Tone library / Cocteau Twins / Cherry-Coloured Funk

Cherry-Coloured Funk amp settings — Fender Champion 40

The Cocteau Twins guitar tone for “Cherry-Coloured Funk”, dialed in for a Fender Champion 40 with a Ibanez GIO GRG170DX. Studio version, Heaven or Las Vegas (1990)

Original rig

1959 Fender Stratocaster / Jazzmaster, Marshall 9000 & Gallien-Krueger preamps direct to desk, Yamaha D1500 Delay, Boss/EHX chorus & pitch effects, SPX90 reverb

Lush, ethereal dreampop clean with deep stereo-style chorus modulation, rhythmic digital delay, and airy reverb wash

Amp settings — Fender Champion 40

CHANNELChannel 1 (Blackface Clean)

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

Don’t have a Fender Champion 40? Match your own rig →

Guitar

PICKUPneck+middle TONE10 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01Boss CH-1 Super Chorus

Provides the wide, detuned liquid shimmer essential to Robin Guthrie's signature modulation

E.Level 8 · EQ 6 · Rate 4 · Depth 8

02Boss DD-8 Digital Delay

Set to Standard digital delay mode; tap or set repeats to dotted-eighth/quarter note feel to create ambient layers

E.Level 6 · F.Back 5 · D.Time 5 · Mode 1

Why these settings

The Fender Champion 40 operates on Channel 1 as a pristine, high-headroom Blackface clean platform (note that the Champion 40 faceplate features 2-band Bass and Treble EQ with no dedicated Mid or Presence knobs). To replicate Guthrie's bright single-coil studio preamps on your humbucker-equipped Ibanez GIO, select the split neck+middle position and push the treble to 7. All drive pedals are kept strictly bypassed to preserve absolute clarity for the CH-1 chorus and DD-8 delay wash.

PRO TIPPick with an extremely light, feathered touch near the bridge or let open voicings ring out; Guthrie's technique relies on gentle dynamic strumming so the delay and chorus bloom naturally without hard transient clipping.

Get this tone on your amp

These settings are for a Fender Champion 40. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.

Get ToneAdapt on Google Play

More tones for the Fender Champion 40

JungleJimi Hendrix Basket caseGreenday Never meantAmerican football Enter SandmanMetallica Born DeadSilverstein Translating the nameSaosin

Find your amp

Browse

Fender Champion 40 settingsALL SONGS FOR THIS AMP Cocteau Twins tonesALL SONGS Cocteau Twins on the Fender Champion 40SAME ARTIST, SAME AMP Ibanez GIO GRG170DX tonesSAME GUITAR Tone libraryEVERYTHING

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.