Trey's rig for Dead 50th

[dontpanic]

Found this over on RU Kind. Thought some might be interested if you have not yet seen....
http://www.phantasytour.com/bands/phish/threads/3965923/gd50-trey-rig-content

[Jkendrick]

What, specifically,  are we looking at here? That he has a Mu-Tron clone? Is there more I'm missing? 

[dontpanic]

That, and a script phase 100, distortion +, a couple of new speakers, and SMS black box. All of the gear is coming from Sarno. I should link the RU Kind thread I snagged it from - better read.  Just thought it was interesting to see the tweaks being made to the rig for the shows. Maybe that SMS preamp will get dusted off for the weekend...

[Heady Jam Fan]

The SMS Blackbox, along with buffering your signal, does add a nice dimension to clean settings (but gets buried when you turn on some overdrive). Its not too surprising considering Trey added that buffer right after his guitar not too long ago. I know Sarno is pretty proud of his Black Box and, IIRC, Steel String guys love it. I'm sure Sarno was talking it up as a replacement to that buffer. The only downsize of it is that its big and requires its own power, but that isn't an issue for Trey (or his crew, I should say).

It will be interesting to hear the Phase 100. I've been using an original Phase 90 as a smaller, cheaper, simpler replacement for a Vibe for years now. I wonder if Trey will dig it enough to use on his own tour, or if it will kinda get forgotten. In some ways I prefer a Phase 90 to a Vibe, in other ways, a Vibe has a really cool... vibe. However, and it sounds snobby, but I didn't mesh with any MXR Phasers except an original made in the first year of production. Even the ones a year or two later were noisier and less natural sounding.

I've bought an sold Envelope Filter / Auto Wah pedals several times, from MXR to the Ibanez "mini-mu-tron." Really cool sound, but finicky pedals! Especially for a player like Trey who rides his volume knob - you really need to set these pedals up for one volume setting on one pickup. I'm assuming he will set it up for stuff like Estimate Prophet. Has he been using it in his rig with Phish? I wonder if he turns off his TS9 and/or Comp when he wants to use it clean.

I don't really know much about the Distortion +. It seems to get a lot of either love or hate. IIRC, the vintage ones warm up a bit as you drive them harder, but the newer ones stay a bit flatter regarding the EQ, which makes them a bit harsh/buzzy on the top-end. Switching from a TS>Comp with Celestion speakers to a Distortion + with JBL's would really big a big change in tone for Trey. Definitely toward the Garcia direction.

I've gone back to big speakers - namely Electrovoice rather than JBL - and I always return to Celestion. They do sound cool, but never cut through quite as much. I have an EV Force 12 in my backup cab (which is listed for sale locally). I think this will be good for the GD50 show, but I hope Trey goes back to his TS and Celestions after that.

Now, it will be interesting to see what stuff particular to Trey's normal rig stays in the mix for GD50! Still using the hollowbody, or a solid mahogany guitar? Whammy II that has become such a familiar part of his leads?

[Jkendrick]

Oh cool, I definitely did not see all of that. That's a LOT of change for a player like Trey who really has only had tweaks to his rig since the '80s. This sounds like Jerry's late 70s rig. I'm partial to his early to mid-70s sound a bit more. I wonder if the Black Box is a substitute for Jerry's Unity Gain Buffer. I don't know much about them other than the Umphrey's guys swear by them IIRC. This definitely signals that Trey is taking this VERY seriously.  I still have no interest in attending these shows, but I'm definitely intrigued as to how Trey's style will change. I can't play things like GD and Phish without sounding somewhat like Jerry or Trey respectively. That's what's behind Trey's "kill mommy" philosophy. I, for one, would be happy if he left some of his repetitive phrase, in-the-pocket stuff behind in favor of more melodic playing.

[Heady Jam Fan]

Oh cool, I definitely did not see all of that. That's a LOT of change for a player like Trey who really has only had tweaks to his rig since the '80s. This sounds like Jerry's late 70s rig. I'm partial to his early to mid-70s sound a bit more. I wonder if the Black Box is a substitute for Jerry's Unity Gain Buffer. I don't know much about them other than the Umphrey's guys swear by them IIRC. This definitely signals that Trey is taking this VERY seriously.  I still have no interest in attending these shows, but I'm definitely intrigued as to how Trey's style will change. I can't play things like GD and Phish without sounding somewhat like Jerry or Trey respectively. That's what's behind Trey's "kill mommy" philosophy. I, for one, would be happy if he left some of his repetitive phrase, in-the-pocket stuff behind in favor of more melodic playing.

I think the Black Box will be somewhat like JG's buffer; however it is not a replacement for the OBEL system: his volume and tone knobs are still pre-pedals. This means that, unlike Jerry, Trey can use his volume knob to clean up a dirt pedal, but cannot use his volume knob without messing up the Mu-Tron. It also means the volume knob has a greater effect on tone I think.

As far as attending the show, I would have loved to, but its not in the cards. However, I will look forward to buying (or scrounging up) a copy of the live recording.

[Jkendrick]

Oh cool, I definitely did not see all of that. That's a LOT of change for a player like Trey who really has only had tweaks to his rig since the '80s. This sounds like Jerry's late 70s rig. I'm partial to his early to mid-70s sound a bit more. I wonder if the Black Box is a substitute for Jerry's Unity Gain Buffer. I don't know much about them other than the Umphrey's guys swear by them IIRC. This definitely signals that Trey is taking this VERY seriously.  I still have no interest in attending these shows, but I'm definitely intrigued as to how Trey's style will change. I can't play things like GD and Phish without sounding somewhat like Jerry or Trey respectively. That's what's behind Trey's "kill mommy" philosophy. I, for one, would be happy if he left some of his repetitive phrase, in-the-pocket stuff behind in favor of more melodic playing.

I think the Black Box will be somewhat like JG's buffer; however it is not a replacement for the OBEL system: his volume and tone knobs are still pre-pedals. This means that, unlike Jerry, Trey can use his volume knob to clean up a dirt pedal, but cannot use his volume knob without messing up the Mu-Tron. It also means the volume knob has a greater effect on tone I think.

As far as attending the show, I would have loved to, but its not in the cards. However, I will look forward to buying (or scrounging up) a copy of the live recording.

Yeah I wasn't trying to be negative.  I saw 115 Grateful Dead shows between '83-'95 and a bunch of post-Jerry stuff. I came to the conclusion that, for the most part, the magic ended for me around 1990. Jerry was just that integral  to it for me and he seemed to lose interest after Brent died, and especially after Hornsby stopped touring with them. We have a family vacation that week, but we planned it to be back home in time to watch the (presumed) webcasts. As I said, I'm interested, just not interested enough to go.

I'm looking forward to the Bend shows. To me, there's no question that the Halloween album sets greatly influenced Trey's playing. This seems like that x100. Can't wait to hear how that translates to Phish.

[Hoody]

I think phish fans are the luckiest music fans.  All of us as players are influenced/learn from leaning other people's songs and styles.  Phish takes this to the extreme.  They're masterfully diverse and skilled because they immerse themselves in learning the songs, styles and approach of so many others.  And they only get better because of it.  They almost reinvent themselves over and over.  It's fantastic

I think trey is going to come back from this experience as a better guitarist, with more tricks and subtler touch.  And perhaps new gear that he learns some new things with.  He lives for learning the guitar and I can't believe how lucky we are to be fans of someone who works so hard 30+ years in.  Most acts as big as phish are happy to just play the same stuff or new stuff only slightly different than the old stuff. 

I'm excited to see what they do this summer and what they do with the new album (the Halloween songs).  These guys work hard!

[Mister Buddy]

I'm glad that Trey is taking the GD50 shows so seriously, as he ought, but I wish he'd spend time wood-shedding some of his own compositions. He's been flubbing the walk up in Theme and Taste for years  

[dontpanic]

For me, Jerry's 80's tone is it. Especially 84 and 85. That dirty, squirty clean is to die for. The distortion (which was boss at this point as we probably all know) is another story. I see Trey pulling the D+ with a ts9 (he's got to have his roots here as well). I for one am not opposed to boss overdrive, as I run the silver SD-1 with a brown ts9 before the Ross. Similar but different tones here. That boss really opens up a bit, which is most likely the silver mod. As far as speakers, I think there was a mention of something, but nothing definite. I would really like to hear Trey here, just with some Jerry touches.

[Heady Jam Fan]

For me, Jerry's 80's tone is it. Especially 84 and 85. That dirty, squirty clean is to die for. The distortion (which was boss at this point as we probably all know) is another story. I see Trey pulling the D+ with a ts9 (he's got to have his roots here as well). I for one am not opposed to boss overdrive, as I run the silver SD-1 with a brown ts9 before the Ross. Similar but different tones here. That boss really opens up a bit, which is most likely the silver mod. As far as speakers, I think there was a mention of something, but nothing definite. I would really like to hear Trey here, just with some Jerry touches.

Yeah, I love those 80's tones too. The audio recording quality really improved from 80 to 90.

[Walker done done]

Good stuff, thanks for sharing this

[dontpanic]

I just want to reiterate that I am really feeling Trey's octave envy filter tone. I think someone on here once said something along the lines of.... "The problem is you turn it on and you just sound like Jerry." Not a bad thing of course, but very true. Trey has really been cranking a nice, unique tron tone out of the tru. Pretty sick IMO. Anybody else diggin this? Anybody got a tru, or other filter and octave and copping these tones? I run a Ibanez AF9, which is a great pedal. Still no octave though... Need a whammy ha

[Buffered]

I found a pic of Bobs pedalboard from FTW - it's a little related to this topic:



I wonder if they get a bulk Tru Tron discount?

[No Nice Guy]

I wonder if they get a bulk Tru Tron discount?

With the amount of advertising Tru Tron's gotten out of this, they probably didn't have to pay much at all