No. 0151986·thrash-metal·3 blocks
Master of Puppets
The definitive thrash metal rhythm guitar tone. James Hetfield's sound on Master of Puppets is built on an ESP Explorer with EMG pickups through a Mesa/Boogie Mark IIC+ — a combination that produces a tight, aggressive, scooped-mid tone with razor-sharp pick attack and crushing low end. The Mark IIC+ is the holy grail of metal amps: its lead channel provides high-gain saturation with incredible note definition even at extreme gain levels. Hetfield's relentless downpicking technique is the engine that drives this tone.
Master of PuppetsSignal path · input → output · 7 blocksLive values · Line 6 Helix
Guitar
ESP Explorer (custom)
Pickups
HH
Tuning
bridge
Strings
standard
Volume Pedal
Noise Gate
Deluxe Comp
Cali IV Lead
4x12 Uber T75
Tilt
Volume Pedal
← Volume pedal
Pedal
100%
Noise Gate
← Studio noise gate (added for FRFR usability — not period-correct for Sweet Silence sessions)
Threshold
-52dB
Decay
0.3s
Level
0
Deluxe Comp
← Light studio compression
Threshold
-32dB
Ratio
2:1
Knee
6dB
Attack
38s
Release
200s
Mix
40
Level
0dB
Cali IV Lead
← Mesa/Boogie Mark IIC+ preamp → Marshall power amp ('ZX-Boogie' rig)
Drive
7
Bass
5.5
Mid
3
Treble
7.5
Presence
6.5
ChVol
6.5
Master
10
Bias
5.5
BiasX
5
Sag
4.5
Hum
5
Ripple
5
4x12 Uber T75
← Marshall 4x12 with Celestion G12T-75 speakers
LowCut19.9Hz
HighCut20100Hz
Level
0dB
Pan
0.5
Delay
0
Tilt
← Tilt EQ (global brightness)
Tilt
0.5
CenterFreq
1000Hz
Level
0
Engineer's note
File 015
The definitive thrash metal rhythm guitar tone. James Hetfield's sound on Master of Puppets is built on an ESP Explorer with EMG pickups through a Mesa/Boogie Mark IIC+ — a combination that produces a tight, aggressive, scooped-mid tone with razor-sharp pick attack and crushing low end. The Mark IIC+ is the holy grail of metal amps: its lead channel provides high-gain saturation with incredible note definition even at extreme gain levels. Hetfield's relentless downpicking technique is the engine that drives this tone.
— James Hetfield
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