Death magnetic and Mark amps????

[mystidream]

They just cannot get it right no matter what they do, huh?

I am certainly not a Metallica fanboy, but everyone in the world cried when they pierced their tongues and started trying to be blues metal fusion.

They finally release an album that doesn't make me run to the sh!t with my hands over my mouth and the bashing still continues.

It's a good album. It is NOT Master of Puppets, but it is a good album.

And as for tone - have you ever heard any METAL album that had splendid tone? It is METAL, not Texas blues. The tone isn't bad, it isn't good. It is the tone they chose for what they wanted to do.

It's easy to be an armchair critic but I am pretty sure that they could of released a classical album (oh wait, they did that already) or country western and you'd all still kick it.

+1. Amen. Finally someone gets it.

As for the album, I personally think it rocks. Cool riffs, awesome lyrics. Sure the guitar tone isn't as good as Puppets or anything like that, but then again, James is using those Diezel VH-4's most of the time mixed with the Triaxis'. I've pretty much gotten used to Kirk's sloppy playing and horrible tone, and all the wah debauchery, but all in all, this is a pretty rockin' album, its something I can bang my head to, and its better than St. Anger. Thats all that matters to me.

 

[EvoLove 34]

also, check out "we die young" by AIC. great lead tone man.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTIAaJcc0I0

\



jerry cantrells tones are AWESOME!

i love AIC.

 

[mystidream]

When it comes to all the "why can't this album be another Master of Puppets"? or "I wish it sounded like Master of Puppets" I say:

Uh, newsflash: its not the 80's anymore. I doubt Metallica would want to do another album that sounds like Puppets or Justice. Puppets is a classic and I'd hate to see it end up copied in a new way. I think Death Magnetic is pretty good. Its 2008 and I'm sure Metallica wants to be somewhat modern, I'm sure it keeps them going.

And just so you guys know, I'm not knocking any of you. I respect everyone's opinions, but I've seen many threads on different forums bashing DM and people saying they wish Metallica was as good as they were back in the 80's, which is silly, because obviously they're getting older, James' voice isn't going to be the same as it was back then, and all their playing will probably never be as good as it was back then. Nonetheless, this album rocks, James' voice is pretty sick, I love the riffs and song structures, I'm glad that they put out something that they're happy with.

 

[Anonymous]

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[mr_fender]

So far I like the new album. Definitely better than St. Anger. That was a steaming heap. Some of the songs are OK, but the production (or lack thereof) was pathetic. Mushy guitars all tuned down and that HORRIBLE mix.

When the hell did Lars forget how to play drums. He's never been the greatest drummer, but for @#$%'s sake play something other than

kick, snare, kick, kick, snare, kick, snare, kick, kick, snare...

What happened to all the great tom fills and time signature changes.

At least this album has some solos on it. There's not a single solo on St. Anger. Was Kirk on vacation for that album.

Anyway, after nearly 30 years, those guys still kick ***.

 

[Anonymous]

Post removed.

 

[merendina]

I'm a little bit cofused about Death Magnetic album..

Some songs are good, others sounds to me as glued riffs..

Kirk don't want to spend time for build good solos. He make just fucking rumors with his rack wah.. so he can hide the playing errors

However a great jaymz's right hand..

But the really strange thing is the record low quality, compression, no dynamic, ad distorted overall mix.
Too much compressor for the voice that is behind the mix..
Where is the Bob Rock's Snare and kick?
And Where is the Bob rock's sound clarity?

These are probably the Bob's marks!

in addition to that. they want to recreate the 80's in the 2008 and this is wrong ..

They was the heavy metal patriots with masterpiece albums when the world was ready for the "metal fight", as the sex pistols for the punk scene.

But the world change and the meaning of this album loss sense because it's builded without a cause..

this is my opinion

 

[Bisconne]

Ok, here's my 2 cents or how the saying goes.
When I first listened to it I was utterly disgusted, yes disgusted. From my point of view as a fan, I have to say, that I am more fan of music than fan of a band. Unforgiven III for instance is totally different than previous two, so I did not like it. But now that I listened to it couple of times and put aside that it is let's say it sequel to Unforgiven I or II and I find it very good, one of my favourites, because, the structure of the song is in place and conceptualy structured in the right way. I have a feeling that some songs are made of riffs piled together in a way that everyone had a riff and they put it in for the sake of it not for the sake of song. So Unforgiven III is the only song that has the structure that makes sense. The day that never comes is nice untill bridge and solo starts. So anyhow if I put aside these riff stuff that bothers me, everytime I listen to it, the more I like it. We have to step outside the box or the opinion or the image that we have of them as the previous collegue said, they are older, slower adn mostly different. I am sure that with time I will like it more and it is good that they are trying to deliver us something we craved for since the justice or black album… and I believe that this is not a record like St. Anger, it will take time, so let's give them time and forgive them for St. Anger fiasco!
Keep it Metal!!!

 

[oogie]

actually they DID use there old mark IIc+ on death magnetic according to Mike B who i spoke to recently. He said he had just sent there IIc+'s (3 of them) back to them after checking them out and i think he said he changed them in some way but would not elaborate on it. but yes there is IIc+ on death magnetic, i can definatly here it....not on every song though.

 

[rgx612a]

I'd say that Hetfield's leads in "Suicide & Redemption" are the Mark IIC+... just a guess?

 

[shredi knight]

Hetfield says in the new Guitar World that his main amp for the album was the Mark IIc+ (he also mentions using the Triaxis). I'm not going to type out the whole part here he talks about it (too damned lazy ), but here's a few of quotes from the interview:



"....I'm also plugging into the Mesa/Boogie Mark IIc+ that we used on all the early albums"


"....I always think I can make my sound better. So you get every amp company in the world coming in with their latest product, including prototypes of things that haven't even been built yet, and at first it's like going to guitar heaven. But then I start plugging everything in, and by the time I whittle it down, I'm back with my Eighties Mesa/Boogie "crunch berries".


"We'd have three or four amps going at the same time. We'd just morph between the tracks to see what sound felt best for the song. We used an Ampeg for some things, and I'm still using my Mesa/Boogie Triaxis preamp, but the C+ usually ended up taking over the left side [of the stereo spectrum], which is my side"

 

[TemporarilyStairs]

I really think Death Magnetic is easily the best overall album they've recorded since '91, though there's been some great tracks since then... but I have to agree on some of the questionable nature of the production. Rubin, as it seems he does often, crushed the hell out of stuff, and the drums particularly sound kinda wonky to me, particularly when Lars decides it's time to randomly switch to double-time kickkickkickkick crap. Thankfully technology is way better than it was even a few short years ago, but the overall insane over-compression is painfully evident, and not even used to great effect in my mind. I've heard plenty of extremely squashed albums that have a much better overall sound/feel to them than this, and just listen to how much the drums take over the mix as soon as double kick starts up... yuck. Funny to see/hear that the 'PONG' snare drum wasn't totally a production issue from St Anger, since it's definitely there in this disc too.... apparently that's the snare that Lars likes these days.

The guitar tone is pretty decent, but overall I think it's their worst recorded tone result ever, other than St. Anger. Lots of high and high-mids that make it sound... well, if I'm feeling generous I'd say it sounds modern, but if I'm not, I'd say it sounds buzzy or fizzy.

If nothing else, I really dig the album and I think it proves that Metallica could probably write, orchestrate, produce, and record Beethoven's 9th and a large percentage of the 'fans' would say it was a pretentious piece of crap ;P

I'm also confused by my opinion of Jaymezaah... he's probably 10x the singer he used to be, but at times he just doesn't quite sound 'right' Whereas fifteen years ago, he wasn't that 'great' but he always seemed to, for lack of a better term, 'fit.'

Anyway, if the MkIIC+ was a significant part of the recording, I love to see that this gem can be thrown through a modern recording process, Rick Rubin production, and sound as brutal/modern/rockin' as any other amp currently out there. A great testament to Mesa's engineering, or possibly a great blow to the weakness of amp technology over the past 20 years... you make the call. I must say, it would've been really nice to have had a major guitar-tone breakthrough in my lifetime that didn't consist of trying to digitally recreate old tones ;P

But, as I've said, it's Metallica, and it's Rick Rubin, two entities where, even when they 'miss' seem to put together mostly solid pieces of music, and I'm quite happy to see this album out. I think had this album been released back when Load was, we'd all be saying "Well, this is a pretty good Metallica album," as opposed to the way we're comparing it to a weird, 15 year tangent they've gone on heh.

 

[Elpelotero]

Despite what repors and interviews are saying, I just can't HEAR the C+ in this album. Perhaps on a few leads/solos, but certainly not as a main rhythm piece. By itself, the C+ has a "squishy creaminess" to it. If you've played one, you know what I'm talking about. The dynamics are so intense that every little nuance of the pick hitting the strings is picked up. Furthermore, it has a beautiful smoothness on it that I'm not hearing on this album.

In other words, my opinion is this:
1. If they used it, it's very much blended in with other stuff.
2. If they used it, Fidelman took away its character in the mixing.

 

[Bourque]

This would make sense why I felt I could get a tone pretty close to the album tone with my Mark IV. I thought they were using Diezel though which to me sounds like modern versions of the Mark series. Pretty liquidy, tight but bigger bottom end. I find the sound to be similar to Adam Jones 10 000 days tone which is also pretty obtainable with the Mark IV.

I have never played a IIC+ but form hearing it on albums and clips I'd say it sounds a lot like one on the first track. Then it sounds like he switched to something else for the next 2 tracks... after that I can't remember but That Was Just Your Life has the high end bite and smooth chunk to me of a C+. That's the track I was working on learning and was surprised how close I could get with the Mark IV.

All in all if you can get past the botched production distortion and crap, the guitar tones, I think, are pretty cool.

 

[mr_fender]

I went out and bought the album and I have to say it sounds pretty good on the CD. I was listening to some crap MP3's before and the compression sucked. The mix is pretty **** loud, but it seems like all new albums are like that. They are always way too over-compressed when mastered. They need to let mixes breath more. So many CD's these days are so fatiguing to listen to for any period of time. I had it in my cd changer right next to Master of Puppets, and it's quite a bit louder than MOP.

Anyway the more I listen to it, the more I like it. It's not perfect, but it IS a good old 'tallica record. The guitars on some of the tracks do have a bit of a Mark series character to them. They're a little bit more buzzy, but they sound pretty good. That there Deth Veg-o-matic is startin' to grow on me!

 

[kingster911]

James definitely used his IIC+, I've read it multiple times now. I'm sure he used a TriAxis, Kirk used his Randall for certain but I've heard also that they had a variety of amps in the studio all cranked at the same time recording through most of them and then picking and choosing. I still agree, recorded way too loud.

 

[Bullen]

They used alot of amps on the record. IIC+, Mesa Stiletto, Krank Krankenstein, Kirks Randalls, Bogner Ubershall, Amped Lee Jackson, rectos, JMP Marshall, thier live racks etc. All were miked and then they used the faders on the mixing board to get the right sound. Which amps are the main ones and which just colour the sound slightly is anyones guess.

It can be seen on the "Making Magnetic" DVD that came with the limited edition coffin version of the album.

 

[Daxman73]

James definitely used his IIC+, I've read it multiple times now. I'm sure he used a TriAxis, Kirk used his Randall for certain but I've heard also that they had a variety of amps in the studio all cranked at the same time recording through most of them and then picking and choosing. I still agree, recorded way too loud.

Yeah, just read the interview in the new Guitar World magazine...There is definitely Boogie all over the album.

 

[themisfit138]

hmmmmmmm. i'm not hearing that squishy/creamy/smoothness on AJFA. sounds like you're describing a mark iv.

AJFA sounds more raw and abrasive to me on rhythm parts, like a mark III green i had...

There is good cause for that. James used the Quad Preamp, which is pretty much a Mark III