Tone library / Metallica / Pulling teeth

Pulling teeth amp settings — Peavey Max 158 bass

The Metallica guitar tone for “Pulling teeth”, dialed in for a Peavey Max 158 bass with a Fender Player Precision Bass. Studio version, Kill 'Em All (1983) — Cliff Burton's unaccompanied bass solo

Original rig

Rickenbacker 4001 (modded pickups: Gibson Mudbucker + Seymour Duncan stacked), Mesa Boogie bass head with 1x15 cabs, Electro-Harmonix Big Muff, Morley Power Wah Boost

Aggressive, mid-forward fuzz with wah sweeps — bass made to sound like a distorted lead guitar

Amp settings — Peavey Max 158 bass

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	2
Bass	3
Mid	8
Treble	5
Presence	0
Reverb	0
Master	7

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Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE8 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01Behringer HD300 Heavy Distortion

Set to Big Muff or Fuzz mode if available. This is your primary gain source — amp gain stays low to keep clarity. The HD300 is a guitar pedal; bass frequencies may get lost, so compensate with amp mids.

Level 7 · Tone 6 · Dist 7

02Wah Pedal (Dunlop Cry Baby or Morley)

RECOMMENDED — not currently owned. Critical for this tone. Cliff's wah sweeps define the track. A bass wah (Dunlop 105Q) or standard Cry Baby both work. Place AFTER the fuzz for that thick, vocal sweep.

Position 5

Why these settings

The Peavey Max 158 is a small practice combo with limited headroom and no presence control — it cannot replicate the massive SVT/Mesa stack, but the core tone is pedal-driven anyway. I set amp gain to 2 because the HD300 provides all the dirt; stacking would create mud. Mids pushed to 8 (vs typical 6) because the Max 158 is naturally scooped and the Precision's pickups are warmer than Cliff's modded Rickenbacker — you need that mid presence to cut. Bass at 3 keeps the low end tight rather than boomy through the small 8-inch speaker.

PRO TIPCliff played fingerstyle with aggressive attack near the bridge pickup — dig in hard and let your fingers snap the strings. The percussive transient is half the tone. Without a wah pedal, you can fake some of the effect by manually sweeping your tone knob during sustained fuzz notes, but a real wah is the missing 40% of this sound.

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These settings are for a Peavey Max 158 bass. 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.