what pickup for SRV tone

Re: what pickup for SRV tone

CornBread said:
To set the story right,
I am not into SRV, I don't care whos thread this is!

FWIW: I am good friends with SRV's tech, the best tech he ever had, Rene Martinez, I know what was in SRV's guitar,amp,fx's..etc I know things I cannot disclose.

If I tell you it's the STUPID strings and you don't want to take my word for then go on with your bad selfs,
I don't Like SRV's music or his sound and I really don't need to hear you guys trying to sound like SRV ever!,
and for that matter I do not want to ever hear a soul trying to sound like SRV as long as I live!

But if you have too;
Get GHS NICKEL "simi flats" and some low DC pups. SRV's strings were 58/38/28/19/17/13 and if you think the bass side was not a huge part of SRV's sound then your advise is totally useless!
6k Strat pups with double build Formvar coated magnet wire and request slightly aged A5 magnets.

I'M DONE!
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Whoaaaaaaaaaaaaa calm down!! Put the teddy back in the cot. No wonder your hair sticks up, if ya get all worked up over a little thing like strings!

Lew said IMO blah blah blah, you have your opinion. That whats nice about this forum you can take or leave peoples opinions and not get into a slanging match.

For the most I like Lews opinions as he's a well respected member here with oodles more knowledge than I have. And has give me some very good advice in the past.

The End
 
Re: what pickup for SRV tone

CornBread said:
To set the story right,
I am not into SRV, I don't care whos thread this is!

FWIW: I am good friends with SRV's tech, the best tech he ever had, Rene Martinez, I know what was in SRV's guitar,amp,fx's..etc I know things I cannot disclose.

If I tell you it's the STUPID strings and you don't want to take my word for then go on with your bad selfs,
I don't Like SRV's music or his sound and I really don't need to hear you guys trying to sound like SRV ever!,
and for that matter I do not want to ever hear a soul trying to sound like SRV as long as I live!

But if you have too;
Get GHS NICKEL "simi flats" and some low DC pups. SRV's strings were 58/38/28/19/17/13 and if you think the bass side was not a huge part of SRV's sound then your advise is totally useless!
6k Strat pups with double build Formvar coated magnet wire and request slightly aged A5 magnets.

I'M DONE!
Click to expand...


Now I know why tigers eat their young.
 
Re: what pickup for SRV tone

You friggin CRY BABY Lammers with your over used QUOTE BUTTON options,

May your tone always SUCK
 
Re: what pickup for SRV tone

Lewguitar said:
I've got to add though that SRV's tone came from being SRV...and only partially from his string choice and pickup choice and amp choice. Personally, I think SRV could've picked up any good Strat and plugged it into any good tube amp and sounded exactly like SRV.

And I also have to say that I don't think anyone on this forum could pick up SRV's '63 Strat and plug into his amp and sound exactly like SRV...cause none of us are him. We'd still sound like whoever we are...

Lew
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I think we can get very close to his tone, but sound like him? That is another story altogether! Although a lot of young blues guys sound too much like him IMHO. SRV was great because he sounded like SRV. Too many blues players today sound alike. Even though many of the older guys had similar influences, the great ones *always* sounded like themselves. Even though SRV was heavily influenced by Jimi Hendrix and Albert King he still sounded like SRV from the first note.

If you really want a Strat that sounds close to SRV's number one, put some surfers in it. If you want to torture your hands with 13 guage strings, buy yourself some superglue so you can glue your fingertips back on. And don't forget to tune a half step down!:6:
 
Re: what pickup for SRV tone

Lew is definately right about the playing... but CornBread is also right about the strings and setup.

The gear will get you halfway there, but so will the playing! That doesn't mean SRV doesnt sound like SRV with a Squire into a Peavey transtube... but it does mean it will sound different. Someone trying to emulate the tone on Texas Flood wouldn't buy a Silver Jubilee... they may still have the chops, but the gear does play a factor. I think everyone has made pretty good points so far.

I'll have to let my guitar teacher know about those GHS stings,... if he doesn't already. He plays 13's on a strat... the guy is crazy
 
Re: what pickup for SRV tone

The thread is about using a pickup that compensates for the lower string gauge. SRV's sound is generally regarded as a very strong, clear sound off the guitar, and tough in the lower midrange. To me, it's a thick-stringed sound. So you have to decide how you want to emulate that sound. Do you want to use heavy strings and fight the guitar, while using "real" strat pickups, or do you want to use "regular guy" strings, and have pickups that are stronger and thicker than '63's?

Fender's marketing of the Texas Specials, and their inclusion in the SRV signature Strat is downright repulsive. It's also disrespectful to a great artist who has passed, for that matter. (like the Digitech Hendrix Wah) But I know what they're trying to do. You play an Am. Std. and then you play the SRV and it's stronger and thicker sounding, so you go "ooh yeah that's the SRV sound alright" and it's not. It's like having training wheels on your bicycle.

Because to me, the SRV sound IS heavy strings and vintage pickups. The heavy strings make you play and grip differently, and the attack and decay of the heavy string is vastly different than a lighter one. But it's cool if you can't get on with heavies. I don't like playing 13's either, and I can approximate a good SRV tone with 10-52's by using a stronger neck pickup with a vintage middle. It's a compensation, though. So if you want a stronger "SRV" style sound with lighter strings, you have to fake it with a stronger pickup, like a Texas Special, Fralin "x"% overwind, or even something as hot as the Custom Staggered if you use 9's. That's why the Custom has that in the description.
 
Re: what pickup for SRV tone

This thread shows up on 100000s of boards about 1000 times on each board...

Read about him, study his setup.

SRV was very special and very obsessed with guitar, he played all the way back from a trip once and wore out a set of strings in the car riding back.

(again as said before)
Low Output single coils (fender cs69s are low, ssl-1s look good to)
Heavier Strings
tuned down 1/2 step
2 - TS808/TS9/TS10s
- one of them pretty much always on all 3 knobs at noon
- the other one when needed
Fender Medium Pics
Tube amp he used 2 consecutive Vibroverbs #15 & 16, and he used Supers, as well as various marshalls from Club & Countries (Bowie era) to Marshall Majors, also Dumbles and real late he used the '59 bassman reissue.

PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE, LIVE, EAT, SLEEP, BREATH guitar then you may get close, I gave up trying.

Watch Live at El-Mocombo very intimate, very small club good recording.

Funny thing is. SRV used Main his Hamilton and Charley the White guitar and still sounded about the same, Charley had a little more biting sound but it was lipstick pickups.

I know that according to accounts SRV used GHS I am trutsing the fella above is right about the "model"

Dont know if any of that will help :banana:
 
Re: what pickup for SRV tone

i was just curious what pickup they marketed as being "a nice srv tone for people who use nines", it would be different that what he used with 13's. This thread got turned into a monster and i think it should be ended now lol.
 
Re: what pickup for SRV tone

ScottPearson88 said:
i was just curious what pickup they marketed as being "a nice srv tone for people who use nines", it would be different that what he used with 13's. This thread got turned into a monster and i think it should be ended now lol.
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Heheehe sorry I contributed to that.
I would think that the Fender Texas Specials used with nines will probably help a good bit :)

I do not know which Duncan Pickups that would be.
I would think you would want a Higher Output Alnico V pickup.

For NINES I would check
Texas Specials
Rio Grande has some hot pickups
Van Zandt does as well.

I would guess the Duncan Texas Antiquities (not the right name) would probably come close to

:dance:
 
Re: what pickup for SRV tone

Fingers, amps, and everything else aside, Antiquity surfers IMO have been about the closest I have heard to his sound!
 
Re: what pickup for SRV tone

theodie said:
Fingers, amps, and everything else aside, Antiquity surfers IMO have been about the closest I have heard to his sound!
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How much different are these than the Texas Antiquities??
 
Re: what pickup for SRV tone

aaronl said:
How much different are these than the Texas Antiquities??
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Well, you know the differences between AII and A5 magnets right? The Surfers have A5 magnets and the surfers have AII magnets!
 
Re: what pickup for SRV tone

Lewguitar said:
Not even partially??? :smack: How about impartially??? :laugh2:
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From Lew's site:

I really like the improvement in bass response and the deep Tele twang that the Fralin Bassplate adds to a Strat bridge pickup. Early 50's Tele pickups have a steel bassplate on the bottem of the pickup that directs the magnetic field upwards towards the strings.

I guess that we all make spelling mistakes.
 
Re: what pickup for SRV tone

It's the whine in the guitar. Listen to him......It doesn't matter what you use it's in the stroke of the vibrato even when you play a chord. The slower and wider stroke creates a whining sound if the amp is in overdrive especially helped by the pedal.

It is also where you pick and you should pick in different places on the guitar for different effect. That's all called technique........master of technique. he could use a Les Paul and still sound like him....except when I saw him on Saturday night live, he was using some Marshall POS 9000 and he sounded like an over distorted SS amp. You could tell he struggled.

You could get a close enough sound but if you ain't got the chops it don't matter.

A darker hotter pickup will give you a closer sound if you use thinner strings and don't detune. But I think the tone is more from detuning because like I said it's in the whine not the cheese.

You could argue till you're blue in the face and quote anybody who worked on his stuff...BIG DEAL....if you can't play like him you cannot know how to get that sound.....period. If you can't sound like him how could you have an idea on how to sound like him.......does anybody understand that simple logic?

You can only voice an opinion or guess. Only a person who is able to recreate that sound could tell you and very few people can. So it's an opinion or a guess and nothing else. I do not care what his tech said, I too know guitar techs of the stars and don't give them all that credit for much of anything.

Who can tell you more the professional race car driver or the guy that fixes it. I would listen more closely to the driver, he talks from actual experience, the tech is only repeating what he was told to do.
 
Re: what pickup for SRV tone

ScottPearson88 said:
hey guys i read somewhere on seymour duncan, (i cant find it nemore tho) about a pickup thats meant to give ppl who use 10 guage strings a SRV tone. do u know what im talking about or am i just going crazy
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Yeah you mean on the tone comparison chart : I'ts the SSL-5 (custom staggered) that's descirbed as SRV tone for people who play with 9s. (though I thought it said 10s butthats probably just my memory limiting me)

I play with 11's and I actually get closer to SRV with with the APSs in the neck and middle that i've got! But it's still a good pickup, texas bluesy, though I'm considering getting a twangbanger or maybe trying out the SSL3 i won on ebay.
 
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Re: what pickup for SRV tone

fendrstratplyr51 said:
well he uses overwound texas specials and a heavy gauge string
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LOL :smack:

You spent too much time reading advertisement :laugh2:

Well... not really wrong, maybe you based your comment on Fender SRV's signature.
 
Re: what pickup for SRV tone

It's much easier to sound like another guitar player in your home under those circumstances.

Try doing it in front of a few hundred or even a few thousand people. With lights glaring in your face, the stage hot as hell. The only real way to hear the band is through the monitor system. I think you get my drift.

I have seen a lot of SRV wannabes, some play very well, some pretty bad. They all used strats and they all sounded basically the same no matter what level of playing. The better one's sounded closer but they all had the sound. It's very easy to get close, what separates them is playing ability and technique.

As long as you use a strat through an overdrive pedal and a good fenderish tube amp you are there. Everything else is up to you........
 
Re: what pickup for SRV tone

BigDaddy said:
I have seen a lot of SRV wannabes, some play very well, some pretty bad. They all used strats and they all sounded basically the same no matter what level of playing. The better one's sounded closer but they all had the sound. It's very easy to get close, what separates them is playing ability and technique.

As long as you use a strat through an overdrive pedal and a good fenderish tube amp you are there. Everything else is up to you........
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+1

This seems to be a problem with the SRV crowd out there. A few purists out there really complain that the Texas Special pickups are an abomination and the fact that they are on the SRV strat is proof positive that Stevie's rolling in his grave and has been since this guitar was introduced.

Personally, I think Stevie was the kind of guy that would feel honored that there's a guitar out there with his name on it and he probably didn't care too much about the pickups...as long as you could plug in and get some tone out of it, he was happy. He seemed to me, a very humble, honest guy with not a hangup in the world...

The fact of the matter is that, to get within 95% of Stevie's tone, all you really need is what's mentioned above. Some good singles, a tubescreamer and a very slightly gritty amp....that's about it. The extra 5% may require you to play with 13s and use low output single coils....but the fact of the matter is that there are *plenty* of SRV cats out there that are getting DAMN close with Texas Specials (be it loaded in the SRV guitar or some regular strat)....


I dont understand why the texas specials are so malaigned....it doesn't may sense to me. They are good pickups....if they weren't, why would mark knopfler use them in his signature guitar????...he could have any fender pickup in production, but he picks the TS....trust me, if anyone gets good clean tones, it's mark.

Part of me thinks that gear issues on the net are a result of stigma. The TS carries a stigma because a few over vocal guys really swamped the pickup over at harmony-central....and now the whole darn internet community is ready to give the Texas Special a new orleans funeral. I wonder if half the guys that poo poo the TS on the net have even tried one?
 
Re: what pickup for SRV tone

Yeah I agree with all the above...I personally think (and I dont mean anyone in particular, or even this forum exclusivly) that there's some snobbery about peers trying to get the SRV tone...(like it or not) it's probably one of the most sought after Fender tones, and some people subscribe to the school of thought that you need to perfectly replicate his equipment/need to be his clone to achieve it, and get quite upset if anyone claims to come close, as though its widdling on his memory...

like the person above says, he'd probably just be supremely proud to be a rolemodel for guitar playing, as all we (i.e. the range of people who try to get a similar sound, through to people who try to perfectly emulate it) are really doing is paying a big tribute to him...I don't think I'd have given texas blues a second thought if I'd never heard him..possibly wouldn't have picked up an electric guitar either..

I'm beating a round the bush I guess, but there does seem to be many factions in this on going debate where tempers get a bit flared uneccessairly sometimes..so I guess I'm just asking for some tolerance for us people who want to get a bit of SRV flavour..I think most of us understand we're never going to be him, and that he'd sound like SRV whatever he picked up (just like dave gilmour sounds the same to me on a fender with EMGS, passives, or a les paul) but we just love his sound, and think our Fender's deserve to be allowed to pay tribute!
 
Re: what pickup for SRV tone

John Mayer (yipe!!) gets rather close on the first tune in his live disc. (Who did you Think i Was) There is a good article about the Hendrix thumb fretting, muting trick in Guitar Player. worth a read. But if you think about it, how much different did SRV sound when he went from 13's to 11's so that he would stop ripping the tips of his fingers off? :laugh2:
 
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