Grateful Dead Music Forum

I saw John playing his new custom Alembic guitar at Terrapin last night, and was blown away by the tone. Not just the midi - which was fantastic, but the sound of the guitar/amp itself. Here's my question. It's easy to see the guitar he's playing, but behind him there was just a single black speaker cabinet with no logo. There was no amp or preamp anywhere in sight. (I've never seen a setup like that)

Does anyone know what John is currently using for amplification? Is that just a P.A. cabinet behind him with a separate feed of his guitar?

Thanks much!

Actually, I'm fairly sure that what you're hearing is him playing unplugged.

That's the best-sounding unplugged electric guitar I've ever heard...

Pretty sure he's playing from his preamp (don't know which brand) into a powered Meyer cabinet. It looks like the UM-100P, but not sure. I sent John a message on Facebook to ask him... Lots of people use guitars with built-in preamps and effects loops (I do, too) but otherwise this is a very atypical amplification setup.

He had a Trio in the rack. Likely a speaker-simulator into full-range monitors.