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 · 6 blocksLive values · Neural DSP Quad Cortex
Guitar
ESP Explorer (custom)
Pickups
HH
Tuning
bridge
Strings
standard
Noise Gate
Studio Comp
CA MkCC+
4x12 V30
Tilt EQ
Noise Gate
← Studio noise gate (FRFR essential)
Threshold
-52dB
Decay
0.3s
Level
0
Studio Comp
← Light studio compression
Threshold
-32dB
Ratio
2:1
Attack
38s
Release
200s
Mix
40
Level
0dB
CA MkCC+
← Mesa/Boogie Mark IIC+
Gain
7.5
Bass
3
Mid
3
Treble
7
Presence
5
Master
6
4x12 V30
← Mesa 4x12 V30
LowCut90Hz
HighCut8500Hz
Level
0dB
Tilt EQ
← Tilt EQ (global brightness)
Tilt
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
Sources · Verified by
Rate This Tone
Comments
Sign in to leave a comment.
