Early history mid-60's to 1973

Geddy's first instrument was an acoustic guitar of an unknown manufacturer. It had palm
trees painted on it, and can be seen in the picture of him inside the Test For Echo album. He
would play it when jamming with friends, until one day it was decided that Ged would be
"demoted" to the rhythm section and asked to play bass. His first bass was a Conora. He had
a small unknown amp, and would also borrow various Ace and Silvertone amps.
His first "real" amp was a Traynor combo amp with 2x15' speakers. Around early 1968 he
bought a Hagstrom bass.
In late 1969 he traded this bass in for a dark sunburst '69 Fender Precision, which would be
his main bass for a few years.His basses had La Bella flatwound strings until 1972, when he
started using Rotosound Swing Bass roundwound strings. Around that same time Geddy
bought a Sunn 2000 S bass head with two 2x15" cabinets, which the speakers were replaced
with SRO 15" speakers. This amp would stay with Geddy for several years.

(Note: Geddy would always use the same amp setup in the studio as he did live. He would
also have a separate feed going into the mxing board while recording, and on tour, would
have a separate feed going directly to the soundboard, as well.)
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RUSH
Fender Precision bass
Sunn 2000 S bass head with two 2x15" cabinets w/SRO speakers

RUSH TOUR (w/John Rutsey)

same equipment

RUSH TOUR (w/Neil Peart)

Fender Precision bass
Rickenbacker 4001 bass (black) ...run in stereo with the neck pickup going to the Ampeg and
the bridge pickup going to the Sunn
Sunn 2000S amp
2x Sunn speaker cabs w/SRO speakers
Ampeg SVT amp
2x Ampeg V4B cabinets w/15" speakers
Around this time the Precision bass had a Rush decal slapped onto it.
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FLY BY NIGHT
The Rick 4001 was used on every track
The Precision was used for the "By-Tor" effects by running it through a fuzztone and a
phaser.
Geddy played a Martin classical guitar on "Rivendell"

FLY BY NIGHT TOUR

CARESS OF STEEL
CARESS OF STEEL TOUR
2112
2112 TOUR
Geddy would use the same bass/amp setup for each of these albums and tours.
On Caress of Steel, the Precision was played on "I Think I'm Going Bald" and "Lakeside
Park"
Around the time, between Caress of Steel and 2112, the Precision was remodeled into a
teardrop shape and given a Fender Jazz pickup in the bridge position,and it then recieved a
pinkish/purple paintjob. It was wired in stereo so it could be used in the same manner the
Rickenbacker was.
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A FAREWELL TO KINGS
Rickenbacker 4001 now fitted with a Badass tailpiece
Rickenbacker 4001 w/Badass bridge (white)
2x Rickenbacker 4080 doublenecks one with a 6-string guitar (the white one)and one with a
12-string guitar(the black one)
Rickenbacker 4002 bass w/Badass bridge (black)
Rickenbacker 3001 bass (sunburst) (Geddy never actually recorded with this bass)
Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus amplifier was used on "Madrigal"
Keyboards:
Mini-Moog
Moog Taurus bass pedals

A FAREWELL TO KINGS TOUR

Rick 4001 (both models, the white one was rarely used)
Fender Precision
Rick 4080 (both models, again, the white one was rarely used)
Amps are the same as the previous tour except the Ampeg V4B cabinets now contain JBL
speakers.
Fender Twin Reverb amp for the Rick 4080 guitar
Mini-Moog
Moog Taurus pedals which are interfaced with the Mini-Moog
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HEMISPHERES
Basses are the same as the previous album, although the 4080 wasn't used.
Geddy added an Oberheim 8-voice synthesizer for this album

HEMISPHERES TOUR
Same basses as the previous tour
Amps now consist of :
2x Ashley pre-amps
2x BGW 750 power amps
2x Thiele Design speaker cabinets with 2x 15" JBL speakers
2x Ampeg V4B cabinets w/JBL speakers
Fender Twin Reverb

guitar effects:
Boss Chorus

Keyboards:
Same as previous tour with the addition of the Oberheim 8-voice which is now interfaced
with a second set of Taurus pedals
and a Roland Space Echo is now used on the Mini-Moog
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PERMANENT WAVES
Same basses as previous album, with the addition of a ' 74 Fender Jazz Bass with stock black
finish, and an unusual maple neck with black ebony block fret markers.
This style neck was only made for about 3 years.
Keyboards now include an Oberheim OB-1 for sound effects(on "Natural Science") and
sequencing in conjunction
with an Oberheim DS-1 sequencer (on "The Spirit of Radio") also as a vocoder (vocal effect)
on "Jacob's Ladder"

PERMANENT WAVES TOUR

Same basses as previous tour
Same amps as previous tour
Same keyboards as previous tour w/addition of the OB-1 w/Oberheim sequencer
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MOVING PICTURES
The '74 black Fender Jazz w/maple neck and ebony block inlays was the only bass used on
this album
An Oberheim OB-X synthesizer was used on this album, and also a Roland sequencer

MOVING PICTURES TOUR

Same basses as previous tour
Same amps as previous tour, except the guitar amp for the doubleneck is now a Yamaha GR-
75,
and the Thiele cabinets now contain Electro Voice EVM speakers
Keyboards now include the Oberheim OB-X and the Mini-Moog now is used with a Yamaha
E1010 analog delay unit
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SIGNALS
The Rick 4001 was recorded on this album with the exception of "Losing It" which was the
4002,
and "Digital Man", which used the Fender Jazz
Geddy has a whole new keyboard rig for this album including:
Oberheim OB-Xa with an Oberheim DSX sequencer
Roland Jupiter-8 with a Roland 808 Compurhythm sequencer
The Taurus pedals are now interfaced with the OB-Xa

SIGNALS TOUR
Only the two 4001's and the Fender Jazz were used on this tour
The keyboard rig is the same as described for this album, with the addition of the Mini-Moog
and 2x Taurus pedals
Amplification is the same as the previous tour.
RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL SHOWS (preview of new material)
Same equipment as above, with the addition of a Steinberger L2 bass (black)
The Oberheim OB-Xa was replaced by a PPG Wave 2.2 synthesizer
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GRACE UNDER PRESSURE

Recorded exclusively with the Steinberger L2 bass (black)
(ed. note: Yeah, I know..."Ged's playing the Rick in the "Body Electric" video, dude!!!"...it's
just for show,folks... he could have been playing the Conora for all he cared.)
Most of the keyboard work was done on the PPG Wave 2.2. The pulsating sequencer bass on
"Red Sector A" is the Roland Jupiter-8 and Compurhythm,the Taurus pedals were also used

GRACE UNDER PRESSURE TOUR

Basses:Steinberger L2, Rickenbacker 4001, and Fender Jazz Bass ( I never saw anything but
the Steinberger on this tour)
Synthesizers: PPG Wave 2.2
Roland JP-8 and TR 808 Compurhythm
Oberheim OBX-A and DSX sequencer
Moog Taurus pedals and Minimoog w/digital delay from the mixing board
Amps are the same with the replacement of the Ashley's with 2x Furman Sound PQ-3
preamps and also 2x API 550A equalizers.
Also using 4x custom-made speaker cabinets each with 2x 15" speakers
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POWER WINDOWS
recorded exclusively with a Wal (black) bass
(note: Around this time Geddy started endorsing Superwound Funkmaster strings)
keyboards now include a PPG Wave 2.3, an Emulator II and a Yamaha DX-7

POWER WINDOWS TOUR

Basses are the Wal and two Steinbergers (a black one and a white one)
Amps are the same as the previous tour
Keyboards include the PPG Wave 2.3 which sits on top of a Yamaha KX76
on his left hand is another KX76 with the Roland Jupiter 8 on top
The Yamaha's control 4 Emulator II's, the Yamaha DX-7, and a QX-1 sequencer
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HOLD YOUR FIRE

Once again, the black Wal was used along with a Wal 5-string on "Lock and Key".
Keyboards now include Akai S900 sampling modules and Prophet VS synths along with the
synths used on the previous album.

HOLD YOUR FIRE TOUR

Basses are the Wal, the Wal 5-string, and the white Steinberger
Amps remain the same as before
Keyboard setup is:
PPG Wave 2.3 with a Roland D-50 on top
Yamaha KX76 with a Prophet VS on top
One set of Taurus pedals has been replaced by a set of Korg MIDI pedals
Offstage keyboard setup includes:
2x Yamaha QX-1 sequencers
Yamaha DX-7
Prophet VS
in one rack-mount is:
MIDI mapper
JL Cooper MIDI patch bay
3x Akai S900 samplers
Roland Super Jupiter
Roland D-550
the other rack contains:
4x Akai S900 samplers
2x MIDI mappers
2x mixers designed by Tony Geranios
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PRESTO
same basses as on previous album
Keyboards used include Roland D-50, Akai S1000 samplers,
also, an Apple MacIntosh computer w/C-Lab notator and MOTU Performer software.

PRESTO TOUR
Setup was basically the same as previous tour
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ROLL THE BONES

New Wal bass with larger body (cherry red) used on all tracks except "Dreamline" and
"Neurotica" which used the black Wal
Many newer keyboards were utilized on the recording of this album including:
Korg Wavestation
Korg M-1
Ensoniq SD-1
the sounds used were then sampled onto:
Roland S-770 samplers and Akai S1000 samplers

ROLL THE BONES TOUR

Ged took the red Wal, and the black 4-string Wal
He had new amp setup using:
2 Gallien-Krueger bass amps with 2x custom designed speaker cabinets w/ 2x 15" Celestion
speakers
Keyboards now consisted of two Yamaha KX76 controllers onstage
Korg MIDI pedals
offstage now, are simply 2 racks of Akai S1000 samplers and Roland S770 samplers
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COUNTERPARTS
For this album, Geddy exclusively used the black '74 Fender Jazz Bass that he used on
Moving Pictures
He rocrded with a combination of direct and his new amp setup (see below) and also used a
vintage Ampeg head that had literally been retrieved from the garbage on "Animate",and that
sound was also mixed in on "Stick It Out" and "Cut to the Chase"
Keyboard sounds were supplied by the Akai S1000 samplers

COUNTERPARTS TOUR
3x Fender Jazz Basses :
'93 in red
"93 in sunburst
"74 in black
Amps are new, he now was using:
Trace-Elliot GP12 SMX power amps
Trace-Elliot Quatra 4VR preamps
2x cabinets loaded w/ one 18" speaker
2x cabinets loaded w/ four 10" speakers
Keyboards were the same as the previous tour
(note:Tony Geranios was now going back and sampling the old Oberheim and Moog
keyboards for the older material, even "events" from the older recordings.)
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TEST FOR ECHO

Geddy used the Fender Jazz as on the previous album
No amps were used in the studio. Geddy recorded direct to the mixing board with processing
through:
Sansamp PSA-1
Demeter preamp(this has an actual tube in it which gives it a warm sound)
Palmer PDI-05 speaker simulator

TEST FOR ECHO TOUR

Same setup as previous tour
the old Mini-Moog and one set of Taurus pedals were brought out of retirement for this tour