In his first band, The Roosters, Eric played a double cutaway Kay through a Selmer Futurama III Amplifier. During his tenure with the Yardbirds, Eric played a Fender Telecaster through a Vox AC-30 amplifier.
While in John Mayall’s Blues Breakers, Eric played a 1960 model Les Paul Standard through a 45-watt model 1962 Marshall 2x12 combo (JTM 45). The amp was stock except that the output tubes were replaced with KT66s which have a more refined mid-range and clearer top end than either EL34s or 6L6s. The amp was usually turned up full volume, even in the studio. When the engineer complained that his amp was too loud, legend has it that Eric replied “That’s the way I play.”
In Cream, Eric switched to 100-watt Marshall heads and 4x12 cabinets using two full stacks. He also used a Vox wah-wah pedal and occasionally a fuzz effect pedal. For a while, he used Les Paul guitars exclusively. Sometime in 1967, he started playing a 1964 Gibson Les Paul SG. He had it painted by The Fool and it is as famous for it?s paint job as for its association with Clapton. The Fool Guitar is not a 1961 model as commonly believed as it has six screws on the scratch plate. This number of screws came into use in 1964. During the Spring of 1968, he switched Gibson Firebird with a single pick-up. He then alternated between the Firebird and his now-famous Cherry Red Gibson ES-335 guitar for the US tour through Cream’s farewell concert.
In Blind Faith, Eric used a Gibson Firebird through either Fender Dual Showman or Marshall amps. But, at the band?s debut performance in London?s Hyde Park, he played a Fender Telecaster with a Stratocaster neck.
While with Derek and the Dominoes, Eric switched to maple neck Fender Stratocasters (primarily “Brownie”). During the band’s UK Tour, he would still play Gibsons. The Fender Champ was his main studio amp used in recording “Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs.” On stage, he used Fender Dual Showmans or Marshall amps with Fender cabinets.
In 1976, Eric used his Cherry Red Gibson ES-335 for slide playing. It was strung with Ernie Ball Super Slinky’s .009 - .042 and he used an Isis medium slide. He utilized Modified Music Man amps (HD 130 Reverb) with the bias up all the way and special open-back cabinets. He also used a Leslie cabinet with JBL components and had a special foot switch with fast/slow and on/off positions so that the guitar could go either through the amp, through both the amp and the Leslie, or just through the Leslie at either fast or slow speeds (as in the song “Badge”). Eric also used a Crybaby wah-wah pedal. His Fender Stratocaster of choice was Blackie, with the tobacco sunburst Brownie on standby.
On the ARMS tour in 1983, he used a ‘57 blonde Fender Twin amp, Blackie, a Gibson Explorer, a Martin acoustic and assorted other Fender Strats.
By the mid-80s Blackie and Brownie were still Eric’s Stratocasters of choice, although he owned others. For the Behind the Sun Tour, his stage rig grew tremendously. He used an effects board with (from right to left): a Jim Dunlop Crybaby re-issue, a Bradshaw foot controller, and a Roland 700 synthesizer bank. The rack was controlled by a pedal board consisting of an Ibanez Harmonics / Delay, a DBX 160 compressor, a Roland SDE-3000 delay, a Tri Stereo Chorus [Dyno-My-Piano], a Boss CE-1 chorus, and a Boss Heavy Metal pedal. Eric switched from Music Man amps to Marshall 800 series heads (50 watts) during this time. The amp settings were: presence 3; bass and middle 1 o’clock; treble 8; and volume just under 9. The strings he used were Ernie Balls .010-.046. He also used a Dean Markely head ?possibly a 130 with Marshall cabinets.
In 1985, Eric retired Blackie and by 1988, Fender was supplying him with his own line of Eric Clapton Signature Strats based on Blackie. Up until the mid-90s, Eric would play these Signature Strats exclusively on stage for electric numbers.
In recording the album “From The Cradle” in 1994, Eric used approximately 50 guitars from his personal collection, including a dot-neck Gibson ES-335 (a tobacco sunburst model from the early 60s), and his famous Cherry Red ES-335. He also used his white Eric Clapton Model Strat from the Fender Custom Shop, several different Gibson L-5s, Byrdlands and some Super 400s. He played straight through a Soldano SLO-100. The acoustic guitars used on the album included several Martin Acoustics, his Tony Zemaitis 12-string (known as “Ivan” with a heart shaped motif), and several resonator guitars (dobros) in different tunings. Eric used an old Fender Twin amp with no effects and occasionally an old Fender Champ, plus a Silverface Fender Deluxe and a Blonde Showman head. When he took this album on the road in 1994 and 1995, many of these guitars made the trip with him. A good number of these guitars were later sold by Eric at auction to help raise funds for Crossroads Centre Antigua (1999 and 2004).
Eric used the following set-up for the Soldano SLO-100 during his mid-90s blues period:
Normal / Preamp: 8
Overdrive / Preamp: 3
Bass: 11
Middle: 11
Treble: 3
Normal Volume / Master: 10
Overdrive Volume / Master: 7
Presence: 4
Amp switches: Normal and Crunch
A foot pedal was used to switch between the normal and overdrive channels
During the 2001 Reptile Tour, several changes were made in his stage set-up. Eric initially started out using copies of his old Fender Tweed Twins, built by Fender under the supervision of John Suhr. Part way through the tour, he went off of them and started using 3 x 10 Fender Vibro Kings with 2x12 extension cabinets built by the Fender Custom Shop. He also continued to use a Leslie speaker driven by a Marshall JCM800 Leade Series 1959 head. Due to its proximity on stage to drummer Steve Gadd, the box was also soundproofed.
Eric’s effects pedals today are limited to a tri-stereo chorus (Boss Chorus CE-3), a Leslie pedal, a Jim Dunlop 535 Crybaby wah-wah pedal (6 way selectable) and a box to switch from the amp to the Leslie or to select both. He does not use an overdrive pedal. He gets all of the overdrive from the 25dB boost in his guitar, a Fender Eric Clapton Signature Stratocaster.
