Grateful Dead Music Forum

Okay, I was curious about this and am posting this both here and in the Guitars section. I'm curious about Phred instruments. I can't afford any big priced guitars - no Alembics, no Moriarty's for me, etc. The PHRED price range seemed too good to be true, and it's exactly what I'm able to spend on guitars (if I finish saving up, the other cost being patience). 2 questions

The first is, how is it/are they for a Jerry guitar replica - only one layer of wood (plus a veneer on the wolph), and I'm not sure how the preamp or pickups are (though I can replace the pickups, I prefer not to have to). I've seen one or two reviews on the 'tube, If anyone could shed light on that that would be great.

Second question - how versatile are they? I play a fair variety (of blues and Allman Brothers in addition to the obvious), and that amount of money spend on a guitar good for only one thing for me would be a bad choice. I need it to be fairly versatile - I especially like the strat-like tones Jerry got from his, similar to something Steve Miller would sound a bit like... if Steve miller played lead and if their styles were similar. Is this possible on the PHRED ones? I don't see why not, but I would like verification before I go and devote myself to the cause of a wolph or liger.

Also... as a new Deadhead, is it fine for me to prefer the Wolf replica to the Tiger replica? I just think it (the wolf) looks cooler, and a little less bulky.

Thanks,
Tom

There has been tons of discussion regarding these instruments. Search the forums and you will find answers.

Popular threads are these two:
Phred Owners

Phred Wolph

Thanks for pointing that out. As it is, I've only found definitive answers for my first question though... I'll keep searching. I am sorry to re-awaken the discussion. But I am curious. And hopeful.

Guitar playing isn't a talent so much as it is a disease - always gotta get another, try another, keep up that endless quest.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRnlJ4NZ-gs Liger demo very nice tones on his playing over Althea by Jim Shank in S. California

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlCFdh9rPgg Wolph demo by Keir Anzelmo decent demo too.

You can hear difference tones in both guitar - each unique to each other.
Jim appears to have become the demo king for the Liger and Wolph guitars.

I have the Black Mahogany Liger from a recent purchase. A friend of mine borrowed
it and I recorded him. The fellows name is Lance Case. As a guitarist he is Joe Satriani
meets Jerry Garcia meets SRV meets Eddie Van Halen - some seriously fast playing chops.
I heard Lance play that Liger into a little Vox-DA5 amp emulator combo unit. I let Lance
cruise through his demoing the guitar while I would switch from clean amp, blues, to
higher gain amp sounds (along with a bit of reverb, then some delays). I have to say
Lance was not only able to fairly accurate Jerry tiger guitar tones, but also every one
of his guitar hero tones came equally and distinctly shining through that amp and onto
that recording. When I played the recording back for him he was beaming from ear to ear
and asked right there: "how much do you want for this guitar? It is quite versatile!"

I hope that helps,
-Phil Coulson
(lead guitarist & co-founder of Jerry's Kids Bay Area, Dead Air, Cryptical, and The Days Between band)

Blkjk wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRnlJ4NZ-gs Liger demo very nice tones on his playing over Althea by Jim Shank in S. California

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlCFdh9rPgg Wolph demo by Keir Anzelmo decent demo too.

You can hear difference tones in both guitar - each unique to each other.
Jim appears to have become the demo king for the Liger and Wolph guitars.

I have the Black Mahogany Liger from a recent purchase. A friend of mine borrowed
it and I recorded him. The fellows name is Lance Case. As a guitarist he is Joe Satriani
meets Jerry Garcia meets SRV meets Eddie Van Halen - some seriously fast playing chops.
I heard Lance play that Liger into a little Vox-DA5 amp emulator combo unit. I let Lance
cruise through his demoing the guitar while I would switch from clean amp, blues, to
higher gain amp sounds (along with a bit of reverb, then some delays). I have to say
Lance was not only able to fairly accurate Jerry tiger guitar tones, but also every one
of his guitar hero tones came equally and distinctly shining through that amp and onto
that recording. When I played the recording back for him he was beaming from ear to ear
and asked right there: "how much do you want for this guitar? It is quite versatile!"

I hope that helps,
-Phil Coulson
(lead guitarist & co-founder of Jerry's Kids Bay Area, Dead Air, Cryptical, and The Days Between band)

Phil, was the Jerry's Kids the Bay Area band that was around in the late 80s?

Thanks so much Phil! Now the mods can stop worrying about this newbie asking questions that were already asked. (Sorry guys). I saw those demos, but all the demos I saw were for Dead stuff. They do sound good or Dead, but A) I have limited trust or recordings and B) I needed the second question answered. I think I know what I'm saving up for next now!

Yes, Jerry's Kids was started in 1981 originally doing Garcia & Bob Weir sideband material.
It reformed in 1983, deferring more to GD tunes, other covers, and originals. The band
retired in 2001, but played a reunion show in 2009. It's last show was in 2012.

AFA, the Liger I mentioned in earlier posts here...I should say that Lance bought it from
me. He requested an efx loop circuit be installed. Turns out that the jack the Liger had
was not the required T-R-S jack for it's efx loop, but a T-S. Additionally, it was wired in
parallel with the regular guitar output jack. D'oh!

-Phil

Blkjk wrote:Yes, Jerry's Kids was started in 1981 originally doing Garcia & Bob Weir sideband material.
It reformed in 1983, deferring more to GD tunes, other covers, and originals. The band
retired in 2001, but played a reunion show in 2009. It's last show was in 2012.

-Phil

Cool, my band from Virginia did a gig with you guys at The Underground on Howard St in 1987. I was really young and green and that whole summer was a little fuzzy. You guys were awesome! I do remember that. Somewhere I still have a flyer from that place. Small world!

Here is Lance killin' it on the Liger:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLa80K6 ... r_embedded

Wow Lance is really killing it. Jeeeesh youre getting some rosebud spacey tones at certain parts of the jam. You say this guy is not a deadhead. Holy if he isn't he just initiated himself. What is your setup again. Did you change the buffer or middle pup? What is your settings on the gain master 35 pre/amp head? Great stuff.

no buffer was used when Lance did the video. I think on the Youtube page
he states what he was playing through. Since then he needed some cash, so
he sold it back to me.

In checking the guitar out recently, the bridge pickup needed to be raised up
higher to get sufficient signal out of the pickup. Some of the mini-toggles
switches have gone intermittent and, the mini-metric style volume pot has
become scratchy at both ends of it 'throw'. I will say Fred (Phred guitars owner)
has been help and generous in helping remedy the issue(s).

So I installed one of Waldo's buffer circuit boards ( I gave him some details on
Garcia's MIDI setup per Gary Brawer work on my tiger replica - he comped me
a buffer board). That works nicely. Will install the proper volume pot value soon.
Also will replace the pickup selector with a CRL 5-way switch - as the original switch
looks like it could use replacing.

I should say, the Liger I got was likely early on in it evolution and all black color.
A lot of so-so electronic parts used. These days the Liger is a nice brown mahogany
with a lot of upgraded parts and options.