Grateful Dead Music Forum

After the 15th Turkey sandwich at 7:30 last night I decided to hop in the car and jet into midtown to go see DSO w/Donna. Bought a ticket at the box office for $27 and was at the front of the stage in time for Jack Straw....

I'm admittedly a Donna whore and would sell my soul to sing with her. The show was pretty mind blowing. I had my Pocket PC with me and by the fourth song I was able to figure out it was Red Rocks 7/7/78. The other 2 times I've seen them were also 78' shows, go figure.

When Donna came out for Candyman the vibe really changed to one of near holy proportions. Place was going beserk.

I chatted up Healey a bit

When I got home I spooled up 7/7/78 just to compare some of the jams and I realized that DSO's Jerry guy really must listen to the shows they're about to perform. His use of several effects in key spots were exactly what Jerry did at that show. The Q-Tron in the down setting for the first solo in Fire really stood out. The slide solo in passenger was smokin' as well and he even did the odd number of passes like Jerry did at the original performance.

All in all a very fun night. Those guys sound great.

glean any gear insights from Healey that were worth sharing? I posted mine from a month ago but it seemed to get lost in that whole phat bastard flameout.

tigerstrat wrote:glean any gear insights from Healey that were worth sharing? I posted mine from a month ago but it seemed to get lost in that whole phat bastard flameout.

You know TS, he was really friendly but just couldn't pin him down to a conversation. He was being bum rushed by several people. I gave him my card and asked if I could contact him in the future about discussing Jerry's equipment. He said sure and then reminded me that someone had written a book about it already. I asked him about Jerry's Twin heads and where they are and he said literally as he was walking away, "Ask Debbie's kids". Does Deborah Koons have children?

One note about John's rig. Last time I saw them which was about a year ago, he was using a Boss Blues Driver. This time around he was using an MXR Distortion+, one of the new re-issues. He was manually changing the output knob after just about every tune. His tone for the whole night was just perfect, really outstanding....

jonarobb wrote:One note about John's rig. Last time I saw them which was about a year ago, he was using a Boss Blues Driver. This time around he was using an MXR Distortion+, one of the new re-issues. He was manually changing the output knob after just about every tune. His tone for the whole night was just perfect, really outstanding....

He's had that MXR for several years, haven't seen him using a BD or talked about it. Unrelated, I believe he may have finally switched from the Qtron to a vintage MuTron III, he mentioned picking one up in Tacoma earlier in the year. I've seen Stu of JGB use the BD, possibly a Keeley or AM mod?

tigerstrat wrote:

jonarobb wrote:One note about John's rig. Last time I saw them which was about a year ago, he was using a Boss Blues Driver. This time around he was using an MXR Distortion+, one of the new re-issues. He was manually changing the output knob after just about every tune. His tone for the whole night was just perfect, really outstanding....

He's had that MXR for several years, haven't seen him using a BD or talked about it. Unrelated, I believe he may have finally switched from the Qtron to a vintage MuTron III, he mentioned picking one up in Tacoma earlier in the year. I've seen Stu of JGB use the BD, possibly a Keeley or AM mod?

I've only seen them 3 times. The first was at Mexicali Blues in NJ maybe 2 years ago and he definately had the Blues Driver then because we talked after the gig and we both laughed about it. He said it did the trick and I agreed. He had the Mutron last night and used it very tastefully.

Here's a pic I took of John's rig at the 9:30 Club last month (I wanted to see how he had the OC2 set, but of course that's the only thing in the pic where you couldn't see the settings showing - ugh). On this night they played a '73 show and you'll note the signal chain is still in place, though of course he didn't use the MuTron or OC-2. So, as far as his changing stuff from show to show... I don't know if he actually listens to the show they're planning to play (I kinda doubt it) or if they just try to replicate the era's sound and look - obviously have Lisa for the Donna shows or one or two drummers as the show demands, change gear (John's Strat vs the Carvin for later shows or Rob's Modulus vs Ibanez or Gibson) or change stage positions - in any case, they put on a hell of a show!

And, I do have to say, Healy has them sounding better than I've ever heard them...

On my monitor it looks like his OC-2 settings are OCT2=0, the other two appear to be approaching full clockwise (approx 4-5 o'clock).
The Mu-III appears to be in Band Pass mode.
I see a Fast-Fret container and a Slide on the top left side of his rig.
'Not sure what tuner that is.