Other1983Synchronicity

Every Breath You Take Amp Settings

by The Police

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Original Recording Settings

EstimatedResearched tone data for "Every Breath You Take" by The Police

Original Gear

Guitar: Early-1960s Fender Telecaster (Andy Summers’ heavily modified main instrument; commonly associated with this era)
Pickups: Mixed: Gibson PAF humbucker (neck) + Tele bridge single-coil with onboard preamp/phase switch (documented on Summers’ main Tele) (bridge)
Amplifier: Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus (commonly reported for very clean headroom on this track; treated as best-available inference)
Channel: Clean channel; chorus/vibrato likely engaged subtly (inferred)
Tuning: standard
Pickup Selector: bridge
Strings: Unknown

A commonly repeated studio-summary for this tone is Telecaster into a Roland JC-120 for pristine clean headroom; this is treated as a plausible/likely setup but not confirmed here by a session sheet.

Amp Settings

Gain

2.0

Bass

5.0

Mid

5.0

Treble

6.0

Volume

5.0

JC-120 knob positions are not documented in sources consulted. Settings chosen to keep bright clarity without brittle top-end, assuming heavy compression and modulation in the overall chain.

Effects Chain

→

MXR Dyna Comp (likely/period-appropriate; inferred)

compressor

→

Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress (period-appropriate; inferred)

flanger

→

Tape delay (Echoplex/Space Echo style; inferred)

delay

→

1.MXR Dyna Comp (likely/period-appropriate; inferred) — Compression is strongly suggested by the even arpeggio volume; exact unit for this track is not documented in sources consulted.

2.Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress (period-appropriate; inferred) — Summers is closely associated with Electric Mistress-style modulation in this era; specific pedal-on-the-session is not explicitly confirmed for this track in sources consulted.

3.Tape delay (Echoplex/Space Echo style; inferred) — A short, subtle ambience/delay is commonly heard/imitated; exact unit and time not documented in sources consulted.

Playing Technique

Very precise arpeggiated picking with controlled timing and clean fretting; keep chord grips ringing while avoiding string squeak. Use a consistent down-up pattern with minimal dynamic variation to let compression and modulation produce the ‘shimmer’ rather than right-hand accents.

Sources+

Guitar Player (2026-03-16), "The Police's Andy Summers Built His Signature Sound With the Assistance of an Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress" (documents Summers’ modded Tele-style guitar details in this era; used for guitar-mod context)
Gold Radio (Facebook post summarizing the track’s making; includes claim of Telecaster into Roland JC-120)
The Gear Page (forum thread excerpt noting Summers statements about JC-120 usage specifically on "Every Breath You Take"; used as secondary support)
Reverb (2025-06-12), "Potent Pairings: The Police's Andy Summers" (modern recreation video gear list; used only as inference for commonly associated pedals, not as studio proof)