Battery amp settings — Positive Grid Spark 2

The Metallica guitar tone for “Battery”, dialed in for a Positive Grid Spark 2 with a ESP LTD KH-202 Kirk Hammett. Live, Seattle 1989 (Damaged Justice Tour) main fast thrash rhythm riff

Original rig

Mesa/Boogie Mark IIC+ (custom 'Crunchberries' preamps slaved into Marshall/Mesa power amps) + Aphex/B&B parametric EQ in loop (V-scoop) + ESP MX-220 / Jackson King V with Seymour Duncan Invader/EMG pickups into Marshall 4x12 cabs

Aggressive, percussive scooped-mid thrash rhythm with tight palm-muted low-end punch and razor-sharp pick attack

Amp settings — Positive Grid Spark 2

CHANNELTreadplate amp model (Modern High Gain) with 4x12 V30 cab IRBRIGHToffBOOSToff

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	7
Bass	6
Mid	3
Treble	7
Reverb	1
Master	7

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Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE10 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01Noise Gate (Spark onboard Gate block)

Essential in front to tighten aggressive high-gain palm mutes without muddy sustain

Threshold 7 · Decay 2

02Clone Drive / Overdrive (Spark onboard Stomp block)

Used strictly as a clean boost to tighten low end and add front-end bite into the Treadplate model

Drive 0 · Tone 7 · Level 8

Why these settings

The Spark 2 is a modeling amp, so the Mesa Dual Rectifier-style 'Treadplate' voice handles the core saturation rather than needing external pedals. The onboard OD block acts as a front-end clean boost (drive at zero, level high) to replicate the tight, percussive bite of Hetfield's slaved Mark IIC+ setup without adding flub. Keep mids scooped at 3 and bass controlled at 6 so the fast 16th-note gallops retain articulation on your ESP humbuckers. Clean intro: switch to the Black Duo (Twin Reverb) amp model with neck pickup.

PRO TIPAnchor the heel of your picking hand firmly across the bridge saddles and execute strict downpicking or tight alternate gallops using the tip of a stiff 1.14mm+ pick for that iconic mechanical 1989 percussive chug.

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