Tone library / Pink Floyd / Comfortably Numb (Live)

Comfortably Numb (Live) amp settings — Positive Grid Spark 40

The Pink Floyd guitar tone for “Comfortably Numb (Live)”, dialed in for a Positive Grid Spark 40 with a Fender Player Plus Stratocaster. Live performance, Pulse Tour (Earls Court 1994) / Live 8 (2005) outro solo tone

Original rig

Fender Black Strat / Candy Apple Red '57 Strat (EMG-SA/SPC) -> Pete Cornish Board (Big Muff Ram's Head / Cornish G-2, Tube Driver, CE-2 Chorus, TC2290 Delay) -> Hiwatt DR103 / Alembic F-2B preamp

Massive, singing, high-sustain fuzz-lead with liquid top-end, subtle chorus widening, and stereo dotted delay

Amp settings — Positive Grid Spark 40

CHANNELHiwatt DR103 model (Spark 'British Clean' or 'Custom Hiwatt' block)BRIGHToffBOOSToff

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	2
Bass	6
Mid	7
Treble	5
Reverb	4
Master	7

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Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE8 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01Compressor (Dyna Comp block in Spark)

Spark COMP block

Output 7 · Sensitivity 6

02Sustainer / Fuzz (Big Muff / Black Op block in Spark)

Spark DRIVE block

Sustain 8 · Tone 5 · Volume 7

03Overdrive (Tube Drive block in Spark)

Spark BOOST block — set as warm EQ boost after fuzz

Gain 3 · Tone 6 · Level 8

04Chorus (Chorus block in Spark)

Spark MOD block

Depth 4 · Rate 3 · Level 5

05Digital Delay (Delay block in Spark)

Spark DELAY block — ~480ms quarter/dotted delay

BPM/Time 6 · Feedback 5 · Level 5

Why these settings

The Spark 40's digital Hiwatt block provides the clean, high-headroom platform Gilmour relied on, keeping amp gain low (2) so the virtual Muff and Tube Driver blocks generate the singing saturation without mud. The Player Plus Strat bridge pickup has slightly more top-end bite than Gilmour's vintage/EMG pickups, so rolling the tone knob to 8 and keeping amp treble at 5 tames high-frequency fizz. Delay feedback and chorus are blended in Spark's virtual chain to replicate the spacious stadium acoustics of the live recordings.

PRO TIPAnchor your bends with heavy finger vibrato at the peak of the pitch, and use a heavy gauge pick angled slightly against the string to generate Gilmour's harmonic feedback and endless sustain.

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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.