[gdrfk1990]

Can anyone give me a general rundown on what a Bobby rig should look like ?

For example Jerry in a nutshell
Strat style guitar > buffer / blaster > blackface / twin style amp treble 10 middle 5 bass 0
Pedals overdrive phaser mutron octave delay

TIA

[strumminsix]

His preamps, poweramps, and speakers weren't dissimilar to Jerry's in the 70s.

His guitar is where we see major differences starting with Ibanez trisound switching.

Humbuckers with TS switching and onboard EQ really set him up for great, unique sound options.

[Slewfoot2000]

I feel like Bobby rigs are very era dependent, much more so that Jerry. After all, Jerry used Irwin / Strat guitars for 3/4 of the band's existence whereas Bobby used an array of instruments with incredibly different tones. He also seemed to experiment a lot with different amps.

It would be great if someone could break down each era. I don't quite feel up to the challenge yet, but I might give it a go soon if someone more knowledgeable than me doesn't come in sooner.

[strumminsix]

Bobby by era can be a rapid hole. Thankfully there's and entire Grateful Dead Gear Book that can help.


Here's my memory, and if I'm wrong, I'm okay being corrected..........

Late 60s, early 70s Fender combos, DSR or Twins out to extension cabs. Often saw him with 15" speakers

Mid 70s Mesa (which is well, Fender amps souped up)

Late 70s IVP preamp, Gozilla poweramp

Early 80s Peavey was in his rigs at some point, for sure with the Midnights maybe with Dead. Unsure at the moment.

Rest of 80s we see Marshall, Soldano, and many others. Higher gain for sure.

90s and 2000s we se him adding modelers like POD and ElevenRack; often favoring Vox tones

Then he started using a Vox

And from there we see boutique amps many of which have Fendery pre and Voxy power sound to my ears.

Which is why, IMO, Dr Z Maz series does Bobby really nicely: Fendery pre, chimey almost Voxy power, and that covers a lot of his eras