SRV's recording set up...

D

doriangrey

New member
Does anyone know Stevie's recording set up? What mics, mic positions, reverbs ( amp verb mixed with a lexicon ? ), amps, ect...

I saw a picture of his studio set up in a magazine from along time ago, and now for the life of me, I can't remember what magazine it was. I know he changed it from time to time. I think he used a U87 and a SM57 with the Neumann positioned a few feet away and the Shure right up to the cone. I also know he used Sennheiser 142's. Can anyone correct me on this? Any pictures?
 
I think he used a Fender Super Reverb for the amp side of things, and the guitar on the neck pickup with single coils is a very good start, but beyond that, I'm not sure. Anyone who knows more than I do is free to correct me. Hope I helped. A little, at least. :D
 
Sorry to answer one of my questions, but I just googled the right keywords and I found some info on his early recordings with Johnny Copeland.

"Michael Finlayson engineered the Johnny Copeland record. Stevie used our black-faced Fender Vibroverb with a JBL 15" D140F speaker and his Ibanez Tube Screamer. Finlayson close mic'd the amp with a Shure SM57 microphone and also a Neumann U47fet microphone at 3 feet from the amp."


doriangrey said:
Does anyone know Stevie's recording set up? What mics, mic positions, reverbs ( amp verb mixed with a lexicon ? ), amps, ect...

I saw a picture of his studio set up in a magazine from along time ago, and now for the life of me, I can't remember what magazine it was. I know he changed it from time to time. I think he used a U87 and a SM57 with the Neumann positioned a few feet away and the Shure right up to the cone. I also know he used Sennheiser 142's. Can anyone correct me on this? Any pictures?
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The Fender amps and the strat with the neck pickup is pretty common knowledge, really. I do remember seeing a picture of 2-3 of his amps miced in the studio. I think it was a Marshall, Fender Super and a twin? I forget. I was hoping someone would have that picture to share. It's gotta be floating on the net somewhere...

I think the presence of his recorded guitar tone came from using a condensor mic ( U47 ) positioned a few feet back from his amp. I swear I hear some outboard reverb ( like a lexi PCM70 ) on some of his recordings like Riviera Paradise. I'm assuming it's a PCM 70 because that was industry standard at the time.

tourettes5139 said:
I think he used a Fender Super Reverb for the amp side of things, and the guitar on the neck pickup with single coils is a very good start, but beyond that, I'm not sure. Anyone who knows more than I do is free to correct me. Hope I helped. A little, at least. :D
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As far as guitar tone goes, I think he used Fender Texas special pickups on his guitar. I have recently put Fender Vintage Noiseless pickups on my strat and I get a VERY similar tone on my guitar through my Marshall TSL100 JCM2000 head through a Traynor 15" Bass cab.

I have yet to try it on my Fender HotRod Deville, but I imagine it would sound even better through that than it does on the marshall.

Timmy J
 
doriangrey said:
Sorry to answer one of my questions, but I just googled the right keywords and I found some info on his early recordings with Johnny Copeland.

"Michael Finlayson engineered the Johnny Copeland record. Stevie used our black-faced Fender Vibroverb with a JBL 15" D140F speaker and his Ibanez Tube Screamer. Finlayson close mic'd the amp with a Shure SM57 microphone and also a Neumann U47fet microphone at 3 feet from the amp."
Click to expand...
Isn't it great when you can do that? Cuts down on long distance charges too!
 
hehe, yeah. I can't tell you how many keywords I tried to conjure up this info. Then, right after the post, I keyed in: "stevie used", "sm57" and voila!

Rokket said:
Isn't it great when you can do that? Cuts down on long distance charges too!
Click to expand...
 
I think the Texas Specials and the TS's are common knowledge as well. Sorry, I should have specified a bit more. I was looking more for specific details on his recording set up like what amps were used with what mics, how far the mics were positioned, room size, ect. Maybe I need to hunt down his producers, lol.

I'm not trying to emulate his sound per say. I am pretty pleased with my recorded guitar tone as it is. I'm capturing a pretty sweet tone with my PRS through a 65' Blackface Bassman and a Mesa Mark IV into 2 channels using an SM57 and an RE20.

There is just a certain "presence" that I really dig from his recordings. Like previously mentioned, I think it's the condensor mic 3 feet away from the amp capturing the room that I'm hearing. Pictures anybody?

tpreager said:
As far as guitar tone goes, I think he used Fender Texas special pickups on his guitar. I have recently put Fender Vintage Noiseless pickups on my strat and I get a VERY similar tone on my guitar through my Marshall TSL100 JCM2000 head through a Traynor 15" Bass cab.

I have yet to try it on my Fender HotRod Deville, but I imagine it would sound even better through that than it does on the marshall.

Timmy J
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tpreager said:
As far as guitar tone goes, I think he used Fender Texas special pickups on his guitar.
Timmy J
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Nope he had a standard old fender, I forget what years, but they definitely were not Texas Specials. Texas specials were recently made to replicated the overwound pickups on #1
 
That's correct about the Texas specials. As far as strats, he mainly used 60's strats with rosewood necks.

strat0tele said:
Nope he had a standard old fender, I forget what years, but they definitely were not Texas Specials. Texas specials were recently made to replicated the overwound pickups on #1
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i've read in guitar world (in one of those srv tribute issues) that he used a dumble amp he borrowed from someone for double trouble's first album (may have used it on subsequent albums, but i'm not sure). he used different amps live, but on that album, i think he relied solely on the amp he called "mother dumble" most of that album was recorded live. anyway, his tone is one of my faves as well. i was listening to "little wing" on headphones and its just amazing how well that was recorded.
 
Guys,

You can read all you ever wanted to know about Number One in Guitar Player Magazine, January 04, "Cloning Number One," by Barry Cleveland.

The guys at Fender Custom Shop contacted Jimmy Vaughn who met with them to disassemble Number 1 to explore every nook and cranny of her.

This ends the rumor that Stevie was buried with Number One, which I personally think he should have been. I know I would want to have been.

Anyway...

Fender Custom Shop is producing 100 of the Stevie Ray Vaughn Tribute series guitars, made as an exact copy of Stevie's Number One.

Stevie's guitar is not a 59. The neck is dated December 62 and the body dated 63. The pickups are stock except for a coat of shielding.

There are some deep blemishes and they say that the entire headstock looks as though it were smashed and repaired by someone with great skill.

Another factor to consider when immitating Stevie's tone is the exposed areas of the body of his guitar were often soaked with sweat during shows, thus changing the tonal dynamics of the guitar. I read that in an interview someplace.. forgot where.

The cost for the Tribute model is $10,000. You can read all about "Cloning Number One" in Guitar Player, January 2004, on pages 62 and 63!
 
It seems like I remember reading a lot of articles about SRV liking to set up lots of amps, crank em up, put them in different rooms. Especially bathrooms. I do remember reading about sm57's and U47's though:)
 
And there was also that little thing about his guitar ability - I think that had something to do with how he sounded, too. Could be wrong though.
 
MOst of the tone a prescence of SRV's sound come from (#1 of course himself) and #2 he used 12's for strings. Strings will make a bigger impact than anything else once your in the equipment realm discussing tone.

But I'll say what I always hate reading from other people - people who knew him said his tone was *there* no matter what rig he was playing through.
 
robin watson said:
And there was also that little thing about his guitar ability - I think that had something to do with how he sounded, too. Could be wrong though.
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Haha, yeah, I was thinking that before considering minute details like sweat and the volume of his amps, one should consider the fact that he played like himself.
 
I find it a little hard to believe he used a JBL D140F; more likely, it was a D130F. I guess it's possible, just not all that likely, IMO.
 
Yeah his vibroverb came with a D130 fer sure. My buddy has one of those...it's ok.

Thing is, I believe that if SRV was playing an Ibanez through a peavy people would be collecting those items. Look, the guy plugged into a decent tube amp, threw a tube screamer 'cause those Jbl's are too stiff and everyone and his dog had tube screamer and "viola". His gear has very very little to do with what we like about his tone - but it's very difficult to pin point it so we get stuck on gear.
 
kats said:
Yeah his vibroverb came with a D130 fer sure. My buddy has one of those...it's ok.

Thing is, I believe that if SRV was playing an Ibanez through a peavy people would be collecting those items. Look, the guy plugged into a decent tube amp, threw a tube screamer 'cause those Jbl's are too stiff and everyone and his dog had tube screamer and "viola". His gear has very very little to do with what we like about his tone - but it's very difficult to pin point it so we get stuck on gear.
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SRV's "tone" came from Stevie, not his equipment. Same thing with Hendrix - Jimi's sound was from Jimi, not the Marshalls.

I was just pointing out that it was probably an incorrect description of him using a D140F, and that it was probably a D130F, at least in my opinion, based on listening to Stevie's tone, and what I know about those two speakers.
 
well this is a topic that i have researched probably more than i should have:

Amps: Fender Blackface 1967 Super Reverb and Fender 1959 Bassman but mostly the blackface

Effects: 2 Ibanez TS-808 Tube Screamers, Vox Mccoy Wah Wah, and an actual leslie rotating speaker.

I feel like i am forgetting something...
 
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