Conference napalm::guitar

    You can get some floor typestomp boxes for real cheap used, if
    you don't mind some wear n tear on em...I've seen chorus units
    for $40...distortion boxes for $10., etc.
    
    Even some of the rack mountable digital stuff has come way down
    with technology....you can get Deltalab, Ibanez, and some ADA
    stuff from $50 - 200. ...not bad for digital!
    
    For effects...chorus is cool, but I personally have to be in the mood
    for chorus!  Delay is cool, always in the mood for that! Flanging...eh,
    take it or leave it (mostly the latter), wha-wha's are coming back with
    Slash and Joe Satriani.
    
    BUck 

    Delay and chorus together are real nice in stereo...
    
    jc's $.02

    My favorite toy at the moment is my new DDL 8^), but after 2 hour
    of messing with that, it's nice just to turn it off and kick on
    the old distortion and go, so I guess I dig distortion the most.  Chorus,
    like Buck says, is one of those things you have to be in the mood
    for (ie. Sensitive Artiste).  Flanging is neat for about 5 minutes.
    I never use wah-wah much, so I can't comment.  All the effects I
    have I bought for under or for $100.00, and they aren't junk either,
    granted they aren't the most high tech-midi-synchro-wizbang
    things in the world, but they do the job well.
                                                  
    hope this helps somehow... 
    
    craig
    

    
    	A typical effects string might be;
    
    	1. Graphic EQ - lets you taylor the sound better than a "tonepot"
                            
    	2. Compressor - makes you seem louder than you really are.
    
    	3. Distortion - gives you singing sustain.
         
    	4. Your_Fav_Toy - Wah, phasor, env-follower, volume pedal, etc.
    
    	5. Chorus - makes you sound like there's more of you playing.
    
    	6. Delay - make you sound like you're playing in a "big place"
                
    
    	Most of these are readily available on the used market, should
    be able to get 'em all for under $200.
    
    	Joe Jas
    

    
    Re: .4
    
    >  2. Compressor - makes you seem louder than you really are.
    
    >  5. Chorus - makes you sound like there's more of you playing.
    
    >  6. Delay - make you sound like you're playing in a "big place"
         
    Gee, all I need to do this is to drink about four Millers....
    
    8^) 8^)  8^)  8^)

    My favorite noisemaker is a hollow glass tube that I wear on my
    ring finger...
    
    effects wise I've always liked delays but I find most people overuse
    them or at least don't use them tastefully (IMHO). next would probably
    be chorus but overuse drives me right up the wall. In a typical
    night of playing out (3 50 min. sets) I use chorus maybe 2-3 times,
    and delay once. I use reverb always and distortion almost always. I've
    thought of reviving my wah (one them old cry babys) but haven't
    dug it out yet....
    
    I'm still searching for the perfect distortion unit, the best one
    I ever had was a 50w marshall from the 60's that in a fit of insanity
    I traded in for something smaller and lighter.
                      
    dbii

    Well, I've had flings with distortion, DDL effects, Wahs, but my
    current "hot box" would be a harmonizer, preferably an "intelligent"
    harmonizer.
    
    Once the development costs of these things have been amortized,
    we should be seeing some much cheaper ones.
    
    	db

    
    My favorite guitar effect is the tremelo on old Fender amps.
    
    My favorite bass effect is a speaker cabinet that can reproduce
    the bottom octave of the instrument  8^)  8^)  8^)  8^)
    
    As far as chorus, I wish the guy who designed the Boss Chorus Ensemble
    had been hit by a truck when he was a kid.....no, it sounds great
    but it's truly the wah-wah of the 80s.
    
    Everyone should own a Big Muff Pi at least once in his life.
    

    I have an arsenal of equipment, but a lot of times I practice
    with my My Telecaster, a Pignose amp, and 2 Boss stomp boxes 
    (CS3 compressor, and FT2 Dynamic filter). Regardless how many
    rack-mount effects I eventually buy, I plan to keep these
    stomp boxes around forever to use with the Pig, and plan to
    eventually add a DDL pedal. This rig does tend to eat batteries,
    but to be able to practice anywhere is worth the hassle. I would
    also like to get a gig-bag for my Tele, so I don't have to drag
    the big Fender case with me.
    
    The Pignose can play clean or Distorted, and has an amazing sound
    for such a little box. I love the sound of the compressor, it
    just smooths everything out, and allows you to nail chords without
    having some notes too loud, you can attack the instrument without
    puttin out big transients, and with the sustain set on the high
    side, it makes notes sustain almost indefinately. I bought the
    FT2 envelope-following filter because it sounds a little like
    Jerry Garcia's sound (which he gets from a Mutron Envelope follower,
    long out of production). 
    
    Actually, I would still like to get a Boss carry-case and fill it
    with stomp boxes, despite my toying with the idea of getting either
    a GP8 or ME5. The ability to use them on batteries with the Pignose
    is important to me. I have seen lots of package deals in the Want-ads 
    and notes files since a lot of people are getting into the
    multi-effect units. I may eventually build a 12v- 9v convertor so
    I could run it all off a car battery.
    
    
    While we are on the subject of battery-powered gear, I would like
    to suggest that next summer, we organize an outdoor jam (at a park,
    campground, the beach, whatever), and just use acoustics, and
    battery-rigs. People could plug Rockkmans into boomboxes, or
    whatever they feel like bringing. This would prevent the decibal-
    abuse that occured at the last jam, and would be a nice time in
    the great outdoors.
    
    Whadaya think ??
    
    Mark
    
    
    

	Sometimes, nothing comes close to the sound of a Strat through a
	decent digital delay (used subtly!).  Of all my effects, I favor
	my Digitech Multi-Play that gives you slapback, reverb, flanging,
	chorus and infinite repeat.  I almost exclusively use the reverb
	effect (just a hint of it).  (I don't own a Strat.  Yet.)

	I think spending money for quality (digital, quiet) in an effect
	is almost always the only way to go.

	/ravi

	re .9 (Mark)

	Did Jerry really use a Mutron? I thought he used something else,
but cant remember the name...it was yellow. I had the Mutron "env filter"
and while it would sweep the filter up *or* down, I could never really get
the "Jerry" sound ala "Terrapin" from it. However, it would help a distortion
box sustain like crazy when I followed the distortion box with it set in it's
"down" mode. The filter would come sweeping back up as the signal died off
eventually and when it hit the note I was playing, the increased loudness 
would stop the "sweeping up" action and the system would seem to *lock* onto 
the note! I thought that was great!   

	Unfortunately, I tried to make it AC powered and foolishly connected 
the power up backward. Of course, "they" were too cheap to put a protection 
diode in the circuit, and it went Pffft! Of course, the only thing to go Pfft
was the LED/Photoresistor assembly, which was potted, and the only item I 
could not immediately replace. So it hit the can.

	10 years ago, when I was in college (and "Terrapin" first came out), I
was able to make my own "env follower" out of op amps and current controlled
transconductance amplifiers, as they were called. I could get the exact Jerry
sound with that setup, as all paramaters were configurable, such as the amount
of filtering on the envelope. 

	No one has any idea of how jealous I am of the "new bohemians" 
guitarist, as he's managed to "beat me to" a hit record that includes a solo
using one of these devices. It's an effect I'm particularly fond of. My "DOD"
follower needs more filtering on the envelope in my opinion - it's "too fast"!

	I think your suggestion of a "battery powered" outdoor jam is an 
excellent one, cause (could you have guessed) I've been thinking of the very
same kind of thing for a while. I have two 10ah motorcycle batteries that have
yet to be enabled with electrolyte and a 20WPC car amplifier that has line
inputs, that's all just *dying* to be used in a "away from AC" application.
I figure I could get better than 8 hours of service at moderate volumes with
this connected to a reasonably effecient set of speakers. This also happens to
include my portable CD player....

	I also have a portable FM Stereo transmitter, which can handle line 
inputs. The idea being that of the "virtual sound reinforcement" from the FM 
signal being recieved and amplified by nearby boom boxes, car stereos and
perhaps even walkmans. When I was in college I used to experiment with FM
transmitters and my guitar, recieving the signal with my car stereo. Anywhere
my car could go, I could go - with electric guitar amplifed! I used to park it 
near these big corinthian columns at SUNYAB, which stood alone at the other
end of the lake. I'd go play there, with the car 100ft away, until security
would show up and kick me out.

	Anyone have a battery powered mixer? 'Mind getting sand in it? :')

	Joe Jas

    Guitar Player Did a Jerry Interview a while back, and also interviewed
    Steve Parish (?) the guy that maintains and sets up Jerry's gear.
    He described all the gear Jerry uses. It was a rather eclectic setup
    which included his guitar (with on-board efx loop), a rack full
    of efx including rack-mount stuff as well as stomp boxes. 
    He definately uses a Multron envelope follower, plus lots of other
    stuff like an ADA analog delay, modified so he can use an Ernie
    Ball volume pedal to control it, An MXR distortion plus, a
    Boss Heavey metal distortion, an MXR phase100, and lots of other
    stuff. He runs everything into a Twin, lined out to a MacIntosh
    MC2300 (300 watt per channel tube) power amp and 2 stacks.
    
    I'm am not sure what he used on Terapin (may have been an
    early guitar synth), but on tunes like "Shakedown Street" 
    "Estimated Prophet", and "Fire on the Mountain" he definately
    used the Mutron envelope follower.
    
    I was rather amazed that Jerry uses such primitive stuff like
    an MXR distortion+. The Dead have a reputation for using state-of-
    the-art sound gear, but Jerry's setup is definately old-tech.
    
    Mark
    
    

    
    
    My favorite effect is definately a harmonizer.  I've had an
    Ibanez for about 5 years now, and about a year ago I sold all
    my stomp boxes cuz I hadn't used them since I got the harmonizer.
    Granted, this unit is not an Eventide (droool, slobber...)
    but for the price its a decent unit.  I'm not sure if Ibanez
    still makes it (HD-1500) but I've seen them in the Want Ad for
    as low as $200.  Next time I see one like that, I'm gonna pick
    up another.  I originally paid almost $600 for mine new including
    the foot controller.  Its currently in the rack in my studio
    and I'd like another to play out with.
    
    Ralph
    
    

    Mark, your quite right.  Jerry does use lots of older effects.
    Seems that his guitar also has two outputs on it (I believe I read
    that one is send in clean, and one wet.  He uses a volume pedal
    to sweep betwixt the two amps that he uses (or something along that
    line).

    Estimated Prophet is a killer tune !

    jc
    (who_used_to_be_a_wicked_deadhead_and_Terrapin_was_his_fave_album)

    Jerry's guitar has 2 jacks on it. One is a stereo jack which
    serves as his effect send/return, and the other is his output
    jack. The idea is that the signal from the pickups goes through
    a selector switch and straight to the effects rack, and back into
    the guitar. At that point it goes through all the control pots.
    It also includes a unity gain buffer which gaurentees the same 
    level whether the effect loop is in or out. This setup assures
    that the effects always see the same level which is essentially
    the full output of the pickup.
    
    I am not aware of him using two amps, though. As far as I know
    he plays through a single black-faced Twin reverb (modified in the
    sense that it includes a balanced line output). I am not sure if
    the Twin power amp and speakers are active or defeated, but in any
    case I am sure they would be drowned out by his MC2300's/JBL stacks.
    
    Over the years the band has used some fairly modern engineering
    concepts, like having a photocell turn mics off when noone is 
    singing into them, or having dual Sennheisers wired out of phase
    for each singer to cancel background noise. I heard that they had 
    eliminated their PA snake and were using some kind of transimitter/
    reciever to get signals from the stage to the board and back. They
    also use computers to control lighting, and go to incredible pains
    to analyze the audio spectrum of their sound system.
    
    And there stands Jerry with his Mutron envelope follower, and MXR
    distortion plus/phase 100 (stuff you could find at a yardsale for
    about $100.oo)
    
    Mark
    

    Hmp, I've read this, and still my favorite noise maker...
    
    a Strat...
    
    

	Mine's still my dobro and a steel bar...