Pride and Joy amp settings

The recording

Pride and Joy was written by Stevie Ray Vaughan about his wife Lenora and recorded on November 24, 1982 at Jackson Browne’s Down Town Studio in Los Angeles as part of the Texas Flood sessions. The band set up in a circle like a live gig, with no isolation booths, and played the album in two sets so each song had only two takes to choose from. Vaughan merged rhythm and lead on the track, playing the walking bass line, muted percussive chord chops, and ringing open-string voicings at the same time, while his solo choruses grow straight out of that shuffle groove. The result is a raw, live-band Texas blues performance where the guitar parts create the recording’s recognizable character through heavy string bends, slides, and a fat, droning Eb-tuned Strat tone.

Tuning Eb Ab Db Gb Bb Eb·Strings GHS Nickel Rockers.013-.058

Original gear

Fender Stratocaster “Number One”

Guitar · Stevie Ray Vaughan · Riff & solo

Vaughan’s main Strat for the track, with the middle pickup serving the intro, verse, chorus, and first solo and the neck pickup serving the second solo/outro; the exact year is disputed because the body, neck, and pickups date to different parts eras, so the clean shared identity is the Number One Fender Stratocaster.

Fender Vibroverb

Amp · Stevie Ray Vaughan · Riff & solo

Engineer and co-producer Richard Mullen stated that Vaughan played through two Fender Vibroverbs on the Texas Flood sessions (recorded November 22-24, 1982, including Pride and Joy on November 24) and that he miked one of them with a Shure SM57; the amp was a 1964 Fender Vibroverb combo with a 15-inch speaker (Mullen said Altec Lansing, while Guitar World's Tonal Recall identifies it as a JBL D130F, a minor speaker-brand discrepancy).

Dumble Dumbleland Special

Amp · Stevie Ray Vaughan · Riff & solo

Engineer Richard Mullen confirmed a Dumble head was miked on the Texas Flood sessions; Wikipedia and Guitar World's Tonal Recall identify it as a 150-watt Dumbleland Special owned by Jackson Browne, while Guitar World's 2015 amp guide calls it a Dumbleland 300-watt bass amp, a minor wattage/model-name discrepancy between secondary sources; bassist Tommy Shannon also confirmed Stevie played through Jackson Browne's Dumble amp.

Dumble 4x12 cabinet with Electro-Voice speakers

Cabinet · Stevie Ray Vaughan · Riff & solo

Engineer Richard Mullen stated he miked a Dumble 4x12 cabinet with Electro-Voice speakers connected to the Dumble head on the Texas Flood sessions, which included the November 24, 1982 recording of Pride and Joy.

Alternatives

Practical playing approach

Recreation guidance, not a claim about undocumented studio control positions.

1. 1.Keep your thumb wrapped over the top of the neck to fret the low bass notes while sustaining chords.
2. 2.Alternate between aggressive heavy string bends and percussive muted chops to replicate the shuffle groove.
3. 3.Use a heavy pick attack combined with a neck or middle Strat pickup position to achieve that bell-like Texas tone.
4. 4.Maintain a steady, driving shuffle rhythm without relying on a distortion pedal for your core rhythm sound.

Frequently asked questions

Researched and reviewed by the ToneTwin Research Team.

Sources