Xanadu guitar tone
Rush · Alex Lifeson
A Farewell to Kings (Anthem/Mercury, 1977)
British clean-to-crunch with heavy tape echo, chime and power
The rig Rush used
Researched from interviews, production write-ups and gear histories — not guessed.
Guitar
Gibson ES-355
Amplifier
Hiwatt Custom 100 (DR103) and Marshall JMP 2204
Cabinet
Hiwatt 4x12 (Fane)
Microphone
Shure SM57
Signal chain
The order the original sound was built in. The exact settings get dialled for your own amp or modeller when you generate the tone.
Get this tone on your rig
Pick your amp or modeller and we’ll build Xanadu for it — with a preset file you can load, not a list of knob positions.
Why we think this is right
A Farewell to Kings was recorded at Rockfield Studios, Wales, in June 1977. Lifeson's core was a Gibson ES-355 into Hiwatt Custom 100 (DR103) heads with a 50W Marshall for the heavier passages, and the ambience that defines the first half of Xanadu is Maestro Echoplex tape echo with a Maestro PS-1A phase shifter. Two of those claims rest on the same dated interview, Guitar Player, June 1980, in which Lifeson says he preferred the Maestro phaser to the MXR Phase 90 and 100 because it was subtler, and that he had used a Boss chorus continuously since A Farewell To Kings. That interview is the reason the phaser attribution is now properly sourced and the reason a CE-1 has been added. The weakest point is the Marshall: 'JMP 50' names a power rating rather than a model, and the choice between a master-volume 2204 and a non-master 1987 Super Lead 50 changes what controls the amp even has, so the block is scored at 45 with the consequence of being wrong written out.
Sources
- Alex Lifeson, Guitar Player, June 1980 - Maestro phaser preferred to MXR Phase 90/100; Boss chorus used 'ever since A Farewell To Kings'
- Equipboard - Rush, A Farewell to Kings album gear
- Rockfield Studios session accounts for A Farewell to Kings
- Maestro Echoplex EP-3 and Boss CE-1 product histories (for the era-window check)