An Insider Opens Up On Trey’s Rig
Rig (Right)
The following comment was posted on my article discussing Trey’s guitar rig. Rather than leave this valuable info to the bottom rungs of an old article, I decided to post it for all to see. Thanks to the anonymous person who shared this info. We are truly appreciative.
“I have been a road member for quite some time and would like to share some insight so people dont run out and buy all the wrong things.
First off, the buttons for the leslie, one button is a once button for the boomerang. The boomerang has a function called “once” which trey had modded to an external jack so he could hit the once button and sing in songs like “Heavy Things.” That constant beeping is Trey’s once button.
Secondly, the DM-2000 doesnt have a reverse delay function, the reverse dealay comes from the Boomerang again. Trey uses the Boomerang a lot more than people give credit, it is not just a simple looper.
The Nano Verb has according to Brian Brown has been disconected from the rig for some time, accoding to [guitar tech] Brian Brown the Micro Verb is the only one that is on and it is set to reverse reverb only. The nanos are still in there becuase its the only way to complete the rack.
The Wah according to Brian Brown is a stock GCB 95 not a RMC-3 even though everyone thinks that it is infact a RMC because the GCB-95 never sounds like Trey’s wah.
The expression pedals controls the pulse of the tremolo and the buttons next to the expression buttons control the wave forms of the tremolo.
The compressor is used after the TS9 and is turned down to allow him to turn the TS9 all the way up. When he clicks them on he wont see a huge volume jump but the overall tone will change to a much more overdriven sound. I’m sure anyone who owns a TS9 knows the feeling of the volume jump.
The mid-ninties siren effects like the ones in “Free” from 97 era, is from the modulation effect on the DM-2000. When you capture a sound in the hold function on the DM and move to modulate it will create a siren sound. The other siren sound is using the whammy and the Boomerang and creating pitch bends while rolling in the volume on the guitar.
The Mesa was not even used as a traditional amp, the mesa was used as a power section just like any other power amp, the modded [Fender Deluxe Reverb] has been behind his rig for a lot of the shows since the return, and the sms pre-amp was only used for one show, that was a burgettstown in 2009, it was imediatly pulled from the rig after that.
Hope some of this helps.”
Wow! Eye-opening stuff for many of us who chase Trey’s tone. This really puts the kibosh on a lot of misconceptions we have been laboring under. Thanks to the “mole” for this and to you for bringing it to our attention
August 12, 2011 at 12:39 pm
Well that’s just neat as shit.
August 12, 2011 at 12:40 pm
very cool…now only if they would split screen his fret board with his feet on those webcasts!
August 12, 2011 at 1:18 pm
dope
August 12, 2011 at 1:44 pm
Excellent “behind the scenes” info….really enlightening, even for those who don’t know much about rigs in general! Thanks to “the mole” for shedding some light on it
August 12, 2011 at 2:54 pm
Thanks for this great new post, and all the other great Trey info on your site. But the above insider info has created a mystery for me: What’s Trey now using for his preamp? Your 2011 equipment list mentions he’s playing the Mesa Mark III. Assumed he’d gone old school and was using that full head (pre & power amp). This insider notes that Trey used the SMS pre-amp briefly), and that he’s still using the Mesa for only the power section. So what preamp is driving it circa 2011? The insider mentions the Fender Deluxe Reverb hiding behind everything. Has Trey tapped into that, using just the pre-amp in the same way that Garcia did with his Twin Reverbs? Loving Trey’s tone on this tour, and very curious. Thanks!
August 12, 2011 at 4:10 pm
Me again… still on the topic of the mysterious pre-amp. Most of the pics in the Trey’s current rig posting on this site (all 2009 and on…) show the Mesa Mark III head with cables going into the input and footswitch jacks on the front of the amp. There would be no reason for this if he wasn’t using the Mesa’s preamp section. If the Mesa were being used only as a power amp, the only input would be from a preamp into the “return” jack of the effects loop on the back of the amp. So I suppose I remain confused as to what that insider is talking about when he says Trey’s only using the Mesa as a power section these days…
August 12, 2011 at 9:18 pm