Sad but True
A slow, crushing riff in D standard under a heavily layered wall of guitars.
What is the Sad but True guitar tone?
The Sad but True guitar tone is a slow, crushing riff in D standard under a heavily layered wall of guitars, heard on Metallica's 1990s metal recording. It is a distorted riff tone, and Metallica reportedly tracked it with James Hetfield's black ESP MX-220, an Explorer-style guitar with EMG 81 and 60 pickups, tuned down to D after producer Bob Rock pointed out that every song was in E and told the band that Mötley Crüe had tuned to D on Dr. Feelgood, and Rock recalls that the riff became huge once they did; for the main riff Hetfield also played a Jerry Jones copy of a Danelectro six-string bass that he said belonged to Rock and sounded chunkier than his guitar tuned to D, which Guitar World places an octave below the guitar and Guitar.com as a layer of muted chugs; the rhythm sound is many layers, each through a different setup, built on Hetfield's mid-1980s Mesa/Boogie Mark IIC++ with, by Guitar.com's account, two Aphex EQF-2 equalisers cutting around 1.2kHz and an Aphex CX-1 compressor in its effects loop, blended with a Marshall modified by José Arredondo, most likely Rock's own, into Marshall 1960 4x12s with Celestion Vintage 30 speakers, and Guitar World admits it has to speculate on part of the chain because the details are still closely guarded; Hetfield added microtonal slides in the chorus that he said Kirk Hammett hated, calling them out of tune; the band recorded the album with Rock at One on One Studios in Los Angeles from October 1990, with engineers Randy Staub and Mike Tacci, and the song came out as the album's fifth single in February 1993. The weight comes from layered takes and controlled low end rather than from raw gain, which is the part most players overshoot.
You do not need that exact gear to land in the same place. What carries this sound is the gain structure, the EQ curve, the pickup choice and the order of the effects, and all four can be rebuilt on equipment that costs a fraction of the original. The numbers change from amp to amp, because a high-gain head and a small practice amp reach the same voicing from different knob positions. That translation is what Tonelify works out for the rig you actually own.
Sad but True amp settings: a starting point
On a generic five-knob amp, start at Gain 7, Bass 5, Middle 4, Treble 7, Presence 6, Reverb 2, with the bridge pickup.
- Gain 7
- Bass 5
- Middle 4
- Treble 7
- Presence 6
- Reverb 2
- Signal chain
- Mesa/Boogie Mark IIC++ with two Aphex EQF-2 equalisers and an Aphex CX-1 in the loop → Blended with a Jose-modded Marshall → Many layered takes, plus a six-string bass on the riff
- The control that matters most
- Tuning and layering. The song is in D standard, so tune all six strings down a whole step, and do not chase the record's weight with gain: it comes from many takes through different amps plus a six-string bass doubling the riff. Guitar World's reconstruction scoops the Mesa's midrange hard, but the Marshall in the blend puts some of it back, so on a single amp a moderate cut works better than a deep scoop.
These positions are free and they are a starting point. A Katana, a Spark and a valve head reach this voicing from different knob positions, so Tonelify rewrites every value above for the amp and guitar you own. Your first match is free with an account, and needs no card.
Adapt these to my amp- Pickup
- Bridge pickup
These are positions on a generic five-knob amp with gain, bass, middle, treble and presence, each running 0 to 10. They are a starting point, not the settings used on the record, and they will not transfer unchanged to an amp with a different gain structure or EQ voicing. If you tell Tonelify which amp you own, it rewrites every value above for the controls that amp actually has.
Published settings
What amp settings did James Hetfield use on Sad but True?
Volume 1 at 9.5, treble 5 with the shift pulled, bass 2, middle 0, master 1 at 4 with deep pulled, lead drive 6 with lead pulled, lead master 4 and presence 3 on a Mesa/Boogie Mark IIC++, with its five-band graphic EQ at +2 on 80Hz, 0 on 240Hz, -12 on 750Hz, 0 on 2.2kHz and +3 on 6.6kHz. That is Chris Gill's reconstruction in Guitar World's 2019 feature on the song, which says it can cover only about 60 percent of the sound and has to speculate because the details are still closely guarded, so read the numbers as the magazine's estimate rather than a note from the session. The same feature lists the Marshall's settings as unknown.
Source: Guitar World: the secrets behind Metallica's Sad But True
What gear did Metallica use on Sad but True?
James Hetfield's black ESP MX-220, an Explorer-style guitar with EMG 81 and 60 pickups, tuned down to D after producer Bob Rock pointed out that every song was in E and told the band that Mötley Crüe had tuned to D on Dr. Feelgood, and Rock recalls that the riff became huge once they did; for the main riff Hetfield also played a Jerry Jones copy of a Danelectro six-string bass that he said belonged to Rock and sounded chunkier than his guitar tuned to D, which Guitar World places an octave below the guitar and Guitar.com as a layer of muted chugs; the rhythm sound is many layers, each through a different setup, built on Hetfield's mid-1980s Mesa/Boogie Mark IIC++ with, by Guitar.com's account, two Aphex EQF-2 equalisers cutting around 1.2kHz and an Aphex CX-1 compressor in its effects loop, blended with a Marshall modified by José Arredondo, most likely Rock's own, into Marshall 1960 4x12s with Celestion Vintage 30 speakers, and Guitar World admits it has to speculate on part of the chain because the details are still closely guarded; Hetfield added microtonal slides in the chorus that he said Kirk Hammett hated, calling them out of tune; the band recorded the album with Rock at One on One Studios in Los Angeles from October 1990, with engineers Randy Staub and Mike Tacci, and the song came out as the album's fifth single in February 1993.
Sources: Guitar World: the secrets behind Metallica's Sad But True, Guitar.com: the gear used on Metallica's Black Album, Ground Guitar: James Hetfield's Danelectro Longhorn six-string bass, Wikipedia: Sad but True
Tonelify reads that chain and translates it to the amp and guitar you already own, returning gain, bass, mids, treble and presence values along with a pickup position.
How do you get the Sad but True tone on your own amp?
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Sad but True tone questions
What amp settings do you need for Sad but True?
On a generic five-knob amp, start at Gain 7, Bass 5, Middle 4, Treble 7, Presence 6, Reverb 2, with the bridge pickup. These are positions on a generic five-knob amp with gain, bass, middle, treble and presence, each running 0 to 10. They are a starting point, not the settings used on the record, and they will not transfer unchanged to an amp with a different gain structure or EQ voicing. Tonelify rewrites the same values for the specific amp and guitar you own, because a high-gain head and a small solid-state combo reach the same slow, crushing riff in D standard under a heavily layered wall of guitars from different positions.
What is the most important control for the Sad but True tone?
Tuning and layering. The song is in D standard, so tune all six strings down a whole step, and do not chase the record's weight with gain: it comes from many takes through different amps plus a six-string bass doubling the riff. Guitar World's reconstruction scoops the Mesa's midrange hard, but the Marshall in the blend puts some of it back, so on a single amp a moderate cut works better than a deep scoop.
Can you get the Sad but True tone without the original gear?
Yes. The original was tracked with James Hetfield's black ESP MX-220, an Explorer-style guitar with EMG 81 and 60 pickups, tuned down to D after producer Bob Rock pointed out that every song was in E and told the band that Mötley Crüe had tuned to D on Dr. Feelgood, and Rock recalls that the riff became huge once they did; for the main riff Hetfield also played a Jerry Jones copy of a Danelectro six-string bass that he said belonged to Rock and sounded chunkier than his guitar tuned to D, which Guitar World places an octave below the guitar and Guitar.com as a layer of muted chugs; the rhythm sound is many layers, each through a different setup, built on Hetfield's mid-1980s Mesa/Boogie Mark IIC++ with, by Guitar.com's account, two Aphex EQF-2 equalisers cutting around 1.2kHz and an Aphex CX-1 compressor in its effects loop, blended with a Marshall modified by José Arredondo, most likely Rock's own, into Marshall 1960 4x12s with Celestion Vintage 30 speakers, and Guitar World admits it has to speculate on part of the chain because the details are still closely guarded; Hetfield added microtonal slides in the chorus that he said Kirk Hammett hated, calling them out of tune; the band recorded the album with Rock at One on One Studios in Los Angeles from October 1990, with engineers Randy Staub and Mike Tacci, and the song came out as the album's fifth single in February 1993, but the parts that define the sound are the gain structure, the EQ curve, the pickup position and the effects order. Those translate to other equipment, which is what the adaptation step does.
Is Sad but True a rhythm or a lead tone?
It is a riff part with a distorted character, from Metallica's 1990s metal catalogue.
Does Tonelify cost anything to try?
Your first match for your own gear is free with an account, and needs no card. After that both plans start with a 7-day free trial: Stage is $6.99 a month for 20 matches, Headliner is $10.99 a month for unlimited matching within a fair use limit of 150 new matches a day, and yearly billing works out cheaper on both. Reading this page and the rest of the library costs nothing and needs no account.
