Chicago Music Exchange Trip

The Fender Wall at Chicago Music Exchange

This past weekend I had the opportunity to return to the midwest mecca for vintage guitars that is Chicago Music Exchange. This place is loaded with tone from many different eras of the guitar. I went knowing I wouldn't be buying anything on the wall that I really would love to have but it is still free to play! So I went with a list of guitars I wanted to play after doing a little browsing on their site.

I currently own a Fender Custom Shop 1960 Relic Stratocaster, so I wanted to find an early 1960's, pre-CBS buyout, Stratocaster to see how my Custom Shop compares in feel and tone. Now I do know that with age, wood opens up and resonates much better, so many vintage fans vow to only play "old wood". I wanted to see for myself if there was much difference in a $35,000 vintage guitar and the $2,500 guitar that I've already been mesmerized by. I found a 1960 Fender Stratocaster. This Stratocaster is a one-of-a-kind guitar built for a trade show in 1960. That means that this was slightly different than most stratocasters of the time period. This one actually has a factory painted 3-tone sunburst neck. It features a slab wood brazillian rosewood fretboard. One would expect a guitar of this era to have already worn through the paint on the neck, but to my surprise, the neck had the same feel and comfort of my own, sans the peeling painted/nitro finish in areas.

1960 Fender Stratocaster

I plugged the guitar into an amp by a manufacturer that I had been dying to play: Two-Rock. This model was the Two-Rock Studio Pro. Its advertised as a low watt (22) hybrid of the Custom Clean and the Classic Reverb. These guys have been gaining alot of steam in the boutique market and are now fully endorsed by many touring artists, one being John Mayer. Any way, this Stratocaster was all original down to the ashtray cover. The body wasn't battered like many vintage guitars you might see, but it does have the regular finish checking as you would expect running all over the body. The neck felt like a dream, and played like a dream. I think the coolest part of playing this was listening to the pickups. They were a very bold warm/mellow tone that was very reminiscent of the warm-clean tone of Jimi Hendrix, SRV or even John Mayer, with this Two- Rock. Overall, I am quite pleased with the build quality of my Custom Shop. I feel they have successfully captured the aura, feel and tone of these guitars at a fraction of the price. The Custom Shop Stratocasters are still among some the best Fenders that I have played, but with that said, nothing beats the feel and mojo of an old guitar.

1962 Gibson ES-330

Next on my list of guitars were semi-hollow and archtop guitars. I found a beautiful 1962 Gibson ES-330. I've been eyeing something with P-90 pickups for quite some time now and I think I finally found the one. This guitar was just unbelievable in all facets of tone and playability. It was lightly checked around the body. The neck was smooth as well as chunky, like most of the pre-1964 ES models. The guitar came with a Bigsby instead of a trapeze tailpiece which didn't both me or the tuning surprisingly. The guitar had the original Kluson tuners which were a little stiff but held their ground nonetheless. I demoed this beauty through the same Two- Rock as the 1960 Stratocaster but cranked up the gain little bit more because I wanted to hear these old P-90's light up as they were fully intended. I quickly found out why so many people love these old ES guitars and also new this would be the next one my list of purchases. Hands down, the best tone in a guitar I've ever played. I quickly did some research when I got home to find that the Gibson Custom Shop has reissued this guitar with the ES-330L, but they changed the neck! Instead of mounting at the 17th fret, it now joins at the 19th, like regular ES-335 model guitars do. And, for the price point of new vs. vintage, I'm going vintage on this next purchase.

1947 Gibson ES-300

Recently I've been looking at buying an old archtop. They are cool old guitars with an interesting acoustic/woody tone that might be fun to throw on a record someday. One of the most interesting guitars I had the chance to play was a 1947 ES-300. I didn't plug this in as I was just interested in the acoustic properties of the instrument. I played this guitar all finger-style to get a better grasp on the tone that this guitar was intended for. I tried out a handful of these guitars and found they were all about the same in volume projection, which the room wasn't designed for because of the many people walking around me and two electric rooms blaring familiar musical riffs synonymous with guitar stores. Nonetheless, I had the opportunity to play a few other old archtops like the 1938 Gibson L-7 and the 1951 Gibson L-5. Both of these guitars were very ornate and fun little jazzy guitars. All 3 of these guitars played remarkably well for being as old as they are. I'd still like to get something of this type but more than likely after the vintage ES-330 and most likely an old Kay or Regal model will suffice for the playing time it would see from me. It's not very often you can play $100,000 worth of guitars in a matter of a few hours (or minutes if you find the 1957 Les Paul Goldtop currently hanging for sale in there). I fully enjoyed the trip and recommend Chicago Music Exchange to anyone with a vintage craving!

The Les Paul and SG wall at Chicago Music Exchange

The Quest For Tone: Stevie Ray Vaughan, The Amps.

Stevie with Lenny

I get alot of people that want to sound as big as Stevie Ray did. There are alot of things that go into the search of a tone this big. First SRV used heavy gauge strings (13s) tuned down to Eb, grab an Ibanez tubescreamer and old Blackface Fender Amp turned up between 7 and 10 and you're halfway there. That will get you as close as you need to be on a budget if you are looking to build a tone similar to his, but you'll need to remember the pickups in Stevie's Stratocaster were low output. Fender Texas Specials are not the key. Those are higher output pickups and will send you the wrong direction. A rosewood neck will also add alot of midrange to help get that bluesy tone. A maple neck is just a little bright to get you there in my opinion.

Stevie Ray Vaughan had an ever-changing setup over the years. He owned a large number of high wattage amplifiers that he cranked and ran together through a 6 way switcher. That allowed him to keep all of them running with a direct feed from his guitar. Stevie used mid 60s Blackface Fender amps religiously. He was known for his Fender Super Reverbs and Fender Vibroverbs. Fender only made the Blackfaced Vibroverb for the year of 1964. Stevie bought his at 2 separate times and ended up with subsequent serial numbers 5 and 6. These amps were modified by his amp tech Caesar Diaz. The Vibroverb is now an amp subsequently associated with SRV.  These amps had 15 inch speakers in them that allowed more bass and midrange to be delivered. Stevie used 2 different types of speakers for these. Earlier in his career he was known to use JBL D130 speakers in the Vibroverbs. Later on he switched to the EV SRO 15.  In his Vibroverb and Super Reverb he used a 5751 preamp tube in the V2 spot to increase the amount of clean headroom on the Vibrato Channel.

Caesar Diaz is quoted as saying this when asked about modifying SRVs amps.

"Yes, quite a lot. I’d change the 68K input resistor to 100K so that we wouldn’t have so much input signal going into the tubes. The coupling capacitors would be changed to adjust the tone. I’d use a .047 or a .1 in place of a .042 cap. where the tone is—in the preamp. At that time tubes were plentiful, and I used to love the Sylvania STR387 6L6’s and later on, Sylvania 415’s—they were a little bit taller than the 387’s. I preferred good old GE 12 AX7’s, and sometimes we’d use various JAN tubes, but I preferred the Sylvania 6L6’s and GE preamp tubes over anything else. We never used tube rectifiers. We always replaced them, and I don’t recall a single amp that he used that we left with a tube rectifier. What happens with tube rectifier is, not only does it get hot, but it’s right there in front of the power transformer, and it’s really susceptible to power supply spikes. When that happens, the tube will see it immediately. It’s a common complaint—“I turn on my amp and it sounds fine but by the end of the set it’s sounding really distorted.” That’s the rectifier, because they are just really inconsistent. We also changed the output transformers on the Super Reverbs to those from a Twin Reverb, and on Vibroverbs we used output transformers from a Bassman. I’m not such a stickler on matching impedance because Fenders are very tolerant amps. You can just about feed them anything."

L-R: Marshall JCM 800, Blonde Fender Twin Amp, Dumble Steel String
Singer,  Fender Super Reverb,  Marshall Majors on 8x10s

 SRV also used many other amps to create this wall of sound. He used Dumble Steel String Singers, Marshall Majors and Fender Twins and a variety of cabinets. He was known for using Dumble's 4x12 cabs with the Dumble Amps and Marshall 8x10s with the Marshall Majors.

One of the secret weapons in Stevie's arsenal is the Fender Vibratone. The Vibratone is a leslie style speaker designed for guitar. A Leslie speaker is a rotating speaker used in organs. Stevie used one of his Vibroverbs to drive the Vibratone while on the road. This speaker can be heard on alot on the Couldn't Stand the Weather Album.

Stevie first became fascinated with Dumble amps during the recording of his first album, Texas Flood. While recording out in LA in Jackson Browne's studio, he spotted a Dumble amp and out of curiosity plugged in and started using it. This was a Dumble Dumbleland amp, which is a 300 watt bass amp. Stevie fell in love with the large amount of clean tone that he was able to get from the amp and later order his own. His Dumble was a Steel String Singer, which he called the King Tone Consoul. He had 2 of these amps. One which was blackfaced and one which was silver. These amps were clean amps that were rated at 150 watts and were originally designed for pedal steel players.

L-R Fender Vibratone, 2 Dumble Steel String Singers
Fender Super Reverb, and Fender Vibroverb

Near the end of Stevie's career he began using 4 Fender Tweed Bassman Reissues with replaced speakers. Stevie was changing around his rig all the time and every year he could have a slightly different rig out with him. When he passed away it was found that he was testing out a Soldano SLO-100 amp. Mike Soldano designed the high gain amp. Here's and excerpt from Eric Kirkland's 2007 Guitar World article, p. 67:

" The SLO Soldano built for Stevie in June 1990 was virtually identical to the 100-watt 5881-powered SLOs that Soldano offers today.  The main difference was the switchable resistor/capacitor (R/C) circuit that Soldano designed specifically for Stevie’s amp.  “I knew that Stevie was using Fenders and Marshall Majors at the time, so I felt like I had a pretty good idea of what he wanted in terms of tone and performance,” explains Soldano.  To accommodate the guitarist’s established tone, Soldano put a switch labeled “Regular” and “Altered” on the amp’s back; the “Altered” position removed mids above 700Hz.  “I did this so that Stevie could benefit from the SLO’s incredible gain but still have that scooped-out, woody Fender response.  The SLO’s original design already utilized the finest military-grade components available, so there wasn’t anything further that we needed to change for it to deliver the best possible tone, to my ears.  Aesthetically, Stevie’s amp was one of only a few vintage-styled SLOs ever made, with tweed cloth covering and black chicken-head knobs. ”

Stevie was a great musician with a tone everyone just loves one way or another.  There were many modifications that went into the amps he played.  Trying to search for that SRV sound is a daunting task because you are just looking for a big, massive wall of cleans with many overtones. Remember Stevie also used 2 Tubescreamers that shaped his tone, one as a clean boost, and one to drive the amps into an overdrive setting. Listen to this video of Stevie playing Live at the El Mocambo and you'll be able hear when the effect is engaged and disengaged.

The Quest for Tone: Jimi Hendrix

Aged 20 with my 1976 Gibson Les Paul Custom

Over the last 12 years, Ive played alot of guitar. I've owned and sold tons of guitars and amps as well. Buy. Sell. Trade. And trust me I've gone through more guitars and amps than any 23 year old should. Last count it was 20 guitars and 13 amps and cabs. I started out, at age 11, like any youngster with a very cheap set up to get you going and went from there. I started out thinking that "Oh I just need a Gibson Les Paul and everything will sound like Jimmy Page and a white Fender Stratocaster flipped upside down and strung reverse and I'm Hendrix." Easier said than done. Many factors go into creating and sculpting what is to be the tone that many people spend their lives chasing.

Jimi Playing Fender Amps

Turns out that how you play stylistically goes a long way. Once you master the licks, master the style, and then copy the bone tone (yes the bones in your hands come in to play with the tone as well) you'll sound just like Jimmy or well...Jimi! Basically There is not a chance at getting spot on...you can get pretty close. You can start by listening to some old Curtis Mayfield as that influenced Jimi alot during his Chitlin Circuit days and during the time that he played in Curtis Knight and the Squires. Trying to be or sound anything like Jimi Hendrix is just otherworldly. There are ways to try to get a close approximation to where he was coming from, but like any equation there are a ton of variables involved. Amp of all kinds, modded effects (courtesy of Roger Mayer of course) and an endless array of guitars.

Sound City Head Through Sunn Cabs

The man played loud. Marshall 100 watt plexi stacks cranked. He also was know to use Fender Showman and Twin Reverb amps these are 85 watts each as well. In the Studio anything goes. rumor has it that Jimi loved to use a Fender Bassman. Jimi knew that the tone was him. He could plug into anything and sound like himself. Jimi played gigs using all sorts of non Marshall amps. Now these amps are almost going to be entirely clean. A Stratocaster with single coils doesnt break up anything like a humbucker would through one of any of these amps. Jimi knew this. Many times he would jump the channels on his Marshalls to get a little bit of grit to them and adjust the volume on his guitar to adjust the gain. Back then amps didnt come with a gain knob....if you wanted distortion you cranked your amp. Jimi used Dallas-Arbiter Fuzz Face pedals during much of the Experience era. He used Mosrite fuzzes and various others earlier during his Curtis Knight sessions. Many of these Fuzz Face pedals are available these days using 2 different types of transistors. Germanium and Silicon. The Germanium Fuzzes will work best for earlier Hendrix material and the Silicon for the later. Hendrix used these as a way to drive for more amp distortion. Most always these pedals were in the on setting and he used his Volume on his guitar as a way to increase or decrease the gain. Also add soul, sweat and swagger.

Over time I've heard many people try to say they've nailed the Hendrix tone and it's just highly unlikely. His tone changed from note to note, phrase to phrase. You may have found one of those tones reminiscent of the man. There are many other elements that go into his tone like the gauge 9 strings and the fact that the poles on his pickups are reversed and out of phase, but remember Jimi sounded like Jimi when he plugged a Gibson in as well. I leave you with a video from the Monterey Pop Festival 1967 in which the Jimi Hendrix Experience played it's first US gig. This is the famed gig in which Jimi burned his hand painted guitar. If you look closely at the back line, you'll notice 1 Marshall left of the drums followed by 2 Fender stacks to the left of that Marshall. Also to note, Noel Redding is also playing Fender amps.

P.S.  -
Adding a coily cable to your guitar with a Marshall stack can cut some unwanted highs.
Good Luck on your quest for great tone!