The Boys Don't Cry by The Cure guitar tone is built on a Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus, dialed in at gain 1/10, bass 5, mid 5, treble 7, presence 6 (community-researched baseline). Full breakdown below — then adapt every knob to your exact guitar and amp, free.
🎛️ These settings are for the original rig — re-dial them for YOUR amp in 10 seconds. Free, no signup →Measured against the 64 punk tones in our researched catalog: Gain 1 sits well below the punk average (5.8) — cleaner and more dynamic than typical punk; mids at 5 are right around average (5.8).
Amp: Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus (run clean, onboard effects off)
Single-coil Fender (Jazzmaster/Strat bridge) for the chiming, spanky jangle
Chorus (the heart of the sound — Smith keeps one permanently engaged, often taped to the amp), Digital Delay (knobs ~12 o'clock), Reverb (subtle, spacious)
clean, chiming, jangly, bright, chorus-drenched, spacious
Post-punk/new wave, late 1970s; single-coil into a clean Roland Jazz Chorus with chorus, delay and reverb
bright, melancholic jangle-pop bounce, upbeat mid tempo, even, chiming dynamics · clean distortion. This shapes how hard the amp is pushed and where the EQ sits for the Boys Don't Cry sound.
2/5
A beginner-friendly post-punk classic — the magic is in the tone (single-coil + chorus + clean amp) far more than the playing.
Set your amp to roughly: gain 1, bass 5, mid 5, treble 7, presence 6, reverb 3. These are community-researched baselines — GuitarToneAdapt re-dials them for your exact guitar and amp.
Original gear/effects: Amp: Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus (run clean, onboard effects off); Chorus (the heart of the sound — Smith keeps one permanently engaged, often taped to the amp), Digital Delay (knobs ~12 o'clock), Reverb (subtle, spacious).
Yes. Different guitars and amps need different knob positions to sound the same. GuitarToneAdapt models pickup output and wood brightness, then compensates so you match the record on your own rig.
Start with Single-coil Fender (Jazzmaster/Strat bridge) for the chiming, spanky jangle, the amp EQ above (gain 1, bass 5, mid 5, treble 7, presence 6, reverb 3), and Chorus (the heart of the sound — Smith keeps one permanently engaged, often taped to the amp), Digital Delay (knobs ~12 o'clock), Reverb (subtle, spacious). Then let GuitarToneAdapt compensate for the guitar, amp and pedals you actually own so it sits like the record.
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Songs by level: 🎯 Easy · 🎸 Intermediate · 🔥 Hardest — each with the amp settings.
🎸 How to get The Cure’s guitar tone → · 🎸 more Post-Punk guitar tones → · 🎚️ Roland JC-120 settings → · 🎛️ best punk amp settings → · 🎚️ Delay tone guide → · 🎚️ Chorus tone guide → · 🎚️ Reverb tone guide → · 🎯 more bright tones → · 📖 New to amp settings? What every knob does →