Riff Tone

The Soul Cages

Sting

Guitarrock1990s

Original Gear

GuitarFender Stratocaster (Dominic Miller, likely 1980s/early 1990s model, maple neck, standard single-coil pickups)

AmpDirect Input (DI) with occasional amp use; specific amp model for studio not confirmed, but likely clean solid-state or tube combo (e.g., Roland JC-120 or Fender Twin Reverb) based on era and genre; live V8 amp used but not confirmed for studio recording

PickupsFender single-coil (stock Stratocaster pickups, likely Alnico V)

Amp Settings

gain0

bass6

mid6.5

treble6.5

reverb3

presence5

Effects & Signal Chain

No effects used for this tone

Notes

Studio recording, 1990 (album released Jan 1991). Guitar was mostly DI'd for the album, with some amp use possible for ambience. No evidence of heavy amp distortion or overdrive. All gear and settings refer to studio recording of the riff section only.

Tone Character(10)

clean and articulatewarm neck pickup toneslightly boosted midssmooth, rounded highsrefined and controlledsubtle dynamicsstudio clarityno audible distortionlight touchopen, airy sound

Difficulty

The riff requires clean, controlled playing with subtle dynamics and precise timing, but does not involve advanced techniques or fast passages.

Sources

Sting The Soul Cages equipment - The Police equipment Wiki The Soul Cages – Sting.com Sting Bass Amp Settings (gear and tone tips) - Guitar Chalk

Create an account to adapt this tone to your gear

Create Free Account