Black is Mike McCready's masterclass in dynamics — clean, aching verses that bloom into one of grunge's most emotional outro solos. The secret is two amps: a Fender Bassman handles the pristine clean arpeggios (McCready himself said "you can hear that on Black"), while a cranked Marshall JCM800 pushed by an Ibanez TS-9 carries the soaring lead. The guitar is the black 1962 Japanese-reissue Stratocaster that Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament bought him during the Ten sessions.
Exact settings for the Marshall JCM800 across blues, classic rock, hard rock, and metal, on the real amp and on Helix, Quad Cortex, and Katana models.
Jimi Hendrix fuzz tone: Fuzz Face settings, the guitar volume cleanup trick, Marshall amp dials, and how to nail it on modern gear.
Two Studio-line heads. Two of the most modified Marshall preamp topologies ever shipped. Which 20-watt version belongs on your board, and which one actually sounds like the amp it claims to copy.