Jimi & Billy - Gypsies - name this rig Fillmore

[mark107]

I was at the Band of Gypsys show on New Years' Day. That was the second show, the first being New Years Eve. All the songs in the album were from the second night. Anyway, Billy Cox had two Sunn 2000S heads, and four 2000S cabinets, arranged in a similar manner as the pic in the first post, but laying on their sides. At that time I owned a Sunn 200S head, so I was well aware of what the gear was. That pic above in NOT from Band of Gypsys at the Fillmore, that much I know. I was there.

 

[mark107]

Here is anther pic purporting to be of that show. Here Bill Cox has four Fender Dual Showman cabinets. You can see the Fender name plate in the upper corner, and the JBL name plate in the opposing lower corner. Also not from that show! So I must assume that Billy Cox's gear on the road was largely rented.

 

[jerry]

I was there in the second night early show 01/01/70, I was 14 and didn't even play bass yet, but it sure sent me on my path.

 

[dougjwray]

The photo was taken by Amalie R. Rothschild, and it appears on page 51 of her book Live at the Fillmore East: a Photographic Memoir (New York : Thunder's Mouth Press, 1999). As you can see, the caption reads: "Jimi Hendrix and Band of Gypsys sound check, Fillmore East, December 31, 1969."

 

[Michedelic]

Remember kids we have the Dead to thank for P.A. advancements. IMO we are far better off today with mini rigs. Low stage volumes and the no smoking laws Those rigs even though massive by today's standards would have probably made you ill from the sonic overload in the first few rows to a giant marshmallow 100 feet back. Fond memories… I recall Manowar being the loudest in the 80's. You simply cannot imagine insane SPL's. Rock on!

No, we have Bob Heil, Showco, and the Clair Brothers, plus singular individual contributions from people like Dinky Dawson, to thank for pulling PA systems out of the era of a pair of Shure Vocalmaster columns or VOT on each side of the stage. The later Dead set up was a major conceptional and financial fail, as it was essentially several individual giant 'stacks', as opposed to all those speakers receiving a properly mixed sum(or even stereo)signal.