Rush – Grace Under Pressure

Lifeson used his "Hentor Sportcaster", named after Rush producer Peter Henderson, in the 1980's, used notably on the "Grace Under Pressure" tour. In the video above, luthier Freddy Gabrsek explains how Lifeson gave him his Sportscaster to reverse engineer and make copies of. Gabrsek holds the original Sportscaster at the beginning of the video, but plays one of his replicas at the end of it.

Listed in this article among Alex Lifeson's touring equipment for the Grace Under Pressure tour in 1984.

Listed in this article among Alex Lifeson's touring equipment for the Grace Under Pressure tour in 1984.

Listed in this article among Alex Lifeson's touring equipment for the Grace Under Pressure tour in 1984.

Listed in this article among Alex Lifeson's touring equipment for the Grace Under Pressure tour in 1984.

Geddy used his Black Rickenbacker 4001 from their first tour in 1974 until the Grace Under Pressure Warm Up Tour in 1983 although he pulled it back out for A Passage To Bangkok on the Snakes & Arrows tour in 2007 and 2008. He can also be seen using it in the introduction video for the Time Machine tour.

Geddy began using the Steinberger L2 during the Signals tour in 1982 and used it until he purchased an XL2 (improved version of the L2, scroll down for more) around 1985. Grace Under Pressure was recorded using the L2. He used it in the music videos for Mystic Rhythms and Distant Early Warning.

From a 1984 issue of Guitar World magazine: “I like the Steinberger a lot. I started using it just before the Signals tour, somebody said ‘try this’ and it sounded great. It’s got quite a different sound from my other bass-the bottom end is really rich, deep, it almost has a synthesized bottom end. It doesn’t sound like it should sound going by the theory that big-bodied basses have a deep, resonant sound. This has got a little plastic body with a battery in the back and the bottom end sounds rich as hell. It doesn’t sound natural, but it sounds real interesting. On some of the new songs I like the punch of the Steinberger but on some of the older things like ‘Digital Man‘ I still use the Rickenbacker. I still love the Rickenbacker and I’m actually more comfortable on it. I sort of feel obligated in a way to represent its sound on the songs that were written around it. It’s kind of nice to switch back and forth.”

Geddy started playing an L2 right before the Signals Tour, where he went on to record Grace Under Pressure with it. He then switched to the XL2 around 1985, and only used it live during the Power Windows Tour (photo). The last time Geddy used a Steinberger bass was in 1987 on the Hold Your Fire Tour.

Many people mistake the XL2 for the L2 and assume he only owned 1 Steinberger, this is false. In fact he owned 3 Steinberger's, a black L2, a black XL2 and a white XL2. The difference between the L2 and the XL2 basses are slight. The XL2 was an improved version of the L2, such as the face plate bolts being positioned on the back of the bass and a different "headpiece" that only allowed double ball end strings. In his Big Book Of Bass he only mentions the black XL2.

(Photo from the Power Windows Tour, Rosemont Horizon - Rosemont, Illinois March 21, 1986)

In The article below Geddy mentioned it for Grace Under Pressure sessions

Neil Peart uses the Latin Percussion M257B Matador Series 14" / 13" Brass Timbales with Stand, as evidenced by Andrewolson's breakdown of Neil Peart's R40 Retro drum kit.

during the recording of Grace Under Pressure Neil Peart used Simmons SDS-V