Eric Johnson — Rig Network

Johnson owns multiple vintage Strats from the pre-CBS era. He is famous for selecting pickups and instruments with obsessive care — each guitar is evaluated for its individual resonance and tonal character. He prefers the bridge and middle pickups for most playing.

Unique to this artist in the database

A Fender signature model with specs tuned to his vintage preferences: clay dots, no lacquer on the neck pocket, specific pickup wind specs approved by Johnson.

Unique to this artist in the database

Used for jazz and blues passages where the humbucking warmth is preferred over Strat clarity. Also appears on acoustic-influenced pieces in live sets.

One of fewer than 300 ever made — Johnson has owned several. Clean channel: wide, three-dimensional headroom. Lead channel: smooth, vocal overdrive with extraordinary sustain. The Dumble is considered the apex of boutique amp design.

Vintage plexi used alongside the Dumble for lead tones — cranked for natural EL34 breakup. Johnson runs two amp rigs simultaneously for different tonal colours.

Unique to this artist in the database

Used for clean sparkle and spring reverb — the Vibroverb's distinctive deep tremolo and reverb character adds a vintage American dimension to his tone.

Into the Dumble or Marshall for boosted lead tones — Volume up, Gain low, Tone at noon. Pushes the amp input rather than adding pedal distortion.

For heavier fuzz passages — used with the guitar volume rolled back to clean up. Johnson adjusts the Fuzz Face setting based on individual guitar and pick-up combinations.

Unique to this artist in the database

Vintage analog chorus — the CE-1's vibrato mode adds subtle movement to clean Strat tones without washing out the attack.

For stereo spread in the clean rig — blended at low depth for a three-dimensional width that mono setups cannot achieve.

Unique to this artist in the database

Tape echo unit used for warm, slightly degraded delay repeats on lead lines. Provides the vintage warmth digital delays cannot replicate.

Unique to this artist in the database

Second delay unit in a parallel chain — Johnson layers delay textures for the complex multi-echo sound heard on "Cliffs of Dover".