How to Sound Like Joe Bonamassa — Blues Guitar Tone Guide
Joe Bonamassa is the defining figure in modern commercial blues guitar. His tone — thick, warm, sustaining, and musically driven — represents a particular peak in the tradition stretching from BB King and Peter Green through Gary Moore. Understanding his setup reveals both how to approximate his sound and why it costs as much as it does.
Bonamassa's gear is expensive. His guitars are irreplaceable vintage instruments. His amplifiers are among the rarest and most coveted in the world. But the underlying principles — Les Paul through a Dumble-style circuit with the right overdrive — can be approximated at various price points.
The Guitars: Vintage Gibson Les Pauls
1959 Gibson Les Paul Sunburst
The 1959 Les Paul Standard is the most valuable production electric guitar in history. Bonamassa owns multiple originals. Their character — mahogany body with maple top, original PAF humbuckers, Brazilian rosewood fretboard — produces a warmth, sustain, and harmonic complexity that makes modern instruments sound thin by comparison.
Why 1959 specifically: The 1959 Les Paul is the convergence of ideal specifications. The neck profile is full but comfortable. The PAF pickups in that year have a specific output, balance, and harmonic character that wound differently to later or earlier specifications. The wood has 65+ years of resonance development. Together these factors produce the tone that Bonamassa and others spend enormous sums chasing.
Cost: Original 1959 Les Paul Standards sell for £250,000–400,000+. They are not a practical recommendation.
Gibson Les Paul Historic Reissues (R9 / R0 / R8)
Gibson's Custom Shop produces "Historic" reissues of vintage Les Paul configurations:
- R9 (1959 reissue): £3,500–6,000 new; closest available approximation
- R8 (1958 reissue): Similar price; slightly different neck profile
- R0 (1960 reissue): Similar price; thinner neck
These are not the same as original instruments, but they use similar specifications and produce a much closer approximation than standard production Les Pauls.
Gibson Les Paul Standard and Custom (Various Eras)
Bonamassa has played numerous Les Paul Standards and Customs from different decades. The through-line is always humbucking pickups and mahogany construction.
Practical recommendations:
- Budget: Epiphone Les Paul Standard '60s (£380) — genuine mahogany body, ProBucker humbuckers
- Mid: Gibson Les Paul Standard '60s (£1,850) — US-made, authentic circuit
- High: Gibson Custom Shop Les Paul '59 Historic (£4,000–6,000)
The Amplifiers: Dumble and Two-Rock
Howard Dumble Amplifiers (ODS and Steel String Singer)
Howard Dumble built hand-crafted guitar amplifiers to order for a select group of clients from the 1970s onwards. He built fewer than 300 amplifiers in his career. The two models relevant to Bonamassa are:
Overdrive Special (ODS): A modified Fender circuit with added gain stages. The ODS produces smooth, harmonically rich overdrive at medium gain levels — not metal gain, but the musical saturation that blues-rock players seek. Stevie Ray Vaughan used an ODS; Carlos Santana uses Dumbles.
Steel String Singer (SSS): A cleaner, more Fender-adjacent Dumble circuit. Bonamassa uses the SSS for cleaner tones and mid-gain passages.
Why they are so expensive: Dumble amplifiers sell for £30,000–100,000+ because they are hand-built by one person to individual specification, using premium components, and there are very few of them. The sonic quality is exceptional, but the price includes scarcity premium.
Dumble-approximation alternatives:
- Ceriatone OD100 or Overtone Special (handbuilt, custom order, around £1,500–2,000) — among the most accurate Dumble-voiced alternatives
- Carol-Ann OD-2r (around £2,500–3,500)
- Two-Rock Classic Reverb Signature (see below)
- Fuchs ODS (£1,500–2,500)
Two-Rock Amplifiers
Two-Rock is an American boutique amplifier company that produces Dumble-influenced designs. Bonamassa uses Two-Rock extensively as his primary stage amplifier in many periods — they are more available than Dumbles and provide a similar tonal character.
Two-Rock Classic Reverb Signature (around £3,000–4,000): The primary Bonamassa-associated Two-Rock. Clean with natural compression, the Two-Rock pushes into saturation smoothly and musically.
Two-Rock Studio Pro 22 (around £2,200): More affordable Two-Rock entry point with similar circuit character.
Vintage Fender Amplifiers
For certain tones and recordings, Bonamassa uses vintage Fender amplifiers — blackface Fender Deluxe Reverb, vintage Fender Bassman, various others. These provide the clean-to-slightly-driven platform for specific blues contexts.
The Pedals: Vintage and Boutique Drive Stack
Bonamassa runs a sophisticated drive pedal stack. Unlike many players who use one or two drives, his pedalboard stacks multiple drives for different gain levels and tonal characters.
Klon Centaur
The Klon Centaur (original, or KTR reissue) is Bonamassa's primary boost/overdrive. The Klon adds gain and a specific midrange boost while retaining the guitar's character below the clipping threshold. Used as a clean boost into an already-driven amplifier, it adds sustain and midrange presence.
Klon cost: Original Centaurs sell for £2,000–4,000+ (extremely limited). The Klon KTR (official reissue, around £300) captures the circuit accurately.
Alternatives: Wampler Tumnus (£150), Ceriatone Centura (£180), EHX Soul Food (£75 — more affordable, different character).
Ibanez Tube Screamer (TS808)
The TS808 appears in Bonamassa's rig as a lead boost — stacked with the amplifier's natural drive for increased saturation and sustain during solos. Used identically to SRV's approach: gain low, level high, pushing the amp input harder.
Cost: Ibanez TS808 reissue (around £120).
Various Fuzzes
For specific tonal textures, Bonamassa uses vintage and boutique fuzz pedals. He has an extensive collection of vintage Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Faces, Vox Tone Benders, and others.
Accessible alternatives: Dunlop Fuzz Face Mini (£80), Way Huge Swollen Pickle (£130).
Wah: Dunlop Cry Baby
Standard Dunlop Cry Baby or custom-voiced wah for filter effects on leads. Settings: sweep the wah slowly through the frequency range for expressiveness rather than the rapid chicking of funk guitar.
Amp Settings for Bonamassa Tones
Core Blues Lead Tone
Using a Dumble-voiced or Two-Rock-style amplifier:
- Gain/Drive: 4–6 (medium — the saturation is musical rather than heavy)
- Bass: 5–6
- Mid: 7–8 (strong midrange emphasis — the Dumble character is midrange-forward)
- Treble: 5–6
- Presence: 5
Before the amp: TS808 with Overdrive at 2–3, Level at 7–8 (boost rather than primary drive).
The midrange emphasis is critical. Bonamassa's tone is not scooped — the mid-forward character of the Dumble/Two-Rock circuit is central.
Cleaner Blues Rhythm Tone
- Gain: 2–3 (clean to barely-breaking-up)
- Bass: 5
- Mid: 6
- Treble: 6
- Before amp: Klon used as boost (Gain 10 o'clock, Treble 12, Level 2–3 o'clock)
High-Energy Lead (Sloe Gin, etc.)
- Gain: 6–7
- Bass: 5–6
- Mid: 8
- Treble: 5–6
- Before amp: Both TS808 and Klon stacked — the Klon goes into the TS808 goes into the amp for layered saturation
Budget Approximations
The honest truth: a fully authentic Bonamassa rig costs £50,000–150,000+. The following are practical approximations.
Under £600 — The Principle
- Guitar: Epiphone Les Paul Standard '60s (£380)
- Pedal: Ibanez TS9 (£100, similar circuit to TS808) + EHX Soul Food (£75)
- Amp: Fender Blues Junior IV (£550) — clean-to-slightly-driven platform
This captures the underlying principle: Les Paul humbucker into a clean-to-driven amp with a mid-boosting overdrive in front. The sound will not be Bonamassa's sound, but the direction will be correct.
£600–1,500 — Proper Approximation
- Guitar: Gibson Les Paul Standard '60s (£1,850)
- Pedal: Ibanez TS808 (£120) + Wampler Tumnus (£150, Klon-style)
- Amp: Fender Blues DeVille 212 (£850) or used Fender Hot Rod Deluxe
£1,500–4,000 — Serious Approach
- Guitar: Gibson Les Paul Standard '60s (£1,850) or Gibson Les Paul Classic (£1,500)
- Pedal: Ibanez TS808 (£120) + Ceriatone Centura (£180) + Dunlop Fuzz Face Mini (£80)
- Amp: Ceriatone OD100 (custom order, around £1,500) or Two-Rock Studio Pro 22 (£2,200)
£4,000+ — Near-Authentic
- Guitar: Gibson Custom Shop Les Paul '59 Historic (£4,000–6,000)
- Pedal: Klon KTR (£300) + Ibanez TS808 vintage (£200–400 used) + vintage fuzz collection
- Amp: Two-Rock Classic Reverb Signature (£3,500+)
Era Breakdown
Bonamassa's tone has evolved through his career:
Early career (A New Day Yesterday, 2000): Blues Junior and simpler setup. The tone is raw and more direct.
Middle period (Sloe Gin, 2007–2009): The Dumble/Two-Rock combination becomes central. Les Paul through Dumble-influenced amp with TS808 and Klon stacking defines this era.
Later work (Various Live at Carnegie Hall, etc.): More sophisticated and layered. Multiple amplifiers, extensive drive stacking, vintage and boutique equipment throughout.
Frequently Asked Questions
What guitar does Joe Bonamassa use? Primarily vintage Gibson Les Paul Standards from 1958–1960, with original PAF pickups. He also uses Gibson Custom Shop Historic reissues and numerous other vintage Gibsons. Les Paul Custom models and various other configurations appear through his career.
What amplifier does Joe Bonamassa use? Howard Dumble amplifiers (ODS and Steel String Singer) and Two-Rock amplifiers are primary. He also uses vintage Fender amplifiers for specific tones. All are clean-to-medium-gain circuits rather than high-gain designs.
What overdrive pedals does Joe Bonamassa use? Primary drives: Klon Centaur (or KTR), Ibanez Tube Screamer TS808, and various vintage fuzz pedals. He stacks these in combination rather than using a single drive.
How expensive is a Joe Bonamassa rig? An authentic replica would cost £100,000+, primarily because of vintage Les Paul and original Dumble amplifier costs. Practical approximations at £1,500–4,000 (modern Gibson + boutique amp + quality pedals) capture the principle without the price.
Why is Joe Bonamassa's tone so thick? The combination of thick humbucker pickups in a mahogany Gibson body, Dumble-style midrange-forward amplification, and a TS808-type boost creates a warm, dense midrange stack. No single element creates the thickness — it is the interaction of pickups, amp circuit, and boost pedal.