Wall Of Sound

[rustyg61]

Here is a great article on the WOS -
 
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-wall-of-sound?utm_source=vicefbus

[sonicus]

How Kool is this ?   WAY KOOL !  
Thanks for posting this Rusty !  
 
 Wolf

[David Houck]

Just finished reading it; very enjoyable read.  Thanks!

[sonicus]

This article describes the sound system for the LAST shows;
 
http://www.prosoundnetwork.com/article/meyer-sound-fares-the-grateful-dead-well/19646
 
Wolf

[elwoodblue]

Thanks Rusty, good article !
I'll have to reread it and Wolf's after more coffee.

[rv_bass]

Thanks for the postings, great to read.  The Meyer Sound/Mickey Hart mention of low frequency healing through neurological stimulations is intriguing!  
 
Rob

[StephenR]

Thanks for the links! WOS article was a fun read, still need to read about the PA for the GD50 shows.
 
On a related note... Bear's son Starfinder brought a jar of his father's ashes to Chicago and they were placed on the soundboard for the final shows. Very cool.  
 
 

[elwoodblue]

Wow,
That's deep.
Cool pic!thanks

[lbpesq]

Thanks for the article.  
 
The Wall of Sound was incredible.  I got to see, hear, and feel it several times.  I remember the official unveiling, the Sound Test at the Cow Palace in San Francisco in March of 1974.
The Dead played a LONG concert, followed by breakfast (croissants and oranges, as I remember) and on the way out we were handed a free 4 song mini LP - all for $4!  
 
I paid $200 for my ticket at the Santa Clara show.  Times have indeed changed!
 
Bill, tgo

[sonicus]

I was at that Cow Palace show as well .

[rustyg61]

Glad everyone likes the article, I thought it was very interesting!

[rustyg61]

Glad everyone likes the article, I thought it was very interesting!

[elwoodblue]

I'll second that ,
 I've been doing some random reading on the WOS,
I'll dig up some links.
 
 I have a few GD/WOS pieces of gear that I have been
trying to research to see where and when they where used.
  If anyone has some pics/info about cool black(?) boxes like Betty Cantor-Jackson's breakout box and Ron's AX-10....please post them.
   
 The Meyer/GD50 article mentioned they gathered 650 speakers from different sources to put the chicago show up.
 A guy I worked with was a JBL warantee serviceman in the 70's. He said one day they got a call to send out ALL
the 5 drivers they had for some big project.
 
(Message edited by elwoodblue on July 07, 2015)

[edwardofhuncote]

I only had a chance to glance at it yesterday morning, but read the whole thing trying to unwind after a particularly rowdy wedding reception gig last night. (yeah - on a *Tuesday* night... who the heck planned that?!)  
 
Anyway, I guess that's the most comprehensive article I've ever seen on the Wall of Sound. Fascinating, the back story... Thanks for posting Rusty!  
 
As an aside, I had this buddy in high school, (we're actually still buds, just separated by a continent anymore) that famously huge sound stytem was all he thought or talked about leading up to the Dead tour that year (either Summer of '86 or '87) by which time I guess they wouldn't have been using it anymore. Tried his best to get me to go with him, but I didn't heed his accolades about this *amazing* Phil Lesh guy on bass. I'd like to have that one back.

[bigredbass]

What a shame that the WOS could not be revisited.  In today's world of powered cabinets (lose one whole semi full of Mac amps and miles of speaker cable !) and computer control, imagine what could be done now.  Especially since some of its features have become standards now.
 
Plus, one big hurdle is completely eliminated these days:  You'd NEVER have to worry about feedback, since they're all lip-synching !
 
Joey