Tone library / Metallica / Fade to black

Fade to black amp settings — SGA15 SGA15

The Metallica guitar tone for “Fade to black”, dialed in for a SGA15 SGA15 with a Squier Contemporary Stratocaster. Studio version, Ride the Lightning (1984) — heavy rhythm/solo section, not the clean intro

Original rig

Gibson Flying V (bridge humbucker) → Boss DS-1 → Marshall JCM800 2203 cranked

Aggressive mid-forward thrash crunch with cutting high-end bite and tight low-end

Amp settings — SGA15 SGA15

CHANNELOverdrive/Distortion channel (if available)BRIGHTon

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	8
Bass	4
Mid	6
Treble	6
Presence	7
Reverb	0
Master	5

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Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE8 VOLUME10

Why these settings

Your Squier Contemporary Strat has hotter ceramic humbuckers than Hetfield's passive PAF-style Flying V pickups, so I dropped bass from the original's 5 to 4 and pulled treble from 7 to 6 to prevent ice-pick harshness through the SGA15's voiced EQ. The original relied on a Boss DS-1 stacking into a cranked JCM800—without that pedal, I pushed amp gain to 8 to compensate, but the tone will lack the DS-1's specific mid-spike and compressed attack.

PRO TIPPalm-mute aggressively right at the bridge saddles and use all downstrokes on the main riff—Hetfield's right-hand precision is 70% of that tone. If you can find any tubescreamer-style pedal, even a cheap one, run it with drive at 2, tone at 7, level at 8 into a cleaner amp setting to nail the JCM800 + DS-1 mid-push.

Get this tone on your amp

These settings are for a SGA15 SGA15. 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.