No. 0442012·blues·3 blocks
Bright Lights
Gary Clark Jr.'s tone on Bright Lights is a modern take on classic blues guitar. An SG through a Fender Vibro-King produces a warm, fat clean tone that breaks up beautifully when he digs in. The tone has more midrange warmth than a typical Fender clean, thanks to the SG's humbuckers. Clark uses a Tube Screamer-style overdrive for solo boosts, pushing the amp into rich, singing sustain.
Blak and BluSignal path · input → output · 8 blocksLive values · Line 6 Helix
Guitar
Gibson SG Standard
Pickups
HH
Tuning
neck
Strings
standard
Volume Pedal
Deluxe Comp
Scream 808
US Deluxe Vib
4x10 Tweed P10R
Spring
Tilt
Volume Pedal
← Volume pedal
Pedal
100%
Deluxe Comp
← Studio compressor
Threshold
-34dB
Ratio
2:1
Knee
6dB
Attack
0.0s
Release
0.2s
Mix
0.5
Level
0dB
Scream 808
← Ibanez Tube Screamer (solo boost)
Drive
0.4
Tone
0.6
Level
0.7
US Deluxe Vib
← Fender Vibro-King
Drive
0.6
Bass
0.5
Mid
0.6
Treble
0.6
Presence
0.5
ChVol
0.7
Master
1
Bias
0.6
BiasX
0.5
Sag
0.6
Hum
0.5
Ripple
0.5
4x10 Tweed P10R
← Fender Vibro-King 3x10
LowCut19.9Hz
HighCut20100Hz
Level
0dB
Pan
0.5
Delay
0
Spring
← Vibro-King spring tank
LowCut200Hz
HighCut6500Hz
Mix
0.2
Decay
0.8s
Predelay
0.0ms
Tilt
← Tilt EQ (global brightness)
Tilt
0.5
CenterFreq
1000Hz
Level
0
Engineer's note
File 044
Gary Clark Jr.'s tone on Bright Lights is a modern take on classic blues guitar. An SG through a Fender Vibro-King produces a warm, fat clean tone that breaks up beautifully when he digs in. The tone has more midrange warmth than a typical Fender clean, thanks to the SG's humbuckers. Clark uses a Tube Screamer-style overdrive for solo boosts, pushing the amp into rich, singing sustain.
— Gary Clark Jr.
Sources · Verified by
Field notes for this tone
All field notes →John Mayer Clean Tone Settings: How to Get That Neck Pickup Sound
A complete breakdown of John Mayer's clean tone: amp settings, signal chain, and exact starting points for that Continuum-era neck pickup sound.
Fender Deluxe Reverb vs. Fender ToneMaster: Do the Same Settings Sound the Same?
The ToneMaster Deluxe Reverb costs $200 less than the tube original. We put both on the same amp stand, dialed in identical settings, and listened. Here's where they agree — and where they don't.
PRS Silver Sky vs. Fender Strat: Which Gets Closer to the Mayer Clean Tone?
A side-by-side tone comparison of the PRS Silver Sky and Fender American Professional II Strat through a clean amp, specifically for John Mayer-style clean tones.
