We were contacted by a Rush super fan that wanted a guitar rig specifcally copied from the "Snakes & Arrows" period.
We made a few design adjustments to accommodate for the non-performance aspects of this particular rig, no Palmer Speaker Emulators for DI input from power amps. We also subtracted the 2nd Hughes & Kettner SwitchBlade amp & cabinets. Half stacks for each amp rather than full stacks.
The player is using his Gibson Les Paul Axcess Alex Lifeson Signature Edition guitar with the split outputs for Magnetic & Piezo pickups. We were also able to help the client source a Bill Nash built Telecaster Prototype with the same Bridge, Piezo & Magnetic Pickups as the Gibson Les Paul Axcess.
The signal flow is;
Piezo >> Muting Switch >> Fishman Aura DI >> Traynor AM Standard Acoustic Amp
Magnetic >> Dunlop Rack Wah >> Dunlop Rack Wah Volume Circuit >> Mesa Amp Switcher Input
Mesa Amp Switcher S&R #1 >> Tri Amp #1, S&R #2 >> Tri Amp #2, S #3 >> SwitchBlade 100
Switchblade Effects Loop S & R >> Hughes & Kettner RotoSphere
Tri Amp #1 & #2 Effects Loop Sends to Mesa Amp Switcher. Amp Switcher Output >> Axess Electronics GRX 4 #1 Input >> S & R #1 >> Behringer Gate, Send #2 >> TC Electronic 1210, Send #3 >> TC Electronic GForce #1, Out >> Axess Electronics GRX 4 #2 Input >> Send #1 TC Electronic GForce #2, Send #2 TC Electronic GForce #3, Send #3 TC Electronic GForce #4, Axess Electronics GRX 4 #2 Output >> Digital Music Corp System Mix Plus Mix 1 Input. 1210 & GForce Outputs are routed to Digital Music Corp System Mix Plus Mix 2 Inputs in Stereo. (Mixer Modifier to reassign 3 inputs from Mix 1 to Mix 2 and normalize Mix 1 into Mix 2). Mix 2 Outputs >> Tri Amp #1 & #2 Effects Return.
In keeping with Alex Lifeson's use of the hardware in the original rig, the client wanted to manually articulate the Amp Channel Switching rather under MIDI command. To remove the not so robust DSub 9 Pin connections from the pedalboard we modified the proprietary H&K Footswitch for the TriAmp. We dropped the Effects Loop switching (in this rig the loop is on all the time) and converted to connector type between the rack & pedalboard to a more robust 7 Pin XLR.
If you have a particular rig in mind that you'd like to own a copy of please contact us we can make your rig fantasies come true.
All Custom Wiring, Power Supplies, I/O Boxes, Switchable Amp Earth Isolation Box, & Rack Panels by Nice Rack Canada.
