Guitars, Cadillacs
Dwight Yoakam
A bright, snappy Telecaster twang in the Bakersfield style.
What is the Guitars, Cadillacs guitar tone?
The Guitars, Cadillacs guitar tone is a bright, snappy Telecaster twang in the Bakersfield style, heard on Dwight Yoakam's 1980s country recording. It is a clean riff tone, and Dwight Yoakam reportedly tracked it with a 1956 Fender Telecaster with a maple neck, on the bridge pickup with its tone control on 1, into a 1965 Fender Deluxe Reverb that amp builder Jim Williams had modified with Twin Reverb transformers, 6L6 power valves, a solid-state rectifier, a midrange resistor and an Electro-Voice EVM-12S speaker, in Guitar World's account; Pete Anderson told the magazine he wanted as much clean headroom as he could get, and that the midrange change makes the amp sound as if its middle were on 10 where a stock Deluxe Reverb sounds as if it were on 3; the guitar's signal was also split to a Scholz Rockman on its Edge setting, recorded direct alongside the miked Deluxe, which Anderson says cleaned up the sound with presence and bite when its fader came up; he used a light top and heavy bottom string set, picked close to the bridge and turned a stiff nylon pick around to play with its flat edge; the track was recorded at Capitol Studio B in Hollywood, with the Deluxe miked by a Shure SM57 into a 1073 preamp on a Neve 8068 console and engineer Dusty Wakeman adding light compression; Dwight Yoakam wrote the song, released in June 1986 as the second single from his debut album Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.; it peaked at number 4 in the United States and number 2 in Canada. Here the twang is a Telecaster's bridge pickup into a clean amp with lots of headroom, with a direct signal blended in for brightness, so nothing in the chain adds drive.
You do not need that exact gear to land in the same place. What carries this sound is the gain structure, the EQ curve, the pickup choice and the order of the effects, and all four can be rebuilt on equipment that costs a fraction of the original. The numbers change from amp to amp, because a clean channel on a modelling combo and a small practice amp reach the same voicing from different knob positions. That translation is what Tonelify works out for the rig you actually own.
Guitars, Cadillacs amp settings: a starting point
On a generic five-knob amp, start at Gain 2, Bass 4, Middle 6, Treble 7, Presence 6, Reverb 3, with the bridge pickup.
- Gain 2
- Bass 4
- Middle 6
- Treble 7
- Presence 6
- Reverb 3
- Signal chain
- Scholz Rockman on its Edge setting, recorded direct alongside the amp → Light compression at the desk
- The control that matters most
- Clean headroom and the midrange. Anderson had his Deluxe modified for more clean headroom and more midrange than a stock one, so keep the amp loud and clean with the middle up, pick near the bridge, and add brightness with a second clean signal or the treble rather than with gain.
These positions are free and they are a starting point. A Katana, a Spark and a valve head reach this voicing from different knob positions, so Tonelify rewrites every value above for the amp and guitar you own. A first plan starts with 7 days free, $0 today.
Adapt these to my amp- Pickup
- Bridge pickup
These are positions on a generic five-knob amp with gain, bass, middle, treble and presence, each running 0 to 10. They are a starting point, not the settings used on the record, and they will not transfer unchanged to an amp with a different gain structure or EQ voicing. If you tell Tonelify which amp you own, it rewrites every value above for the controls that amp actually has.
Does the Guitars, Cadillacs tone sound off on your amp?
Pick what you hear. You get the knobs to turn from the starting point above, and how far.
Published settings
What amp settings did Pete Anderson use on Guitars, Cadillacs?
Volume 4, treble 4.5, bass 2.5 and reverb 2, with the vibrato's speed and intensity at 0, on input 1 of the vibrato channel of a 1965 Fender Deluxe Reverb modified by Jim Williams; a Scholz Rockman on its Edge setting with the chorus off; and the Telecaster's bridge pickup with volume 10 and tone 1. That is Chris Gill's settings box in Guitar World's feature on the song, which does not say where the numbers came from, so read them as the magazine's reconstruction rather than a note from the session.
Source: Guitar World: the secrets behind Pete Anderson's tone on Guitars, Cadillacs
What gear did Dwight Yoakam use on Guitars, Cadillacs?
A 1956 Fender Telecaster with a maple neck, on the bridge pickup with its tone control on 1, into a 1965 Fender Deluxe Reverb that amp builder Jim Williams had modified with Twin Reverb transformers, 6L6 power valves, a solid-state rectifier, a midrange resistor and an Electro-Voice EVM-12S speaker, in Guitar World's account; Pete Anderson told the magazine he wanted as much clean headroom as he could get, and that the midrange change makes the amp sound as if its middle were on 10 where a stock Deluxe Reverb sounds as if it were on 3; the guitar's signal was also split to a Scholz Rockman on its Edge setting, recorded direct alongside the miked Deluxe, which Anderson says cleaned up the sound with presence and bite when its fader came up; he used a light top and heavy bottom string set, picked close to the bridge and turned a stiff nylon pick around to play with its flat edge; the track was recorded at Capitol Studio B in Hollywood, with the Deluxe miked by a Shure SM57 into a 1073 preamp on a Neve 8068 console and engineer Dusty Wakeman adding light compression; Dwight Yoakam wrote the song, released in June 1986 as the second single from his debut album Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.; it peaked at number 4 in the United States and number 2 in Canada.
Sources: Guitar World: the secrets behind Pete Anderson's tone on Guitars, Cadillacs, Wikipedia: Guitars, Cadillacs
Tonelify's tone matcher reads that chain and translates it to the amp and guitar you already own, returning gain, bass, mids, treble and presence values along with a pickup position.
How do you get the Guitars, Cadillacs tone on your own amp?
Tell us your guitar, amp, and pedals
AI researches the original tone of Guitars, Cadillacs
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Guitars, Cadillacs tone questions
What amp settings do you need for Guitars, Cadillacs?
On a generic five-knob amp, start at Gain 2, Bass 4, Middle 6, Treble 7, Presence 6, Reverb 3, with the bridge pickup. These are positions on a generic five-knob amp with gain, bass, middle, treble and presence, each running 0 to 10. They are a starting point, not the settings used on the record, and they will not transfer unchanged to an amp with a different gain structure or EQ voicing. Tonelify rewrites the same values for the specific amp and guitar you own, because a high-gain head and a small solid-state combo reach the same bright, snappy Telecaster twang in the Bakersfield style from different positions.
What amp did Pete Anderson use on Guitars, Cadillacs?
Amp: 1965 Fender Deluxe Reverb modified by Jim Williams, plus a Scholz Rockman recorded direct. Guitar: 1956 Fender Telecaster with a maple neck. Sources: Guitar World and Wikipedia.
How do you get Pete Anderson's tone on Guitars, Cadillacs?
Clean headroom and the midrange. Anderson had his Deluxe modified for more clean headroom and more midrange than a stock one, so keep the amp loud and clean with the middle up, pick near the bridge, and add brightness with a second clean signal or the treble rather than with gain. Play it with the bridge pickup.
What tuning is Guitars, Cadillacs in?
Standard tuning: E A D G B E, low string to high, according to Guitar World.
Source: Guitar World: the secrets behind Pete Anderson's tone on Guitars, Cadillacs
Can you get the Guitars, Cadillacs tone without the original gear?
Yes. The parts that define the sound are the gain structure, the EQ curve, the pickup position and the effects order, and those translate to other equipment. Tonelify's adaptation step works them out for the amp and guitar you own.
Does Tonelify cost anything to try?
A match for your own gear takes a plan, and a first plan starts with 7 days free with nothing charged that day: Stage is $6.99 a month for 20 matches, Headliner is $10.99 a month for unlimited matching within a fair use limit of 150 new matches a day, and yearly billing works out cheaper on both. Reading this page and the rest of the library costs nothing and needs no account.
