Tone library / Guns N' Roses / Don't Cry

Don't Cry amp settings — Fender Champion 25

The Guns N' Roses guitar tone for “Don't Cry”, dialed in for a Fender Champion 25 with a Sqoe Selp 110. Studio version, Use Your Illusion I (1991)

Original rig

Gibson Les Paul Standard (Slash signature) into Marshall Silver Jubilee 2555X, tuned to Eb standard. Neck pickup for the melodic lead sections, moderate gain with dynamics from picking and guitar volume roll-off.

Warm, singing lead tone with smooth sustain — mid-forward with controlled gain, not saturated. The neck pickup delivers vocal-like sustain while the Jubilee's midrange bite cuts through the ballad mix.

Amp settings — Fender Champion 25

CHANNELOverdrive (Voice switch: position 2 if available)

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

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Guitar

PICKUPneck TONE7 VOLUME8

Signal chain

01Tube Screamer style overdrive (TS9, Joyo Vintage OD, or similar)

RECOMMENDED — not currently owned. This pushes the Champion's front end to approximate the Jubilee's singing sustain. Without it, the amp's overdrive channel alone will be thinner and less responsive.

Drive 3 · Tone 5 · Level 6

Why these settings

The Champion 25 has NO mid knob (bass/treble only) and no presence or reverb controls. The Jubilee is mid-forward British voicing; the Champion is scooped American. Compensate by dropping treble from 6→5 to reduce Fender brightness and running bass at 4 (not 5) to avoid flub. Gain at 7 on the overdrive channel gets you in the ballpark but lacks the Jubilee's touch-sensitive compression — the recommended TS-style pedal into a cleaner amp setting would get closer to that singing quality.

PRO TIPSlash's secret on this track is guitar volume control — he's at 8-9, not 10, letting the Les Paul's volume knob clean up the attack on softer picking while sustaining on held notes. Roll your Sqoe's volume to 8 and dig in for the sustained notes; back off your pick attack for the softer passages. Tune down to Eb standard to match the record.

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These settings are for a Fender Champion 25. 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.