Grateful Dead Music Forum

Wish he played the Wolf more often in those later years. His tone is simply amazing on his solo. I thought he only used it for space.

Peace,

James

It was Wolf for pretty much all of that Fall '89 tour...with the Crest power amp. I used to think there wasn't a difference in tone from Tiger and Budman, but from listening closely and chasing the tone these past years, my ears have become more discerning. But it always sounds good to me!

Sounded great!

But, why the Crest power amp?

Wow. No McIntosh? A crest power amp. I'd like to hear more about Jerry's second rig on that epic fall tour.

Peace,

James

Whew. I was at the Spectrum on 10/19/89, the Death Don't Have No Mercy was astounding. Visceral. It had been a long time since I'd heard that one live.

There are a lot of YouTube vids from that tour and he's playing Wolf, watch closely and you'll see the Crest on top of the 2300 but it's the Crest lighting up when he plays. I assume it had something to do with the Midi setup he was using. But as Waldo's site indicates, he goes back to Budman by 1990.

I must be missing something here. Isn't a Crest simply a power amp just like the Mac and Budman is a preamp giving the amplified tone to Jerry's rig. So if the Crest is being used there must be a pre amp for it? Perhaps I have the terminology wrong but the Crest alone would not drive the Wolf's tone correct?

To be honest I'm surprised by the tone that Jerry is getting in this video without using the Mac, what many consider to be the holy grail of his tone in the later years. In fact I might actually prefer this time to that of the Tiger through the Mac and Budman.

But hey, I've always been partial to the Wolf. I think it's the sweetest guitar ever made.

Peace,

James.

James-T wrote:I must be missing something here. Isn't a Crest simply a power amp just like the Mac and Budman is a preamp giving the amplified tone to Jerry's rig. So if the Crest is being used there must be a pre amp for it? Perhaps I have the terminology wrong but the Crest alone would not drive the Wolf's tone correct?

Just a little confusion here. Budman is the MC2300 power amp (named because of the Budman sticker plastered on its front). The preamp is the modded silverface Twin.

I was at these two Hampton Warlocks shows, his tone was fantastic as was his playing at these shows. I didn't realize he was using a different power amp.

As to why he didn't use Wolf more, from what I've heard he didn't like switching guitars around. He preferred to stick to one and play it all the time.

Well you learn something new ever day. Today I leaned two things. Firat I learned Budman is a power amp and not Jerry's silver face twin. Secondly I learned that a Crest power amp coupled with a twin gives a Mac a run for its money. If its good enough for the Grateful Dead to immortalize Garcia's guitar playing in a box CD set its got the tone 100% dialed in. I always wondered why the allure to McIntish if the purpose of a power amp is to NOT color the sound. Just because Jerry used it I suppose.

I'm not knocking having a MC because it's about the only piece of gear I don't own so this is my only place to compare a MC to another similar power amp. But I have to say I've got a vintage BWG that is an awesome power amp and am not sure what could really be gained from am upgrade to MC besides splitting hairs on tone and spending a wack of $.

Peace,

James

Do we have any good pics of the Crest amp? I used to own one.

mk

Anybody know the model of the Crest amp?