Am I Evil? amp settings — Hartke Gt60

The Metallica guitar tone for “Am I Evil?”, dialed in for a Hartke Gt60 with a Squier Affinity Telecaster. Studio version, originally recorded 1983 (Kill 'Em All sessions) / Garage Inc. (1998) - Main Riff

Original rig

James Hetfield: Jose-modded Marshall 100W Plexi + ProCo RAT distortion, Gibson Explorer with high-output humbuckers

Aggressive, bright NWOBHM/early thrash crunch with tight palm-muted chug and scooped mid bite

Amp settings — Hartke Gt60

CHANNELOverdrive Channel

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	7
Bass	6
Mid	4
Treble	6
Reverb	0
Master	5

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Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE8 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01Jim Dunlop Cry Baby GCB95

Bypass during rhythm riff; engage for Kirk Hammett solo sections

02Boss BD-2 Blues Driver

Tightening boost into the Hartke tube-preamp Overdrive channel

Level 8 · Tone 4 · Gain 2

Why these settings

The BD-2 acts as a tight pre-gain boost pushing the GT60 12AX7 tube overdrive, mimicking Hetfield's RAT-boosted Marshall Plexi attack. Because the Squier Telecaster bridge single-coil is naturally brighter and thinner than a Gibson humbucker, the guitar tone knob is rolled back to 8, amp mids are scooped to 4 for early thrash character, and treble is kept moderate at 6 to prevent ice-pick harshness. Reverb is kept at 0 for an authentic dry 1983 tracking sound.

PRO TIPAnchor your picking hand firmly across the bridge saddles to get a dense, percussive palm-mute 'chug' that compensates for the lower low-end mass of single-coil pickups.

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These settings are for a Hartke Gt60. 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.