Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Dumble Steel String Singer (Silverface)

Stevie started using this amp sometime in early 1984, and it directly replaced the Dumble ODS that he used in late 1983.

Right now, I use a Dumble 150 watt. He calls it Steel String Singer, I call it King Tone Consoul, that’s s-o-u-l. It’s like an overgrown Fender tube amp. Some Dumbles, like the Overdrive Special, you’ve got to know what you’re doing with them, because they’ll get away from you and take you with ’em.

Stevie Ray Vaughan, Guitar Player magazine, 1984

Initially, he used a silverface Steel String Singer, occasionally paired with a couple of Fender Vibroverbs. In that scenario, SSS was presumably used for clean sound, while the Vibroverbs were used for overdrive.

As can be seen in the photo above, he’s using a “silverface” Steel String Singer, at this particular occasion played through a Dumble 4×12 slant cabinet. To the right of the SSS is the Fender Vibratone cabinet, and to the right are two Fender Vibroverbs, one of which probably powered the Vibratone.

By 1986, Stevie acquired another Steel String Singer, with a black control plate, which he then used sometimes together with the silver one, and other times paired with a Marshall Major. But overall, both of the Dumble Steel String Singers were Stevie’s main clean amps, meaning that he used the for non-overdrive tones.

The Dumble that I’m using is called a Steel String Singer. It’s cleaner and it’s not like an overdrive monster or anything. It’s more like a clear amp.

SRV – Interview – Stevie’s Setup 1/2