The Rush guitarist partners with Mojotone on a new line of versatile, hand-built guitar amps and cabs.
Lerxst amplifiers are designed to offer a diverse palette of sounds that range from crystal-clear cleans to raging arena rock sounds and everything in between, supplemented with key features like power-scaling and serial effects loops to suit the needs of the next generation of sonic explorers, all designed to Lifesonās exacting specifications and handcrafted in the USA by Mojotone. The initial launch includes the Omega amplifier head, Chi amplifier head and combo, and an accompanying range of matching guitar cabinets.
Omega is Alex Lifesonās signature amplifier and the flagship of the Lerxst line. This British-voiced amplifier head features footswitchable clean and lead channels with a shared 3-band EQ, meaning a consistent tonal foundation between sounds while still offering shimmering cleans, gutsy rhythm crunch, and soaring lead tones. The amplifier has a switchable 50/25 watt power section to give it an equally usable powerband on large stages as well as in small clubs and the studio as well as a high-quality serial effects loop perfect for utilizing modulation and time-based effects.
"Lifesonās signature sounds are easily within reach with Omega, but its versatile, characterful sounds are equally useful for players looking to chase their own creative muses and sonic landscapes." In addition to its standard version, Omega will also be offered in a Limited Edition Hand Wired version for a short time.
Lifeson stated, āIām very excited about the new, updated Omega amp. It sounds incredible and itās very handsome ā youāll want to get one even if you donāt play guitar!ā
Chi takes the growl and tone of the Omega and places it within a more compact form factor. The 30-watt amplifier is built around 6L6 tubes for excellent headroom and a clear, articulate sound and is available as both a smallbox head and a 1x12 combo amplifier. In keeping with its lineage, Chi also includes footswitchable clean and lead channels and a serial effects loop, making it equally versatile on stage or in the studio.
āIāve used more amps than Dr. Frankenstein did when breathing life into his creature, but the Lerxst Chi is an awesome monster in its own right and one of the sweetest sounding amps Iāve ever heard,ā said Lifeson. āAll the great character of the Omega in a cool, compact package that you donāt have to be a seven-foot monster to carry around.ā
Both amplifiers are also accompanied by a range of guitar cabinets in multiple speaker configurations, including 1x12, 2x12, and 4x12, ideal for any stage configuration or studio application. All amplifiers and cabinets are handcrafted to the highest standards with top quality components in Mojotoneās Burgaw, NC-based factory. The cabinets, head shells, and combo speaker cabinets are made of voidless baltic birch and finished with a striking race gray and red garnet levant Tolex finish for a lifetime of gigging and playing.
Omega Specifications
- 3x JJ 12AX7 Preamp Tubes
- Selectable Impedances: 4, 8 or 16 ohms
- Switchable Power Output between 50 and 25 Watts
- Two Channels (Switchable)
- Shared three-band EQ
- 2x JJ EL34 Power Tubes
- Footswitchable clean and lead channels (Can also use pull knob on Master volume)
- Speaker Outputs: 2x JĀ¼" Jacks (16Ī©/ 8Ī©/ 4Ī©)
- Included Lerxst Footswitch
- Inputs: 1x Instrument Jack, Footswitch
- Controls: Presence, Bass, Middle, Treble, Output Master, Channel Select, Lead Master, Input Gain
- Dimensions: (H) 10 Ā¾" x (W) 29" x (D) 8 Ā¼"
- Serial effects loop
- Weight: 44lbs
- MAP $3,495 (Limited Edition Hand Wired AmplifierHead) or $2,495 (Standard Edition Amplifier Head)
Chi Specifications
- Custom CTS Potentiometers
- Finger-jointed Baltic Birch Cabinet
- Custom built in Burgaw, NC USA
- Carbon Comp Resistors
- Starman Power Indicator Light
- Lerxst Chi One Button Footswitch Included
- Footswitchable clean and lead channels (Can also use pull knob on Master volume)
- Race Grey and Red Garnet Levant Tolex Finish
- Shared three-band EQ
- Power Output: 30 Watts
- Hand-loaded PC Board construction
- Serial Effects Loop
- USA Made Heyboer Transformers
- Mojotone Dijon Coupling Capacitors
- Selectable Impedances: 4, 8 or 16 ohms
- Three JJ 12AX7 preamp tubes and two JJ 6L6 power tubes
- MAP $1,995 (Chi Combo Amplifier) or $1695 (Chi Amplifier Head)
āThere has been an explosion of guitar music within the past five years that has been incredible to witness in its diversity of sounds and players. Lerxst amplifiers provide a platform for these players that offers the power and quality of tone of the best amplifiers of the past, while also providing key features like power scaling and high-quality effects loops that reflect the needs of players today.ā
For more information, please visit lerxstamps.com.
- Rig Rundown: Rush's Alex Lifeson āŗ
- Interview: Alex Lifeson āŗ
- Obsessive Progressive: Rushās Alex Lifeson āŗ
- Transform Your Sound with Lerxst Chi Alex Lifeson Amp Demo | First Look āŗ
- Lerxst Announces Snow Dog Limited Edition Octave Fuzz Pedal āŗ
- Lerxst Limited Edition Wah/Blah Pedal Announced - Premier Guitar āŗ
Michael Trent and Cary Ann Hearst have been making music as Shovels & Rope since 2008. The husband-and-wife duo from South Carolina specialize in rootsy, bluesy rock, Americana, and alt-country, but they donāt confine themselves to traditional two-piece arrangements. They switch off on vocal, guitar, percussion, and synth duty throughout their shows, orchestrating a full-band ruckus with all available limbs.
Their seventh full-length, Something Is Working Up Above My Head, released in September last year, and while touring in support of it, they stopped at Nashvilleās Brooklyn Bowl in late February. PGās John Bohlinger caught up with Trent before the gig to see what tools he and Hearst use to maintain their musical juggling act.
Brought to you by DāAddario.Black Bird
Trentās not a guitar snob: Generally speaking, he plays whatever he can get his hands on. While playing Eddie Vedderās Ohana Fest, someone loaned him this Gretsch Black Falcon, and he fell in love with it. He likes its size compared to the broader White Falcon. Itās also the bandās only electric, so if it goes down, itās back to acoustic. Hearst takes turns on it, too.
Trent loads the heaviest strings he can onto it, which is a set of .013s. It lives in standard tuning.
Ol' Faithful
As Trent explains, he and Hearst have done some DIY decorating on this beautiful Gibson J-45āitās adorned with sweat droplets, stains, and fingernail dust. It runs direct to the venueās front-of-house system with an LR Baggs pickup. This one is strung with Martin heavy or medium gauge strings; lighter ones are too prone to snapping under Trentās heavy picking hand (which holds a Dunlop Max-Grip .88 mm pick). And it rolls around in an Enki tour case.
On Call
These second-stringersāa Loar archtop and an LR Baggs-equipped Recording Kingāare on hand in case of broken strings or other malfunctions.
Need for Tweed
Trent doesnāt trust amps with too many knobs, so this tweed Fender Blues Junior does the trick. It can get fairly loud, so thereās a Universal Audio OX Amp Top Box on hand to tame it for some stages.
Shovels & Rope's Pedalboard
Because Trent and Hearst trade off bass, guitar, keys, and percussion duties, all four of their limbs are active through the set. Whoever is on guitars works this board, with an MXR Blue Box, Electro-Harmonix Nano Big Muff, EarthQuaker Devices Hummingbird, and Boss OC-5, plus a pair of Walrus Canvas Tuners for the electric and acoustic. Utility boxes on the board include a Walrus Canvas Passive Re-Amp, Radial J48, Livewire ABY1, and a Mesa Stowaway input buffer.
A Roland PK-5 MIDI controller, operated by foot, sits on the lower edge of the board. It controls the board for āThing 2,ā one of two MicroKORG synths onstage.
Thing 1 and Thing 2
Thereās no one backstage helping Hearst and Trent cook up all their racket; they handle every sound themselves, manually. During the first few sets of a tour, youāre liable to see some headaches, like forgetting to switch synth patches during a song, but eventually they hit a rhythm.
Affectionately given Seuss-ian nicknames, this pair of microKORGs handles bass notes through the set, among other things, via the foot-controlled PK5. āThing 1ā is set up at the drum station, and runs through a board with an EHX Nano Big Muff, EHX Bass9, EHX Nano Holy Grail, and a Radial Pro DI. A Walrus Aetos keeps them all powered up.
The board for āThing 2,ā beside the guitar amps, includes an EHX Mel9 and Bass9 powered by a Truetone 1 SPOT Pro, plus a Radial ProD2.
