Dial in a Metallica Style Tone on the Silverline Deluxe

Dial in a Metallica Style Tone on the Silverline Deluxe

In this lesson you’re going to learn how to dial in a Metallica style metal tone on your Silverline amp. The patches for each tone are available on the Blackstar Insider website. They are also linked under each category below.

Each tone was inspired by specific songs/albums from different eras of the band from the early 1980s to the early 1990s.

Early 80s Metallica Tone

This tone is based loosely on the Kill Em All tone. This was a British style thrash tone with lots of mids and lots of attitude.

The album was recorded with an EL34 loaded amp but I found the KT88 setting worked better in this instance to get a higher headroom sound with a bit more top end aggression.

There is a lot of mid and treble in this tone, but the ISF is pushed back to give it a slight American edge.

This tone is totally dry other than a small linear delay just to add a slapback to thicken the guitar sound.

Download This Patch: https://architect.blackstaramps.com/community/view.php?id=6140&name=METALLICA%20KILL%20EM.

Mid 80s Clean Tone

This clean tone was inspired by the tone from Sanitarium, but it can be used as a more general Metallica style clean tone.

It is a combination of the Clean Bright voice and the 6L6 response. The mics are scooped out to give the clean tone a hollow sound.

This tone has lots of effects. A plate reverb set to a fairly big size for space, a linear delay set low for thickness and a quiet repeat and a heavy chorus for movement.

Download This Patch: https://architect.blackstaramps.com/community/view.php?id=6144&name=METALLICA%20CLEAN.

Mid 80s Thrash Tone

This tone was based on the Master of Puppets rhythm tone. It is a tight and punchy overdriven tone. Use a combination of the Super Crunch voice with the 6L6 response for this. You could use OD1 but it would be more saturated. The tone from this era of the bands career was heavy but crisp. The Super Crunch voice prevents it getting too distorted.

This tone has a room reverb for some space.

Download This Patch: https://architect.blackstaramps.com/community/view.php?id=6141&name=METALLICA%20MOP.

Early 90s Heavy Tone

This tone is based loosely on the Black Album tone, it is super saturated and heavy.

There is a very drastic midrange scoop here with the mids set down to 1. The OD1 voice provides the saturation and the 6L6 response helps accentuate the highs and lows.

To thicken this tone you can add an analogue delay for a slapback and a hall reverb to create space.

About The Author

Leigh Fuge is a professional guitar player from Swansea in South Wales that has written and created content for many high-profile guitar brands and publications such as PMT, RSL Rockschool, Trinity College London, Guitar.com and more.

He works with mgrmusic.com to provide high quality guitar content for guitar players of all abilities from around the country. To date, mgrmusic.com has successfully generated over 32,000 student enquiries for their network of music teachers around the country. Find a local teacher in your area today.