Tone library / Queen / Bohemian rhapsoli

Bohemian rhapsoli amp settings — EKO V 35R

The Queen guitar tone for “Bohemian rhapsoli”, dialed in for a EKO V 35R with a EKO ST - 300 sunburst. Studio version solo & heavy rock section, A Night at the Opera (1975)

Original rig

Red Special (Burns Tri-Sonic pickups in series/out-of-phase) + Dallas Rangemaster treble booster / Fryer booster + Vox AC30 (cranked Normal channel) and John Deacon 'Deacy' amp

Thick, singing, harmonically saturated lead with cutting upper-mid bite and vocal sustain
Amp settings — EKO V 35R
CHANNELDrive Channel (CH Select button engaged)
GAIN 7 BASS 4 MID 8 TREBLE 7 REVERB 2 MASTER 5
KnobSetting (0–10)
Gain7
Bass4
Mid8
Treble7
Reverb2
Master5
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Guitar
PICKUPneck+middle TONE8 VOLUME10
Signal chain

01Treble Booster (Dallas Rangemaster / Fryer style)

RECOMMENDED — not currently owned; key to pushing clean/crunch amps into May's exact vocal saturation

Boost / Level 8
Why these settings

The Eko V 35R is a solid-state combo, so engage its Drive channel with gain at 7 to simulate cranked Vox saturation without external pedals. Brian May uses series-wired Tri-Sonic pickups, so selecting neck+middle on your Strat-style Eko ST-300 with mids pushed to 8 gets closest to that round, vocal midrange. If you acquire a Treble Booster pedal later, set the amp to Clean at low gain and let the pedal drive the front end. Operatic rock riff: switch to bridge pickup and roll tone to 10.

PRO TIPBrian May plays with an old British sixpence coin using light edge-scraping dynamics, which creates the distinctive raspy, metallic transient chirp on note attacks.

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These settings are for a EKO V 35R. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.

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