The
bigger the string, the bigger the sound. Great tone,
but this makes fretting and string bending near
impossibe. To make things a lot easier, tune down.
1/2
step flat =
Eb Ab Db Gb Bb Eb |
|
Whole
step flat =
D G C F A D |
For more alternate tunings, click here
GETTING
"THAT TONE"
If you want to duplicate Stevie's tone, first of all
remember that much of the tone was in Stevie's hands
and fingers. In other words, equipment is only part
of the equation. His aggressive right hand attack and
strong left hand fingers made much of the sound. But
bear in mind he used a variety of equipment and still
got the same sound. In other words, the only way
you'll really sound like SRV - is to actually be SRV!
EQUIPMENT
SETUP
The first thing to do is to find a Strat or Strat
copy that has single coil, Fender-style pickups, a
rosewood fingerboard, vibrato, the biggest strings
you can stand to use, and bigger frets to match the
big strings. Like every guitar, every amp is
different in its response. Even amps in the same
model line may sound different. As a start, use a
tube amp that you can dial-in to slightly distort at
your desired volume, preferably one with at least a
single 12" speaker, or two 10" speakers.
Stevie's rig had a big bottom end response, and you
won't get that using an 8" or single 10".
Keep in mind that Stevie normally played at
ear-splitting levels, even in a club setting, with
several amps. This all adds up to a lot of square
inches of speaker surface. Add a distortion pedal (or
a Tube Screamer, to emulate Stevie), compressor (so
you can sustain at reasonable volumes), chorus or
Dunlop Rotovibe (to cheaply emulate a Vibratone), and
wah. Add some reverb, and you're on your way.
AMP
SETUP
You'll have to play around with the amp to get a
volume setting that just breaks up a bit, but doesn't
really fuzz-up. Stevie used multiple amps, chained
together, to get his sound, and unless you can do the
same, you'll have to dial-in your one amp to get
close to the same sound. If your amp has a Master /
Preamp setup, set your guitar volume knob to ten,
your preamp knob to at least 5, and set a reasonable
listening level on the Master knob. Stevie pushed the
power tubes and the speakers, and you'll be pushing
the preamp tubes only, so you won't get an identical
breakup, but it should be close. Plus, you won't go
deaf in the process. If you're to play on stage,
these reasonable levels will be your stepping stone
to the higher concert levels. The guitar volume knob
can now be played at 10 for the "greasy
breakup", or rolled-off a number or two to
back-off on the distortion but keep relatively the
same volume.
Listen to something
like "In The Beginning" while you dial-in a
stage tone, or "Couldn't Stand the Weather"
for a consistent album tone. Start by either setting
all tone knobs to zero, and turn them up one at a
time until you like what you hear, or turn them all
to ten and back them off one by one. For you Bassman
users, Stevie said in an interview that he liked the
sound of his Bassman with all the tone knobs turned
almost all the way down. This was around 1989, and
not representative of his early years. For that early
tone, you might try setting treble to 9 or 10, the
midrange to 6, and the bass to 6 on the amp. The
guitar tone knobs will then simply roll-off the
treble. Stevie constantly fiddled with the guitar
tone and volume knobs while he played, and this would
allow you to do the same.
EFFECTS
SETUP
After you've dialed-in the amp, you can get down to
business on the effects pedals. Stevie kept things
really simple, so don't get too carried away on the
effects. The less you use them, the better off you'll
be. The more effects you add will tend to destroy
that vintage Fender tone. Start with the distortion
pedal. Stevie used the Tube Screamer for more gain,
not distortion. In other words, he used the TS as a
sort of "pre"-preamp. Do the same with your
pedal. We really don't have a specific setting for
Stevie's rig, but it would probably be close if you
set the Level to max, the distortion to maybe 2, and
the tone to max.
Now remember, Stevie
is playing on the edge already, and using the Tube
Screamer this way will simply provide a wall of
volume with more power amp distortion. If you can't
turn up like he did (and I don't know who can!), use
the distortion control to give just a little more
fuzz, and use the level to match the volume like you
normally would. It won't sound the same, since you're
introducing "imitation" distortion, but it
will be at a more reasonable level, and it will help
sustain.
Stevie did use a Fuzz
Face on some songs, especially later in his career,
and mostly in concert rather than on an album. Stevie
used the Fuzz Face specifically for distortion, while
he used the Tube Screamer mostly for added gain (make
it louder). You can hear the Fuzz Face on "Leave
My Girl Alone" on IN STEP. Stevie turns the Fuzz
Face on as he begins his solo. You can hear how his
tone becomes much more distorted at that time. You
can set your distortion box to this type of fuzz,
too. It may not be as "smooth" as a Fuzz
Face, but it'll produce the extra distortion.
Now, the compressor.
Tube amps naturally introduce some compression, but
mainly when you drive them hard. A small amount of
pedal compression will help sustain, and smooth out
the pops and thumps when you play hard, like Stevie's
attack. This will help a lot when you play at lower
volumes. His playing style had a lot of string pulls,
finger plucks, and rakes, which means the
"volume" of the sound when you use these
playing techniques will greatly vary. The compressor
will smooth these out. To the best of our knowledge,
Stevie never used a chorus unit, or a Rotovibe.
Unless you can afford a vintage Vibratone (the
Leslie-style speaker cabinet), either of these
effects can approximate the shimmering sound found on
songs like "Cold Shot" and "Couldn't
Stand the Weather". Set the depth to shallow,
and the speed to medium-fast, about 6 or 7 beats per
second. You want just a hint of an organ tone, not a
full-out, phased and echoed goth-rock effect.
These tips are just a
start. Your equipment, your fingers, and your style
will give you a tone all your own, even if you played
with Stevie's own gear. Even Stevie's tone changed
through the years, so use this info as a jumping-off
point, and change it to introduce your own
personality.
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