Tone library / Metallica / Fade to Black

Fade to Black amp settings — Marshall mg Mg50cfx

The Metallica guitar tone for “Fade to Black”, dialed in for a Marshall mg Mg50cfx with a ESP LTD KH-202 Kirk Hammett. Studio cut, Ride the Lightning (1984) - Lead and heavy rhythm sections

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 — Marshall mg Mg50cfx

CHANNELCleanBOOSToff

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	2
Bass	6
Mid	5
Treble	6
Reverb	4
Master	5

Don’t have a Marshall mg Mg50cfx? See this song on other amps → Match your own rig →

Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE10 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01Boss MT-2 Metal Zone

Gain source into front of amp

Level 6 · High 6 · Low 7 · Middle 4 · Mid Freq 4 · Dist 6

Why these settings

The Boss MT-2 serves as the primary gain source to capture the tight, aggressive Ride the Lightning saturation, running directly into the MG50CFX Clean channel with amp gain dialed down to 2 to prevent muddy double-gain stacking. The MT-2 semi-parametric mid EQ is slightly scooped around the 800Hz region to match the iconic JCM800 thrash bite while maintaining body. Clean acoustic/arpeggio intro: step on the MT-2 to bypass it and switch to the neck pickup.

PRO TIPFor the intro solo, switch to the neck pickup and roll the tone knob down slightly to 8 for that smooth, vocal Kirk Hammett lead sound, then switch back to the bridge pickup wide open for the heavy riffs.

Get this tone on your amp

These settings are for a Marshall mg Mg50cfx. 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.