Pride and Joy
Stevie Ray Vaughan
A Texas shuffle in E, tuned down a half step, with a bass line and muted chord chops played together on one guitar.
What is the Pride and Joy guitar tone?
The Pride and Joy guitar tone is a Texas shuffle in E, tuned down a half step, with a bass line and muted chord chops played together on one guitar, heard on Stevie Ray Vaughan's 1980s blues rock recording. It is a distorted riff tone, and Stevie Ray Vaughan reportedly tracked it with a few Fender Stratocasters, a '59 and a '63 among them, by the account of engineer Richard Mullen, who recorded the album and says they went through two Fender Vibroverbs with 15-inch speakers and a Dumble with a 4x12 cabinet of Electro-Voice speakers, each miked with a single Shure SM57 three or four inches off the cone; the Dumble belonged to Jackson Browne, who gave the band free time at his Down Town studio in Los Angeles after seeing them at Montreux, and Guitar World says Browne's 300-watt Dumbleland carried most of the album, John Mayer, who now owns that amp, says Vaughan recorded the entire album through it, and drummer Chris Layton remembers nothing between Vaughan's Number One Strat and the Dumble, while Vaughan's amp tech César Díaz said the album was all Vibroverbs; the band played the songs like a live set, twice through and without vocals, so every song had two takes to choose from, and Pride and Joy was cut on 24 November 1982; Vaughan sang his vocals later at Mullen's studio in Austin, Lincoln Clapp mixed the album in New York, and Guitar World says Vaughan added a Roland Dimension D to the solo during mixing; Texas Flood came out in June 1983, and the single reached number 20 on the Mainstream Rock chart. This lives right on the edge of breakup, where the volume knob on the guitar does the real work between clean and dirty.
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 high-gain head 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.
Pride and Joy amp settings: a starting point
On a generic five-knob amp, start at Gain 4, Bass 5, Middle 6, Treble 6, Presence 5, Reverb 3, with the bridge pickup.
- Gain 4
- Bass 5
- Middle 6
- Treble 6
- Presence 5
- Reverb 3
- Signal chain
- Dumble and Fender Vibroverbs, no pedals (Layton) → Roland Dimension D on the solo, added in the mix
- The control that matters most
- Headroom and the picking hand. Vaughan played straight into big, loud amps, and Guitar World says it was the Dumble's way of staying clean under his hard low-string attack that won him over, so set the amp just at the edge of breakup and let hard picking push it rather than a drive pedal. Tune down a half step as on the record, and keep enough bass for the low-string line to thump under the muted chord chops.
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. Your first match is free with an account, and needs no card.
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.
What gear did Stevie Ray Vaughan use on Pride and Joy?
A few Fender Stratocasters, a '59 and a '63 among them, by the account of engineer Richard Mullen, who recorded the album and says they went through two Fender Vibroverbs with 15-inch speakers and a Dumble with a 4x12 cabinet of Electro-Voice speakers, each miked with a single Shure SM57 three or four inches off the cone; the Dumble belonged to Jackson Browne, who gave the band free time at his Down Town studio in Los Angeles after seeing them at Montreux, and Guitar World says Browne's 300-watt Dumbleland carried most of the album, John Mayer, who now owns that amp, says Vaughan recorded the entire album through it, and drummer Chris Layton remembers nothing between Vaughan's Number One Strat and the Dumble, while Vaughan's amp tech César Díaz said the album was all Vibroverbs; the band played the songs like a live set, twice through and without vocals, so every song had two takes to choose from, and Pride and Joy was cut on 24 November 1982; Vaughan sang his vocals later at Mullen's studio in Austin, Lincoln Clapp mixed the album in New York, and Guitar World says Vaughan added a Roland Dimension D to the solo during mixing; Texas Flood came out in June 1983, and the single reached number 20 on the Mainstream Rock chart.
Sources: Mix: Classic Track, Stevie Ray Vaughan's Pride and Joy, Guitar World: the amps and effects in Stevie Ray Vaughan's arsenal, Guitar World: John Mayer owns the Dumble SRV used on Texas Flood, Ground Guitar: Stevie Ray Vaughan's Fender Vibroverbs, Wikipedia: Pride and Joy (Stevie Ray Vaughan song)
Tonelify 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 Pride and Joy tone on your own amp?
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Pride and Joy tone questions
What amp settings do you need for Pride and Joy?
On a generic five-knob amp, start at Gain 4, Bass 5, Middle 6, Treble 6, Presence 5, 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 Texas shuffle in E, tuned down a half step, with a bass line and muted chord chops played together on one guitar from different positions.
What is the most important control for the Pride and Joy tone?
Headroom and the picking hand. Vaughan played straight into big, loud amps, and Guitar World says it was the Dumble's way of staying clean under his hard low-string attack that won him over, so set the amp just at the edge of breakup and let hard picking push it rather than a drive pedal. Tune down a half step as on the record, and keep enough bass for the low-string line to thump under the muted chord chops.
Can you get the Pride and Joy tone without the original gear?
Yes. The original was tracked with a few Fender Stratocasters, a '59 and a '63 among them, by the account of engineer Richard Mullen, who recorded the album and says they went through two Fender Vibroverbs with 15-inch speakers and a Dumble with a 4x12 cabinet of Electro-Voice speakers, each miked with a single Shure SM57 three or four inches off the cone; the Dumble belonged to Jackson Browne, who gave the band free time at his Down Town studio in Los Angeles after seeing them at Montreux, and Guitar World says Browne's 300-watt Dumbleland carried most of the album, John Mayer, who now owns that amp, says Vaughan recorded the entire album through it, and drummer Chris Layton remembers nothing between Vaughan's Number One Strat and the Dumble, while Vaughan's amp tech César Díaz said the album was all Vibroverbs; the band played the songs like a live set, twice through and without vocals, so every song had two takes to choose from, and Pride and Joy was cut on 24 November 1982; Vaughan sang his vocals later at Mullen's studio in Austin, Lincoln Clapp mixed the album in New York, and Guitar World says Vaughan added a Roland Dimension D to the solo during mixing; Texas Flood came out in June 1983, and the single reached number 20 on the Mainstream Rock chart, but the parts that define the sound are the gain structure, the EQ curve, the pickup position and the effects order. Those translate to other equipment, which is what the adaptation step does.
Is Pride and Joy a rhythm or a lead tone?
It is a riff part with a distorted character, from Stevie Ray Vaughan's 1980s blues rock catalogue.
Does Tonelify cost anything to try?
Your first match for your own gear is free with an account, and needs no card. After that both plans start with a 7-day free trial: 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.
