Black Rose amp settings — Fender Champion 40

The Thin Lizzy guitar tone for “Black Rose”, dialed in for a Fender Champion 40 with a Ibanez GIO GRG170DX. Studio version, Black Rose: A Rock Legend (1979) - Gary Moore lead/harmony parts

Original rig

1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard ('Greenie') + Marshall 1959 Super Lead 100W + MXR Distortion+ / overdrive boost

Searing mid-focused British crunch with aggressive sustain and vocal top-end bite

Amp settings — Fender Champion 40

CHANNELVoice: British 70s (Channel 2)BOOSToff

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	2
Bass	5
Treble	6
Reverb	2
Master	5

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Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE10 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01Ibanez Tube Screamer TS9

Used as the core overdrive source into the clean-set Marshall voice

Drive 7 · Tone 6 · Level 7

02Boss DD-8 Digital Delay

Set to Standard mode for subtle studio depth and sustain

E.Level 3 · F.Back 3 · D.Time 4 · Mode 1

Why these settings

The Fender Champion 40 lacks physical middle and presence controls and has naturally bright Fender voicing. We select the 70s British amp voice to introduce Marshall mid-bark, but keep amp gain low at 2 to avoid muddy double-gain while the TS9 supplies Gary Moore's singing mid-forward drive. Setting the treble to 6 balances the Ibanez GIO's ceramic bridge pickup without sounding brittle.

PRO TIPGary Moore aggressively dug into the strings with heavy pick attack right near the bridge for maximum harmonic bite on the fast Celtic harmony runs, then backed off picking force slightly during melodic bends to let sustain bloom.

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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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Song, artist and gear names are used to identify the tone being matched; ToneAdapt is not affiliated with or endorsed by the artists or manufacturers mentioned. Settings are AI-generated starting points — trust your ears.