Tone library / Motörhead / Ace of Spades

Ace of Spades amp settings — Fender Champion 40

The Motörhead guitar tone for “Ace of Spades”, dialed in for a Fender Champion 40 with a Ibanez GIO GRG170DX. Studio album cut, Ace of Spades (1980)

Original rig

Fender Stratocaster (bridge single-coil/humbucker mods) / Gibson Les Paul into Marshall JCM800 2203 / 1959 Super Lead with Boss OD-1 / boost

Raw, aggressive British heavy rock crunch with strong upper-mid cut and tight low-end
Amp settings — Fender Champion 40
CHANNELChannel 2 - British voice (Amber/Red)BOOSToff
GAIN 2 BASS 5 TREBLE 7 REVERB 0 MASTER 5
KnobSetting (0–10)
Gain2
Bass5
Treble7
Reverb0
Master5
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Guitar
PICKUPbridge TONE10 VOLUME10
Signal chain

01Boss DS-1 Distortion

Direct in front of amp

Tone 5 · Level 7 · Dist 6

02Ibanez Tube Screamer TS9

Mid-boost tightening into DS-1

Drive 2 · Tone 6 · Level 8
Why these settings

Fast Eddie Clarke's rhythm tone relies on hard-driven British midrange bite cut over Lemmy's aggressive bass. Because the Champion 40 uses a two-band EQ with no dedicated middle knob and is naturally Fender-voiced, setting the amp clean on gain 2 avoids double-gain clash while the DS-1 and TS9 stack replicate the hot-rodded Marshall 2203 saturation. Bass is kept tight at 5 and treble elevated to 7 to deliver the signature cutting bite without speaker flub.

PRO TIPUse heavy downpicking close to the bridge saddle with a rigid pick to match Eddie Clarke's percussive attack and harmonic bite.

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These settings are for a Fender Champion 40. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.

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