JBL - Greatful Dead's Wall of Sound

[kevzep]

Indeed, the Wall of Sound was something well ahead of its time for sure....

It utilized mostly McIntosh MC2300 amplifiers....about 26,000 watts....we use up to ten times the power in a typical arena system these days...

The JBL's were D130's (the 15") not sure on the 12" and 5"....

The horns however were electrovoice...

The clever omni-directional differential microphone set-up so they could have the microphones and sing in front of the system without feedback....
Unfortunately though, the vocal sound was compromised due to the type of microphone the needed to use, lots of "popping" and "shhhh'ing" and reduced bandwidth...you can hear this in the Grateful Dead Movie....however, it was effective and the results were well ahead of other live sound solutions of the time.

The custom Alembic Bass guitar that Phil used had two normal pickups as well as a quad pickup which was sent to its own PA stack (two stacks split into two zones each for each of the four strings), this was done to reduce, or in fact nearly eliminate intermod distortion, he could play chords on the bass and have them sound incredibly clear.......very innovative....

So yes, we must not forget the things which contributed to the development of modern concert sound....which JBL has been a major part of with their driver development.....

Great to see a thread on the Wall of Sound.....

[1KW]

Originally Posted by jdandy

US Blues........…. "I drank a little of his punch at a Winterland Grateful Dead concert in 1969, and wasn't right …. "

So that was it

[Stereo-head]

Very interesting post. That picture says so much. It's awe inspiring, and so much history. thanks for posting.

[bachrocks]

Serendipity defined: A long day dealing with computer issues at work; psychologically preparing for my wife's hospital stay starting tomorrow; a few Thai Chang beers (6.3%!); Neil Young's Decade playing on the stereo; and finally--totally unexpectedly--finding this thread.

I saw the Dead twice in Maryland (home state ) while in high school in the late 70s and early 80s.

Dan, my absolutely favorite audio writer in the universe, wow, San Francisco in the 1960s??? That is the stuff of legends...

Masterlu, the "owner" of my absolutely favorite audio forum on the internet, your friend was involved in Woodstock with their McIntosh gear?? This is very very cool...

And the Dead, their magical wall of sound powered by McIntosh, just as in my room? This is pedigree...

I am heading to bed with a big smile...

ron

[Josquin des Prez]

I saw and heard the WOS on several occasions. I probably attended Dead concerts a dozens times between about '73 and '82, give or take. Also saw the Gerry Garcia Band a few times as well.

Half the stage was taken up by those two sets of huge drum kits.

And they didn't do lame-ass one hour shows. Three or four hours, or longer, was the norm.

[bachrocks]

Originally Posted by Josquin des Prez

I saw and heard the WOS on several occasions. I probably attended Dead concerts a dozens times between about '73 and '82, give or take. Also saw the Gerry Garcia Band a few times as well.

Half the stage was taken up by those two sets of huge drum kits.

And they didn't do lame-ass one hour shows. Three or four hours, or longer, was the norm.

Right, I forgot about that. Reminds me of Ray Charles. I saw him in 1993 at a Christmas Dinner Show at the Hotel New Otani in Osaka, Japan. He just kept playing and playing. His guys had to literally pull him off the stage. Now that's dedication and passion for music.

ron

[94turbo3.6]

Wow this brings back memories,

I remember my first concert was the Dead at what was Giants Stadium IIRC 1977 I had just picked up my first high end system consisting of a C26 and MC 2505 and was drooling the entire concert over the stack of MC2300's about ten high just for the back towers about midway through the stadium. IIRC I counted about 45 or more but the rest of the day was a bit foggy for some reason.

I do recall I was worried the tower of amps was going to topple when they started playing Donnie and Marie (A little bit country ?) over the system after Waylon Jennings left the stage and the Dead were preparing for the concert. People started to climb the towers in protest and boo loudly.

I find it funny how they spent so much for the best equipment at the time to make their concerts sound the best and everyone was content listening to their bootlegs on crappy cassettes that were inaudible.

[PMCH]

During my summer break from college in 1973, I went to the Watkins Glen concert to listen to the Greatful Dead, The Band and Allman Brothers. At that time I was more into the Allman Brothers. Being young at that time, I didn't apreciate all of the gear that was on the stage. My memories are more of how hot and wet it was, as well as watching many girls walking around topless.

[Toobs]

Originally Posted by PMCH

During my summer break from college in 1973, I went to the Watkins Glen concert to listen to the Greatful Dead, The Band and Allman Brothers. At that time I was more into the Allman Brothers. Being young at that time, I didn't apreciate all of the gear that was on the stage. My memories are more of how hot and wet it was, as well as watching many girls walking around topless.

Paul
I was there too. What I remember is being very wet, thirsty and hungry. Like you I was more interested in the Allman Brothers. To this day, I can't believe there was more than 600,000 people there. I also wasn't interested in audio gear as long as the music sounded good(and it did).

[US Blues]

An interesting story about the Watkins Glen show and McIntosh. Because of the size of the venue the Dead decided they needed more MC2300 power amps to drive some more PA speakers for that show. A member of the Dead's road crew flew from Watkin's Glen to Binghamton in a helicopter (both cities are near one another in Upstate NY) with a wad of cash in his pocket to buy 5 more power amps.

Turns out the factory was closed for Summer vacation, but a local dealer got the President of McIntosh on the phone, who then drove to the factory with his family in the station wagon loaded up for vacation, to sell the Dead 5 more amps. At this point permission was obtained from the Binghamton police department to land the chopper by the factory door to load in the 5 MC2300's and fly them back to Watkin's Glen. The amps were so heavy (125 lbs. each) that the chopper had a difficult time getting airborne! But as often happened, providence smiled upon the Grateful Dead and they got the amps to the concert site and were able to get that much more sound to the assembled faithful.

For many years afterwards the Dead had in their PA 5 MC2300's with no serial numbers, because the amps had not gone through their final testing process.

PS- Over the years I have conversed with a number of people who attended this show, and very few of them remember the music played, never mind the PA system.