Alex Lifeson

At 7:54 in this "Rig Rundown" with Premier Guitar, Rush's Alex Lifeson's tech Scott Appleton shows us a TC Electronic 1210.

At 8:30 in this "Rig Rundown" with Premier Guitar, Rush's Alex Lifeson's tech Scott Appleton shows us a Fractal Audio Axe-Fx Ultra which they use as a back up.

At 11:00 in this "Rig Rundown" with Premier Guitar, Rush's Alex Lifeson's tech Scott Appleton mentions that Alex uses some synths and we're shown a still frame of the Korg MPK-130.

At 10:20 in this "Rig Rundown" with Premier Guitar, Rush's Alex Lifeson's tech Scott Appleton mentions Alex's entire rig is controlled through a Axess Electronics FX1 MIDI Footcontroller.

two Echoplex(s) side y side, far left, probably 1976 All the World's a Stage tour.The Mini Moog appeared (not yet recorded) on stage, and the red double-neck had not been damaged by the falling speaker horn at the Blue Oyster Cult gig at the Nassau Coliseum Jan, 1978.

Here's an excerpt from Lifeson's great cover interview in Guitar Player, June 1980.

Which guitars did you use on Rush's first LP, Rush?

I used the 335 and a rented Rickenbacker 12-string. That's it for guitars. I played them through my Marshall 50 with a 4-12 cabinet, and I used a Maestro phase shifter, a Cry Baby wah-wah, and an Echoplex.

Did you go through a guitar-buying phase at that time?

I sure did. Some I bought because I wanted them, and others I bought to replace damaged instruments. We were doing a gig with Blue Oyster Cult at the Nassau Coliseum in Long Island, New York, a few years ago, and the double-neck cherry-finish Gibson I had bought in Nashville shortly before that got injured. The rigging wasn't done properly, and a long-throw horn speaker fell right on top of it, shearing the bridges off and taking huge chunks out of the body. Not only that, but the horn also fell on my 335 and gouged its neck out. That really hurt. The 335 had been with me for ten years; the neck was worn down just right, the finish was worn down from playing thousands of bars and high school dances, and I was proud of it. After that I said, "This guitar is staying home. I'm not taking any further chances with it."

What did you replace those guitars with?

I got a white Gibson EDS-1275 double-neck to replace the cherry-finish one, and I had a Gibson ES-355 made in 1976 with a cream-colored custom finish. That's my main guitar now.

At 7:50 in this "Rig Rundown" with Premier Guitar, Rush's Alex Lifeson's tech Scott Appleton shows us four G-Force TC Electronics; two are set for delays, one is set up for reverbs and pitch shifting, and the fourth one is set up exclusively for a flanger patch.

For Test for Echo, Lifeson used a 2101 in conjunction with a combination of Marshall heads to bind everything together. He mentions that "The important thing with that is to use it through a good speaker simulator, like the Palmer. The compensated outputs on the 2101 don’t quite do it for me, but through the Palmer it has nice body and width."

At 7:08 in this "Rig Rundown" with Premier Guitar, we're shown Alex's Cry Baby rack effect, which runs into his Mesa Boogie amp switch.

In this photo of Alex and his backline (said to be during the Hemispheres 1979 tour), you can see what is more than likely, two Roland RE-301s (heir and a spare) on top of his other equipment.

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

At 6:50 in this "Rig Rundown" with Premier Guitar, Rush's Alex Lifeson's tech Scott Appleton shows us a AR-PRO, which he says "you can plug it in anywhere in the world and it will always come out 120."

At 6:59 in this "Rig Rundown" with Premier Guitar, Rush's Alex Lifeson's tech Scott Appleton shows us 5 of Alex's PID-03s.

Farewell To Kings Tour pic. The Tapco Reverb is on top of the Tapco 2200 rack EQ, both in the rack on top of the Leslie cabinet. nestled between the Hiwatt stacks, and the Roland Space Echos (on the far left, on top of Geddy's bass cabinet(s))

Rush Equipment List - European Tour 1978

Alex Lifeson

Gibson Les Paul, Gibson Custom double-neck 6/12-string, Gibson 355, Fender Stratocaster, Gibson Dove acoustic, Epiphone C060 classic, Gibson B45 acoustic, 3 Barcus Berry studio pre-amps, 4 Hiwatt 100 watt amplifiers and cabinets, 2 Fender Twin Reverbs, Roland Boss Chorus, Roland Space Echo, Maestro Phase Shifter, 3 Cry-Baby wah-wah pedals, 2 Morley volume pedals, 2 Maestro parametric filters, Electro-Harmonix power boost, Moog Taurus bass pedals, Tapco graphic equalizer, Tapco reverb unit.

Geddy Lee

1969 Fender Precision bass, 1974 Rickenbacker bass, 1978 Rickenbacker bass, Rickenbacker custom double-neck 4/12 string, Moog Taurus bass pedals, Mini-Moog, Oberheim synthesizer, 2 Sunn 2 x 15" cabinets, 2 Ampeg V4B bass cabinets, 2 Ampeg 250 watt SVT amplifier heads.

Here's the link to the original article.

http://www.2112.net/powerwindows/transcripts/19780400beatinstrumental.htm#equipment

For Signals, Lifeson remarked "By that time I had a pretty comprehensive rack with two TC Electronic 2290s".

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

On Radial's website, Lifeson was mentioned as user of this direct box. He also said : "Since Radial came along, we are no longer rolling the dice!"

At 2:06, you can see PL-8C right below Axe-FX II

In this Rig Rundown by Premier Guitar, PL-8 can be seen at 5:41 in Alex's rack.

At 2:06, you can see Axe-FX II on the top of Alex's rack.

In this guitar player interview from April 1986 Alex was asked,

What causes the Far Eastern tone in the opening of "Territories"?

That's just the Ibanez HD-1000 Harmonics/Delay set at an octave above with a little bit of modulation. The harmonics level is set at about 70%, the direct is set at the full 100%, and I was on the middle pickup on the black Strat. I used left-hand finger-pulls. After that, it switches to a much crisper tone, and to do that in concert, I just switch to the back pickup.

Alex Lifeson, the guitarist, confirmed his use of the Maestro Echoplex EP-2 in a session by stating, "My effects were a Maestro phase-shifter and a good old Echoplex," as reported by Chris Gill in the Guitar World article titled "Alex Lifeson reveals his tone and playing secrets behind 11 landmark Rush tracks."

In Rick Beato's YouTube interview titled "The Alex Lifeson Interview," Alex Lifeson confirms at the 13:28 mark that he uses the Fractal Audio Axe-FX III Preamp/FX Processor for touring.