Stevie Ray Vaughan Fender tone with MP1?

[dernix]

Hi,

I'm wondering if anyone here tried to get the Stevie-Ray-tone with an ADA MP1 and if, how you've done it?

Thanks,
Dietmar

[van Sinn]

Hehe..  methinks you'd have to be SRV to get that tone
Joke aside, part of his tone was, apart from his signature playing style, using very heavy strings.  IIRC, the high E was a 015    Also, IIRC, he used a fairly thick V-shaped neck.

I have no idea about his gear, but wouldn't be surprised if a 3TM with less-than-hi-gain tubes and some extra EQ could nail it.

[dernix]

as far as I know Stevie played Fender Vibro-Verbs and Super-Verbs with an Ibanez Tube Screamer stompbox. So the main thing should be the fat clean Fender sound.

[Black_Haus]

I've heard one of the members on hear play some stuff that sounded very much like SRV, can't remember who it was though.  So....I guess my post doesn't help much, eh?

I can be done though. I would just experiment with the tube clean channel and some medium to high gain settings or the Dist. channel with some lower gain settings.

[bluesman001]

I made one that to me sounds like a Fender Hot Rod Deville that I used to have (subjective IMHO).  Feel free to tweak and let me know if you make it better!

od1 - 4
od2 - 4
MG  - 8
B    - 6
m   - 8
t    - 6
PR  - 12
tube dist

[Zilthy]

SRV's guitar tech said he used regular E and B string gauges, like 10s when touring.   The lower four strings were much heavier.

[van Sinn]

I heard he used something as insane as a set starting with 015
But then again, I only 'heard' things and there are so many rumours around SRV..
Like he always turned all amp controls up to ten, but his tech had added fixed resistors around the pots to avoid settings actually going there, to keep it sounding right

[HarleyHexxe]

Allow me to shed some light on this topic,

      SRV used heavy gauge strings on his guitar (0.13 - 0.56). This was live as well as recordings.

      He did use all sorts of Fender amps but one thing that was common to all of them was that he replaced the speakers in all of them with EV's. The amplifier's circutry was not altered in any way, and the reason things stayed so clean with his tone was mostly due to the heavy gauge strings. The heavier gauge your strings are on a Strat, the cleaner it will stay even with higher gain on an amplifier, it will just have more punch with the gain. There is also one other item that was very critical to SRV's amplified tone, and that was the Ibanez Tube Screamer (TS-909). This pedal does not distort very much at all even with it's gain cranked up all the way, but it does affect the overall tone. If you listen to the track "Lenny," you'll hear SRV's guitar tone with just the Fender amps. It's very warm and thick, and the TS is off for this one. When you listen to his other tracks where his leads are soaring, then you hear the difference that the TS adds to his guitar.

       The combination of his Fender amps, the Tube Screamer, and his custom wound pickups, gave SRV the distinctive tone you hear. You can reproduce this with ADA preamps, as I have done this with the MP-1 Classic very easily. It's been years ago, and I don't recall the presets off the top of my head, but I'm sure you can do this with the MP-1 as well. I would recommend that you get a set of the Fender Texas Specials pickups and install them in your guitar. This will make it a lot easier for you. You can aslo add the Tube Screamer pedal to the front of your MP-1 if you'd like and this will definitely make a difference. You can also use it on the effects loop if you are not comfortable with the idea of plugging it into the front input. You don't necessarily need the heavy gauge strings, since I'm only using 0.10" - 0.42" on my Strat which has those pickups, and I still get that tone when I need it. The neck pickup is definitely SRV's blues lead tone, and the bridge pickup has added bottom end and hotter output. Dial in a crisp Fender Clean type of setting in your MP-1, and you should get what you are after.


           Harley

[Dante]

I purchased a TS-9 Tubescreamer in high school, and I've gone through a hundred other pedals...but that TS-9 is still here. Nothing quite like it. I want to buy a newer one & see how it compares, because mine is absolutely BEAT UP

[HarleyHexxe]

Dante,

    I was using one of the old plastic Sound Tank models which was a TS-5 model, and that sounded the same as the TS-9. I thnk that all of them are basically the same, but for people who prefer the old vintage look, they make the green ones with the chrome button. I seriously doubt there is any difference at all. I may in fact pick up another one in the Tone-Lok series that Ibanez has now. I'll bet it'll still sound the same as the others, but it will only cost about $40.

            Harley

         BTW, I have one of the Weeping Demon pedals, (WD7), very unusual effect, and built like a tank. I certainly believe it will outlast the cheap Morley Bad Horsie Wah pedals. Unfortunately, it's not true bypass, and there is a definite alteration of your original tone.