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 Squier Classic Vibe 60s Stratocaster. Iconic intro solo and heavy rhythm tone, Ride the Lightning (1984)

Original rig

Modified Marshall JCM800 2203, Ibanez TS9 / ProCo Rat boost, Gibson Flying V / Fernandes Strat clone with humbuckers

Saturated, biting mid-scooped early thrash crunch with singing lead sustain

Amp settings — Boss Katana 50 MkII

CHANNELBrown amp typeBOOSToff

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	7
Bass	7
Mid	4
Treble	7
Reverb	3
Master	5

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Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE8 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01Boss DS-1 Distortion

Used as a tight front-end boost into the Brown channel

Tone 4 · Level 8 · Dist 2

Why these settings

The Katana's Brown amp type delivers the hot-rodded Marshall crunch, while the DS-1 is set with low distortion and high level to act as a tight overdrive push similar to Kirk Hammett's Tube Screamer/Rat front-end boost. Because your Stratocaster has single coils instead of Kirk's bridge humbucker, the guitar tone knob is rolled down slightly to 8 and bass is pushed to 7 to prevent high-end harshness. The Katana 50 MkII lacks a physical presence knob on the faceplate, so presence is left null.

PRO TIPFor the intro solo phrasing, switch to the neck pickup with the tone rolled to 7 for fluid flute-like sustain, then snap to the bridge pickup wide open for the heavy thrash rhythm sections.

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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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.