Tone library / Metallica / Fade to black

Fade to black amp settings — Fender Rumble 40

The Metallica guitar tone for “Fade to black”, dialed in for a Fender Rumble 40 with a Fender Player Stratocaster. Studio version, Ride the Lightning (1984) - Outro heavy rhythm & main heavy riffs

Original rig

Modified Marshall JCM800 / 1959 Super Lead boosted with Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer, Gibson Flying V with Gibson humbuckers

Aggressive mid-scooped British crunch with tight low-end and bite

Amp settings — Fender Rumble 40

CHANNELOverdrive ON, Contour ON, Vintage OFF, Bright ONBRIGHTon

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	8
Bass	6
Mid	3
Treble	7
Master	5

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Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE8 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01ProCo Rat 2 Distortion

RECOMMENDED — not currently owned; needed to achieve genuine thrash saturation through a bass amp

Distortion 7 · Filter 6 · Volume 7

Why these settings

The Fender Rumble 40 is a bass amp with a 4-band EQ (Low-Mid at 4, High-Mid at 3 for a scoop) that lacks natural guitar crunch, so engage its onboard Overdrive circuit and Bright switch to simulate Marshall bite. Bridge single-coils are brighter and thinner than Hetfield's humbuckers, so roll the guitar tone knob down to 8 and keep the amp bass at 6 to add body. Clean acoustic intro: switch off the Overdrive button and select the neck pickup.

PRO TIPAggressive, heavy downpicking near the bridge saddle is mandatory to get Hetfield's signature percussive chug and palm-muted attack out of single-coil pickups.

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These settings are for a Fender Rumble 40. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.

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