GuitarDistortedRiff
Message In a Bottle Riff Guitar Tone Settings — The Police
The Police · 1970s · rock
studio
Original Recording
Guitar
1961 Fender Telecaster (modded with Gibson PAF neck humbucker, out-of-phase switch, built-in preamp)
Pickups
Bridge single-coil (Fender Tele), Neck humbucker (Gibson PAF), out-of-phase option
Amp
Marshall (exact model unknown, likely JMP or Super Lead), possibly blended with Roland JC-120 for clean tones
Pickup Position
Bridge pickup (Telecaster single-coil), possibly with out-of-phase engaged for extra chime
Studio recording, 1979. Andy Summers used his heavily modded Telecaster for all Police studio work of this era. Amp specifics are unclear, but interviews confirm Marshall was used for dirty/edge tones and Roland JC-120 for cleans. Effects were run through a Pete Cornish pedalboard. Settings are estimated based on era, genre, and typical Marshall/JC-120 usage for this song. All data is for the studio recording, not live.
Amp Settings
Mids7
Bass6
Gain3.5
Reverb2
Treble7.5
Presence6
Effects Chain
- Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress Flanger/Filter Matrix · flanger
- MXR Dyna Comp · compression
- Maestro Echoplex EP-3 · delay
Guitar → MXR Dyna Comp → Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress → Maestro Echoplex → Marshall amp (with light spring reverb)
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Tone Character
- bright and glassy
- chiming, piano-like clarity
- tight and percussive attack
- slightly compressed
- modulation shimmer (flanger)
- articulate and defined
- minimal sustain
- quick note decay
- distinctive Telecaster snap
- clean with edge-of-breakup