Classic Rock1984Love at First Sting

Still Loving You Amp Settings

by Scorpions

Get This ToneFree — no account needed

Original Recording Settings

partially-sourcedResearched tone data for "Still Loving You" by Scorpions

Original Gear

Guitar: 1958 Gibson Flying V (Korina) — Rudolf Schenker's main studio guitar for the Love at First Sting sessions, purchased from Alex Conti of the German band Lake. Schenker played both the clean arpeggiated intro and the iconic distorted solo (he has confirmed in Guitar World that he, not Matthias Jabs, played the lead on the slower songs including 'Still Loving You'). Matthias Jabs played rhythm/secondary parts on this track — Guitar World, June 1988 documents that his primary studio guitars in the Love at First Sting / 1984–85 cycle were his 1978 Gibson Explorer (primary) and a 1963 Fender Stratocaster routed for a single humbucker and fitted with a Floyd Rose tremolo.
Pickups: Stock 1958 Gibson PAF humbuckers (original to the '58 Flying V) (bridge)
Amplifier: Marshall 50-watt head — Schenker's documented Love at First Sting–era studio/live rig was a trio of vintage stock 50W Marshall heads (Guitar World, March 1986: 'Onstage, the guitarist uses three 50-watt Marshall heads… The Marshalls are quite old—a '67, a 1970, and a 1980, all stock.'). Period-correct models are the Marshall JMP 1987 (50W Lead) and Marshall JMP 1959 (Super Lead) plate. Schenker has stated: 'I played it through a Marshall amp, which is what I always used for recording or live work at that time' (Guitar Player, 2025).
Channel: Single non-master input channel, cranked (no separate channels on these 4-input plexi/JMP heads); high-treble input on input 1, often jumpered to input 2 for thickening
Tuning: Eb standard (tuned down a half step) — community consensus from notated tabs and lesson videos; no Schenker/Jabs/Dierks interview confirms studio tuning precisely.
Pickup Selector: bridge
Strings: Unknown — not publicly documented for the 1983–84 Dierks Studios sessions

Recorded at Dierks Studios in Stommeln (near Cologne), West Germany. Produced/arranged/mixed by Dieter Dierks; engineered by Gerd Rautenbach. Per official liner notes, Love at First Sting was tracked using 32-track digital recording — one of the first hard-rock albums to be fully digital. Schenker said in 2025: 'I think, though, that perhaps I wouldn't have recorded it digitally. The technology wasn't as great as it is now, which makes it sound a little bit clinical. I think the magnetism of the tape was missing, and that gives the guitars a warmer sound, so that is all that I would change' (Guitar Player, Mark McStea, 31 Jan 2025). Cabinets were Marshall 1960 4x12s loaded with Celestion G12M 25W 'greenback' speakers (consistent with Jabs's documented 16-ohm cab with Celestion 25W speakers reported in Guitar World, June 1988).

Amp Settings

Gain

7.0

Bass

4.0

Mid

6.0

Treble

7.0

Presence

6.0

Volume

9.0

Volume = 9 is directly sourced: Guitar World, March 1986 (Bruce Nixon profile of Schenker) — 'The volume is set at 9; the EQ knobs are all full-tilt.' EQ values are inferred from that 'all full-tilt' description tempered by the recorded tone (the digital mix is bright and mid-forward but not harsh, so engineer Gerd Rautenbach almost certainly trimmed treble and presence at mixdown). Master volume is null because the non-master Marshall JMP 1987/1959 heads have no master volume; if a JCM800 2203 was used instead, master would be approximately 6–7 and channel volume lower.

Effects Chain

→

Vox wah-wah (vintage 1960s/early-1970s unit)

wah (used as half-cocked fixed filter)

→

Studio chorus — likely Boss CE-1 Chorus Ensemble or Roland SDD-320 Dimension D (both were the de-facto studio-standard chorus units in 1984 and produce the wide, lush stereo modulation audible on the clean arpeggios). No primary-source interview specifies the exact unit used at Dierks Studios on this track.

chorus (clean intro guitar only)

→

Studio rack delay — most likely a Roland SDE-3000 or AMS DMX 15-80S (both Dierks Studios / mid-1980s German rock studio standards). Specific unit not documented in primary sources.

delay

→

Studio plate / hall — most likely an EMT 140 plate and/or an AMS RMX16 (typical Dierks Studios 1984 outboard). Specific unit not documented.

reverb (mixdown send, not a pedal)

→

1.Vox wah-wah (vintage 1960s/early-1970s unit) — Guitar World, March 1986: Schenker's 'sole effect is a Vox wah-wah, one of the first made.' Matthias Jabs is independently documented as using a half-cocked Cry Baby-style wah as a fixed filter in this period.

2.Studio chorus — likely Boss CE-1 Chorus Ensemble or Roland SDD-320 Dimension D (both were the de-facto studio-standard chorus units in 1984 and produce the wide, lush stereo modulation audible on the clean arpeggios). No primary-source interview specifies the exact unit used at Dierks Studios on this track. — Applied only to the arpeggiated clean intro/verse rhythm; disengaged for the distorted solo. The often-repeated fan claim that a 'Boss CH-1 Super Chorus' was used is anachronistic — the CH-1 was not released until 1989.

3.Studio rack delay — most likely a Roland SDE-3000 or AMS DMX 15-80S (both Dierks Studios / mid-1980s German rock studio standards). Specific unit not documented in primary sources. — Audible long, musical repeats on sustained solo notes; printed to the recording rather than added live with a pedal.

4.Studio plate / hall — most likely an EMT 140 plate and/or an AMS RMX16 (typical Dierks Studios 1984 outboard). Specific unit not documented. — The large, lush studio reverb is a defining trait of the Still Loving You production aesthetic; applied to both the clean intro and the distorted solo.

Playing Technique

Played with a plastic pick. The clean intro is fingerstyle-feel arpeggios over a Gm – Gm7 – Gm(9) – E♭maj7 – D7 progression in 6/4, ~52 BPM, with a moving bass line under each chord. The solo is in G minor over the same progression, built almost entirely on long sustained bends with controlled wide vibrato at the top of each bend, blues-scale and natural-minor phrasing, and gradually escalating dynamics. Schenker has stated the Love at First Sting basic tracks were 'all playing the basic tracks live' in the studio room. The transition into the heavy chord section uses a held, swelling sustained note where the gain audibly increases — most likely Schenker rolling his guitar volume from a cleaned-up setting up to 10 rather than a pedal kick-in.

Sources+

Guitar World — 'The Scorpions' Matthias Jabs and Rudolf Schenker Discuss New MTV Unplugged Album' (https://www.guitarworld.com/magazine/scorpions-matthias-jabs-and-rudolf-schenker-discuss-new-mtv-unplugged-album) — Schenker quote: 'With Matthias, very often I was the lead player for more of the slower songs, like Holiday, Lady Starlight, Still Loving You, Wind of Change, Big City Nights and some stuff on China White.' Establishes that Schenker, not Jabs, plays the studio solo on Still Loving You.
Guitar Player, 31 Jan 2025 — Mark McStea interview with Rudolf Schenker on Love at First Sting (https://www.guitarplayer.com/music/rudolf-schenker-on-scorpions-rock-you-like-a-hurricane) — confirms 1958 Gibson Flying V (ex-Alex Conti of Lake) + Marshall as Schenker's standard 1984 studio rig; also the 'a little bit clinical' digital-recording quote.
Guitar World (2026), Andrew Daly — 'Rudolf Schenker's 60 years with the Scorpions' (https://www.guitarworld.com/artists/guitarists/rudolf-schenker-scorpions-60-years) — 'The tone is the Flying V and a Marshall amplifier.'
Guitar World, March 1986 — Bruce Nixon profile of Schenker (transcribed at destroyerofharmony.com) — three 50-watt Marshall heads ('67, 1970, 1980), all stock, six 4x12 cabs, volume at 9, EQ full-tilt, sole effect a vintage Vox wah-wah.
Guitar World, June 1988 (referenced extensively on the Metropoulos Forum thread on Matthias Jabs) — Jabs's documented 1984-era studio/live rig: 1978 Marshall JMP 1987 50W head into one 16Ω 4x12 with Celestion 25W speakers; 1978 Gibson Explorer (primary) and 1963 black Fender Stratocaster with Floyd Rose and Bill Lawrence L90XL humbucker.
Discogs — Love at First Sting release credits — produced/arranged/mixed by Dieter Dierks; engineered by Gerd Rautenbach; recorded and mixed at Dierks Studios, Stommeln/Cologne; 32-track digital recording & mastering.
Dierks Studios website (dierks-studios.de) — confirms Studio 3 as the room where the iconic Scorpions albums were tracked.
Wikipedia — 'Still Loving You' and 'Love at First Sting' — songwriting/recording history, personnel, digital-recording note.
Connollyco.com Scorpions discography page — official Love at First Sting liner-note transcription crediting both Schenker and Jabs with rhythm and lead guitars.
Songfacts interview with Rudolf Schenker — confirms Schenker composed the music c.1976 and that the song was completed and recorded in 1983–84 with Klaus Meine's lyrics.
Dinosaur Rock Guitar — Matthias Jabs gear profile — corroborates the 1979 Gibson Explorer + 1963 Strat-with-Floyd combo and Marshall tube amp setup; also notes vintage Gibson Les Pauls ('58 and '60) were used in the studio on selected solos (No One Like You).
Songsterr tabs and Chachi Guitar 'Still Loving You' PDF — Eb standard tuning, intro in 6/4, ~52 BPM.
Alchetron Rudolf Schenker biography — independently lists Still Loving You among songs on which Schenker (rather than Jabs) plays the solo, corroborating Schenker's own Guitar World quote.
Guitar Chalk — 'Amp Settings for Love at First Sting' — fan/replication reference suggesting Marshall JCM800 + Boss CE-2 / DD-3, useful as a modern-replication baseline but not a primary studio source.
Seymour Duncan and Marshall forum threads (forum.seymourduncan.com, marshallforum.com) — corroborating community knowledge of Jabs's Bill Lawrence L90XL pickup, half-cocked wah technique, and 1978 JMP 1987 head with 'Transformer Killer' internal mod.
Subagent fact-check pass (May 2026) — verified the Schenker solo-attribution quote and ruled out anachronistic effects (Boss CH-1 chorus, released 1989, cannot be on the 1984 recording).