Geddy Lee

The Canadian Music Scene sits down with John Mcntosh, Geddy Lee's Bass Tech and talks about how Geddy uses a Palmer PDI-05 Speaker Simulator.

This site shows a photo of Lee's keyboard rig, which includes a Roland Fantom-X7.

Geddy uses this for his clean sound, live and in the studio

Geddy uses the "relic'd" version of this bass on the track "Malignant Narcissism" off of their Snakes & Arrows album in 2007.

A cabinet simulator Geddy uses. This photo is from the official Orange website regarding Geddy Lee and this Sim can be seen.

"Had a blast visiting the current home of John Entwistle's "Frankenstein" Fender Precision Bass...Wow! ...what tone! And what a privilege to spend some time playing that legendary instrument.... #theOx #FenderPbass #Frankenstein #thewho #Tommy #liveatleeds #wontgetfooledagain"

"#Basstime #Tokyo #63SonicBluePbass"

"#Basstime #Tokyo #This58PbassRocks"

In this photo, you can see Geddy Lee with American Vintage Jazz Bass.

In the beginning of the "Subdivisions" music video, it can be seen that he is using an OB-X, as the OB-Xa has blue pinstriped-lines running vertically across the entirety of the synth, whereas this one has the grey panel/boxes around the buttons and knobs that would be found on the OB-X.

His setup can be seen with his keyboard tech Tony Geranios in this image.

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)

Geddy Lee can be seen standing next to his Oberheim Eight Voice in this photo.

The new U.S.A. Geddy Lee Jazz Bass is a new version that combines the specs and features of Lee’s three favorite basses—two Fender Custom Shop versions of his signature model and the original sleek black ’72 Jazz Bass that Rush’s revered bassist/vocalist has riffed away on in front of millions of devoted fans worldwide and on many a mega-selling album. The neck has a thicker custom profile, topped by a maple fingerboard with elegant white binding and white pearloid block inlays. For enormous tone that crackles with life and bristles with the energy, its two vintage-style single-coil Jazz Bass pickups are specially wound and voiced to sound like those on Lee’s prized 1972 original, and a Geddy Lee signature High-Mass bridge provides rock-solid intonation.

In an article from Spin, Geddy Lee is mentioned using the Oberheim OB-1 synthesizer. It is identified as the left keyboard in front of the Oberheim 8 Voice SEM modules, which appear to be split, leaving only the Mini-Moog and the 8 Voice keyboard positioned for the audience.

An Ampeg Devil AUSB-1 Fretless can be seen in Lee's studio, to his right, in this photo.

"Mr. P...we're ready for your closeup" Throwing some love at the 50's and 60's Precisions today.... Love 'em! #FenderPBass #vintagebassguitars #bassporn #HappyVictoriaDay #customcoloursrule #PrecisionFest2017"

Geddy Lee uses the Yamaha KX76 Synthesizer, as referenced on his Wikipedia page.

IE: You played the pink paisley [Telecaster Bass] on the R40 tour, didn’t you?

GL: Yes, I did. And I had the guitar version, which I loaned to Alex [Lifeson] so he would match. He’s a reluctant vintage guy. I have to provide all the best vintage instruments to him to use (laughs). Anyway, there are a few things out there that I’m still looking for.

When Joe Bonamassa was in town a few weeks ago, he came over for dinner and we had a gathering of the Toronto guitar geeks at my house and had a great time. Joe brought it to his soundcheck the next day and gave it his thumbs up! I like guitars, too, but I don’t play them. I can play guitar and I use it from time to time as a writing tool, but I’m a bass player and sometimes I feel like having these amazing guitars is a bit of a waste in my hands, and they should be with players like Joe. But I do have a mad passion for certain guitars. I always said Alex, my partner in crime for all these years, sounds best with a 335 or a Les Paul in his hands. His white 355 is such a killer, great-sounding instrument!

In the Tom Sawyer music video, you can see that Geddy is singing into the AKG C414 Comb condenser microphone. This is most likely what he used for the rest of the album.

In this photo from Keyboard Magazine, it lists two Sequential Circuits Prophet VSs as part of Geddy Lee's keyboard setup.

This image shows Geddy Lee playing a Mellotron M400.

""Mr. P...we're ready for your closeup" Throwing some love at the 50's and 60's Precisions today.... Love 'em! #FenderPBass #vintagebassguitars #bassporn #HappyVictoriaDay #customcoloursrule #PrecisionFest2017"

Geddy Lee uses a 1960 Fender Jazz Bass, as highlighted in an Instagram post by geddyimages, featuring hashtags like #jazzbassheaven and #finevintages during the R40 Live tour.

In this video link, he is promoting his new signature DI box from Tech 21.

It can be seen with his setup in this image

geddy can be seen with this guitar alongside several basses in this photo.

"... and if you look closely, you can barely see a sliver of a white Hagstrom bass in my hands! One of my very first instruments ... When putting my bass book together I searched high and low, to no avail, for a photo of this bass ... so I'm super pleased to share this moment of my long forgotten past." #digtheshorthair #garagebandsrule #HagstromHIIB

https://www.instagram.com/p/CBwL7WLAfKf/

In this video on Dee Dee Ramone, a photo of Lee is shown at 5:00, and just over Lee's shoulder is a Red Mosrite Ventures Bass.