Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits (Solo · Distorted) — Guitar Tone

The Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits guitar tone is built on a Marshall JTM45 into a Laney 4x12 — Gibson Les Paul, dialed in at gain 3.5/10, bass 5.5, mid 6.5, treble 5.5, presence 5 (community-researched baseline). Full breakdown below — then adapt every knob to your exact guitar and amp, free.

Amp settings (0–10)

Community-researched baseline. Your rig is different — GuitarToneAdapt re-dials every knob for your specific guitar, amp and pickups.

How these settings compare

Measured against the 540 rock tones in our researched catalog: Gain 3.5 sits below the rock average (4.8) — cleaner and more dynamic than typical rock; mids at 6.5 are right around average (6.2); treble 5.5 is below the 6.5 norm (darker, smoother top end).

Guitar controls

Original gear

Amp: Marshall JTM45 into a Laney 4x12 — Gibson Les Paul, fingerstyle, lush ambience

Mark Knopfler’s most emotive lead. He swapped his usual Strat for a Gibson Les Paul (from Rudy Pensa) into a Marshall JTM45 (via a Laney 4x12) for the "emotional weight" — a warm, smooth, singing, sustained lead played fingerstyle, drenched in lush reverb/ambience. Low-medium gain (the sustain and warmth come from the Les Paul + JTM45 and touch), tone rolled back, mids up. "It just needed two or three notes."

Gear used on this tone

Don’t own this gear? GuitarToneAdapt re-creates the sound on the rig you actually have.

Pickups

neck/bridge (Les Paul, warm & singing)

Effects / signal chain

distortion, reverb

Tone character

warm singing lead, smooth & sustained, lush reverb, emotive

Recording context

studio

How it’s played

warm smooth singing lead (low-medium gain) distortion. This shapes how hard the amp is pushed and where the EQ sits for the Brothers in Arms sound.

Difficulty

3/5 · Solo

The vocal, patient phrasing and sustain are the whole thing; the tone is a warm Les Paul into a JTM45 with lots of reverb — low-medium gain, tone back, mids up.

Level: Beginner-friendly — see more easy guitar songs to play →

Worth knowing

• Brothers in Arms is a warm, smooth, SINGING lead — a Gibson Les Paul into a Marshall JTM45-style amp, low-medium gain (warmth + sustain from the guitar and touch, not high gain), tone rolled back, mids up, and LOTS of reverb. Fingerstyle, patient, vocal. Warm, not bright or heavy.
• Use a warm humbucker into a low-medium-gain amp, tone back, mids up, plenty of reverb; play fingerstyle, patient and vocal — let the notes sustain and breathe.
• Settings are community-researched starting points, not official recall sheets.

Brothers in Arms guitar tone — FAQ

Share this tone

Sources

• Gear on Brothers in Arms — Mark Knopfler Guitar Site
• Mark Knopfler Amp Settings — Guitar Chalk

Free practice tools

🎤 Online guitar tuner →  ·  🎶 Guitar chords →  ·  🎸 Guitar tunings →  ·  🎚️ Tuning chart →  ·  🎼 Guitar scales →  ·  🎚️ Chord transposer & capo →  ·  🥁 Metronome →  ·  🎶 Song chords →  ·  🎧 Guess the Tone game →  ·  🎸 Tone Legend quiz →  ·  📊 Tone data report →

🔥 The most famous guitar tones of all time →  ·  🗂️ Browse tone collections (by genre & language) →

Songs by level: 🎯 Easy  ·  🎸 Intermediate  ·  🔥 Hardest — each with the amp settings.

More like this

🎸 How to get Dire Straits’s guitar tone →  ·  🎸 more Rock guitar tones →  ·  🎛️ best rock amp settings →  ·  🎸 more iconic guitar solos →  ·  🎚️ Distortion tone guide →  ·  🎚️ Reverb tone guide →  ·  🎯 more singing sustain tones →  ·  📖 New to amp settings? What every knob does →

Related tones