Scream of the Butterfly (Riff · Clean) — Guitar Tone
by Acid Bath · riff
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.
Community-researched baseline. Your rig is different — GuitarToneAdapt re-dials every knob for your specific guitar, amp and pickups.
Original gear
Amp: Marshall JCM900 Dual Reverb 100W OR Randall head (era sources conflict)
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.
What makes the Scream of the Butterfly part tricky
heavy down-picking, doom-y feel & dynamics. GuitarToneAdapt gets the tone right so you can focus on the playing.
Note: 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.