John Mayer Shows Off Cozy New Amplifier Cabinets For Upcoming Dead & Company Sphere Concerts

Dead & Company guitarist John Mayer overcame challenges with sound during last year’s Dead Forever residency at the Las Vegas Sphere by stashing his amplifiers in shipping crates behind road cases in the loading dock of the technologically-advanced venue. Mayer will run a similar setup when Dead & Company returns to the Sphere next week, with his amps now nestled in cozy spaces that a Deadhead could have designed.

Guitarist Trey Anastasio of Phish, who was the second band to play the Sphere after U2, discussed the complexities of amplifying sound from the venue’s stage in an interview with Guitar World from last year.

“No-one will ever have an amp on stage at the Sphere,” Anastasio told Guitar World. “They might have dummies, but they’re not on. The 52,000-speaker sound system comes down right behind your back. So there’s a slapback [echo]. That’s why anyone who will ever play there will have to have the drums wrapped in plexiglass.”

Despite Anastasio’s assertion, Guitar World explained that Mayer and fellow D&C guitarist Bob Weir are using the amp heads visible from the stage but there is no onstage sound emitting from them. Mayer instead, as Guitar World describes, “disconnected [the amps] from their cabs, which are stored in iso boxes in the bowels of the Sphere. So, they aren’t dummies per se, but they aren’t providing any stage volume.”

Mayer will be employing a similar approach when Dead & Company returns to the Las Vegas Sphere to commence an 18-date engagement beginning on Thursday, March 20. Mayer’s guitar tech Jeremy Nielsen and recording studio designer Chris Owens customized the off-stage crates housing Mayer’s gear, converting them into miniature psychedelic rooms resembling Deadhead hangouts.

Check out Mayer’s post revealing the cozy spaces created for his gear: