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Hi everyone, As of recently I made a Number one replica and for the longest I’ve been trying to figure out his tone, I know that a lot of his tone came from his tube screamer, but #1’s tone itself was something special too. I’ve read all kinds of things on his Strat and even this last year when the box set came out it had a article with his guitar tech and he said he put some different value capacitors in it to keep the original tone, I’ve played all kinds of pickups from texas specials to Antiquity hot and a lot of other over wound brands and none of them come even close.

Well I’m just wondering if anybody out there has their own theories about his Strat and any tips, wiring diagrams, est.…for getting close to his tone.

Thanks

Get yourself a standard strat wiring diagram, a set of Antiquity Surfers or SSL-1's, and a set of heavy strings and you're there.

Stevie used normal Alnico V single coils with a normal stagger. An overwound or alnico II pickup will not get you there.


Originally Posted by Benjy_26Get yourself a standard strat wiring diagram, a set of Antiquity Surfers or SSL-1's, and a set of heavy strings and you're there.

Stevie used normal Alnico V single coils with a normal stagger. An overwound or alnico II pickup will not get you there.One of the under-appreciated parts of his tone is the Tube Screamer. If you don't have a reissue ts808, I recommend it. I think the amp choice is not as important, since SRV was always using something different. A good Feneder amp should get you in the ballpark.

But I agree about the Surfers and the strings. When the Fender techs from the Custom Shop had his guitar apart, they found out it was surprisingly stock. The Surfers are about as close as you're going to get to those pickups.

Don't forget the faces man! You gotta make those dam faces to get your guitar to sould like Stevies did!

But these guys are right. A set of surfers , some really heavy strings, and a TS reissue or modded variation will get you close.

Something else I've read is that Stevie would use up to 5 amps or so at one time to get that really thick tone.

LOL...definitely the faces. That makes it work 100%.....LOL

If you can't stand super heavy strings, or use .009's, then look at overwounds like the Texas Specials. They were made for getting that fat tone without using suspension bridge cables for strings.

Don't emulate his tone...we have too many stevie clones.