Since Alex Lifeson has switched to Gibson, his sound is f'ing awful.

Coralkong

Alien
I have been watching the Rush Clockwork Angels video...and his tone straight up sucks.

I can't quite put my finger on it, but the pickups are lacking, even after all the processing. Extremely thin in the middle and high end is lacking, too.

Typical LP humbucker boom in the low end, but the top end doesn't pierce the way it should, the middle sounds out of balance. Sounds like shit, actually.

He should have stuck with PRS, imo.

@Lerxst , what say you?

Sounds fucking terrible.
 
I don't think it's a Gibson thing more than a floyd on a LP doesn't work well.

All the good that is in an LP is tossed out with that trem.
 
I didn't think the Les Paul sound was bad. :confused:

Seems to be a big difference in the amount of distortion he's using, though. The PRS seems to running through a cleaner sound.

And, while I know it's part of how Alex plays, it seems like he's throwing whammy-bar vibrato on every note with that PRS.
 
I don't think it's a Gibson thing more than a floyd on a LP doesn't work well.

All the good that is in an LP is tossed out with that trem.

I dunno, but something's not right there, for sure.

Now on Limelight, Tom Sawyer, etc.....it works great....but for noodling around, not at all.
 
I didn't think the Les Paul sound was bad. :confused:

Seems to be a big difference in the amount of distortion he's using, though. The PRS seems to running through a cleaner sound.

And, while I know it's part of how Alex plays, it seems like he's throwing whammy-bar vibrato on every note with that PRS.

I really don't know, but it DOES sound like ass, doesn't it?

I don't get it, to be honest....but listen to the cleans you can "twang" as he does in the studio tune I posted. Guy can play.......
 
I can't say. I suck at distortion. If I could get a distortion sound as good as any of those, I'd probably call it done.
 
Different amps too. So, that's got to factor into it.

He's running his Lersxt amps and only has one H&K in the rig now.

But, I don't think it sounds bad.
I'll have to take some time to sit through the Blu-Rays over the holidays. At full tilt. See if I can hear what you're talking about.

I know have plans for the holidays. Thanks, CK.
 
Given he uses AXE FXs. I have no idea how much of the sound discrepancy is the preset.

Well, whatever it is, it sounds like shit.

It is very shrill, and not in a good way at all.

I noticed when I last saw them play, he used Gibson LP's exclusively, and they were very "bottom" heavy to the overall sound.

It was noticeable then (live) and it stands out even more looking back on it and listening to it again.

The PRS seemed to be much more nimble in the sound category.

P.S. If you watch the video of Rush "Time Machine", all of his guitar work sounds awful. He's hitting the notes, but it just doesn't ring right. And he's using a Gibson LP on all of them. Sounds terrible. Again, I can't quite put my finger on it, but it sounds like a fart in a tin can at times.
 
Also, we are getting into the music version of "never fight a land war in asia", only with is its "never judge a tone by a YouTube video (even a pro-shot/dvd rip)
 
Also, we are getting into the music version of "never fight a land war in asia", only with is its "never judge a tone by a YouTube video (even a pro-shot/dvd rip)

But I have been building an immunity up to Iocaine powder.

Trust me. It sounds the same on my nice stereo downstairs.

Truth be told, as far as Rush live sound capture goes, IMO, they could have quit at Rush In Rio.

(PRS, btw....)


 
I didn't realize he was using Mesa Boogies now (Clockwork Angels tour), at least for his cleans.



For those that don't want to watch the video:

Dirty sound = Lerxst amps
Clean sound = Mesa Boogie Mk V's
Other sounds = Hughes & Kettner Switchblade (I take it this is for an over-the-top, fuzz style tone?)
Effects = Axe-FX, running thru the amp heads

I'm not quite sure what the Apple laptop running Mainstage does for him.



Anyways, for the Rush In Rio dvd (and Vapor Trails tour) he was using Hughes & Kettner Triamps, wasn't he?


I would tend to believe the crappier tone is due to his amp/rig set-up than any guitars. As we've all seen from other big name guitarists, it doesn't matter what guitar they play thru, be it a cheap Korean guitar or a top-of-the-line custom guitar, they still sound like themselves.
 
Also, if Alex has an Axe-FX, why doesn't he just use that, and have the other stuff as a backup? messedup0

Here is a good tone from guitarist Mats Haugen of Circus Maximus just using the Axe-FX at a big festival in Japan:

(elec. guitar starts at roughly 1:embarrassed:0)


He states elsewhere during the concert video that all he brought to Japan was the Axe-FX. He didn't use any other pedals or anything. And he said the sound engineers at the festival told him afterwards that he had the best sound of any of the guitars that day (big name metal bands like Slayer, etc.) that were using amp heads.
 
In all honesty... His sound has always been bullocks.

It is really hard to nitpick just which of his tones was the worst over the years.

I really love his playing and always have but his tone... Especially the lead tone is just and has always been terrible.
 
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