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Stev Skye guitar FX

(Continued from my conversation with Stev Skye regarding his guitar and gear).

“When you play, I hear Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan influences more than any others. I’m not saying I hear you playing them, if that makes sense, but I definitely feel their influences when you play.”

“Absolutely. I would agree that those two more than any others have influenced my playing and my sound.”

“So how do you find that sound? How do you know it’s yours?” I ask.

“Well, it varies from song to song, but I hear it in my head and I try to match what I hear. It’s pretty much all up there (pointing to his head) so I just try to replicate what I hear in my mind.”

“Makes sense,” I say. “So then how do you reproduce a certain sound, once you think you have it? I mean, is it hard to remember what you played, how you played it and all the settings between the guitar, the amp and all the effects, etc.?”

“Well, I have four main ‘sounds’ that I stick to for the most part (he starts to demonstrate). I have the total clean sound (plays), then the overdrive sound (plays again) which is more of a ‘gritty’ sound. Then I have the rhythm distortion sound (plays) which is tighter sounding and finally, I have the louder more distorted ballistic atomic sound that I use in my solos.”

Stev Skye Guitar FX Pedal Board 2009

To achieve his sound, Stev uses a combination of guitar pedal FX along with his custom Two-Rock amp. Here is Stev Skye’s Signal Chain:

Boss CH-1 SUPER Chorus Pedal Standard


Vox V847A Wah Pedal Standard


Fulltone MDV2 Mini DejaVibe 2 Guitar Effects Pedal Cream
(made with original Univibe parts)

MXR M169 Carbon Copy Analog Delay Guitar Effects Pedal Standard


Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer Effects Pedal Original Reissue Standard
(Modified by Robert Keeley)

Fulltone OCD Overdrive Obsessive Compulsive Drive Standard
Distortion Pedal

As I mentioned, Stev uses a custom designed guitar amp from Two-Rock. The amp is a 100-watt Custom Reverb Signature Model Version 2, all tube, handmade for specifically for Stev by Two-Rock. We’ll get into more details on the Two-Rock amp in another post!