Tone library / Queen / Bohemian rhapsody

Bohemian rhapsody amp settings — Orange Crush 12

The Queen guitar tone for “Bohemian rhapsody”, dialed in for a Orange Crush 12 with a Ibanez GIO GRG170DX. Live at Wembley '86 / Live Aid (1985), main guitar solo

Original rig

Red Special (neck + middle pickups in series out-of-phase) -> Dallas Rangemaster / Pete Cornish TB-83 Treble Booster -> cranked Vox AC30 (Normal channel, dimed)

Singing, vocal, harmonically saturated lead tone with pushed upper mids and tight low-end

Amp settings — Orange Crush 12

BOOSToff

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	2
Bass	4
Mid	8
Treble	7
Master	6

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Guitar

PICKUPneck+middle TONE8 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01Boss DS-1 Distortion

Primary saturation source into the clean Crush 12

Tone 7 · Level 7 · Dist 6

02Boss CH-1 Super Chorus

RECOMMENDED — bypass or set subtly to mimic live stadium double-tracking

Effect Level 3 · EQ 6 · Rate 3 · Depth 4

Why these settings

Because the Boss DS-1 is your active gain source, keep the Orange Crush 12 Gain low around 2 to avoid muddy double-gain saturation. The Orange solid-state preamp is naturally dark and thick in the low-mids, so cut Bass to 4 and push Middle to 8 and Treble to 7 to recreate the focused, cutting bite of Brian May's treble-boosted Vox AC30. The Crush 12 faceplate has no Presence or Reverb knobs, so those are nulled.

PRO TIPBrian May achieves his signature vocal 'honk' using series out-of-phase wiring; on your HSH Ibanez, select the neck+middle position and pick right near the bridge using a hard coin or rigid pick angled sharply against the strings.

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