In 1994, a British band called the Hoax released a moderately successful album called Sound Like This. For me, the album's main selling point—and the reason...
In 1994, a British band called the Hoax released a moderately successful album called Sound Like This. For me, the album's main selling point—and the reason I played it over and over—is that the band's guitarists, Jesse Davey and Jon Amor, seriously nailed Stevie Ray Vaughan's style and tone. And I know that was "a thing" in the early to mid-Nineties (Hey, I did it too), but Davey (especially) took it to new heights.
As Amor told The Guitar Magazine in 2015[1], "Stevie Ray was our hero…to an unhealthy extent. Anything he did, we decided we were going to do as well." This meant the whole SRV deal, from guitar choices (Strats, obviously) to the thickest strings their fingers could deal with.
In fact, let's all take a moment so you can see/hear what I'm talking about:
1. Check out the solo from "Scaramouche"[2]
2. Watch Jesse Davey in action in 1998[3]
3. Watch Jesse once more—then I'll leave you alone[4].
Anyway, Davey has stayed busy since those ancient times. Besides periodically touring and recording with the Hoax (who were voted Britain’s Number 1 blues band for five years, leading to their induction into the British Blues Hall of Fame), the Davey Brothers and other blues-centric projects, his impressive playing and/or writing can be heard on several feature-film soundtracks and releases by the likes of Mick Jagger, Ringo Starr, Dave Stewart and many others.
At some point, Davey—who always enjoyed tinkering with his gear—launched King Tone Guitar[5], maker of fine boutique effect pedals, Strat pickups and a little something called the King Tone Switch.
"The King Tone Switch basically makes a single-coil sound a bit more like a humbucker as you roll it back—a slightly deeper tone