Eric Clapton Amp Settings & Complete Guitar Tone Guide! (2024)

Years go by and Eric Clapton remains one of the lighthouses for guitar mastery in the hazy mist of media overload. Yes, Slow Hands is not only a guitar icon but also a tone master followed by legions of players wanting to emulate his timeless sound.

In this piece, I’m going to unveil for you all the tools of the trade this master bluesman has used since he first joined the Yardbirds until the present times. Believe me, it’s quite a ride that goes from Gibson and Marshall to Soldano, Fender, and even Dean Markley Amps!

If you want to find out what has fueled one of the most recognizable vibratos in the history of music, then just read on!

Guitars

Let’s begin with the Yardbirds era in which Eric could be seen playing a red Fender Telecaster. You can get something very similar by purchasing Fender’s American Vintage II series 1963 model. Otherwise, the Squier Sonic Series might be a good fit too.

Right after the Telecaster, Clapton’s taste moved over to Gibson territory with his utterly known ’64 Gibson ES-335 in cherry red. That’s a groundbreaking blues machine capable of some huge hollow tones and bold attack. The Epiphone version is a good rendition too.

By the time Eric joined John Mayall and the Blues Breakers, he already had his famous 1960 Gibson Les Paul. This guitar is known as Beano, and it was lost and never found. According to Clapton, it’s the finest Les Paul he ever played. Nowadays, Gibson makes a great Custom Shop version of that guitar also known as the “R0”. The Epiphone ‘60s Les Paul is also an option for a different budget.

Beano was stolen, and thus, Clapton was out of a guitar right at the start of the Cream era. No other than Keith Richards loaned him a Bigsby-equipped Les Paul and Andy Summers lent him another sunburst Les Paul.

As Cream grew, Eric bought and used a ‘59/60 Les Paul Custom with 3 humbuckers. Soon after, he acquired the famous ’57 Les Paul Standard repainted red. He later gave it to George Harrison who nicknamed it “Lucy”. You can watch and hear Eric talking about it in this cool video.

After the Les Paul, one of Clapton’s best-known axes came to life when he came on stage to play his ’64 Gibson SG Standard painted in psychedelic colors. Unfortunately, you don’t get to have the original paint job, but Gibson recently reissued that guitar with the same tremolo system. You can even get a faithful reproduction by Epiphone.

Next up the line is an unobtainable guitar nowadays, the Gibson Firebird I, featuring a single mini humbucker. According to many critics, it’s the pivotal guitar that took Eric to Stratocasters. Yet, before saying goodbye to Gibson, we have to talk about his ’58 Gibson Dark Burst Les Paul. There’s also an affordable Epiphone version of it.

By the time Eric founded Blind Faith, he was playing a ’62 Telecaster Custom with a Stratocaster neck. You can replace that tone with a Fender Vintera Series Telecaster from the ‘60s (bound body, pau ferro fingerboard) or ‘50s (unbound body, maple fingerboard). Squier does a good job too, but unfortunately, no cool Strat-neck-meets-Tele-body has been made yet.

Although Eric was already playing Fenders, he was dipping his toes into the water. By the time he formed Derek and the Dominos, he began relying on Strats 100% of the time. He could be seen blowing the audience’s minds with a ’56 Fender Stratocaster and a ‘58 Fender Stratocaster, both sunburst and named “brownie”.

You can get a similar tone with an American Vintage ’57 Reissue or a Squier Classic Vibe ‘50s reissue.

He used those guitars extensively, yet, perhaps, Clapton’s most memorable guitar came from that era as well. It’s a guitar we all know as “Blackie” and is what you would call a “partscaster”. Yes, it’s a Fender Stratocaster sporting a very rare factory black ’56 body and a ’57 neck. This guitar remained Eric’s first guitar for a long time until it was auctioned for the Crossroads Foundation. In 2004, it established a new record price paid for a guitar at $959,500.

Fender made an exact replica of Blackie that’s been sold out since its release.

Finally, from 1983 onwards, Eric Clapton played his signature Fender Stratocaster almost exclusively. You can get the amazing Custom Shop version or the regular production version. Both come equipped with a 25db boost for solos on the second tone knob.

Amplifiers

Let’s begin talking about Clapton’s amplifiers from the very beginning; that means talking about the Yardbirds. When Eric joined the band he was given the red Telecaster and a Vox AC-30 that continued to be owned by the band when he left.

Later on, by the time he joined John Mayall and the Blues Breakers, he could be seen playing through a ’65 Marshall Plexi JTM45.

This was no ordinary amp, it featured cream/white tolex. According to experts only 6 like that were made in that year. By the time the Bluesbreakers made it to the recording studio, Eric was plugging into a ’62 Marshall Bluesbreaker Combo.

An amp that will get you close to that tone without the hefty price tag can be EHX MIG-50.

Moving on to the Cream era, the band was playing at bigger venues, and thus, they needed more volume. That’s when the ’66 Marshall JTM-45 100-watt amp + Marshall 4×12 cabinet made it onto the stage.

According to Eric, he was playing the amp “full on everything” and handling the tone with his guitar’s knobs. As the band kept on growing, he later plugged into a ’69 Marshall Super Lead 100 watts and 2 Marshall 4×12 cabinets and a ’67 JMP-100 Super Tremolo 100-watts head and 2 Marshall 4×12 cabinets.

The closest to that sound you can get without being kicked out of your home and spending your savings is to go for the Marshall Origins head.

The end of the Cream era is also the end of the Marshall era. The beginning of a new love with Fender and other amps starts on July 1969, the Blind Faith Us Tour. Eric can be seen on stage during that time playing through a ’69 Silverface Fender Dual Showman head and a 2×15 cabinet loaded with JBL speakers. According to Eric, he would play treble at half but bass and middle at full, and the volume knob at half to get the amp to distort on the low frequencies while remaining crisp and clear.

Although the Dual Showman has been discontinued, you can get close with a more affordable Fender Hot Rod Deville.

By the time Eric formed Derek and the Dominos, he moved over to playing much smaller amps in the studio such as the Fender Champ, Fender Princeton, and a Blonde Tremolux from the early ‘60s. You could get those tones with a more affordable Fender Blues Deluxe.

By the time Eric launched his solo career, he went through an assortment of amps before settling with the Fender Bandmaster, a 3×10 amplifier that is part of his current setup. The only difference with the one sold at Fender is that he had two of them modified by the late and great Alexander Dumble for $100,000.

Here’s a brief list of the rest of the amps Eric used throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s:

• ‘70s Sunn Colisseum heads (300w RMS) with + 2 Marshall 4×12
• ’74 Music Man HD130
• Marshall JCM800
• ’86 Dean Markley Signature Series 120
• ’88 Fender Dual Showman Heads and Cabs
• ’88 Soldano SLO 100 heads
• ’57 Tweed Fender Twin Amplifier (modified by Cesar Diaz first and replicas by the Fender Custom Shop)
• Fender Custom Shop Vibro King (modded by Dennis Cornell)
• Fender EC Twinolux
• Fender EC Tremolux
• Fender EC Vibrochamp
• Dumble Overdrive Special
• Fender Tweed Reissue Bandmaster Amps by Alexander Dumble

You can hear Eric’s tech talking about the Bandmaster amps and see how they look in this cool Rig Rundown video.

Clapton’s Effects Pedals

Effects-wise, Eric Clapton has always had a minimalist approach. Perhaps, the most noticeable effect he’s used throughout his career is the wah-wah pedal. He alternately uses the VOX-V847 and the Jim Dunlop Cry Baby.

Other than that, he uses a real Leslie cabinet on the stage and has used a Uni-Vibe as a Leslie replacement, a Roland Guitar Synth G-505 (the current model is the GR-55) during his time with Roger Waters, and in the ‘80s, the quintessential Bob Bradshaw footswitch system with a rack of effects.

The effects rack contained an assortment of pedals such as:

• Delay
• Compressor
• Tri-stereo Chorus
• Boss CE-1 Chorus
• Boss HM-2 Heavy Metal Pedal

Eric Clapton Amp Settings

Let’s dial in some of Eric’s tones from the different eras. But before we do that, in the Rig Rundown above, Eric’s tech says to the camera that Clapton likes everything dialed to 7 on every amp. Therefore, that goes the scoop for his current setup.

Yardbirds Era

• Bass – 8
• Mid – 8
• Treble – 4
• Gain – 7
• Volume – 6

Cream Era

• Bass – 10
• Mid – 10
• Treble – 10
• Gain – 10
• Volume – 10

(Control the amp’s gain with the volume control of your guitar)

Derek & the Dominos Era

• Bass – 9
• Mid – 9
• Treble – 5
• Gain – 5
• Volume – 5

Solo Career

• Bass – 7
• Mid – 7
• Treble – 7
• Gain – 7
• Volume – 7

The Bottom End

They say that tone is in the hands, especially when you’re playing the blues. That being said, having the right tools can serve as an inspiration and also as a shortcut to get you closer to the tone you have in your head. Use the above as inspiration and play your way to guitar mastery.

Happy (slow blues) playing!