[strumminsix]

One thought- after Healy got canned for messing with Bobby in the mix, no one else is going to make THAT mistake again!

LOL!

In all seriousness, the reason Healy was "canned" was more than just that. Here are thing things that I've been told from folks in the inner circle:
- disrespectful to opening bands
- messing with Bobby's vocals
- Bobby's guitar absent
- trading favors with fans for board mixes
- shunning other tapers
- was his own ideals of the mix that didn't represent what the band wanted or heard

I'm sure there is more and slightly different too. Just to clarify. It was a big deal.

[mgbills]

Thanks for that Strumm... It is a big deal.

Does anyone know if it is intentional? Or perhaps it's sometimes an unintended consequence he can't hear? I was watching him pretty close at times. Bob seems to favor chording patters that resemble the "C" shape out of the Caged method as his go-to strategy. Not 100% on that, but the guy has big hands and likes reachy chords for sure. When he had the slide going, he clearly was reaching for trebbly stuff. I didn't see a deliberate attempt to create this from the fretboard (often), but it appeared on the beats...or at least seemed to correspond to Bob's rhythm hand.

Or maybe...that's just the way it is.
Peace
M

[gr8fullfred]

Not sure I understand Bobby, but there were a few non-musical sounding things coming from Bobby during the Edgefield shows. Especially the first two nights. Feed backy, screaching sort of sound.
Seemed to happen when Bobby was playing the Strat, not the Blackknife. Why Bobby, who could afford any guitar he wanted, would play a strat, do not make sense to me. Of course he is the rock star, and I am not.

[strumminsix]

Thanks for that Strumm... It is a big deal.

Does anyone know if it is intentional? Or perhaps it's sometimes an unintended consequence he can't hear? I was watching him pretty close at times. Bob seems to favor chording patters that resemble the "C" shape out of the Caged method as his go-to strategy. Not 100% on that, but the guy has big hands and likes reachy chords for sure. When he had the slide going, he clearly was reaching for trebbly stuff. I didn't see a deliberate attempt to create this from the fretboard (often), but it appeared on the beats...or at least seemed to correspond to Bob's rhythm hand.

Or maybe...that's just the way it is.
Peace
M

That's very interesting. He wears In Ear Monitors and I've heard the stage volume itself is relatively low. I have to think it's not feedback. Adding with what I said earlier, I suspect:
He hears: chimey overdriven sustained notes
We heaer: shrill fuzzy feedbacky notes

[strumminsix]

Not sure I understand Bobby, but there were a few non-musical sounding things coming from Bobby during the Edgefield shows. Especially the first two nights. Feed backy, screaching sort of sound.
Seemed to happen when Bobby was playing the Strat, not the Blackknife. Why Bobby, who could afford any guitar he wanted, would play a strat, do not make sense to me. Of course he is the rock star, and I am not.

Are you referring to the Hoeg Strat? if so, that's in effect, that's Modulus Blackknife. Hoeg = Modulus back in the day and it's made in the same vein.

[jester536]

It does seem strange to me that some are making the claim that perhaps his hearing is going...specifically highs...I'm certain that could be the case but I've seen interviews where he seems to make a very strong argument for quality recording and listening to music on quality equipment. Can he really hear the difference?
Really just wish I could see a show so I knew what you guys were talking about!

[vwjodyme]

Very interesting topic as I would love to know more about bobby too!
One furthur show I recall he was really loud during the Althea slides, and it was painful. really high screachy slides. to the point where people around me kept asking "what's that noise?"

[mgbills]

My observation was that he played the (Hoeg I believe) Strat very little. He switched on Thursday from the Strat in the first set to the Hoeg Blue Lightening Bolt. Best guess is just before Brother Esau (Why Brother Esau says I). That was when the issue first showed for me. It may have been present before, but I had not yet become aware of it. The 2nd set he switched to the Gibson ES 335 (? A Google search showed dots on the fretboard, which would seem to indicate 335). Most of Friday he played the Gibson, and most of Saturday he played the Blue Lightening.

I associated it with the hollow-bodies, but these are just impressions & judgements of a less-than-perfect memory. Anyone doing the CA run? Maybe we can get some more data?

Also...when I was in the 3rd row in front of John & Phil most of the sound was coming from the PA's. I could hear John's cab, and maybe feel Phil's speakers...but most sound seemed to be coming from reinforcement. Which seems to contradict the feedback theory. Sure sounds like feedback to me.

Can anyone attempt to describe the Trey/Languedoc sound that was discussed in other threads?

Also...absolutely on Althea! That slide exascerbated the issue considerably.

[mgbills]

And now I'm second guessing myself. It could've been coming from the Strat. As stated earlier I had to abandon my stage-side zone because of environmental issues. End of first set Thurday. He'd already switched from the Strat. If it was occuring with the Strat I did not hear it, as I was not in a position to get a balanced experiece from the PA's.

[TI4-1009]

One furthur show I recall he was really loud during the Althea slides, and it was painful. really high screachy slides. to the point where people around me kept asking "what's that noise?"

I can count on Jerry's right middle finger the number of times in the last 43 years that I've "enjoyed" Bobby's slide. Painfull.

I did see Bonnie Raitt play with the Dead one time- now THAT was slide guitar!

[strumminsix]

One furthur show I recall he was really loud during the Althea slides, and it was painful. really high screachy slides. to the point where people around me kept asking "what's that noise?"

I can count on Jerry's right middle finger the number of times in the last 43 years that I've "enjoyed" Bobby's slide. Painfull.

I did see Bonnie Raitt play with the Dead one time- now THAT was slide guitar!

His background slide playing is fantastic on alot of tunes. That gets missed by most.

[mgbills]

The Rockpalast video (Althea particularly) demonstrates this perfectly. It can be incredible.

Tangent: Vic (if you're out there)....any issues with your Walker and feedback. I saw an old thread where you said it originally had the buffer removed, and that was a problem. I realize that with the AxeFX is may not be apples/apples. Ever play it through your analog equipment. Also...I'm not familiar with much in Bob's rack. I see The Eleven Rack & Mesa power amps...an Avalon magillicuddy I'm unfamiliar with...what may be an Alesis reverb unit. I'm just blowing up the pic from Red Rocks on Rich Hoeg's site.

We agree that Bob likely can't hear it. We also seem to have a conscensus (by history & default) that nobody in the FOH is likely to take the reigns and tame the issue.

In a round-about way I'm just trying to think broadly and gather info.

[mgbills]

If I keep babbling maybe Rich will chime in too.

[Dozin]

The Strat is really the Pink guitar's replacement. The Pink guitar's neck was replaced with a Hoeg neck. Hoeg guitar necks are built like the Modulus Genesis necks. The Pink guitars neck was painted all black so you couldn't really tell that it was replaced except there was no Modulus logo on the headstock. The Pink guitar was so butchered the bridge was about to fly out of it and there was hardly anything left in the pickup cavity because of all the different combination of pickups that were used in that guitar. Anyway, that's why the Hoeg Strat was built.

Yes, the Blue guitar is nice. Again, with the graphite in the neck that baby stays in tune nicely. If you notice in the Red Rocks pic that the middle pickup on the guitar is facing towards the neck. I asked Rich about it and he was like, shit! Well, he's playing it I don't know how much difference it makes facing that way?

In regards to Bob in the 80's. (and this has been said many time) Brent really suffocated Bobby's space. In the 70's there was all that room with Keith on piano that let bob just go off on his instrument and be very creative. That time period is definitely why I like the Bobby roll. Blackknifes in general are pretty sterile guitars but they're great for cutting through and making a presence. I think Bobby's playing suffered greatly because of Brent. Now that Ratdog is over and the new band is more like the Grateful Dead. I really think Bobby has stepped it up and is back to exploring.

Have you listened to Bob demonstrate TRI's studio how he can get the room to sound like a stadium or a hall when he hits the sticks against his hand? There's this incredible echo/feedback when he does it. I think that bleeds through to the instruments which produces kind of a unique sound that you may be hearing?

-C

[Tennessee Jedi]

His background slide playing is fantastic on alot of tunes. That gets missed by most.

I love when my Bob plays the slide esp tunes like Althea