0-1]

Moved to MMM.

[rushfanNlv]

Thanks!

[rushfanNlv]

QUOTE (momosdanceparty @ Jul 17 2006, 05:55 PM)

The Hemispheres through Moving Pictures-era studio guitar sounds are all about layering. Listen to Limelight, for example; in addition to some wacky EQ setting providing thickness, the main sound is two guitars hard panned with different degrees of chorusing on each side. In other words, Alex recorded a lot of parts twice while still trying to make it sound like a single guitar was playing it all. If your live guitar rig is stereo, there is a simple way to acheive this effect which y'all can figure out for yourselves.

That is the basis of my rig: A live stereo set up. The CE-1 sends a dry signal to the left amp and a wet signal to the right amp so you get this nice huge tone without the chorus and then a huge wide tone with the pedal on. I also mess around with sending the delay to only one amp some times. Creates space.

 

I've been thinking of this whole recording the guitar signal dry and then adding effects later thing and I have a different opinion. I think that maybe the reverb and delay might have been added later on in the mix (of course the compression is always added post recording) but the modulation and certainly the wah and volume pedals were all recorded direct. Even before Grace Under Pressure, I'm sure this is the way he recorded. The CE-1 pedal that we all agree he used just doesn't work that way (recording a dry signal and then adding the pedal later?) and is designed to be used with two amplifiers to get the full potential of the pedal. These are the two signals panned hard right and left. I can support my theory too.

 

1. In pictures of the PW recording session, (as found in the book Contents Under Pressure) you can clearly see the entire Bradshaw Pedalboard in front of Alex with the two silver boxes with banks of switches and the wah and volume pedal on either side. If the chorus, flanger, delay etc. were all added after the dry signal was recorded, why would there be a need for the pedalboard at his feet? He was defiantly in control of his effects as he was recording.

 

2. I think we all agree that adding effects to your signal chain causes the overall signal to degrade before it hits the amps. That is why the pros use these elaborate switching systems. The desire is to have a direct connection to the amps and only add in the effects that you need at one time rather than have everything chained together (like my rig ). But it's clear that Alex used Chorus, delay and distortion all together at the same time as early as Hemispheres and, if my theory is correct, those effects would have all been in line before the amps. You'll also notice that he used an MXR Micro Amp. The description of this pedal (from MF) is (1) adds a preset amount of gain and (2) it can supply a permanent boost in a long effects chain where signal drop off is a problem. I think that option two is the way Alex used the MXR Micro Amp and therefore he was definitely concerned about signal loss due to the pedals he had between his guitar and amps (remember the chorus pedal is stereo - that's why, from Hemispheres on, you see him using two Hiwatts and two Marshall 4140 combos). He used the MXR Distortion + for his main distortion but used the Micro amp to compensate for the signal loss.

 

3. As a guitar player who has been an effects whore his whole life, I can tell you that the effects become a part of the way you play. The way you attack the strings will vary depending on what effect you are using. For instance, an analog flanger will produce different tones (slight variations but noticable to the player and the feel of the notes) depending on how hard you pick. A delay on your signal will affect the rhythm of your picking. Without hearing the repeats as you are playing, you may get off the beat on a song like Red Sector A or something similar. In short, (like any of this is in short ) I wouldn't let anyone tell me that I have to add my effects later in the mix. Effect to a guitarist like Alex Lifeson (The Edge too) are a part of not only the tone but the feel and style of his playing. Try playing the lead to Freewill without distortion, flanger and delay and tell me if you can get the same pick digs and vibrato.

 

OK. Rant is over. I'm sure you will all flame me for this so go ahead. I'm totally up to counter opinions.

 

 

[rushfanNlv]

One of my freaking amps took a dump the other night!!!!!

 

I turned on both amps to let them warm up and when I came back to turn of the standby....one of them had never turned on! The tubes were not glowing at all! Got a meter on the mains fuse and it's fine!

 

Taking it to the tech tomorrow on my lunch break. I hate working on things like that myself. If I mess it up, and I have the tendency to do that, I know it will cost more to fix than if I just let the pros handle it.

 

Anyway, I was planning to record with me new set up but instead, here is a crappy clip of me playing half of red barchetta. Just to prove I can play I guess. I was really just testing the mic placement so there are a few mistakes but overall, I think it turned out ok.

Edited July 20, 2006 by rushfanNlv

[mortkort]

Hi everybody!

 

I just bought a Ibanez ak85 today because I wanted a guitar that looks like the guitar Alex plays on ESL, a Gibson Gibson Howard Roberts Fusion something I think. But do any one think that these two guitars are like? And I asked one time before but I didn't get a answer, what kind of pedals should I buy to get the sound Alex has on late 70s early 80s? Thanks!

 

forever!!!!!!

[rushfanNlv]

QUOTE (mortkort @ Jul 21 2006, 08:53 PM)

Hi everybody! I just bought a Ibanez ak85 today because I wanted a guitar that looks like the guitar Alex plays on ESL, a Gibson Gibson Howard Roberts Fusion something I think. But do any one think that these two guitars are like? And I asked one time before but I didn't get a answer, what kind of pedals should I buy to get the sound Alex has on late 70s early 80s? Thanks! forever!!!!!!

MXR Distortion +, MXR Micro Amp, Roland (boss) CE-1 chorus ensemble, some sort of analog delay, EHX electric mistress flanger and a good tube amp.

 

 

[mortkort]

Thanks rushfanNlv!

 

Now I'm going to drink some pepsi

[rushfanNlv]

Here is a little Red Sector A with a messed up solo. I wasn't planning on posting this but I like the way the tape distorted so I thought I would. I recorded way too hot on my old ass yamaha 4-track but it turned out decent me thinks.

 

BTW that's one Marhsall (left) and one Peavey classic 30 (right) because I still haven't had the other marshall fixed. With the other marshall, the tone is much cleaner.

Edited July 23, 2006 by rushfanNlv

[mortkort]

QUOTE (rushfanNlv @ Jul 23 2006, 02:55 PM)

Here is a little Red Sector A with a messed up solo. I wasn't planning on posting this but I like the way the tape distorted so I thought I would. I recorded way too hot on my old ass yamaha 4-track but it turned out decent me thinks. BTW that's one Marhsall (left) and one Peavey classic 30 (right) because I still haven't had the other marshall fixed. With the other marshall, the tone is much cleaner.

Really nice sound you have there, keep up the good work man!

[rushfanNlv]

QUOTE (mortkort @ Jul 23 2006, 03:09 PM)

Really nice sound you have there, keep up the good work man!

Thanks!

 

Like I said, there is alot of extra distortion going on in the recording but I think it sounds kind of close to what I'm going for.

[mortkort]

QUOTE (rushfanNlv @ Jul 23 2006, 03:18 PM)

QUOTE (mortkort @ Jul 23 2006, 03:09 PM) Really nice sound you have there, keep up the good work man! Thanks!   Like I said, there is alot of extra distortion going on in the recording but I think it sounds kind of close to what I'm going for. Well, I think it was a awesome sound, no matter if it was more distortion on your clip then on the cd. Keep on rocking!

[mortkort]

do you guys know any musical instruments sites that shipes worldwide? or at least to europe, i live norway.

 

anyway, i was thinking to buy the same padels that Alex used on Moving Pictures. Thanks!

[mortkort]

can i buy boss pedals to get the sound that Alex had on MP? like the boss distortion ds-1, boss super chorus ch-1, and a boss flanger?

[invisibleairwaves]

QUOTE (mortkort @ Jul 31 2006, 06:31 PM)

can i buy boss pedals to get the sound that Alex had on MP? like the boss distortion ds-1, boss super chorus ch-1, and a boss flanger?

The DS-1 certainly won't. I can't get anything near what he had.

[rushfanNlv]

QUOTE (invisibleairwaves @ Jul 31 2006, 08:57 PM)

QUOTE (mortkort @ Jul 31 2006, 06:31 PM) can i buy boss pedals to get the sound that Alex had on MP? like the boss distortion ds-1, boss super chorus ch-1, and a boss flanger? The DS-1 certainly won't. I can't get anything near what he had. Neither will the CH-1. If you do get one, run it with the EQ knob all the way down. The highs on that thing are like ice picks.   Spend some time on www.guitargeek.com reading about pedals. Boss has some good stuff but there are many other, better manufacturers out there.

[mortkort]

thanks for the tip rushfan, but what kind of chorus and flanger pedal shall i buy? i know that i shall buy a mxr d+ and a mxr micro amp

[rushfanNlv]

Part of the experience is doing the homework and deciding for yourself what to get. I can tell you what Alex used to get his tones but as far as suggesting what equipment to get to approximate his sound, I think that's best for you to decide. I will say that IMO, analog effects and amps are going to sound better than digital stuff. Stay away from anything with the word "modeling" associated with it unless you are willing to spend the money for the good stuff. Don't expect to buy a $100.00 multi effects unit with 10 different amp models and 12 effects and then sound like Alex.

 

I've always liked the older analog Maxon and Ibanez stuff. The 9 series is the best IMO. Also look at companies like Fulltone, T.C. Electronics, Visualsounds and EHX.

 

 

[TheSpiritOfLerxst]

Alex didn't use EMGs until "Hold Your Fire". He had EMG single coils in his Signature Auroras (He did not like the Evans pickups that came with other Signature Guitar Co. models).

[Different Circles]

I just gotta say this...that red telecaster he plays occasionally ..it's just gorgeous....me wanty.

[Super Phil]

I am pretty sure the active single coils in Alex's Signature Aurora were made by Fernandes. (I could double check that with Russ Heinl, but i think that's correct.)