Tone library / Metallica / Screaming suicide

Screaming suicide amp settings — Fender Blues Junior IV

The Metallica guitar tone for “Screaming suicide”, dialed in for a Fender Blues Junior IV with a Fender Player Stratocaster. Studio version, 72 Seasons (2023)

Original rig

Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier, ESP guitars with EMG 81/60 pickups (Hetfield), ESP KH-2 and Gibson 'Greeny' Les Paul (Hammett), wah pedal on intro lead

Aggressive, tight palm-muted rhythm with midrange crunch and compressed high-gain saturation

Amp settings — Fender Blues Junior IV

BRIGHToff

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	3
Bass	4
Mid	8
Treble	5
Reverb	0
Master	7

Don’t have a Fender Blues Junior IV? See this song on other amps → Match your own rig →

Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE6 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01Fulltone OCD or similar high-gain overdrive

RECOMMENDED — not currently owned. This is essential. The Blues Junior cannot produce Rectifier-level gain on its own. The OCD or a ProCo RAT will get you closest. Set amp clean and let the pedal do all the dirt work.

Volume 7 · Drive 8 · Tone 4

02Noise Gate

RECOMMENDED — not currently owned. Metallica's tight palm mutes require dead silence between notes. An ISP Decimator or Boss NS-2 cleans up the high-gain pedal noise.

Threshold 5 · Decay 3

Why these settings

The original tone comes from a scooped, high-gain Rectifier with hot EMG pickups. Your Blues Junior is a clean platform with no high-gain channel, and your Strat's single coils are bright and low-output compared to EMGs. I set the amp nearly clean (gain 3) because ALL your distortion must come from a high-gain pedal — without one, this tone is unobtainable. Mid is pushed to 8 to compensate for the Rectifier's natural midrange bark that Fenders lack. Tone knob at 6 tames the Strat's ice-pick highs that EMGs don't have.

PRO TIPHetfield's rhythm attack is ALL downpicking with the pick angled slightly and palm planted firmly near the bridge saddles. The percussive 'chunk' comes from muting technique, not just gain — practice the downpick pattern at half speed with a metronome before adding distortion.

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

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