Hey Rarebird that's some great advice....besides his GUITAR!!! which I think is on the top of the list the TS9 and ross compressor really are a big part of it... you can really hear the change in tone after Trey somehow lost?? his compressor...the compressor really keeps the highs and lows at bay giving him that sweet mellow tone...I've always said it sounds more like he's pulling the notes out of his guitar rather than playing them..that being said I think your advice about the amp settings are good for tele and strat players...I've been using my strat exclusively for years and have gotten pretty close to trey's tone with that and my mesa boogie amp (a middy sound for sure) but recently I picked up a Ibanez artcore AWD82LTD and that made a big difference....that guitar has a much more rich tone and actually I had to invert the amp settings..I took the mids down and brought up the treble and bass

part of the greatness of his tone is that mellowness with the ability to make those notes "pop" at the same time without getting too harsh....basically what I'm saying is if you really want to emulate his tone a semi- (or full) hollow is the way to go...my strat got really close but when I picked up the Ibanez I really noticed the difference...

...now if I could just get all those licks down!!!! but I guess that's why I'm here

RB...what are you playing thru if you don't mind me asking??