Scream of the Butterfly by Acid Bath (Riff · Clean) — Guitar Tone

The Scream of the Butterfly by Acid Bath guitar tone is built on a Marshall JCM900 Dual Reverb 100W OR Randall head, dialed in at gain 2.5/10, bass 5.5, mid 5.5, treble 6, presence 5 (community-researched baseline). Full breakdown below — then adapt every knob to your exact guitar and amp, free.

Amp settings (0–10)

Community-researched baseline. Your rig is different — GuitarToneAdapt re-dials every knob for your specific guitar, amp and pickups.

How these settings compare

Measured against the 284 metal tones in our researched catalog: Gain 2.5 sits well below the metal average (7.3) — cleaner and more dynamic than typical metal; mids at 5.5 are right around average (5.2).

Guitar controls

Original gear

Amp: Marshall JCM900 Dual Reverb 100W OR Randall head (era sources conflict)

Ibanez Rocket Roll II with EMG 81 (bridge), Morley wah; Mike Sanchez’s rig undocumented. Thick NOLA sludge crunch.

Gear used on this tone

Don’t own this gear? GuitarToneAdapt re-creates the sound on the rig you actually have.

Pickups

bridge humbucker (EMG 81, active)

Effects / signal chain

reverb

Tone character

haunting clean, melodic, dark

Recording context

studio

How it’s played

clean / haunting melodic distortion. This shapes how hard the amp is pushed and where the EQ sits for the Scream of the Butterfly sound.

Difficulty

5/5 · Riff

The riffs are groove-driven; the tone is a fat, saturated crunch more than technical precision.

Worth knowing

• Scream of the Butterfly is Acid Bath’s haunting, mostly-clean side — a dark, reverbed clean for the verses. Back the gain right off and let the melody and space carry it.
• Acid Bath are an underground 90s NOLA sludge-metal band, so the gear is only partly documented and these settings are lower-confidence estimates — clearly a STARTING POINT, not a recall sheet. What is known: Sammy Duet played an Ibanez Rocket Roll II with an EMG 81 in the bridge; the amp during the When the Kite String Pops era is reported as either a Marshall JCM900 Dual Reverb 100W or a Randall head (sources conflict), and a Morley wah was used. Mike Sanchez's exact rig is undocumented.
• The sound is a thick, crunchy, sludgy crunch — high but not super-tight gain, fat low-mids, not scooped. Aim for a saturated JCM900/Randall-style crunch with the EMG 81's tight high-output; dial bass and gain to taste for the doom-y weight.
• Estimates are community-researched; verify by ear against the recording.

Scream of the Butterfly guitar tone — FAQ

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Sources

• Sammy Duet Gear — Equipboard
• Acid Bath — When the Kite String Pops gear — Equipboard
• Acid Bath Members, Gear & Sound — Equipboard

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