Black amp settings — Marshall DSL40CR

The Pearl Jam guitar tone for “Black”, dialed in for a Marshall DSL40CR with a Squier Classic Vibe 50s Telecaster. Studio version, Ten (1991) - iconic clean/edge-of-breakup intro and verse riff

Original rig

1962 Reissue Fender Stratocaster (neck/middle) -> Fender Bassman AB165 / Marshall JCM800 2203 -> Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer

Warm, dynamic edge-of-breakup Fender clean with Stevie Ray Vaughan/Hendrix-style chime and soft top-end

Amp settings — Marshall DSL40CR

CHANNELClassic Gain (Clean mode)BOOSToff

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

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Guitar

PICKUPneck+middle TONE8 VOLUME9

Signal chain

01Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer

RECOMMENDED — not currently owned; adds the smooth mid push and edge-of-breakup grit for choruses and fills

Drive 3 · Tone 5 · Level 7

Why these settings

The Marshall DSL40CR Classic Gain Clean channel is set around gain 5 to emulate the warm headroom of Mike McCready's cranked Fender Bassman without harsh solid-state clipping. Because a Telecaster single-coil neck pickup is slightly darker than a Stratocaster's 'quack' in position 4, using both pickups together with the guitar tone rolled back slightly to 8 captures the woody Hendrix-style bloom. Marshall mids and presence are dialed neutrally to soften the British bite into a rounded American clean tone. Outro solo: switch to the Classic Gain Crunch mode (or kick on the recommended TS9).

PRO TIPPick lightly over the fretboard with your bare thumb and index finger rather than a hard pick attack on the intro arpeggios to get that soft, blooming, vocal resonance heard on the record.

Get this tone on your amp

These settings are for a Marshall DSL40CR. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.

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