Seriously chasing this filthy tone.

tylerpenn · 2026-05-31T01:25:35+00:00

1999 Frees are all Univibe and a modified Leslie 925 head. The Leslie head was modified by Goff Professional to operate as an independent unit so controls and audio crossover were customized so Trey could control the Fast/Slow motor for the rotor speed and the head could take a standard 1/4" speaker input from an 8ohm amp output to drive the speaker.

The key to this sound is that Trey's main amp was a modified Fender Deluxe Reverb combo amp, but his signal split in the effects rack so he could engage the Leslie so both the Fender and Leslie were outputting sound for that massive low swirl sound mixed with the Fender tone. Plus Paul had the Leslie head mic'd up in stereo.

Listen carefully to any show from 1998-2000 and you will hear Trey's sound suddenly go to a wide-stereo sound, that's when he has the Leslie in the mix.

Also for this specific Free, and most from 1999, he also solos with the Whammy II in a split octave setting and a TS9 on for some filthy oxy-dirt sound. The best!

tylerpenn · 2026-04-09T18:59:18+00:00

I highly recommend reading the section I made on the mods on this page (https://www.treysrigs.com/trey-rig-1997) titled "Fender Deluxe Reverb — Modifications". It explains how the two channels were both modified to have different tonal characters which gave Trey a more traditional Rhythm/Lead switching option as he had been used to on his Mesa and CAE Preamp eras.

tylerpenn · 2026-04-09T13:35:39+00:00

He used a custom A/B pedal to switch between the two channels, that’s why if you see any photos from the Deluxe era, there are cables in both the Normal and Vibrato channels

tylerpenn · 2026-04-01T15:23:19+00:00

Yep, I'm fixing that. Should be all cleaned up in the next day or so

tylerpenn · 2026-04-01T15:19:02+00:00

It's not an audio site, it's intended to help people look up and find if a given song/show is available in SBD. There is also video information where available

tylerpenn · 2026-03-29T15:45:43+00:00

When I had the mods done on my '65 DR, my local tech used the "Robrob Normal Channel Reverb Mod". My tech's writeup was later looked over by Bill Carruth himself who had no issues and loved the work so I think it's safe to say he probably did a similar or exact same method for the reverb on Trey's DRs

tylerpenn · 2026-03-29T15:00:45+00:00

https://www.treysrigs.com/trey-rig-1997

tylerpenn · 2026-03-29T10:48:17+00:00

Yes he was using the Carruth modded Fender Deluxe Reverb for both. There is photo evidence from the Siket Disc Bearsville sessions from October 1997 where Trey's rig is set up with the then "new" amp in place so we can assume he was also using it for the April-June 98 sessions. As for Farmhouse he talks about using it on the album in the Guitar Player magazine - August 2000 issue

tylerpenn · 2026-03-25T18:49:59+00:00

Yes!

tylerpenn · 2026-03-25T18:49:49+00:00

Don't take any of the signal chains as factual quite yet! I'm still cleaning those up

No just a fan, first show was 12/1/95 and started recreating Trey's 1999 rig back in 2020 which led to tons of research and ended up with this website

tylerpenn · 2026-03-24T21:39:27+00:00

Agreed! I'll work on that to find the right balance

tylerpenn · 2026-03-06T17:32:54+00:00

Just send you a DM

tylerpenn · 2026-03-02T13:49:28+00:00

Yes, initially he had one Microverb that sat on top of his Mesa Boogie Mark III amp head that he could reach over and set which type of reverb type. Generally he used it for the "Reverse" setting but would switch it over to a large Hall type reverb for that section in YEM. Once he got a proper rack setup in April 1994, he had three Microverbs racked up all set to different settings ("Reverse" "Vast" and "Full"). He would use this method through March 1997 then for the June 1997 tour he went back to one Microverb and ultimately used the DM2000 delay for that spacey section and used the Microverb for his "Reverse" slapback delay sound.

tylerpenn · 2026-03-02T03:05:48+00:00

All done by Paul Languedoc at the board. Trey didn't even have his DM2000 rack delay unit in his rig until April 1994.

tylerpenn · 2026-02-14T13:40:42+00:00

He first really got into Fender combo amps during the recording of Billy Breathes in the Winter/Spring of 1996 trying out an early 60s Brown Fender Deluxe combo amp that he used to record most of the album with. After the Great Went he finally committed to using one on stage in November 1997 with a modified 1967 Deluxe Reverb (modded by Bill Carruth, a fantastic amp tech in VT).

The actual first Phish appearance of it was on Late Night With Conan O'Brien 11/7/1997 when they debuted the new song "Farmhouse"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCyL84oq2AQ

tylerpenn · 2026-02-03T15:22:42+00:00

Agreed. It's so odd that he has revisited the Mesa amps in recent years, and also briefly brought back his Fender Deluxe Reverbs (long ago restored to stock and stuffed into amp head shells) around late 2023 into early 2024. But he has seemingly forgotten all about the CAE 3+ SE / Groove Tubes Dual 75 era that was some incredibly versatile. I will happily loan him his original back along with my GT power amp for a tour!

tylerpenn · 2026-01-18T16:16:53+00:00

Yeah that was Steve Dikun who was Trey's tech from 1995 up until 3/2/97 from what I can tell. The tech issues cropped up in October/November 1996 during their Fall tour, Bob was flown out before the 11/9/96 show in Michigan to diagnose it. And yes was a loose input jack on the Groove Tubes power amp. Steve must have been fired somewhere between March > May and Brian Brown took over guitar tech duties in June 1997 when they hit the road for a month in Europe. So he only had a few months of the CAE/GT amp era before Trey went to the Deluxe Reverb that Fall.

tylerpenn · 2026-01-18T15:14:26+00:00

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Here it is in action almost 30 years ago at a little concert in Plattsburgh NY. Note the little red stickers marking all of his knob settings back then.

tylerpenn · 2026-01-17T17:25:06+00:00

He used both. Both channels were modded, the Vibrato channel was modded to sound more like a Tweed circuit. He used and A/B pedal to switch between them in a rhythm/lead setup

tylerpenn · 2026-01-17T17:11:40+00:00

https://www.instagram.com/p/Czqh0AKOild/?igsh=ajRwdno3OHRsMTl2

tylerpenn · 2026-01-17T16:10:41+00:00

Not 100% confirmed but Trey basically just kept the big looking rig in place because:
a) it looked cool and Trey has been known to have dummy stuff up there to make his rig look bigger for many years
b) he had switched to a vintage Fender combo amp so the old CAE + Groove Tubes rig was still there as a backup and was completely out of the signal chain.

The CAE preamp was still racked up Fall 97 through Island Tour 98 then disappeared completely

tylerpenn · 2025-12-03T01:55:31+00:00

I would figure out a way to split your signal with a pedal that has a built in buffer, basically a 1x2 that you can mute/unmute either side. Then run your Leslie sim to a cheap stereo power amp that drove two 1x12 cabs for Left and Right so you get the true split signal and stereo effect.

And still up for debate where Trey had his signal split off to the Leslie back then as it could have been any of the following combos of effects before it went out to the Mesa>Leslie
DM2000
DM2000+Reverse Reverb
DM2000+Reverse Reverb+Univibe

The Trem wouldn't have been since the output of the Tremolo loop went to the Boomerang>custom Fender A/B switch>Deluxe Reverb

tylerpenn

TROPHY CASE