Tone library / Dire straits / Sultans of swing

Sultans of swing amp settings — Orange Crush 20RT

The Dire straits guitar tone for “Sultans of swing”, dialed in for a Orange Crush 20RT with a Ibanez Azes40. Studio version, Dire Straits debut album (1978) - iconic lead and rhythm tone

Original rig

1961 Fender Stratocaster into 1960s Fender Vibrolux Reverb / Music Man HD130 212, completely clean, no pedals, bare fingers picking

Sparkling clean with bell-like 'quack' and percussive attack, zero breakup, subtle spring reverb

Amp settings — Orange Crush 20RT

CHANNELClean

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Bass	4
Mid	6
Treble	8
Reverb	3
Master	5

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Guitar

PICKUPbridge+middle TONE10 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01Compressor (e.g. MXR Dyna Comp / Keeley Comp Plus)

RECOMMENDED — not owned. Adds subtle studio-style compression and snap to fingerstyle attack.

Sustain 4 · Level 6 · Tone 6

Why these settings

The Orange Crush 20RT Clean channel has a single volume knob with no gain control, inherently leaning warmer and thicker in the lower mids than a vintage Fender Twin or Vibrolux. Treble is pushed to 8 and bass rolled back to 4 to mimic the glassy top-end and tight bottom of Knopfler's studio clean tone. On the Ibanez AZES40, keep the Alter switch off and select position 4 (bridge + middle) to split/combine coils for the essential out-of-phase Strat 'quack'.

PRO TIPDitch the plectrum completely: Knopfler uses the fleshy part of the right-hand thumb for bass notes and snaps upward with his index and middle fingers against the fretboard to produce that signature percussive pop.

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These settings are for a Orange Crush 20RT. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.

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