Tone library / Metallica / Ride the Lightning

Ride the Lightning amp settings — Mesa boogie Badlander25

The Metallica guitar tone for “Ride the Lightning”, dialed in for a Mesa boogie Badlander25 with a Schecter Damien Platinum 6. Studio album track, Ride the Lightning (1984) - main rhythm tone

Original rig

Rented Marshall JCM800 2203 / JMP heads + Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer boost + 1960B 4x12 (Celestion G12T-75 / G12M) + Gibson Flying V / Explorer with high-output passive humbuckers

Aggressive, razor-sharp thrash crunch with tight low end, scooped upper mids, and biting top-end bite

Amp settings — Mesa boogie Badlander25

CHANNELCrush mode (or Crunch)BOOSToff

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

Don’t have a Mesa boogie Badlander25? See this song on other amps → Match your own rig →

Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE10 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01Ibanez Tube Screamer TS9

Clean boost in front of the amp to cut loose sub-bass and tighten palm mutes

Drive 0 · Tone 6 · Level 9

02MXR Ten Band EQ

(FX loop) Shapes the classic Metallica V-curve: cuts muddy 500Hz-1kHz mids while pushing tight 125Hz thump and 2k-4kHz crunch

31.25Hz 4 · 62.5Hz 5 · 125Hz 6 · 250Hz 5 · 500Hz 3 · 1kHz 4 · 2kHz 6 · 4kHz 7 · 8kHz 6 · 16kHz 4 · Gain 5 · Volume 5

Why these settings

The Badlander is a modern, tighter Rectifier topology that naturally has aggressive low-mids and lots of headroom. Running the TS9 with Drive at 0 and Level high tightens the front end like Hetfield's original Marshall setup, while placing the MXR 10-Band in the FX loop scoops the 500Hz-1kHz range to nail the Denmark studio console EQ curve without gutting your core note definition. Schecter's active EMG pickups push more front-end gain than vintage passives, so amp gain sits at a controlled 6.

PRO TIPAnchor your picking hand firmly against the bridge saddles and execute aggressive, strictly downward pick strokes on all the chugging sixteenth-note riffs for authentic Hetfield percussive attack.

Get this tone on your amp

These settings are for a Mesa boogie Badlander25. 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.