Tone library / Ben E. King / Stand By Me

Stand By Me amp settings — Trace acousitc Ta 30

The Ben E. King guitar tone for “Stand By Me”, dialed in for a Trace acousitc Ta 30 with a Yamaha RBX 170. Studio version, Don't Play That Song! (1961) — matching the iconic upright bass line played by Lloyd Trotman

Original rig

Kay / American Standard upright double bass, gut strings, recorded via RCA 44-BX / Neumann U47 studio mic straight to board

Warm, woody, percussive acoustic bass with a deep round fundamental and soft attack

Amp settings — Trace acousitc Ta 30

CHANNELCh 1 (Instrument)

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	4
Bass	7
Mid	6
Treble	2
Reverb	2
Master	5

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Guitar

PICKUPneck TONE3 VOLUME10

Why these settings

The original recording features Lloyd Trotman on an acoustic upright bass with gut strings, whereas your Yamaha RBX 170 is an electric bass with a P/J configuration. To emulate the woody upright thud on your Trace Elliot TA30, run solely on the P-style split neck pickup with the bass tone knob rolled back to 3 and amp treble set to 2. The TA30's clean acoustic response cleanly delivers the low-end thump without modern electric clack.

PRO TIPPluck directly over the neck or the end of the fretboard using the fleshy side of your index thumb or pad of your finger, lightly muting the strings with your palm to replicate gut-string upright decay.

Get this tone on your amp

These settings are for a Trace acousitc Ta 30. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.

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Song, artist and gear names are used to identify the tone being matched; ToneAdapt is not affiliated with or endorsed by the artists or manufacturers mentioned. Settings are AI-generated starting points — trust your ears.