Texas Flood
A slow twelve-bar blues tuned down a half step, stretched to nearly twice its length by improvised solo choruses.
What is the Texas Flood guitar tone?
The Texas Flood guitar tone is a slow twelve-bar blues tuned down a half step, stretched to nearly twice its length by improvised solo choruses, heard on Stevie Ray Vaughan's 1980s blues rock recording. It is a distorted solo tone, and Stevie Ray Vaughan reportedly tracked it with Number One, the worn Fender Stratocaster that Jas Obrecht says carried most of the Texas Flood album, through the setup engineer Richard Mullen describes for the whole record: two Fender Vibroverbs with 15-inch Altec Lansing speakers and a Dumble head into a 4x12 cabinet of Electro-Voice speakers, miked close with Shure SM57s, three or four inches off the cabinets; the Dumble belonged to Jackson Browne, who gave the band free time at his Down Town studio in Los Angeles, and Obrecht says Vaughan played through it for most of the session, while Mullen says Vaughan's sound on every record came from Fender and Dumble amps together; Mullen remembers an Ibanez Tube Screamer as the only effect, and drummer Chris Layton told Guitar World there was literally nothing between the guitar and the amp; in November 1982 the band played its live set through twice with no vocals, and Ultimate Classic Rock says they cut the title track last, in one take, as their studio time ran out; the song is Larry Davis's 1958 blues, with Fenton Robinson on guitar, which Vaughan played in G shapes tuned down a half step, adding twelve-bar choruses of improvised soloing that nearly doubled its length; Texas Flood came out in June 1983, and the track was nominated for a Grammy for best traditional blues performance. 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.
Texas Flood amp settings: a starting point
On a generic five-knob amp, start at Gain 4.5, Bass 5, Middle 7, Treble 6, Presence 5, Reverb 3, with the neck pickup for body, bridge if the lead needs to cut.
- Gain 4.5
- Bass 5
- Middle 7
- Treble 6
- Presence 5
- Reverb 3
- Signal chain
- An Ibanez Tube Screamer by Mullen's account, nothing by Layton's → Dumble and Fender Vibroverbs together
- The control that matters most
- Your picking hand and the guitar's volume. Vaughan played hard on heavy strings straight into big, loud amps, so set the amp just short of breakup and let your attack and the volume knob decide how much it growls, rather than adding gain. Tune down a half step and play it in G shapes as he did, and leave space: the slow 12/8 feel carries the solo choruses as much as the notes do.
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
- Neck pickup for body, bridge if the lead needs to cut
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 Texas Flood?
Number One, the worn Fender Stratocaster that Jas Obrecht says carried most of the Texas Flood album, through the setup engineer Richard Mullen describes for the whole record: two Fender Vibroverbs with 15-inch Altec Lansing speakers and a Dumble head into a 4x12 cabinet of Electro-Voice speakers, miked close with Shure SM57s, three or four inches off the cabinets; the Dumble belonged to Jackson Browne, who gave the band free time at his Down Town studio in Los Angeles, and Obrecht says Vaughan played through it for most of the session, while Mullen says Vaughan's sound on every record came from Fender and Dumble amps together; Mullen remembers an Ibanez Tube Screamer as the only effect, and drummer Chris Layton told Guitar World there was literally nothing between the guitar and the amp; in November 1982 the band played its live set through twice with no vocals, and Ultimate Classic Rock says they cut the title track last, in one take, as their studio time ran out; the song is Larry Davis's 1958 blues, with Fenton Robinson on guitar, which Vaughan played in G shapes tuned down a half step, adding twelve-bar choruses of improvised soloing that nearly doubled its length; Texas Flood came out in June 1983, and the track was nominated for a Grammy for best traditional blues performance.
Sources: Line 6: Jas Obrecht on Stevie Ray Vaughan's Texas Flood sessions, Wikipedia: Texas Flood (album), Wikipedia: Texas Flood (song), Ultimate Classic Rock: how Stevie Ray Vaughan made Texas Flood, Mix: Classic Track, Stevie Ray Vaughan's Pride and Joy
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 Texas Flood tone on your own amp?
Tell us your guitar, amp, and pedals
AI researches the original tone of Texas Flood
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Texas Flood tone questions
What amp settings do you need for Texas Flood?
On a generic five-knob amp, start at Gain 4.5, Bass 5, Middle 7, Treble 6, Presence 5, Reverb 3, with the neck pickup for body, bridge if the lead needs to cut. 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 slow twelve-bar blues tuned down a half step, stretched to nearly twice its length by improvised solo choruses from different positions.
What is the most important control for the Texas Flood tone?
Your picking hand and the guitar's volume. Vaughan played hard on heavy strings straight into big, loud amps, so set the amp just short of breakup and let your attack and the volume knob decide how much it growls, rather than adding gain. Tune down a half step and play it in G shapes as he did, and leave space: the slow 12/8 feel carries the solo choruses as much as the notes do.
Can you get the Texas Flood tone without the original gear?
Yes. The original was tracked with Number One, the worn Fender Stratocaster that Jas Obrecht says carried most of the Texas Flood album, through the setup engineer Richard Mullen describes for the whole record: two Fender Vibroverbs with 15-inch Altec Lansing speakers and a Dumble head into a 4x12 cabinet of Electro-Voice speakers, miked close with Shure SM57s, three or four inches off the cabinets; the Dumble belonged to Jackson Browne, who gave the band free time at his Down Town studio in Los Angeles, and Obrecht says Vaughan played through it for most of the session, while Mullen says Vaughan's sound on every record came from Fender and Dumble amps together; Mullen remembers an Ibanez Tube Screamer as the only effect, and drummer Chris Layton told Guitar World there was literally nothing between the guitar and the amp; in November 1982 the band played its live set through twice with no vocals, and Ultimate Classic Rock says they cut the title track last, in one take, as their studio time ran out; the song is Larry Davis's 1958 blues, with Fenton Robinson on guitar, which Vaughan played in G shapes tuned down a half step, adding twelve-bar choruses of improvised soloing that nearly doubled its length; Texas Flood came out in June 1983, and the track was nominated for a Grammy for best traditional blues performance, 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 Texas Flood a rhythm or a lead tone?
It is a solo 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.
