
Delay Pedal:įor a delay effect, Jerry Garcia used a MXR MX118 Analog Delay Pedal. From there he used the Boss pedal as his main overdrive pedal. Originally, Jerry used an Ibanez Tube Screamer (find it here on Amazon) for many years until he found the Boss OS-2 Overdrive Pedal. Jerry Garcia intermixed a few Boss overdrive pedals during his time with the Grateful Dead. Let’s take a look at the main pedals he used. As time progressed and he made more money, more pedals were added to his pedalboard to fuel the Grateful Dead sound. Jerry Garcia used a multitude of different pedals to help him achieve his desired tone. What Effects Did Jerry Garcia Use? – Pedals Sennheiser MD 421 II Cardioid Dynamic Mic.Fender Tone MasterTwin Reverb Digital Modeling Guitar Amplifier (my favorite).Instead, below is a similar up to date amp setup that you can purchase on Amazon: As a matter of fact, they were used mostly by west coast bands.įind Out How Jerry Garcia Learned Guitar Today!įinding the exact amp setup will have you looking at Reverb for relics and paying thousands of dollars. Many guitarists from Santana to Jorma Kaukonen used these amps. The Mesa Boogies are likely some of the most famous amplifiers outside of Fender at that time. He has also used the coveted Mesa Boogie Mark I and Mark II amplifiers. Finally, the sound was outputted for the masses with a Sennheiser 421 mic. These were powered by a McIntosh solid state amp. Instead of using the speakers from the amp directly, Jerry used three JBL D120/E120 speakers in a vertical box. Jerry continued to use the preamp from the Fender amp until 1993. Jerry Garcia used a Silverface Fender Twin Reverb Amp for most of his career and was a central piece in achieving his sound. Let’s take a look at the various amps and pedals that Jerry Garcia used. That being said, incorporating a similar pedal board to Jerry will help you get closer to his tone. His tone was the result of this method of playing first and foremost. Jerry played the guitar like a classical musician plays piano. He had a layer of depth to his playing that many guitarists are trying to understand and implement to their playing. His playing is more subtle and nuanced giving an elegance to his playing. Jerry Garcia lived in an era before guitar hero’s and before the high energy guitar ripping that we know and love today. Jerry Garcia got his tone by using the following amps and pedals: Tone Effect How Did Jerry Garcia Get His Tone? Summary This post contains affiliate links, please review our disclaimer and disclosure policy for more information Jerry Garcia got his tone by using a Silverface Fender Twin Reverb Amp, Ibanez Tube Screamer, BOSS OS-2, MXR MX118 Analog Delay Pedal, Real Tube Reverb, Boss HM-2 Heavy Metal, and a Mu-Tron III envelope filter.Ĭontinue reading to learn more about Jerry Garcia’s pedal setup, effects, amp, and guitar setup to learn how he achieved such a unique and distinguishable tone. With these influences and his own genius, he created his own unique tone and play style with the Grateful Dead. Especially bluegrass music as that was his first instrumental passion with the banjo.

One of several legal nasties that occurred after Garcia's death.Like many guitarists in the 60’s, Jerry Garcia was heavily influenced by blues music. If I remember correctly the band sued the Garcia estate over that and ultimately lost/settled two of the guitars went to Irwin, who put them up for auction since he was broke and disabled, and most of the other guitars went to the corporation.

This resulted in some unpleasant legal wrangling as Jerry left three of his guitars (Wolf, Tiger and IIRC Rosebud, to the luthier who built them (Doug Irwin) in his will. I was always intrigued by the Modulus Blackknife ones.įWIW, most of the instruments, backline and other equipment were paid for and owned by the band's corporation, not the individual musicians. Probably time to start paying for storing all the stuff which, for some part, does appear to basically be junk. Jerry died 26 years ago, for pete's sake, which somehow seems shocking to think about.
#JERRY GARCIA GUITAR RIG PLUS#
The Vault (thousands of concert recordings) was/is the Dead's retirement plan, plus all the stuff they've had sitting at Club Front and other storage facilities for decades.
