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I was watching a youtube video of Neil Young and the Greatful Dead at Golden Gate Park in 11/03/91, and noticed Jerry Garcia was using a McIntosh MC2300. Not that I am a big Mac fan, but you seldom see HiFi amps being used in live concerts.
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He hasn't improved since.
I love the music of ... ... Gustav Mahler
In the early '70s, they used so many Mac amps in their PA system that they became a dealer just to buy wholesale and get all the parts they needed for their own use. Look at old wall of sound pics and you'll see stacks of Macs.
Yes, they were. On the road, one time one of their MC2300s gave out. Their manager called Mc who checked around and we were there closest dealer with a new MC2300 in stock. We had just received it as a special order for a customer. MC instructed us to transfer the amp to them and they would make and send out a replacement with a letter to the customer so, he would hopefully not be angry. The customer when contacted wanted to know if he took the originally ordered amp would it still be under warranty. As they were dealers Mc confirmed as long as thenwarranty card had not been filled out. It was not so, we got the amp back, autographed by each band member and delivered it to the customer and transferred the replacement unit to the band via McIntosh.
Don Brian Levy, J.D.
Toronto ON Canada
That is a great story thanks for sharing
nt
Go get or rent the Grateful Dead movie or soundtrack...very good recording with the Wall of Sound and Mc Gear...
In the 70's My father was the McIntosh NY Area rep and used to sell hundreds of them to Night Clubs around the city as well as to retail dealers.
Commercial use was allowed to be bought and supported directly from McIntosh.
Didn't the Grateful Dead 'Wall of Sound' ALSO use a BUNCH of McIntosh amps?
Too much is never enough
The infamous Wall Of Sound (for the Grateful Dead) used some 48 Mc-2300 for the TWEETERS-
I worked with Anvil Cases on a Job once - the sales rep told a story of a 2300 falling off the back of a flatbed truck on 880 (in the SF East Bay) at 50+MPH and when they went back and found it - not only did it work - there were NO broken tubes....
Easy, because it had none ..........
Excellent points All-
None in the MC2300.
Maybe an option :).
Don Brian Levy, J.D.
Toronto ON Canada
mea culpa- Meant MC350 -
See John Curl's comments below
It's interesting how 'myths' can be generated over the decades. The 'Wall of Sound' was an interesting project that took more than a year to finish, and even then changes were made. We tried to stay with tubes (MC350) but Mcintosh would not make us any more, so we were stuck with the 2300. It was not as good as the best tube stuff. In the end, we used the 350's for the tweeter array. As each tweeter had about 108dB/W sensitivity, we did not need too much power for each one, and a single 350 should have been enough. However, over time the 350's tended to get problematic due to the excessive vibration in transportation, and when necessary only solid state was used. Mac made a good reliable and well built power amp, even though the solid state stuff was not that much better than most solid state power amps of the day. It was rugged, and versatile (having a multi-tapped autoformer at the output, and it did not go into protection mode excessively, but the tube units were better sounding.
I've seen photos of various configurations of "the wall of sound", so I have an inkling of what you're saying about changes.What I wonder is "why" the band decided to do it in the first place.
Surely, the concepts and implementation of the dual B&K mics with your circuitry, and the associated electronics, must have been very expensive, simply to overcome feedback issues from the main system behind the band. So, I wonder, what was the point, in the minds of the band, management and engineers, of doing it? What were y'all trying to accomplish or discover with "the wall of sound"?
Edit: What has become of Ron Wickersham, "Bear", and Dan Healy? It would be great if you'd share some of that.
:)
Edits: 11/20/14
They just wanted a loud set of monitors.
The Dead used many MC-2300's and a few MI-350's. For one tour date somewhere in the northeast, some of their gear didn't arrive, so they went to the factory and bought what they could, including some not-quite-finished units. An apocryphal tale perhaps, but it's a good one.
WW
"A man need merely light the filaments of his receiving set and the world's greatest artists will perform for him." Alfred N. Goldsmith, RCA, 1922
After an amp or two blew, they took a helicopter from the venue to the McIntosh factory on the morning of the show, which started at noon on a Saturday (I was there). The Mac president met them there, unlocked the joint, and personally handed over the replacements. At least that's the story I read in one of the books about the Dead.
Yes, The GD did endorse Mac gear.
The MC2300, MC2500 and, MC2600 were not conceived of as home audio system amps and were more commonly used by bands and in sound reinforcement systems. For everyone of these we sold for home audio, we sold about 10 for professional use. Most of them I sold for home audio were to owners of AR LSTs and McIntosh ML4s. These benefited from a very good stable high powered amp.
Don Brian Levy, J.D.
Toronto ON Canada
Had a brief email exchange with Phil Lesh about a very rare Mac piece. This was back in the early 90's. I found out later that it was him after he started to tell me something about his stage system for his bass amps.
my brush with fame.charles
Edits: 11/18/14
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