Freezing Moon amp settings — Vox VT40X

The Mayhem guitar tone for “Freezing Moon”, dialed in for a Vox VT40X with a Fender American Professional II Stratocaster. Studio version, De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas (1994)

Original rig

Marshall JCM800 (cranked, scooped mids), Gibson Les Paul Custom with stock humbuckers, Boss HM-2 Heavy Metal pedal stacked over amp distortion

Thin, icy, brittle black metal distortion with extreme treble, minimal bass warmth, and raw chainsaw-like saturation

Amp settings — Vox VT40X

CHANNELUK METAL (VET model closest to hot-rodded Marshall voicing)

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	10
Bass	2
Mid	3
Treble	10
Presence	7
Reverb	0
Master	6

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Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE10 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01Boss HM-2 Heavy Metal (or clone)

RECOMMENDED — not currently owned. The HM-2 is essential for authentic Euronymous tone. Stack it INTO the amp's distortion, not over a clean channel. A Behringer HM300 clone costs under $30 and nails this sound. Without the HM-2, you will get a generic high-gain tone but not the characteristic chainsaw texture.

Level 10 · Low (EQ) 0 · High (EQ) 10 · Dist 10

Why these settings

Your Strat's single coils are brighter and lower output than Euronymous's Les Paul humbuckers, which actually helps achieve that thin, icy character — but you lose the midrange body and sustain. I raised presence +2 vs the original's settings to compensate for the Vox's darker voicing compared to a JCM800, and dropped bass to 2 because single coils already lack low-end thump. The VT40X's UK METAL model approximates a hot Marshall but lacks the raw tube sag — push the gain to maximum and let the HM-2 do the heavy lifting.

PRO TIPEuronymous used aggressive downstroke tremolo picking with the pick angled sharply — this attack style is 50% of the tone. Pick hard, right over the bridge pickup pole pieces, and let the pick scrape the strings slightly for that abrasive texture. Your Strat's bridge single coil will actually excel at this brittle attack if you dig in.

Get this tone on your amp

These settings are for a Vox VT40X. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.

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