Riff Tone

Sultans of Swing (Live at Hammersmith Odeon, London, UK, 1983)

Dire Straits

Guitarrock1980s

Original Gear

Guitar1977 Fender Stratocaster (maple neck, stock pickups, red finish)

Amp1960s Fender Vibrolux (brown tolex)

PickupsFender single-coil (stock 1977 Stratocaster pickups)

Amp Settings

gain3.5

bass5.5

mid6.5

treble7.5

reverb3.5

presence6

Effects & Signal Chain

No effects used for this tone

Notes

Live performance at Hammersmith Odeon, London, UK, 1983. Mark Knopfler is known to use his 1977 Fender Stratocaster for Sultans of Swing live, plugged directly into a Fender Vibrolux for a clean, dynamic tone. No evidence of pedal use for the riff section; amp reverb likely used. Settings are estimated based on typical live Fender Vibrolux usage for this era and genre.

Tone Character(10)

clean and glassybright and articulatedynamic and touch-sensitivepercussive attackwarm midrange clarityslightly compressed highsspring reverb ambienceminimal breakupdistinct in-between pickup quackresponsive to picking dynamics

Difficulty

The riff requires advanced fingerstyle technique, precise syncopation, and dynamic control to achieve the signature percussive, articulate sound.

Sources

Dire Straits - Sultans of Swing | Wiki @ Ultimate-Guitar.com

This tone has been researched 2 times by the community

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