Tone library / Metallica / Ride the lighting

Ride the lighting amp settings — Harley benton HB-20R

The Metallica guitar tone for “Ride the lighting”, dialed in for a Harley benton HB-20R with a Harley Benton Fusion-III HH. Studio version, Ride the Lightning album (1984), Sweet Silence Studios, Denmark

Original rig

Marshall JCM800 2203 (borrowed Danish amp, possibly Jose Arredondo-modded), Gibson Explorer with Dirty Fingers humbucker (bridge), no pedals—straight into amp

Tight, aggressive thrash rhythm with scooped mids, bright cutting highs, and chunky palm-muted lows

Amp settings — Harley benton HB-20R

CHANNELOverdrive channel (if available) or single channel cranked

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	8
Bass	5
Mid	2
Treble	7
Presence	0
Reverb	0
Master	5

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Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE10 VOLUME10

Why these settings

The HB-20R is a small solid-state practice amp without the headroom or gain structure of a cranked JCM800. I've pushed gain to 8 to compensate for lower output and scooped mids hard to 2 for that classic thrash V-curve. Bass is pulled to 5 (vs original 6) because small speakers get muddy fast with high bass—this keeps palm mutes tight. No presence knob on this amp, so treble at 7 handles the high-end bite. Without a pedal, this is as close as the amp can get, but it will lack the harmonic saturation and compression of a tube Marshall.

PRO TIPHetfield's right-hand technique is critical—aggressive downpicking with the pick angled slightly and palm muting right at the bridge saddles creates that machine-gun chunk. The tone is in the hands as much as the amp; practice the gallop rhythm dead-on before tweaking knobs.

Get this tone on your amp

These settings are for a Harley benton HB-20R. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.

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