New York, NY (November 9, 2023)—Online auction house Analogr will bring a Grateful Dead-related audio gear under the gavel later this month. Among the more than 100 lots will be Jerry Garcia’s last touring guitar rig, original Hard Truckers loudspeakers, and a 1:4 scale working replica of the legendary Wall of Sound P.A. system.
Analogr’s upcoming Live: Dead Auction, a 10-day timed auction beginning Thursday, November 30, 2023, will feature a variety of Grateful Dead items, including art, instruments, photography, vintage t-shirts, backstage passes, flyers and posters, but the audio-related lots are particularly of note.
Chief among them will be Jerry Garcia’s last touring guitar rig, which made use of a McIntosh amplifier that Bob Weir had previously used for his section of the original Wall Of Sound. Also under the hammer will be a pair of 1972 Hard Trucker speakers with original Courtenay Pollock tie-dye art, and a pair of “The Cubes,” made for Grateful Dead associates by Hard Truckers. Elsewhere in the same auction, recording equipment from Wally Heider Studios, including microphones and preamps, will be put up on the block.
Anthony Coscia, the high-end luthier who has built numerous reproductions of the Dead’s Wall of Sound P.A. system, will sell his personal 1:4 scale working replica in the auction. Over the years, Coscia has built multiple recreations of the fabled system; Mix covered his successful quest to build a 1:2 scale version last spring—his fifth wall to date.
The original Wall of Sound is the stuff of legend, both among Deadheads and audio pros, and was widely considered to be the cutting edge in live sound reinforcement during the few months it was used in 1974. Originally devised by audio engineer / prolific LSD chemist Owsley “Bear” Stanley, the Wall of Sound sat onstage behind the band, acting as both a P.A. and monitor rig; unfortunately, measuring 98 feet across and 36 feet high, it proved to be prohibitively expensive to transport on tour and was retired after only seven months.
The 1:4 scale wall being auctioned stands 14-by-10-feet, and features more than 500 speakers within it, so it is sizable but still small enough to be transportable; Coscia has often used it for demonstrations at conventions, libraries and events.
Not part of the auction but nonetheless up for sale, too, is Coscia’s massive 1:2 scale Wall of Sound that was profiled in Mix; he’s looking for a buyer or long-term venue partner for it. “After that goal is reached,” said Coscia, “the long process of finding partners for a full-scale recreation can start.”
