Tone library / Eric Johnson / Cliffs of Dover

Cliffs of Dover amp settings — Markbass Little Mark III

The Eric Johnson guitar tone for “Cliffs of Dover”, dialed in for a Markbass Little Mark III with a Fender American Professional II Stratocaster. Studio version, Ah Via Musicom (1990) — recorded with Marshall Super Lead 100W, Tube Driver, Echoplex

Original rig

1969 Marshall Super Lead 100W (both channels jumpered via Y-cable), Chandler Tube Driver, Maestro EP-3 Echoplex; 1963 Gibson ES-335 (most of song), 1954 Fender Stratocaster with DiMarzio HS-2 (intro/part of solo)

Smooth, violin-like sustain with warm compression, minimal pick attack, singing upper-mids with rolled-off treble and presence

Amp settings — Markbass Little Mark III

CHANNELn/a — single channel bass amp, not suitable for this tone

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	3
Bass	2
Mid	8
Treble	10
Presence	0
Reverb	0
Master	5

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Guitar

PICKUPneck TONE7 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01Tube Screamer style overdrive (TS9 or similar)

RECOMMENDED — not currently owned. Essential for smooth compression and sustain. Without this, the tone is unobtainable.

Drive 4 · Tone 6 · Level 7

02Analog delay (Boss DM-2W, MXR Carbon Copy, or similar)

RECOMMENDED — not currently owned. Echoplex-style slapback is critical to the blooming sustain character.

E.Level 3 · F.Back 4 · D.Time 5

Why these settings

This tone is fundamentally unobtainable on a Markbass Little Mark III. Bass amps lack the midrange voicing, high-frequency response, and breakup characteristics of guitar amps. The settings above are a damage-control attempt: treble maxed to compensate for the amp's rolled-off highs, mids cranked to fight the bass-amp scoop, bass cut hard to reduce mud. Even with these adjustments and the recommended pedals, expect a dark, woolly approximation at best. A proper guitar amp (Fender, Marshall, or even a modeling unit) is required to achieve Johnson's tone.

PRO TIPJohnson's 'bounce picking' technique—brushing soft upstrokes across strings rather than plucking—is responsible for 50% of his violin-like attack. Practice this before chasing gear; no amp will give you that smooth sustain if your pick attack is percussive.

Get this tone on your amp

These settings are for a Markbass Little Mark III. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.

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