The Beacon Jams

The Beacon Jams brought together a full acoustic and a full electric rig for perhaps the first time. It was a sizable setup allowing for some incredible capabilities and Trey bounced back and forth between them effortlessly. The electric rig was somewhat in flux over the course of the run, but the most significant aspects remained in place throughout. There was some experimentation with different Komet Ambikab cabinet woods, like poplar and birch, against pine in the Komet TA60 combo and Bruno 2×12. They also experimented with where the cabinets were situated (e.g., on a stand, the floor, tilted) and where they were located (onstage vs. offstage to avoid crosstalk between the mics). Additionally, they tried some different cables, including Belden, Canare, George L, and Mogami before settling on the Mogami – 10′ to amp, 14′ to rack effects.  Extensive details and photos are below.  

But first, TreysGuitarRig.com made a donation to the Divided Sky Fund to show our appreciation for all the effort that went in to this event and in support of all those who will be assisted in their journey by this music and this fund.  If you are able, please consider making a donation here.  

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Electric Guitar Amplification:

•  2 x Special Guest Amps (“SGAs” – See 2019-20 NYE for more on the SGAs.  TL;DR: TGR is choosing not to publicly identify these amps at this time).  SGA #1 is run completely “dry” other than the effects in the Ambikab loop.  SGA #2 is the “wet” rig, with all the effects in the Bradshaw switcher running in front of it.
•  Komet TA60: It’s possible this was just used as a speaker cabinet.

Electric Guitar Cabinets:

•  Komet Ambikabs.  The Ambikabs are wet-dry rigs-in-a-box with their own effects loops with separate 10″ speakers.  The 12″ speakers are Celestion Heritage 65’s.  The Ambikab effects sections continue to be powered by a fully customized version of the Keeley Eccos made just for Trey.  The pedal runs Reverb and Delay in Parallel (not series), which is critical for the Ambikab application.   There’s an extensive write-up of the Glazed Edition custom Eccos here.
•  Bruno 2×12
•  Leslie G-37 guitar rotating speaker

Note: All speakers are Celestion G12-65H 8ohm.  The cabs are mic’d by a Shure SM-57 and a Royer SF-12 , as usual, and they added a Royer R-122V Vacuum Tube Ribbon Microphone for this run.

Electric Guitars:

•  Blonde No. 2
•  Ocelot
•  Koa 2

Note: They drilled a second 1/4″ jack in Ocelot and Blonde No. 2 in order to run the 2-channel rig they’d been running running using Koa 2 except with two 1/4″ mono cables instead of a single Tip-Ring-Sleeve stereo cable. This facilitates, in effect, two channels of output from the guitars, switchable via push-pull on the guitar’s volume knob. One channel goes to the effects rig while the other goes straight to the amp. As I’ve noted previously, extreme tone-chasers and tube-aficionados argue that it is critical for there to be minimal to no interruption in the chain between the pickups and the first tube stage of the preamp (“V1”). The other critical piece of the rig that aids this is the Keeley Eccos Glazed, because it allows Trey to add reverb and delay without putting it before the front-end of the amp. The only circuit between the pickup and V1 is the push-pull A/B circuit, which is minimal interference, and unlike a floor-based a/b, it allows Trey to work the switch from wherever he’s standing.  

Electric Rig Effects:

Gain/Overdrive
•  2 x Tube Screamer (vintage TS-808)
•  Klon Cenatuar Overdrive
•  Ross Compressor

Voicing
•  2 x Digitech Whammy II  (one set to octave down and mostly used with Wah; the other for pitch bending)
•  1 x Electro Harmonix (“EHX”) POG2
•  EHX Key 9 x 2 (different sensitivity settings)
•  CAE Wah
•  2 x Beigel Tru-Tron 3x Envelope Filter

Time-Based (reverb and delay)
•  Boomerang
•  Eventide Space Reverb (Centaurus algo)
•  Customized Keeley Eccos Glazed Edition delay and reverb in Ambikabs
•  3 x Way Huge Supa Puss atop rack: (1) set to quarter note, (2) set to dotted eighth, (3) set to tapped 1/4 note and low in the mix, a “thickener” they call “SOAR”. All have the R79 resistor removed from the printed circuit board, allowing for a smoother curve or more linear slope on the mix control.
•  Ibanez DM-2000 digital delay
•  Digitech Obscura (for reverse delay)

Modulation
•  Victoria Reverberato
•  Shin -Ei UniVibe
•  Boss RT-20 Rotary Ensemble – this has a different speed setting than the Leslie G-37

Acoustic Guitars:

•  1943 Martin D-28: almost always in standard tuning.  D’Addario EXP 19.
•  1933 Martin 000-28: DADGAD, open G, or other tuning.  D’Addario EXP 16.
•  1968 Martin D-35: drop C or open C maj tuning.  D’Addario EXP 17.  

Note: These were mic’d with a Chandler Red Ribbon mic mixed with the internal pickups (Fishman Soundhole humbucker and Trace Amulet at bridge).  The Amulet is in stereo so you may have heard an L/R pan from the acoustics. 

Acoustic Rig Effects:

• Victoria Reverberato
• Boomerang Phrase Sampler
• Keeley Eccos
• Digitech Whammy II
• Ortega ANNAlog stomp box (bass thumper)

Note: Only the D-28 runs to the acoustic effects rig.  The acoustic rig effects are all separate units from the electric effects, so there were 2 Reverberatos, 2 Boomerangs, 3 Eccos and 3 Whammy II’s onstage.

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