EQUIPMENT I USE

AKG K240 Studio Headphones 55ohms



See ~Juliet~ in the side menu. I play with GHS strings gaguges .013 (plain steel), .015 (plain steel), .019 (plain steel), .028 (Pure Nickel Rollerwound), .038 (Pure Nickel Rollerwound), .058 (Pure Nickel Rollerwound)

My RMC Real McCoy Custom LE Limited Edition Teese Gold Wah Pedal

True Bypass & handwired



























I have a Fender Vibroverb, Custom built to my specifications by Master Builder Steve Gupta. He built this amp for me for only $1,650. If you want a amp built for you his link is at the bottom of this page. I will be having him build me a Super Reverb soon with these mods but with a Twin Output Transformer and Weber Michigan (EV Clone) speakers. I will be playing through both these amps at the same time just as Stevie did. The combination of two different amps working together to make one awesome tone.

Fender cuts to many corners to save money with their mass produced Re-Issues. They are not concerned with accurate vintage reproductions using the best quality parts available, all they care about anymore is making money, not making the best gear that made their great reputation with guitars & amps back in the 50's & 60's. Their Reissues do sound good, but I am always searching for the best tone possible, my search ended when Steve Gupta built me this amp. I had considered briefly getting a original 64 Vibroverb, but decided against it after considering how old and unreliable it'd be, plus with all the modifications I'd need to do to it like SRV did to get it to sound real good, hardly anything at all would be left original other than the speaker & cabinet. So here is the information on my amp, the mods, and how they affect the tone, just in case maybe you to are on the path to getting this great tone maybe this can be of help. Stevie Ray Vaughan had the best guitar/amp tone for blues second to none, so I figure why try to reinvent the wheel, I will use this tone as my foundation and take the music itself to a new level.

64 VIBROVERB SPECS/MODS/INFO

15" ORIGINAL JBL D130F Alnico speaker re-coned by Weber, has aluminum dustcap

Weber Beam Blocker (The Beam Blocker is a simple device that is installed between the speaker and the baffle. The dome shaped diffuser prevents point-source high frequencies from beaming directly out of the cabinet to create that ice pick sound. Instead, they are diffused evenly in all directions to blend with the lower frequencies which tend to radiate in a wider pattern. The Beam Blocker allows you to make use of speakers that have a tendency to be beamy, harsh, or generally unusable due to their extreme high frequency response. The idea of using a diffuser is not new. Many performers including SRV were known to have applied a patch of duct tape on the grill cloth directly inline with the center of the speaker to block the beaminess. The Beam Blocker performs that same function while diffusing the high frequencies evenly in all directions.)

Solid finger jointed pine Mojo cabinet

Point to Point hand wired

Special Solid State/Tube Rectifier Switch

It has self adjustable bias

Bias is set on the hot side at 38 mpa

Installed Mercury Magnetics Bassman Output Transformer.More headroom, More power and less susceptible to blowing. Takes away ratty sound.

Tremelo is disconnected (has effect of unloading the guitar's signal and therefore producing a fatter, more edgy sound)

Coupling capacitors changed from .042 cap to a .047 cap. Tone is in the Preamp. .047 is more of Midrange. .1 is more Bass.

Bright Switch Capacitor changed from 150 pf to 250 pf (less harsh sounding, more of a midrange boost)

TAD blackplate RCA 6L6 Power tubes (Best sounding current production tubes availble)

NOS GE Preamp tubes, 5751 in V2 & 12AX7's

Input Resistor changed from 68k to 100k so there wouldn't be so much input signal going into the tubes. Faster saturation at lower volume. Dosen't create the high spikes caused by heavier strings & attack going into the input section.

Used 25uf/50v vs the old Fender 25uf/25v value

Fender choke

3/4-inch plywood baffle board

Bass, Mid, & Treble controls usually set at 5,6, & 7, Rene Martinez told me over the phone one day that Stevie always set the tone controls one increment apart ascending like that. Volume at studio usually 4, on stage around 6.


V1 tube removed

Acutronics reverb tank in tolex bag.
Vintage reproduction reverb cables.
Reproduction vibroverb face plate identical to original.
Orange Drop Caps, Sprague Atom electrolytic caps.

I use a Voodoo Lab, Power Pedal 2, to power my pedals. I have a Ibanez TS9 that I had Analogman modify, with the Silver option, Brown option, and KWS Tour Survival option, and had the TL4558P chip, a Texas Instruments chip installed. I also have a TS-808 modified from Analogman with the True Vintage option again with the TL chip. And I use a RMC3 wah, Tenth Anniversary Limited Edition, Real Mccoy Custom Gold wah #70 of only 300 in the world!

MORE INFO ON TONE/ACTUAL SOURCES & SECRETS OF SRV TONE

Stevie Ray Vaughan quotes from Guitar Mag interview:

Why did you switch from Vibroverbs to Super Reverbs?

"I'm using a Vibroverb to run the Leslie. I like the Vibroverbs, but by using two, I end up with 30 inches of speaker, as opposed to 40, and I hear the difference. There's a little more power there. What Ihear from where I stand onstage depends on the day. But for some reason, when an old Fender amp works right, it's still some of the sweetest tone I've ever found."

Cesar Diaz SRV amp tech interview quotes:

What did you do to Stevie's amps to improve his sound?

"First, we changed the output transformers in his Vibroverbs. We installed 4-ohm output transformers that we took out of Bassman heads. The stock transformers are these little 8-ohm Bandmaster types with only 30- or 35- watts output. The ones we put in were about 50 watts - A Bassman runs between 45 and 50 watts peak. That took away the ratty sound and he started sounding fatter. Over the years we did more and more mods, since Stevie wanted the low end to be really clear but wanted the top end to break up. We were able to do it through changing the value of the caps and resistors on the input. He used thicker strings - .013 to .056, I believe - which produce alot more volume and also affected the input settings for the amp. We changed the resistors on the amp's input jack from 68k ohms to 100k ohms to supress the signal applied to the grid (pin #2) so we wouldn't create the high spikes caused by his heavier strings and attack going into the input section of those triodes. We also changed the resistance value on each of the cathodes to shape his tone for that low end against the high end. Those mods eventually became the Diaz CD-100 amp.

"His Vibroverbs & Super Reverbs were later fitted with EVM's instead of JBL speakers, the amps had new baffle boards made from 3/4-inch plywood to accomodate the heavier speakers. Also because of the EVM's larger magnets, it was necessary to change the chassis position of some of the transformers."

"We used nothing but American tubes in both the preamps and the power amps. Back then you could still find good stock.

"The amps were further modified by disconnecting the first channel from the phase inverter tube and disabling the tremlo. This second procedure is easily accomplished by disconnecting the wires from the intensity control. Both these modifications have the effect of unloading the guitar's signal and therefore producing a fatter, more edgy sound."

_____ GUITAR SET UP _____

Tune to E Flat

Pickup Height:

Stevie's pickups were raised fairly high. I measured from the straightedge to the polepiece tops: On the treble side, the bridge pickup touched the straight edge, and the neck pickup was 1/16" away. The bass side measured 1/32" at the bridge pickup, 1/16" at the middle, and 1/32 at the neck. Stevie's polepieces are highest on the bridge side.

String Height

I measured the distance from the underside of the strings to the top of the fret at the 12th fret on both E strings. Rene Martinez descibes, I set up all Stevie's the same: 5/64" on the treble E string and 7/64" at the bass E.

He liked high action. He was also meticulous about intonation and it was very important to him to have clear, bell-like tone.

Stevie had a aggressive playing style, he played hard most of the time.