During my time with Mojotone, I developed three amplifier models for the Lerxst line of amplifiers for Alex Lifeson of Rush. In August of 2012, Alex was getting ready to go on the road for the Clockwork Angels tour cycle and wanted to use a Marshall Silver Jubilee for his main drive sound. During the recording of Clockwork Angels, he used a 2554 Silver Jubilee to track his guitar parts in the studio. Most of the amps he could find were either in rough shape and not really roadworthy, or they were priced very high on the used market. So he contacted Mojotone, where I worked at the time, to see if they could build one with some tweaks. I started with a JCM800-style chassis and Heyboer iron, built the amp on a turret board using carbon comp resistors, Mojo Dijon caps (mustard style), and CTS pots. The first amp, #001, was built over the course of a few long days. Then, in the late hours of a Thursday, the amp roared to life with a unique growl that shook the room! The next day, #001 was sent to their tour rehearsal space. Alex and Scotty plugged in the amp and A/B’d it with an old Jubilee they had there. The Jubilee was moved to a backup for #001. He loved the amp and asked for a second one to be built as a backup. So, a week later, #002 was shipped out to him. Both #001 and #002 were used on the Clockwork Angels and R40 tours for all of Alex’s main overdrive sounds. I caught up with Scotty at one point, and he mentioned that #001 never went down for either tour.
