Tone library / Metallica / Seek and destroy

Seek and destroy amp settings — Orange Crush 20

The Metallica guitar tone for “Seek and destroy”, dialed in for a Orange Crush 20 with a Fender Player Stratocaster. Studio version, Kill 'Em All (1983) — James Hetfield rhythm riff tone

Original rig

Gibson Flying V (stock humbuckers) → Pro Co Rat → Marshall JCM800 2203 → 4x12 cab

Tight, aggressive thrash rhythm with scooped mids, razor-sharp pick attack, dry and percussive

Amp settings — Orange Crush 20

CHANNELDirty

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	8
Bass	6
Mid	3
Treble	7
Master	5

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Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE8 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01Pro Co Rat (or clone)

RECOMMENDED — not currently owned. Essential for this tone. The Rat provides the saturated high-gain that the Orange Crush alone cannot reach. Set amp to CLEAN channel with gain at 2-3 once you have this pedal.

Distortion 7 · Filter 4 · Volume 6

Why these settings

The Orange Crush 20 is warm with thick low-mids — the opposite of the JCM800's aggressive mid-bite. I've raised gain to 8 on the Dirty channel to extract maximum saturation, but the Crush tops out at hard rock crunch, not thrash metal. Your Strat's single coils are brighter and lower output than Hetfield's humbuckers, so I've cut treble by 1 and raised bass by 1 versus the original. The scooped mid (3) honors the original's character. Without a Rat or similar distortion pedal, you'll get maybe 60% of the aggression — the amp simply cannot produce JCM800 saturation levels.

PRO TIPHetfield's tone lives in his right hand — palm mute hard directly over the bridge saddles with the meat of your palm, attack with aggressive downstrokes, and angle your pick slightly for that percussive 'chunk'. The precision matters more than the gain.

Get this tone on your amp

These settings are for a Orange Crush 20. 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.