Spirit Crusher amp settings — Marshal VS20

The Death guitar tone for “Spirit Crusher”, dialed in for a Marshal VS20 with a ESP F-200b. Studio version, The Sound of Perseverance (1998)

Original rig

B.C. Rich Stealth with DiMarzio X2N pickup -> Marshall Valvestate 8100 head (OD2 channel, Contour cranked) -> Marshall 1960B 4x12 cab

Aggressive, razor-sharp solid-state thrash/death bite with scooped lower-mids and heavy bite

Amp settings — Marshal VS20

CHANNELOverdrive (OD)BOOSToff

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	8
Bass	6
Treble	7
Reverb	0
Master	5

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Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE10 VOLUME10

Why these settings

The Marshall Valvestate VS20 shares the signature solid-state preamp bite of Chuck Schuldiner's iconic VS8100 head. The VS20 uses a dedicated Contour knob rather than a traditional mid control, so set Contour to 8-9 in your amp panel to achieve Chuck's scooped-mid, aggressive character. Keep the baritone ESP tuned to standard D-tuning (D G C F A D) and push the gain to 8 for tight, cutting saturation.

PRO TIPChuck's tone heavily relied on the ultra-hot DiMarzio X2N bridge pickup; raise your bridge humbucker slightly closer to the strings and attack with heavy downward pick angling near the bridge for that metallic, percussive chug.

Get this tone on your amp

These settings are for a Marshal VS20. 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.