Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Fender Vibroverb Blackface

Stevie used two of these amps from around early 80 to around 1985 initially for everything, but later on only for his dirty or distorted sound.

Stevie had a very simple setup, just two Vibroverb amps and no pedals. For the Hendrix stuff, Cutter would plug in a wah for the one tune.

Dan Opperman, Texas Flood: The Inside Story of Stevie Ray Vaughan

One of the two Vibroverbs was used to power a Fender Vibratone Leslie speaker.

We also had two black-face, EV-loaded Super Reverbs. In addition, we used an EV-loaded Fender Vibroverb, and it powered the Fender Vibratone Leslie speaker

Interview: Stevie Ray Vaughan’s guitar tech Rene Martinez

It seems that around the mid-80s he ditched one of the Vibroverbs and replaced it instead with a Fender Super Reverb. The other Vibroverb he probably kept and continued using for the Vibratone Leslie speaker.

Texas Flood amp?

According to Cesar Diaz, Stevie’s amp tech, the Vibroverbs were used to record Stevie’s debut album, Texas Flood (see the quote from Cesar Diaz below). But, according to Chris Layton, Stevie played his Number One Strat through a Dumbleland “Mother Dumble” amp.

There was literally nothing between the guitar and the amp. It was just his Number One Strat plugged into a Dumble amp called Mother Dumble, which was owned by Jackson Browne.

Chris Layton, Texas Flood: The Inside Story of Stevie Ray Vaughan

It may be that Cesar was talking about the Texas Flood live era, and that the Vibroverbs were Stevie’s main amps during that tour.

Specs, Mods

The blackface Fender Vibroverbs that Stevie used originally came equipped with JBL speakers, which Cesar Diaz, Stevie’s amp tech, started replacing with ElectroVoice speakers over time.

I got sick of dealing with the JBL’s because they used to blow so easily, and it just wasn’t funny anymore. I got sick of changing them out, and I never really liked the harshness of them. However, the first album, Texas Flood, was all VibroVerbs and JBL’s.

Cesar Diaz The Last Great Interview (SRV)

In the same interview linked above, Cesar mentioned using output transformers from a Bassman in Stevie’s Vibroverbs.

Stevie’s Vibroverb on Reverb.com

One of Stevie’s original Fender Vibroverb amps appeared somewhat recently on sale on Reverb.com. According to the info provided by the seller, Stevie had sold it to Byron Barr in 1985.