Solo Tone

Franklin's Tower

Grateful Dead

Guitarrock1970s

Original Gear

Guitar1973 Doug Irwin 'Wolf' custom guitar

AmpFender Twin Reverb (Blackface, preamp only) into McIntosh MC2300 power amp

PickupsDiMarzio Super II humbucker (bridge), DiMarzio SDS-1 single coil (middle), DiMarzio PAF (neck)

Amp Settings

gain2.5

bass6

mid6.5

treble7

reverb4

presence5.5

Effects & Signal Chain

modulationMusitronics Mu-Tron III Envelope Filter

Notes

Studio recording, 1975. Jerry Garcia's 'Wolf' guitar was used on the original studio version of 'Franklin's Tower' from the album 'Blues for Allah'. The amp setup was his classic Fender Twin Reverb preamp into a McIntosh MC2300 power amp, with JBL D120F speakers. Effects were routed through a custom effects loop. No evidence of live rig or later guitars for this recording.

Tone Character(10)

bright and articulatebrittle and wonkyclean and glassy highsfunky envelope filter quacktouch-sensitivedynamic responseclear note separationslightly compressed attacktrippy and expressivewarm but not muddy

Difficulty

The solo requires intermediate to advanced phrasing, dynamic picking to control the envelope filter, and a good sense of timing for the funky, syncopated lines. The technical challenge comes from expressive use of the Mu-Tron III and maintaining clarity in fast runs.