Tone library / Metallica / Fade to Black

Fade to Black amp settings — Harley Benton HB-10G

The Metallica guitar tone for “Fade to Black”, dialed in for a Harley Benton HB-10G with a Harley Benton EX-84. 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 — Harley Benton HB-10G

CHANNELClean Channel (Overdrive button OFF)BOOSToff

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

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Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE10 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01Boss DS-2 Turbo Distortion

Primary gain source; Turbo mode I selected for classic tight Marshall-style crunch (run direct into amp input)

Level 7 · Tone 6 · Dist 7 · Turbo 1

Why these settings

The Boss DS-2 acts as the primary gain source running into the HB-10G clean channel with amp gain kept at 2 to avoid muddy double-gain stacking. The amp's 3-band EQ is dialed with mids scooped to 3 and bass kept moderate at 7 to capture James Hetfield's aggressive 'Ride the Lightning' bite without flubbing out the small 6-inch speaker. Clean intro/acoustic sections: bypass the DS-2 and switch to the neck pickup.

PRO TIPAnchor your palm mute firmly across the bridge saddles and execute aggressive, uniform downstrokes to get the percussive attack essential for Hetfield's 1984 rhythm track.

Get this tone on your amp

These settings are for a Harley Benton HB-10G. ToneAdapt matches any song to whatever amp, guitar and pedals you own — first match is free.

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