No. 0461984·thrash-metal·3 blocks
Fade to Black
Fade to Black begins with one of metal's most beautiful clean arpeggios before building to a wah-drenched lead solo. Hammett's ESP through a Mesa Boogie with a Cry Baby wah creates two distinct tones: the clean intro uses the neck pickup through a clean channel for crystalline arpeggios, while the solo engages the lead channel with a wah for Hammett's signature vocal phrasing.
Ride the LightningSignal path · input → output · 8 blocksLive values · Line 6 Helix
Guitar
ESP KH (custom)
Pickups
HH
Tuning
neck
Strings
standard
Volume Pedal
Deluxe Comp
Teardrop 310
Cali 2C+ Lead
4x12 XXL V30
Dynamic Plate
Tilt
Volume Pedal
← Volume pedal
Pedal
100%
Deluxe Comp
← Studio compressor
Threshold
-34dB
Ratio
2:1
Knee
6dB
Attack
0.0s
Release
0.2s
Mix
0.5
Level
2dB
Teardrop 310
← Dunlop Cry Baby
Heel
0.3
Toe
1
Mix
1
Level
0
Cali 2C+ Lead
← Mesa/Boogie Mark IIC+ (lead channel)
Drive
0.7
Bass
0.4
Mid
0.5
Treble
0.6
Presence
0.6
ChVol
0.7
Master
1
Bias
0.6
BiasX
0.5
Sag
0.5
Hum
0.5
Ripple
0.5
4x12 XXL V30
← Mesa 4x12 V30
LowCut19.9Hz
HighCut20100Hz
Level
0dB
Pan
0.5
Delay
0
Dynamic Plate
← Studio plate
LowCut130Hz
HighCut8000Hz
Mix
0.2
Decay
1.4s
Level
0
PreDelay
0.0ms
BassFreq
100
BassBoost
0
VarDelayAmpl
0.5
Damping
4500
MatrFreq
0.3
Tilt
← Tilt EQ (global brightness)
Tilt
0.5
CenterFreq
1000Hz
Level
0
Engineer's note
File 046
Fade to Black begins with one of metal's most beautiful clean arpeggios before building to a wah-drenched lead solo. Hammett's ESP through a Mesa Boogie with a Cry Baby wah creates two distinct tones: the clean intro uses the neck pickup through a clean channel for crystalline arpeggios, while the solo engages the lead channel with a wah for Hammett's signature vocal phrasing.
— Kirk Hammett
Sources · Verified by
Field notes for this tone
All field notes →Metallica Rhythm Tone Settings: Hetfield's Sound by Era
James Hetfield's rhythm tone broken down by album era: settings, gain structure, and how to dial it in on real amps and modelers.
Why Mesa Ships Rectifier Cabs With V30s (And When to Replace Them)
The Celestion V30 and the Mesa Dual Rectifier were made for each other, up to a point. Here's the frequency reason the pairing works, exactly where it breaks down for ultra-high-gain playing, and what to put in the cab instead.
Tom Morello Rage Against the Machine Tone Recipe
Tom Morello's tone broken down: the JCM800 gain structure, wah-as-filter technique, Whammy settings, and how to approximate it on a modeler or pedalboard.
