Grateful Dead Music Forum

Those aren't actually Jerry's speakers; I think that's an extension of Brent's keyboard rig. It was a pair of 15s, a pair of 10s and a high frequency horn during that era. Garcia's cabinet is off to his left. Usually the 10s were JBL K or E 110s, those could be Gauss, it's hard to tell.

That arrangement went away when Jerry moved next to Brent in 82.

Here's a better look. You can see Jerry's 4X12 to the left, and Weir's cabinet to the right by the drum riser.



That photo is also interesting because it shows the monitors they had suspended over the stage pointing down as well as the floor wedges in that era.

In 79 they even had a Leslie over there, but I guess the wall of Leslies was loud enough to hear the organ across the stage. Notice the magic mystery knobs taped to the cabinet, no doubt an accessible level control for the keyboards and one for the Leslie.

playingdead wrote: Garcia's cabinet is off to his left.

Hate to nitpick, but in the pic, Jerry's cab is to his right/your left.

the monitors they had suspended over the stage pointing down as well as the floor wedges in that era.

how sure are we that those are monitors, not FOH for audience-front fill?

I saw them up close in person in 80 or 81 (Nassau, I think, or maybe Philly). They were just wedges, but mounted on cables from the light truss and angled down at each microphone. They didn't use them for long, guess they weren't that effective.

The one on the right is angled toward Brent, you can see Bobby's as well.

playingdead wrote:

Ouch.... Nice "where the hell am I, and err, who am I?" look from Bobby..

I saw them using the suspended stage monitors for sure on May 29, 1980 at the Des Moines Civic Center. It was the only time I ever saw them. Funny thing is, I seem to remember them being white. Who knows, because I was in the very last row of the venue but the FOH sound was still excellent way up there.