SRV Tone

[gripweed]

Re: SRV Tone

I have that Frontline and I read it....Just wondering why a tech at Seymour Duncan told me they wound pickups for SRV is where I was going? Did he have backup pickups that were wound by Seymour with his stock Fender pickups? Were the pickups in Stevie's Number 1 actually Fender pickups or rewound Duncans? What I'm saying,is there's so much hype and a$$ smokin on this stuff that we'll never "really" know the truth.....Follow me brother? :dance:

Number one was not the only guitar SRV used. I seem to remember a Robyn Strat that he used and a couple of other modern Strats too. Maybe the pickups went with those guitars.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: SRV Tone

Number one was not the only guitar SRV used. I seem to remember a Robyn Strat that he used and a couple of other modern Strats too. Maybe the pickups went with those guitars.

Good call!!! There were several Tokai Strats in the early days, there was a Hamiltone strat, theCharley Wirz (which had lipstick tubes in it) as well as a Robin or 2.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: SRV Tone

Hi John, Regarding high 5K to low 6K pickups in SRV's #1 Strat, that info came from Casar Diaz. He said in a Vintage Guitar interview that SRV favored Fender single coils of 6K or even under because he had a hard time getting a clean enough tone.

I started using them too when I read that and still have one Strat set up with 3% underwound Fralin Vintage Hots in the neck and middle position that measure just under 6K. I use the SP-43 for the bridge pickup in that guitar.

The tone of the underwound 6K single coils is brighter and chimier and cleaner. They're not for everyone...but they sure work for me.

I like my Antiquity Surfers on the light side too...especially the neck and middle pickups. The Surfer I use as the neck pickup in my Tele Custom is about 6.2K and it's the best of the best, IMO.

Lew

 

[zionstrat]

Re: SRV Tone

A bit off topic, but wanted to point out that it's not very hard to transition to 11 or 12s if you "trick" your fingers a bit- In the past I used regular accoustic light sets on my parker nitefly to guarantee that I had a good accoustic sound off of the piezo- Of course it feels completely natural in that context, but we're talking a 12 to 54 set!

When I first got it, it was conceptually harder to think around the magnetic pup side and I didn't bend very much and stuck to scaler and chromatic riffs- But very quickly I found that my fingers came up to speed and when I'm playing the parker a lot, my Zion (10) seems pretty slinky, and my PRS seems downright slippery (9)- And the sound! It already sounded much 'thicker' and I recently changed out the pups and the tone's spectacular- On a $400 guitar!

Bottom line, play plenty of accosutic, or set up 1 electric with mediums and another with ligths and you will be amazed how fast your fingers catch on, how much faster you will be able to play, and how much better the tone will be-

At least that is my experience-
Cheers

 

[Guitar Toad]

Re: SRV Tone

A bit off topic, but wanted to point out that it's not very hard to transition to 11 or 12s if you "trick" your fingers a bit- In the past I used regular accoustic light sets on my parker nitefly to guarantee that I had a good accoustic sound off of the piezo- Of course it feels completely natural in that context, but we're talking a 12 to 54 set!

When I first got it, it was conceptually harder to think around the magnetic pup side and I didn't bend very much and stuck to scaler and chromatic riffs- But very quickly I found that my fingers came up to speed and when I'm playing the parker a lot, my Zion (10) seems pretty slinky, and my PRS seems downright slippery (9)- And the sound! It already sounded much 'thicker' and I recently changed out the pups and the tone's spectacular- On a $400 guitar!

Bottom line, play plenty of accosutic, or set up 1 electric with mediums and another with ligths and you will be amazed how fast your fingers catch on, how much faster you will be able to play, and how much better the tone will be-

At least that is my experience-
Cheers

I'm going to move on up to heavier strings, and be done with these light ones.

zionstrat, thanks bro.

 

[zionstrat]

Re: SRV Tone

Looking forward to hearing your experience-

 

[Guitar Toad]

Re: SRV Tone

I'm just having trouble believe that heavier strings produce the brighter tone. It's more the underwound pups in combination with the right amp? Not the strings, right? I guess I'll have to try it and see for myself.

In my case, my amp must not be very bright. I don't get a bright tone even with Tex Mex pickups with A5 mags.

 

[gripweed]

Re: SRV Tone

I'm just having trouble believe that heavier strings produce the brighter tone. It's more the underwound pups in combination with the right amp? Not the strings, right? I guess I'll have to try it and see for myself.

In my case, my amp must not be very bright. I don't get a bright tone even with Tex Mex pickups with A5 mags.

What kind of amp are you playing through? Stevie used more than one amp and they were often Fender and Marshalls. Dumbles too.

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: SRV Tone

Hi John, Regarding high 5K to low 6K pickups in SRV's #1 Strat, that info came from Casar Diaz. He said in a Vintage Guitar interview that SRV favored Fender single coils of 6K or even under because he had a hard time getting a clean enough tone.

I started using them too when I read that and still have one Strat set up with 3% underwound Fralin Vintage Hots in the neck and middle position that measure just under 6K. I use the SP-43 for the bridge pickup in that guitar.

The tone of the underwound 6K single coils is brighter and chimier and cleaner. They're not for everyone...but they sure work for me.

I like my Antiquity Surfers on the light side too...especially the neck and middle pickups. The Surfer I use as the neck pickup in my Tele Custom is about 6.2K and it's the best of the best, IMO.

Lew

I knew Caesar was involved in SRV's amps,but I figured Rene would be the one that actually knew the scoop....Caesar was caught in some mistruths in other gear related articles I've read in the past.... :smack:

 

[Guitar Toad]

Re: SRV Tone

What kind of amp are you playing through? Stevie used more than one amp and they were often Fender and Marshalls. Dumbles too.

Reverend HellHound. I cranked it up a couple of times and now it just doesn't sound right. I think something vibrated loose. I think I just need to solder something back in place I just don't know what. It sound really fuzzy.

 

[gripweed]

Re: SRV Tone

Reverend HellHound. I cranked it up a couple of times and now it just doesn't sound right. I think something vibrated loose. I think I just need to solder something back in place I just don't know what. It sound really fuzzy.

Sounds like a bad tube to me or a loose one. Could be a capacitor too. I had that same sort of problem with a bad cap on my Gibson amp. Take it to your local guitar shop and have an amp tech look at it.

 

[Breogan]

Re: SRV Tone

I'm just having trouble believe that heavier strings produce the brighter tone. It's more the underwound pups in combination with the right amp? Not the strings, right? I guess I'll have to try it and see for myself.

In my case, my amp must not be very bright. I don't get a bright tone even with Tex Mex pickups with A5 mags.

Hi!

Just my experice... I play with 11-52 sets in all my guitars. IMO strings with a greater gauge tend to have a better clear tone, more rounded and powerfull. They doesn't have less treble but more harmonics. On slightly overdrive the tone it also more powerfull and fuller.

Part of thet powerfull clear tone from SRV are the 13-54 strings he was ussing. To compensate the tension he detuned to Eb, this way it's easier to play and do some bendings. I've found that 11-52 it's a good compromise if you don't want to detune to Eb. This gauge still let's you do one-step bendings quite easely and gives a lot of power when played clean or semidistorted.

As far as I know Pete Townsed also used this gauge...

 

[jimo]

Re: SRV Tone

This discussions sort of sounds like Van Halen---he would tell each guitar magazine something different than :dance: the others. Some of this stuff comes down to these guys NOT wanting to give away their tone secrets. lol-----cheers!---JIMO

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: SRV Tone

This discussions sort of sounds like Van Halen---he would tell each guitar magazine something different than :dance: the others. Some of this stuff comes down to these guys NOT wanting to give away their tone secrets. lol-----cheers!---JIMO

Exactly....This was my whole point of chiming in on this one! The only person that really has the real scoop on any gear used by the player,would be the tech and of course,the player...Any player looking for greater tone I'm sure has looked to Seymour...We know Beck,Page,and lots of other players have...Especially when one of Seymour's Techs even told me they wound pickups for SRV! If this wasn't just blowing smoke up my rearend? :smack: :burnout:

 

[gripweed]

Re: SRV Tone

Exactly....This was my whole point of chiming in on this one! The only person that really has the real scoop on any gear used by the player,would be the tech and of course,the player...Any player looking for greater tone I'm sure has looked to Seymour...We know Beck,Page,and lots of other players have...Especially when one of Seymour's Techs even told me they wound pickups for SRV! If this wasn't just blowing smoke up my rearend? :smack: :burnout:

Well if EVH and SRV are anything like the rest of us gear sluts here, they probably used and tried a little bit of everything. Especially if they were given it for free which is not uncommon.

As far as pickups go, if you want to get that SRV tone I think surfers would do it. One thing that has been left out of the whole equation here is SRV's use of the tube screamer, which along with big strings,was a major part of his tone.

 

[Guitar Toad]

Re: SRV Tone

Thanks for all of your comments on this thread this is all fun and interesting stuff!