Where are Jerry's Twins?

[TI4-1009]

I keep reading that we don't know exactly how Jerrys Twin preamps were modded. Why? Where are they? Did the Dead keep them? We know where all the guitars are, what about the amps and racks?

[JonnyBoy]

good question, I know his rack was on display at one point, but the twins were not pictured, just the groove tube trio. Yes, inquiring minds want to know...

I think guys like waldo and Brad want us to know they have not actually looked at the real thing, but have a lot of info from the actual techs that built it. Which is as close as you can get at this point, again it would be nice to know if they could get their wish and have their peek.

Maybe fender owns them to make a Jerry Garcia signature version

[gr8fullfred]

I am not an expert but there is alot of information here and on the Steel Guitar Forum.
Brad Sarno has some information.

If you really wanted to track them down I would try and contact either GD productions, Dan Healy, or Steve Parrish.
There were a whole bunch of tie-dyed Fender amps at one point in time. I bet they are lurking somewhere in GD productions.

And there is a butt load of archive stuff at the Univ of Santa Cruz now. An extremely dedicated person might scour that archive for a record of such stuff.

And I always wondered what ever happened to all those Wall of Sound cabinets? Where the heck are they ?

[Rusty the Scoob]

The Wall of Sound was given away to become PAs for about a dozen bands by most accounts.

Good question on Jerry's Twins... the GD seemed to give away old gear pretty freely rather than storing it, but Jerry's longtime gear had to have been a little more special. I know the guys from DSO ended up with a lot of the drums and cymbals. Seems like old GD gear pops up for sale on the west coast pretty often.

[willmusic]

Yes, according to Parish the Wall was broken up, it's pieces both sold and given away here and there, and that there were smaller bands all over the Bay Area and beyond who ended up with the components. I also heard something one time about Marshall Tucker Band buying some cabs and Macs too? Last year at a fest in Ohio I sat in w/ my friend's band and the New Riders were up next, the stage being prepped for both bands at once. Between sets for about 10 minutes by buddy and I got to play through Mike Falzarano's Twin into a cab that we were told by both he and Nelson was from the Wall. And it looked it too, I mean all banged-up! Sounded great of course and had some crazy mojo. I believe someone else here on the board has played through a cab from the Wall too (?), excuse my forgetfulness .

[jdsmodulus]

I personally would love to see a current pic of Jerrys old rack and the Twins. They are somwhere most likely all of that old gear is all together. When they did the Alpine Reunion show they brought a bunch of gear and it was out on display. There is pics of that on here somewhere. I remember a Fender amp from like Live/Dead era and Jerrys 90s rack but no cab. Also one of the versions of the Beast was there too Im thinking that was from the early 80s.

[waldo041]

one day those 2 fender twins will surface, but as of now, they are kept under lock and key and mums the word on their location. i have made contact with parish, healy, cutler, GDP, and so on but have had no luck in locating them. HOWEVER, we do know a TON of info from the actual guys who did the work. up until the WOS dismantling, alembic did the work on them with Wickersham running the show, Janet Bowman aka Jim Furman, did the alembic work on jerry's blackface twin. so we know what was involved during that period. but after the WOS, healy became the boss. he is also the guy that ALL the roadies point to in any question regarding the mods in them, and that is where the majority of the mods i have came from. straight from the man himself. so while they are not accesible, over the past few years we have uncovered what we feel are the key changes and the results speak for themself.

that all said, i have a theory that the blackface was actually alembic modded, and the silverface was healy modded. the two ways are super close in tone, but do have differences. guess it just depends on what era your after.


peace,
waldo

[jackevorkian]

one day those 2 fender twins will surface, but as of now, they are kept under lock and key and mums the word on their location.

can anyone explain why there would be any secrecy regarding jerry's electronics? aren't the control cavities of his guitars also off limits?

[mutant_dan]

Regarding the wall of sound, I have met people who own a number of the original cabinets. From what I remember, some of the parts were in storage in a barn. Also heard that some of the cabinets were stored under a tarp in a field.

Might be cool to start posting on Craigslist to see if the current owners will donate the pieces to the archive.

[Pete B.]

I know Buddy Cage has a WOS cab... a 2x12, iirc.

[willmusic]

I know Buddy Cage has a WOS cab... a 2x12, iirc.

Yeah my friend Nat said something like "the steel player's got one too." It wasn't on the stage that day though. It was a Fender combo, don't know the make. Had a 1x15 cab, that I remember.

[gr8fullfred]

Buddy Cage with the New Riders at the Bearsville Theater recently. Is that the WOS Speaker cab?

[tigerstrat]

Probably is a WOS cab. One of my sometime bandmates has a former WOS 2x12 that had a 4-5 inch "lip" added to the back, where a 1/4" jack plate was installed. I wonder if the same was done to Cage's.

I wonder where all of Jerry's Boogies got to. Hey maybe he gave one to Nelson, and that's it in the right of the photo...

[SarnoMusicSolutions]

That looks just like the WOS cab he had with him here in STL back about 10 years ago. I also gotta just comment on how that flat Sennheiser (either a 409, 609 or 906) is perfectly placed in front of his JBL. I love that mic and I love that speaker and I love that particular mic placement where the mic's diaphragm is very near the edge of the voice coil (which coincides with the edge of the dustcap) but just outside of it. That's my favorite point to place a mic capsule on a JBL, just enough metal cap, just enough paper, and not entirely in the "beam of death". I find that when you place a mic like that on a JBL, it comes out of the PA sounding nearly exactly like a JBL. It seems that this is exactly where Healy tended to place the capsule of the 421 when miking Jerry's JBL's. Healy may have been just a hair closer to the metal cap edge, but right there in that little zone is the magic spot.

The Jerry - Sennheiser 421 is much more bright and juicy sounding with a boost around 4 to 5kHz, while these flat Sennheisers are much smoother and warmer and flatter in response. Mic's have a huge role in getting a guitar to reach the people correctly. Anyone going for a Jerry tone really should use a 421 and definitely avoid a SM57. I like the SM57, but it always puts a harshness on a Jerry toned JBL. The flat Sennheiser mic's are probably a bit too warm for the Jerry effect, but worth a try. Trey and SRV were famous for having their guitar speakers mic'd with the flat Sennheiser 409. The modern 609 is not quite a replacement, but the more expensive 906 IS pretty damn near the extinct 409 sound.

But I digress.... Where are Jerry's Twins??????


B

[Tennessee Jedi]

Where are Jerry's Twins??????

^^^^^^^Found one of Jerry's Twins^^^^^^^