"Pride and Joy" by Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble came out on Texas Flood in 1983. The guitar sounds huge but not very distorted: a bright, punchy shuffle with a thick midrange and a slight hair on the attack. When he digs in, the notes bark; when he plays lighter, they almost clean up.
What was used
- Overdrive: an Ibanez Tube Screamer (the TS808 and the TS9 are both commonly cited) is the pedal most associated with Vaughan.
- Amps: loud Fender amps, the Vibroverb in particular, are commonly cited. A Dumble amp is also reported to have been used on the Texas Flood sessions. Exactly which amp is on which track is debated.
- Guitar and strings: a Stratocaster with very heavy strings, commonly reported as tuned down a half step.
The drive on this recording is usually described as light. Much of the sound comes from his hands, the heavy strings and loud amps, not from gain.
The rig below is an approximation: a common way to get close to this sound, not the exact original gear or settings.
Playing it
- Pick hard. The tone only appears when you attack the strings; light picking sounds thin.
- Keep the shuffle feel steady and use your fretting hand to mute between stabs, so the rhythm sounds percussive.
- Ride your guitar's volume knob: around 7 for the rhythm, full up when you want more bite.
- Heavier strings help, but don't jump straight to very heavy gauges. Go up one size and see how it feels.