Metal guitar tones

Researched amp settings for 211 metal songs — then adapted to your gear.

Starting point for Metal tone: gain 7.5 · bass 6 · mid 5 · treble 7 · presence 6 (out of 10)

Most-used amps: Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier (×19) · Mesa/Boogie Mark IIC+ (×8) · Marshall JCM800 2203 (×7) · Randall RG-100ES solid-state head (×5)

Amp settings for this genre

Genre-specific EQ cheat-sheets — averaged dials plus the famous tones for each amp.

Ampeg Bogner Diezel ENGL Laney Marshall DSL Marshall JCM800 Marshall JCM900 Marshall Plexi (Super Lead)Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier Mesa/Boogie Mark Series Orange Rockerverb Peavey 5150 / EVH 5150 Peavey 6505 Randall RG-100ES

🎛️ Dial any of these in for YOUR rig — free →

Master of Puppets — Metallica Enter Sandman — Metallica My Own Summer (Shove It) — Deftones Creeping Death — Metallica Floods — Pantera Unholy Confessions — Avenged Sevenfold Seek & Destroy — Metallica Cowboys from Hell — Pantera One — Metallica Fade to Black — Metallica Aerials — System of a Down Somewhere I Belong — LINKIN PARK Paranoid — Black Sabbath Floods — Pantera Diamond Eyes — Deftones Nothing Else Matters — Metallica Toxicity — System of a Down Holy Diver — Dio Ride the Lightning — Metallica Symphony of Destruction — Megadeth Walk — Pantera Chapter Four — Avenged Sevenfold Mr. Crowley — Ozzy Osbourne Sunami Style — Sunami Entombed — Deftones Iron Man — Black Sabbath Floods — Pantera In Dying Days — As Blood Runs Black Digital Bath — Deftones Planet Caravan — Pantera Clairvoyant Disease — Avenged Sevenfold Duality — Slipknot Epidemic of Hate — Dying Fetus In My Darkest Hour — Megadeth Passenger — Deftones Repulsive In It's Splendid Beauty — Crowbar Minerva — Deftones Blind — Korn Cemetery Gates — Pantera Praise the Lord (Opium of the Masses) — Dying Fetus Hand Of Blood — Bullet for My Valentine 浄土独唱 — Isiliel Rat Salad — Black Sabbath Dirt — Alice in Chains In My Dreams — Dokken ...And Justice for All — Metallica Second Heartbeat — Avenged Sevenfold Sleep Walk — Deftones The Best of Times — Dream Theater Hangar 18 — Megadeth Hole In the Earth — Deftones 5 Minutes Alone — Pantera Sonne — Rammstein For Whom the Bell Tolls — Metallica Decapitation Fornication — Infant Annihilator the great southern trendkill — Pantera Not Good Enough for Truth in Cliche' — Escape the Fate Stream of Consciousness — Dream Theater Clown — Korn This Love — Pantera No More Tears — Ozzy Osbourne The Devil In I — Slipknot hail to the king — Avenged Sevenfold In the End — LINKIN PARK ...And Justice for All — Metallica Hard Lines, Sunken Cheeks — Pantera Pull Me Under — Dream Theater Waking the Demon — Bullet for My Valentine My Curse — Killswitch Engage Flying Whales — Gojira Peace Sells — Megadeth Lullaby of a Deadman — Kevin Sherwood, Corey Redgrift & Elena Siegman Battery — Metallica With You — LINKIN PARK Sir This Is A Cutthroat Fashion — Her Words Kill Psychosocial (Live) — Slipknot Freezing Moon — Mayhem 115 (Remastered) — Kevin Sherwood & Elena Siegman Falling Away from Me — Korn Wherever I May Roam — Metallica Black No. 1 — Type O Negative Coming Undone — Korn Revenant — Loathe & NOWHERE2RUN Story to Tell — Death Gently — Slipknot Everytime I Die — Children of Bodom Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) — Marilyn Manson Outside — Staind No More Tears — Ozzy Osbourne Homicidal Retribution — Dying Fetus Kimdracula — Deftones Peace Sells — Megadeth Night Terror — Dream Theater In My Dreams — Dokken Epitaph — Necrophagist Cuntcrusher — Infant Annihilator Sign Of Life — Motionless in White I Won't See You Tonight, Pt. 1 — Avenged Sevenfold It's On! — Korn Shattered By Broken Dreams — Avenged Sevenfold No More Tears — Ozzy Osbourne KILL CAP — Speed The Number of the Beast (2015 Remaster) — Iron Maiden Hangar 18 — Megadeth Black Sabbath — Black Sabbath Back for More — Ratt Waffle — Sevendust Floods outro — Pantera The Ultimate Sin — Ozzy Osbourne Unfamiliar — Currents The Blue — Acid Bath Buried Alive — Avenged Sevenfold We Die Young — Alice in Chains Welcome to the Family — Avenged Sevenfold Got the Life — Korn Suicide Messiah — Black Label Society Chop Suey! — System of a Down Altars of Apostasy — Heaven Pierce Her Dead Skin Mask — Slayer The Grudge — TOOL One Step Closer — LINKIN PARK Papercut — LINKIN PARK That Was Just Your Life — Metallica Rust — Black Label Society Spheres of Madness — Decapitated Dead Memories — Slipknot My Curse — Killswitch Engage The Four Horsemen — Metallica Pink Maggit — Deftones Battle-Axe — Deftones Like Light to the Flies — Trivium I Don't Wanna Be Me — Type O Negative Cowboys from Hell (Live from Monsters In Moscow Festival, 1991) — Pantera Preludio Obsesivo — Rata Blanca Dancing Dead — Avenged Sevenfold Cemetery Gates — Pantera dorisu karano tegami — deadman Hangar 18 (2004 Remix) — Megadeth Atba'a Al-Namrood — Al-Namrood Gifted Every Strength — Loathe Blood Eagle — Periphery Two Towers — Fit for An Autopsy La Valse Du Temps — LANDMVRKS Taion — the GazettE Evil Never Dies — Judas Priest Bury Me With My Screams — Trivium Off the Heezay — A Trust Unclean Gone Away — Five Finger Death Punch Honey Bucket — Melvins Honor Never Dies — Hatebreed Blackest Eyes (Live) — Porcupine Tree The Power in Belief — ICE NINE KILLS Plaster 2 (Figure.09 Demo) — LINKIN PARK Cryoshock (feat. Mel Rose) — Mechina A Dying Machine — Tremonti Scars — I Prevail Revolution Is My Name (Radio Edit) [2020 Remaster] — Pantera Blackest Eyes — Porcupine Tree Forgotten — LINKIN PARK Your Treachery Will Die With You — Dying Fetus Cemetary Gates — Pantera Schism — TOOL Lateralus — TOOL Forty Six & 2 — TOOL B.Y.O.B. — System of a Down Hypnotize — System of a Down Lonely Day — System of a Down Before I Forget — Slipknot Wait and Bleed — Slipknot Sulfur — Slipknot The Trooper — Iron Maiden Run to the Hills — Iron Maiden Down with the Sickness — Disturbed Du Hast — Rammstein Raining Blood — Slayer Bleed — Meshuggah War Pigs — Black Sabbath Highway Star — Deep Purple Breaking the Law — Judas Priest Fear of the Dark — Iron Maiden Hallowed Be Thy Name — Iron Maiden BFG Division — Mick Gordon Live and Learn — Crush 40 The Rumbling — SiM FREEZE ME UP — SiM CAFO — Animals as Leaders Thrill — BAND-MAID Rules of Nature — Metal Gear Rising Omen — Crossfaith Antisocial — Trust Gimme Tha Power — Molotov Feed the Fire — coldrain Ulitsa Roz — Aria Igra s ognyom — Aria Fukagyaku Replace — MY FIRST STORY Cirice — Ghost Circle With Me — Spiritbox Throne — Bring Me The Horizon Popular Monster — Falling in Reverse Watch the World Burn — Falling in Reverse Tornado of Souls — Megadeth Crazy Train — Ozzy Osbourne Cemetery Gates — Pantera Mr. Crowley — Ozzy Osbourne Enter Sandman — Metallica Sad but True — Metallica N.I.B. — Black Sabbath Megalovania — Undertale (Toby Fox)One Winged Angel — Final Fantasy VII Psychosocial — Slipknot Unsainted — Slipknot

Metal amp settings — FAQ

What are the best amp settings for metal?

Averaged across 211 researched metal tones: gain 7.5, bass 6, mid 5, treble 7, presence 6 (out of 10). Start there, then fine-tune by ear and adapt to the amp you actually own.

What amp is best for metal?

The amps most used across these metal tones are Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier, Mesa/Boogie Mark IIC+, Marshall JCM800 2203, Randall RG-100ES solid-state head. You don’t need the exact amp — GuitarToneAdapt re-dials any metal tone for the amp and guitar you already own, free in the browser.

How do I get a metal guitar tone with the gear I have?

Start with gain 7.5, bass 6, mid 5, treble 7, presence 6 (out of 10), then let GuitarToneAdapt compensate for your specific amp, guitar and pedals so it sits like the record — free, no new gear.