The GENIUS of Rush - Alex Lifeson's Epiphone Axcess Custom 🎸🔥 

I absolutely love the video of a young Alex telling his parents he isn't going to college. It is like capturing a moment of music history.

RUsh was my first concert. I started playing music after that.

Ben, tat ruby red' definitely caught my eyes...don't know 😊 but I've fetish for tat color ...thanks a ton for covering tat Epic Band ' 🤘🤘❤

Excellent video & what an awesome looking & sounding guitar. I can't afford any more new guitars at the moment but I did recently buy myself a nice treat and it showed up this afternoon, I actually got one of the new "Lerxst By - Tor Over Drive Pedal" They only made 500 of them!!!! I got 453/500 and I am stoked big time. My neighbors will be hearing this new pedal through my Marshall Tube Amp all day tomorrow & probably a little bit this evening! Rush has always been my favorite band since I was 12 years old in 1978 and I taught myself how to play guitar by playing along with Rush, Led Zeppelin & Jimi Hendrix LPs. It was fun to watch your video because you can tell you love Rush & you appear genuinely excited about the guitar.

Loved every minute of this really cool story! That guitar looks and sounds amazing!💙

Dude - awesome video. I've been a Rush fan since the first album - KSHE, the local rock radio station, played "In The Mood" every Friday night at 7:45 and we got to know Rush real early on. The guitar looks and sounds amazing - the Out of Phase sound with the gain dialed up was snarky squawk on steroids!. Also - your 3 AM frenzy was gonzo. ROCK ON BENNY!

I had to pause this at the 7:27 mark to say this is your best video. If I could give 1000 likes I would super glue my thumb to my screen. 👏🏻🤘🏻

Another great informative video and review. Can’t believe i missed this one ! Cheers from NZ 😎🎸🤘

Great review. The Rush love is awesome too. I'm a Gen Xer and I grew up with friends that were really into Rush. Rush fans are loyal and super passionate. Cool stuff as always man.

I believe your video's have taking on a new level of information Benny. I have always enjoyed your video's. Thanks for the time you invest.

Just started learning to play... When I saw that guitar I had to get one. I'm a huge RUSH fan

Oh WOW, a video on the gentleman that inspired me to first pick up the instrument!!! Thankyou Benny and I hope you've gained a few new subscribers cos I've been directing a lot of people to this channel.

Omg BMG! 😂😂😂 Been there. Got hooked, and then my mom had to make up some story to get them to stop sending CD’s so we would t be obligated to pay past that one cent. Also did the same with Columbia’, Tower Records, etc. It was easy as mailing in those postcards, checking the boxes to pick your CD’s, and sending a check for a penny! Yes, I had a checkbook at 12 after my bat mitzvah where I would dump my baby sitting money, lol. Anyway, this is a cool guitar for sure. I agree with you that it costs too much with less value than you’d expect at that price - it should have Gibson pickups, mother of pearl inlays, and all that jazz. If they can do those things with some of the $599-$889, anything above that should surely be top of the line. But if someone is looking for a Floyd on a LP without mods, here’s the ticket! I also wish the Axcess would have been added to the LP Modern and some of the more “metal” guitars. The carve they have is a bit silly cause it’s like 80% of the way to being an Axcess. May as well ditch that heel joint. But I digress. . . . Rush is just unique. They’ve gotta something for everyone. Their songs have complex depth and body. I have no idea how they need out so much while writing music, but it clear works! And thanks to #SamAsh for continuing to support this channel! Benny really puts a lot of thought and time into his vids. Keep sending him stuff to show us! Maybe let him give us some of the stuff too! Wink, wink! 😉😇🙏🏻🤘🏻🎸

2112 blew my mind the 1st time I heard it. Neil Pert is what drew me to them. I think it’s clear you are a Rush fan.

As far as veneer tops go, that’s got some kickass looks. Love the color too. If people only knew how serious I am considering I have “The Joker” flame top les paul. 😉

🥰 Brilliant video, big love from the Uk 🇬🇧 🥰

I am Canadian, and what you say is all true. Rush is a national treasure! To me, they are more important than the Leafs or Tim Hortons, and that is saying a lot. Great format for a video, speaking about a guitarist and their guitar(s)! Long live Rush!

I can't help but smile twice a day when my iPhone clock reads 2112.

The pickups are not bad at all! But I agree, GO USA for any Epi over $1k. That's what I say! I do love this guitar as it is, & after listening to you, I can hear a few quacky tones in there! I'm gonna have to plug mine in now!

I’m a guitarist and no disrespect to Alex or Geddy either they are quite talented obviously… But my favourite thing about RUSH has always been Neil’s drumming, he’s like a freakin octopus 🐙 back there behind the kit ! 😄 He was definitely one of the best drummers 🥁 to ever live ! He also has the respect of many other musicians and even just regular people that mostly like other types of music ( not even RUSH ) like country or metal, blues that really loved his work on the skins. When you hear someone as good as he was it’s just undeniable 🤘🏻. As far as the Alex Lifeson Epiphone signature, I like it a lot ! 👍🏻👍🏻 Looks classy, has a Floyd ( definitely somewhat rare on a Les Paul) good pickups , and Epiphone’s quality is pretty damn good really. The price is decent and it sounds good clean 🧼 But this thing is a total Rock Machine ! 🎸🔊☠️ It really seemed to come alive with a bit of Overdrive /Distortion and Delay / Reverb on it and I’d say it really shines in that area ! It seems to be made for riffing out hard and solos ! I do like that Floyd on there cuz you just don’t see them like that very often which kinda makes it fun right outa the case ! I mostly play all hard tail guitars but I’ve got an LTD -Alexi Laho ( Children of Bodem guitarist - R.I.P. 🤘🏻) signature V ( looks same as a RR Randy Rhodes Jackson V ) with a volume knob and an EMG bridge only pickup (🤔 think it’s an 85 but can’t remember for sure 😄) and a Floyd Rose on it. Was $400 in the pawn shop , that thing is a straight up very simple workhorse metal machine! 🤘🏻😎🤘🏻

How you doing, brother. Love you channel thank you

And I was told (on another YT video) that "Mother of Pearl" was used on the headstock (which you covered @ around 14:45).

INDEED!!!! RUSH IS THE REAL DEAL!!! DIFFERENT STRINGS….TREES….NATURAL SCIENCE AND YYZ ARE SOME OF MY FAVORITES!!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️✊🏿✊🏿✊🏿✊🏿✊🏿✊🏿✊🏿✊🏿✊🏿

Somehow I missed this one. Thanks for the tag.

I'm old enough to remember when affordable guitars were bad. We've come a long way

I mean Geddy would be singing, playing the bass (ad well as it's ever been played IMO) and playing keyboards with his feet. Neil Peart is with only minor discussion the best drummer to ever whack a skin. And Alex Lifeson has a musical vision unique in the business. Rush is all of that. And more. Thank you my friend for putting them in your spotlight

Funny you mention putting in the 498t & 490r (at about $130.00 each). I did that for years, but have since changed from the 490r to Seymour Duncan Jazz in the bridge because it is brighter.

Great review, Benny. Rush has always been a band that cared more about its fans than any others. A a big FU to the record company with 2112 and one to the RRHOF.

I had one of these reserved @ Sweetwater but changed my mind because of the pickups. 498 or Burstbucker should have been selected. As far as the inlays Abalone no1 and mother of pearl 2nd. Warmoth offers a LP style body with Floyd routing so that’s a option! 🎸 🤟🏻

Excellent axe

Cool

They are also huge MST3K fans... Love them.. lucky to have seen them twice

Of course alex is great. First player i remember with a les paul an floyd was steven clark from def leppard

The first half of your video could have been the Hall of Fame speech introduction. Excellently done, subscribed. Loved the Road House blues, my son plays it on his, we're called The Electricfiers check us out.

Great vid and demo. Not a big fan of the ceramic pick ups. @ a price point of 899, that’s modifiable but not at 1300.

I got that Rush collection from BMG as well. 🤣

Yes Subdivisions best rush song ever

Stunning tone 😮. I can't find the song of the riff you play at 20 minutes and it's obsessing me like crazy 😐

Forgive my rant here but I've been considering this guitar for months and I've decided the cons outweigh the pros. The value of the previous model was probably actually worth 1,000-1,300 and this new model would be too if the pickups were better. You'd think with no piezo, they would've make the pickups its main selling point but nope. I think the ruby one should be 800-1000, closer to what the previous one originally was. Their pricing is totally backwards which is a whole issue in itself. Epiphone as a company I mean. We're getting less features now and paying an extra 500! With this new ruby version, I can assure you that Epiphone didn't go with some rare exotic gold hardware and a really expensive maple top or something, they cut corners where they could and even in places where they shouldn't like the pickups. They might be paying Alex a little bit more this time around but not THAT much more. I mean, gimme a break. No, they saw how popular the first one was, discontinued it, cut corners on a newer cheaper model, saw what the used prices were going for on the first model and decided on that price point for the new one. Screw Epiphone. Profits over passion. They don't really care about their own products in the same way Paul from PRS cares about his for example, not in the slightest. Epiphone could easily still make profits without cutting as many corners, but they're too greedy and want to maximize it. As a huge Rush fan I want this guitar, but not when a company choose "f*** you" pricing, at that point I don't care what artist's name is on the headstock, I won't buy it. The reality is, the pickups make this guitar sound like a toy. They're counting on Rush fans overlooking that. If it was 800 like the previous model you could swap the pickups, but paying 1,300 and then swapping pickups on top of that? No thanks. How does Apple get away with charging what they charge? Because there are people out there loaded with money willing to pay it. Epiphone is going the same way as Apple, overcharging for what they think certain people are willing to pay. If that's how they want to run their company then I just won't give them my money, and I don't think I'm alone in feeling this way.

Geddy Lee and Dave Mustaine are the two best voices in Metal.

the smartest people in the world listen to rush. yes i bought this guitar and it's worth every penny. best musicians ever.

I know Im going bald ! 😂

Ohhh shit. Epiphone Gibson etc etc etc. Who knows anymore

Dude, I 100% thought Rush had a female singer when I was a kid. I remember finding out many years later that it a dude and was like wtf and then hearing Tom Sawyer on the radio like a year later and totally forgetting it was a guy. He sounds just like a woman in some of those songs.

Probably about as cool as a les paul can be without it being a Tremonti