Steve Morse

Gear

Steve Morse Gear

Here are some descriptions of the gear that Steve Morse uses for creating his music. Scroll down, and you will also find a list with informative and video links, two rig rundown videos, and a video of Steve demonstrating his signature guitar.

Steve plays a series of Ernie Ball Music Man Steve Morse signature guitars. The history of these unique instruments goes back to Steve’s high school days in the late ‘60s. During that time, Steve crafted a guitar for himself, combining the elements for his ideal instrument: a Fender Telecaster body, Stratocaster neck, Gibson Tuneomatic bridge, a set of Gibson frets, a 12-string tailpiece (make unknown), and a group of pickups (also unknown). He called it the Frankenstein Telecaster and constantly revised and improved it over the years.

Then, in 1985, Steve was approached by Ernie Ball Music Man to collaborate on creating a production model, built to Steve’s exact specifications. This partnership resulted in the Steve Morse Signature guitar, which was first introduced in 1987. This guitar features a classic double cutaway design, four custom DiMarzio pickups, and an intuitive switching layout, and has been Steve’s instrument of choice both in the studio and on stage for many many years now. Steve and EBMM later collaborated on a second signature guitar, the Steve Morse Signature Y2D, which was introduced in 2005 and celebrates Steve’s 20th anniversary as a Music Man artist.

Steve’s pickups are his signature DiMarzio Steve Morse DP200 Bridge and DiMarzio Steve Morse DP205 Neck models. They were custom-designed by him and the team at DiMarzio, and are the inception of Steve’s diverse, signature sounds. Created in tandem, the pick-ups respond with aggressive midrange bite in the bridge, a smooth counterpoint on the neck, and harmonic synergy when engaged simultaneously. For his signature sounds Steve additionally uses several TC Electronics products, like the PolyTune and the Flashback Delay. For the Flashback Delay Steve has created his own personal Tone Prints.

Steve’s amp is also part of his signature tone, the ENGL E656 Steve Morse Signature 100, first introduced in 2008. Its design reflects Steve’s life-long quest for perfect tone, and many years performing with ENGL amplifiers. His goal was an amp that could inspire, create, and project all the diversity of the many genres Steve is renowned for exploring: rock, country, fusion, jazz, metal, and more. In addition, it needed to handle Steve’s demanding touring schedule with various bands. Reflecting over a year of close work between Steve, his then guitar tech Michael Berger, the ENGL team and renowned amp designer Horst Langer, the result is a sound Steve can truly call his own. 

Sixteen years later a new collaboration with ENGL and Horst Langer resulted in a smaller, more portable version of the signature 100W head. Compact and versatile, with impressive features, promising to deliver the perfect tone for any guitarist looking to achieve the same level of precision and clarity that Steve is known for, the aptly named E658 Steve Morse Signature 20 was introduced in 2024.