Tone library / Metallica / Damage, Inc. (1985 from James' Riff Tapes)

Damage, Inc. (1985 from James' Riff Tapes) amp settings — Positive Grid Spark 40

The Metallica guitar tone for “Damage, Inc. (1985 from James' Riff Tapes)”, dialed in for a Positive Grid Spark 40 with a ESP LTD KH-202 Kirk Hammett. Live, Damage the Inc. Tour (Aragon Ballroom, Chicago 1986)

Original rig

1984 Gibson Explorer (EMG 81/60) into Mesa/Boogie Mark IIC+ (slaved into Marshall JCM800 2203 power section / Marshall 1960B 4x12 with Celestion V30s)

Aggressive, tight thrash attack with heavy 750Hz mid scoop, punchy lows, and biting presence

Amp settings — Positive Grid Spark 40

CHANNELTreadplate (Dual Rectifier model) or Metal (Insane/American High Gain)BOOSTon

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	7
Bass	8
Mid	3
Treble	7
Reverb	0
Master	6

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Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE10 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01Onboard Boost (Clone Drive / TS block)

Used strictly as a tight overdrive boost in front of the high-gain amp model to slice low-end flub

Drive 1 · Tone 6 · Level 8

02Onboard Noise Gate

Essential for cutting feedback between fast downpicked palm-mute chugs

Threshold 7 · Decay 2

Why these settings

The Spark 40 faceplate lacks a dedicated presence knob, so upper-register harmonic bite is dialed directly via treble at 7 and the onboard overdrive's tone control. The ESP LTD KH-202 has hot passive bridge humbuckers that push preamp stages hard, so gain is kept at 7 with an aggressive mid cut to replicate Hetfield's classic Mark IIC+ V-curve graphic EQ. The Spark's small twin speakers can produce boomy low-end if bass is pushed too high, so bass is held at 8 with a tight gate to keep the 220+ BPM chugs defined.

PRO TIPAnchor your palm strictly against the bridge saddle and execute relentless, heavy downstrokes using the sharp edge of a stiff pick (1.0mm+) to nail the percussive machine-gun attack of the fast riffs.

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