Tone library / Dire Straits / Money for Nothing

Money for Nothing amp settings — Boss Katana 50 MkII

The Dire Straits guitar tone for “Money for Nothing”, dialed in for a Boss Katana 50 MkII with a Ibanez GIO GRG170DX. Studio version, Brothers in Arms (1985) — main riff

Original rig

1958 Gibson Les Paul into Laney 2x12 combo with accidental phase cancellation between Shure SM57 and Sennheiser MD421 microphones

Nasal, cocked-wah midrange honk with rich British saturation and fingerstyle snap

Amp settings — Boss Katana 50 MkII

CHANNELCrunch Amp TypeBOOSToff

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	6
Bass	4
Mid	8
Treble	5
Reverb	2
Master	5

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Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE10 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01MXR Ten Band EQ

Placed first in chain to shape the cocked-wah / out-of-phase mic resonance before the amp preamp

31.25Hz 5 · 62.5Hz 5 · 125Hz 4 · 250Hz 5 · 500Hz 8 · 1kHz 10 · 2kHz 8 · 4kHz 4 · 8kHz 3 · 16kHz 2 · Gain 6 · Volume 5

Why these settings

The studio tone's famous cocked-wah honk came from accidental mic phase cancellation, which is replicated here by using the MXR Ten Band EQ to drastically boost 1kHz and 2kHz while rolling off extreme highs. The Katana 50 MkII lacks a presence knob and is set to the British Crunch voice with mids pushed to 8 to mimic the cranked Laney tube combo. The Ibanez GIO bridge humbucker supplies the necessary punch and output to drive the Crunch channel without additional distortion pedals.

PRO TIPDitch the pick completely and pluck the riff using your thumb and index finger with a percussive downward pop against the fretboard to nail Mark Knopfler's signature snap.

Get this tone on your amp

These settings are for a Boss Katana 50 MkII. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.

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