The Palmer gives me a low-end speaker sound and out of the Avalon I get a really deep and clear DI-sounding bass. That signal then goes to Palmer speaker simulator and then goes to one of two different kinds of SansAmps that I use. Presently I am using an Avalon U5 DI Box. Out of a need to develop something that I could use at home rather easily, I developed this system. I've been experimenting the last few years, using three different types of speaker simulators and not using any real live amp at all in terms of speakers or mic-ing speakers. Primarily, I use a Fender Jazz Bass '72 with a blonde neck and I've customized that just a little bit with a Bad-Ass bridge. Tell me about your bass-set-up these days.
Recently, Guitar Center sat down with Lee to talk about his choice of gear, his technique and his first step outside of his Canadian power trio. Now, Lee wants to be taken seriously again. Not to mention his face gracing more covers than any other bass player, due in large part to his vanguard approach to playing, which has inspired many to take the instrument very seriously. For over thirty years, the prog-rocker from north of the border has been the voice of Rush. The reproduction Blackies were constructed by a team of master builders, with each of the various 275 produced being assigned to one master builder.Geddy Lee has never been afraid of a challenge.
The original Blackie was exhaustively examined and measured for the reproduction. They were released on 24 November 2006 and sold out within hours. In November 2006, Fender announced a limited run of 275 Blackie reissues by the Fender Custom Shop, identical to the original. In 2006, another Stratocaster-signed by a large group of celebrities, including Clapton-was auctioned to benefit the victims of the 2004 Asian tsunami, selling for US$2.8 million surpassing Blackie's record. The auction's winner was the music equipment chain Guitar Center, and the bid set the record for the world's most expensive guitar.
In 2004, Blackie was sold for 959,500 USD at a Christie's auction to support the Crossroads Centre, a drug and alcohol addiction rehabilitation centre founded by Clapton. Songs recorded with "Blackie" Ĭlapton played "Blackie" almost exclusively on stage and in the studio from 1974 to 1985 recording hits such as " Cocaine", " I Shot The Sheriff", " Wonderful Tonight", " Farther Up the Road", " Lay Down Sally" and various live versions of " Layla" featured on several album covers and videos. In 2019, the guitar was on display at the " Play it Loud!" exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, also featuring other instruments from iconic musicians. Blackie was also brought out on stage for one number during the Royal Albert Hall shows in 1991. In 1988, the Eric Clapton Stratocaster was released, according to Clapton's specifications he began playing his new signature model shortly after.īlackie was seen again by the public for a 1990 television commercial for the Japanese automobile firm Honda when, at the specific request of the company, Clapton used Blackie to record a new guitar solo on " Bad Love" in New York and was filmed for the commercial doing so. Clapton would play Blackie for many years on and off stage (such as in his guest appearance in The Last Waltz) finally, after the Behind The Sun tour in 1985, it was retired due to issues with the neck. Ĭlapton first played Blackie live 13 January 1973 at the Rainbow Concert. 19) and Nashville luthier Ted Newman Jones assembled "Blackie", so named for its black finish. After giving one each to George Harrison, Pete Townshend, and Steve Winwood, he took the best parts of the remaining three (built c. He bought six 1950s Stratocasters for two or three hundred US dollars each. The same year, Clapton found the Sho-Bud guitar shop in Nashville, Tennessee. His first Stratocaster, nicknamed " Brownie" because of its sunburst brown finish, was used on his albums Eric Clapton and Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. In 1970, Clapton switched from Gibson electric guitars to Fender Stratocasters, largely due to the influences of Jimi Hendrix and Blind Faith bandmate Steve Winwood.