Phil Lesh 1974

[PaulMacCnj]

I've been listening to a lot of live Grateful Dead from 1974. Of all the different basses that Phil Lesh has used, there's something about the punchy sound in those '74 live concerts that I like best. Can someone tell what bass he was using in those days?

[Standalone]

Offhand, I'd say Alembics, right? I think those were the wall of sound days.

a quote I saw: "Phil's bass system alone was two columns of 18 15" speakers, each 36 feet tall...."

The amplification may well have had a lot to do with it...

By the way, us deadheads (yes I was/am one) lost Jerry twelve years ago today... now where's that steal-your-face "smiley?"

[baba]

He played a modified Guild Starfire II. Alembic developed a filter for it that contributed to the tone.

1974 was a great year for the Dead. Right before their brief hiatus.

[baba]

....and here's some more specific info I dug up:

a Guild Starfire bass that was later altered by Alembic Instruments. Dubbed the "Godfather," it has three Alembic pickups — a quad pickup with four outputs (one for each string) and standard bass and treble humbuckers. The bottom half of the instrument is crammed full of electronics, while the top half is loaded with foam rubber to damp the resonance of the body to eliminate feedback.
Today the "Godfather" is Phil's spare. His main bass is a custom-made Alembic with additional circuitry designed by George Munday of Pluto Electronics. Phil also uses George's tone-modifying Pluto Pedal, an active filter/boost/cut unit in which two filters can be swept at once. Phil likes it because of its versatility for bass tone modification. Nevertheless, he complains that too many pedals only perform one or two functions. "I still have a dream of a computer-controlled synthesizer/quadraphonic bass," he says, "and the instrument I'm playing now has the capability of being that. All it needs is the proper interface."
The Alembic has the same pickup configuration found on the Guild: two standard humbuckers and a quad. Though he can get a separte signal for each string, Phil currently is running his signal monaurally. The filters on both the Guild and the Alembic basses allow for 32 tone settings, with a mixing of filtered and flat response signals from the pickups. The filter modules contain controls for Q (resonance), bandwidth, frequency reponse, and filter mode (to allow for lowpass, bandpass, highpass, and notch filtering). The filters are essentially Phil's design, though Alembic built them, and George Munday redesigned them to Phil'specifications.
His favorite tone settings center around the use of the bandpass filter, though he explains that he generally just tries to blend well with what the other musicians are doing. He usually plays with a pick, though on extremely rare occasions he uses his fingers. The Fender Heavy he has relied on for the past few years replaced a Carpe Plexiglas pick he favored until its manufacturer folded. His string choice is D'Addario Half Rounds, gauged at .045, .060, .075, and .090. He previously used Framus and Pyramid strings. He always puts on new strings before going into the studio to record, but on tour he changes them only as necessary.

[baba]

Behold, the Godfather:

[bakeronbass]

That info is from alembic. Not that it may not of been true at some point. And Iam not sure when the exact switch to Modulus was made but I can assure you guys that phils main bass has been the Q6 modulus for the last 17 years. He would only use the alembic during space.

Last month John Scofield sat in with phil and friends at mointain jam. Well worth the listen imop. @Live Music Archive

Thank You Jerry

[baba]

Originally Posted by bakeronbass

That info is from alembic. Not that it may not of been true at some point.

I'm not sure what you are implying here. Considering Phil's longstanding relationship with Alembic, I doubt there is any misinformation on their site about this bass.

[kevinmoore73]

I miss Jerry.

[bakeronbass]

Originally Posted by baba

I'm not sure what you are implying here. Considering Phil's longstanding relationship with Alembic, I doubt there is any misinformation on their site about this bass.

Not trying to start anything I'am just trying to say that the modulus is better than the alembic and thats why phil switched. Not that I dont dig that tone. And that the godfather is a guild Starfire with alembic pick ups and electronics.

And for someone unfamiliar with phil/the dead I would hate to mislead them into thinking phil ever played an alembic bass(prove me wrong here. I've been known to shoot my mouth off and be totally wrong) even though they really wanted him to.


from modulus="Lesh has used a variety of our instruments with very narrow string spacing since we began our relationship," says Geoff Gould "His current bass, and he's got several of them like it, is a Quantum 6 Throughbody TBX. It's unusual in that the body is extra wide and it has a 34" scale, instead of our normal 35" scale. It also has 26 frets instead of 24. The top is book-matched quilted maple over maple with a special black cherry finish. It uses EMG pickups, except for the Gotoh 510 piezo at the bridge. That feeds into six EMG modified acoustic guitar preamps that all sum together on a balance knob. The neck has a clear red finish and a cocobola fingerboard. He's got one of these being outfitted with the wired-fret MIDI technology right now, so he can use one instrument all night. Right now, he only uses the Ken Smith during the segment I call 'synth wars' that comes right after the drum solos. As soon as that's over, he puts the Modulus back on

[Passinwind]

Originally Posted by PaulMacCnj

I've been listening to a lot of live Grateful Dead from 1974. Of all the different basses that Phil Lesh has used, there's something about the punchy sound in those '74 live concerts that I like best. Can someone tell what bass he was using in those days?

Just Google "Phil Lesh 1974" and you'll find pictures of the Alembic he was using at all the shows I saw that year. That's absolutely my favorite year as far as Phil's sound and playing as well.

[AlembicPlayer]

Originally Posted by bakeronbass

Not trying to start anything I'am just trying to say that the modulus is better than the alembic and thats why phil switched. Not that I dont dig that tone. And that the godfather is a guild Starfire with alembic pick ups and electronics.

And for someone unfamiliar with phil/the dead I would hate to mislead them into thinking phil ever played an alembic bass(prove me wrong here. I've been known to shoot my mouth off and be totally wrong) even though they really wanted him to.


from modulus="Lesh has used a variety of our instruments with very narrow string spacing since we began our relationship," says Geoff Gould "His current bass, and he's got several of them like it, is a Quantum 6 Throughbody TBX. It's unusual in that the body is extra wide and it has a 34" scale, instead of our normal 35" scale. It also has 26 frets instead of 24. The top is book-matched quilted maple over maple with a special black cherry finish. It uses EMG pickups, except for the Gotoh 510 piezo at the bridge. That feeds into six EMG modified acoustic guitar preamps that all sum together on a balance knob. The neck has a clear red finish and a cocobola fingerboard. He's got one of these being outfitted with the wired-fret MIDI technology right now, so he can use one instrument all night. Right now, he only uses the Ken Smith during the segment I call 'synth wars' that comes right after the drum solos. As soon as that's over, he puts the Modulus back on

whoa...
modulus better then alembic?
phil never played an alembic?

get your facts straight.
lesh owned the osage orange alembic bass (I think he got it in 73) and played it in the grateful dead movie. He played it in the wall of sound era.

[baba]

While I think Modulus and Alembic are apples and oranges, and better is very subjective, I also prefer Modulus.

I really miss the Grateful Dead.

[AlembicPlayer]

alembic

[csala]

Ah the mighty wall of sound. Thanks for posting that pic. 1974 was a rather "jazzy" year for the Dead.

[baba]

Let me reiterate what I already posted.

It was a Guild Starfire II that was modified by Alembic. Hence the Alembic headstock symbol and insane array of knobs.

[baba]

...and here's a recent pic of the Guild Starfire/Alembic. Phil says, "Now what the f*** do all these knobs do??"

[AlembicPlayer]

in those golden years of alembic....search RICK TURNER

nice pics!

[baba]

9/2/78

[baba]

I stand corrected.

You can hear the Godfather (Guild/Alembic) I've been posting about on Europe 72.

In '74 he was the straight up Alembic. He picked it up in '73.

From the Philzone:

The short story is this: Phil started out on a Gibson EB0, then moved to a Fender Jazz Bass which he used until '68. After that he played a not very modified Guild Starfire (preamps and some magnet changes in the pickups) through late '69 or so (Live Dead is a great example of this sound). The next bass was a heavily modified Gibson EB3 (I think it was a long instrument) which had new hardware, preamps and Guild single coil pickups installed by Alembic. This bass can be heard on Skull**** and other recordings of the time (DP from the Fillmore '70 show is an excellent example of this instrument). This instrument was stolen (anybody out there seen it?) and was followed by the Starfire, but this time it had it's front removed and replaced with all new pickups and electronics, including an Alembic superfilter and quadraphonic pickup. The headstock was also replaced. It was called the Godfather. This is the bass heard on Europe '72 and in a lot of ways my favorite of Phil's various sounds. It can be seen at Alembic's website. In '73 he received his first Alembic 4 string bass that was also quite an instrument, it was also quad and is seen in the Grateful Dead movie. It interfaced quite well with the Wall of Sound. This bass was followed by a Doug Irwin and then a G&L as well as Flirtations with an old Fender Jazz. Finally, in the early 80s he got his first Modulus 6 string.

[m.oreilly]

that ain't no guild...


(hehe, a little late )