Tone library / Metallica / Fade to black

Fade to black amp settings — Boss Katana 50 MkII

The Metallica guitar tone for “Fade to black”, dialed in for a Boss Katana 50 MkII with a Ibanez RG550. Studio version, Ride the Lightning (1984) — main heavy rhythm and outro lead tone

Original rig

Modified Marshall JCM800 2203 (José Arredondo mod), Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer boost, Gibson Flying V with Seymour Duncan Invader/PAF pickups, Marshall 4x12 cab

Saturated, scooped thrash rhythm with aggressive bite and tight palm-muted low end

Amp settings — Boss Katana 50 MkII

CHANNELBrown amp typeBOOSTon

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	7
Bass	7
Mid	3
Treble	7
Reverb	2
Master	5

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Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE10 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01Onboard Booster (Warm OD / Tube Screamer model)

Engage Katana onboard Booster assigned to green Warm OD to tighten the low end

Drive 0 · Tone 6 · Bottom 5

Why these settings

The Katana 50 MkII lacks a physical presence knob, so upper-end bite is shaped directly with treble at 7 and the onboard TS-style booster engaged with zero drive to replicate the modified JCM800 front-end push. The RG550 V8 bridge pickup provides sharp attack, allowing a deep mid cut to 3 on the Brown voice without losing transient clarity in heavy palm-muted riffs. Clean intro: switch amp voice to Clean, Booster off, and switch guitar to neck pickup with light onboard reverb.

PRO TIPAnchor your palm directly on the bridge saddle and execute heavy, downstroke-only picking to keep the chugging low-end percussive and tight without flubbing out the 1x12 Katana speaker.

Get this tone on your amp

These settings are for a Boss Katana 50 MkII. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.

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