Tone library / Michael Jackson / Beat It

Beat It amp settings — Kustom Kga 10

The Michael Jackson guitar tone for “Beat It”, dialed in for a Kustom Kga 10 with a Sx Se1-sk. Studio version, Thriller (1982) — Steve Lukather's rhythm riff, not Eddie Van Halen's solo

Original rig

Valley Arts Custom Pro (HSS) into Paul Rivera-modded Fender Deluxe Reverb, no pedals on the riff

Tight, percussive, scooped mids, bright and articulate with punchy attack and clear note separation

Amp settings — Kustom Kga 10

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	2
Bass	4
Mid	3
Treble	6
Master	5

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Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE8 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01Joyo Crunch Distortion

Primary gain source — amp stays clean, pedal provides the crunch

Level 6 · Tone 7 · Dist 5

Why these settings

The Kustom KGA10 is a small solid-state practice amp with no presence or reverb and limited clean headroom. Original tone came from a modded Fender pushed into light overdrive — your amp cannot reach that saturation cleanly, so the Joyo Crunch becomes the gain source with amp set near-clean. Treble pushed to 6 compensates for the darker voicing of your SX's ceramic humbucker vs Lukather's single-coil bridge. Mid scooped to 3 matches the original's tight, percussive character.

PRO TIPPalm-mute hard right at the bridge saddles and use aggressive downstrokes only — Lukather's riff gets its percussive punch from strict muting discipline, not extra gain.

Get this tone on your amp

These settings are for a Kustom Kga 10. 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.