Black amp settings — Fender Champion 40

The Pearl Jam guitar tone for “Black”, dialed in for a Fender Champion 40 with a Ibanez GIO GRG170DX. Studio version, Ten (1991) — iconic clean Hendrix/SRV-style intro embellishments and verse tone

Original rig

1962 Reissue Stratocaster (Position 4/in-between) into a vintage Fender Bassman with subtle studio hall reverb

Warm, glassy, edge-of-breakup clean tone with prominent dynamic low-end and bell-like Strat 'quack'

Amp settings — Fender Champion 40

CHANNELChannel 1 (Clean / '65 Twin voicing)

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	3
Bass	6
Treble	5
Reverb	0
Master	4

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Guitar

PICKUPneck+middle TONE9 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01Klone Centaur

Set as a clean/edge-of-breakup boost to simulate Bassman tube warmth into the solid-state front end

Gain 2 · Treble 5 · Output 6

02Boss CH-1 Super Chorus

Set extremely subtle to replicate the slight watery studio modulation

Effect Level 3 · EQ 5 · Rate 3 · Depth 3

Why these settings

The Fender Champion 40 on Channel 1 has a 2-band EQ with fixed scooped mids and no presence control (both null). To replicate McCready's Bassman, Bass is set to 6 and Treble is trimmed to 5 to avoid harsh top-end from your Ibanez ceramic single-coil. The Klone provides the gentle edge-of-breakup compression while keeping the amp's clean channel pristine.

PRO TIPPosition 4 (neck + middle split) is essential for that hollow, out-of-phase Hendrix/SRV embellishment chime; use a very light pick attack with thumb-over chord phrasing on the opening E-to-A progression.

Get this tone on your amp

These settings are for a Fender Champion 40. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.

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