Alex's Delay Settings

[shadowfax2112]

Hello Lifeson fans,

 

I've been listening to a lot of 80's Rush lately, trying to figure out what type of Delay settings Alex was using, mostly Permanent Waves, Moving Pictures, Signals and Grace Under Pressure. I've been finding it difficult to hear much delay at all in most Rhythm tracks and most solos I think I hear mostly 1 repeat on the quarter note. Does anyone have any insight on what Alex uses for delay settings? Is it just reverb for most rhythm tracks?

 

Listening to some of the live tracks I hear the occasional Ping-Pong delay on leads but the most intriguing one to me is what he is using for Arpeggios on songs like Red Barchetta, Natural Science, Limelight, where the Arpeggios seem to jump out and have a certain sparkle to them. This seemed most pronounced on the R40 live album.

 

Just curious if anyone has some go to settings when playing Rush.

 

Cheers!

[stoopid]

To my ears he used a lot of reverb with a quick return and long tail/decay. The ping pong might be a stereo pan effect, something like ADT (artificial double tracking). I have not broken down any of Alex's specific tones, that's mostly the territory of cover bands/cover artists, but I appreciate how his tone has changed over the years and consider him a bit of a tonesmith, like many of the greatest guitarists.

[Fridge]

To my ears he used a lot of reverb with a quick return and long tail/decay. The ping pong might be a stereo pan effect, something like ADT (artificial double tracking). I have not broken down any of Alex's specific tones, that's mostly the territory of cover bands/cover artists, but I appreciate how his tone has changed over the years and consider him a bit of a tonesmith, like many of the greatest guitarists.

 

Yeah i'm no expert but I've always thought he uses reverb more than delay, though he's no slouch at using that effect nicely either.

[Planet X-1]

Cool topic.... I recall from an old interview he stated he used 2 delays, each set a few milliseconds apart to create a ping-pong affect. And for the solos, he just turned up the volume...I'll see if I can dig it up.

 

:)

[HemiBeers]

Part of a requirement of a 3 piece is that everyone needs to have a busier sound to fill space (Phil Space?). Al did that by doing alot of arpeggio patterns and the reverb/delay/chorus effects.

 

Personally, I just kick on my 80s era stereo chorus to mimic his sound. I know I'm not a purist, but just a basement player.

[stoopid]

Personally, I just kick on my 80s era stereo chorus to mimic his sound.

 

That's a good approximation.