Fade to black amp settings — Fender Champion II 25

The Metalica guitar tone for “Fade to black”, dialed in for a Fender Champion II 25 with a Gibson Les Paul Special. Studio version, Ride the Lightning (1984) — main distorted rhythm and solo sections

Original rig

Gibson Flying V (1979) → Boss DS-1 (gain boost) → Marshall JCM800 2203 into 4x12 cab

Warm mid-forward crunch with singing sustain, less scooped than later Metallica

Amp settings — Fender Champion II 25

CHANNELBritish voice (setting 7/8, JCM800 style)BOOSToff

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

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Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE10 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01Boss DS-1 Distortion

BOOST role: pushes the amp's British voice into tight JCM800 saturation without muddying the low end

Tone 4 · Level 8 · Dist 2

Why these settings

The Champion II 25 lacks a dedicated mid knob and presence control, so mids are pushed naturally by selecting the British JCM-style voice with treble pulled back slightly to tame the 8-inch speaker. Your owned DS-1 is set as an overdrive boost with low distortion and elevated output level, mirroring how James and Kirk hit the front end of their 2203 heads. For the iconic intro acoustic/clean parts, switch to the Clean (Blackface) voice and step on the DS-1 to bypass it.

PRO TIPFor Kirk's expressive lead fills and outro solo, switch to the neck pickup and roll tone down to 7 to nail that vocal, cocked-wah vocal resonance without needing a real wah pedal.

Get this tone on your amp

These settings are for a Fender Champion II 25. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.

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