I Want to Sound Like Hetfield, Please Help!!

[Nick_cor]

How about, learn how to down stroke, and pick up a couple mark IIC+S and mark IVs

 

[Russ]

Actually Dave Mustaine claims to have showed James that stuff as far as spidering goes. It makes sense. Look at the credits too for up until MOP Mustaine is still in there but wasn't even in the band anymore. I think that they continued to use his riffs even after he left.

 

[Elpelotero]

i think the master riff was all hetfield tho...supposedly he used to play the riff on a higher string and it sounded bad...one day he moved it to the E and Kirk said "what was that!"

 

[Boogieman-1234]

I was attempting to get some insight in the actual amps and guitars he used to record load and reload. I understand the technique stuff but i was leaning more towards the actual tone. His rythm tone on load and reload is much like his live sound on the cunning stunts dvd. Im guessing its triaxis with the settings on montyjay's webpage, which is awsome by the way. I think alot of the thickness of his sound is due to the fact that he dedicates 4 channels to his sound. Also his sound has changed over the years the older albums when he used markIIc+'s was a bit thin, but that could have just been the recording method, where as on load and reload it was huge and thick? anyway glad to see the topic is getting some replies

 

[Russ]

I guess I am partial to the rawness of Kill'em All and RTL. I still dig MOP and AJFA. Something happened though after Bob Rock took control that made them sound not so Metallica. Granted the Black album was a real coming out but for some reason I just don't care for it as much as the old days of Metallica. Their new stuff to me is really hit and miss. It sounds like they are trying to sell albums rather than stick to their roots.

 

[Bullen]

I was attempting to get some insight in the actual amps and guitars he used to record load and reload. I understand the technique stuff but i was leaning more towards the actual tone. His rythm tone on load and reload is much like his live sound on the cunning stunts dvd. Im guessing its triaxis with the settings on montyjay's webpage, which is awsome by the way. I think alot of the thickness of his sound is due to the fact that he dedicates 4 channels to his sound. Also his sound has changed over the years the older albums when he used markIIc+'s was a bit thin, but that could have just been the recording method, where as on load and reload it was huge and thick? anyway glad to see the topic is getting some replies

James´ main amp on Load was still the IIC+, but they used a lot more midrange in thier sound than earlier. The Triaxis was also used as well as several other amps. Kirk´s main rhythm amp was a Triple recto.

The pre-Load stuff was very scooped, and they used a parametric eq to further shape the sound. They also used to have like 6 tracks of the same guitar thing, to get it thicker.
On Load it´s mainly just 1 rhythm track for each guy, to give it more definition.

 

[4nkam]

I was attempting to get some insight in the actual amps and guitars he used to record load and reload. I understand the technique stuff but i was leaning more towards the actual tone. His rythm tone on load and reload is much like his live sound on the cunning stunts dvd. Im guessing its triaxis with the settings on montyjay's webpage, which is awsome by the way. I think alot of the thickness of his sound is due to the fact that he dedicates 4 channels to his sound. Also his sound has changed over the years the older albums when he used markIIc+'s was a bit thin, but that could have just been the recording method, where as on load and reload it was huge and thick? anyway glad to see the topic is getting some replies

They did use a bunch of amps on Load but they were mainly for different textures and coloration. The main amps were a C+, Jose Arrendondo Modded Marshall, Triaxis, and a Triple Rectifier.

Their live racks at the time of recording Load were kind of a cross between what you find a few years prior to this point and what you see while touring for Load. So they had some of the older stuff in their, but the majority of the core tone are the amps mentioned above.

Reload was a bit different with the main change being the Wizard Modern Classic added to the mix.

One of the main reasons why James' early 90s tone was thinner than his later 90s tone is because early on, his main crunch was just the C+. Around Load, his main live tone was a combo of the C+ and recto (ld1 red) tones from his triaxis preamps.

 

[4nkam]

James started using VH4s while recording St. Anger and they've been a part of his live rig (along with the same triaxis setup) since then

 

[bentium]

the thing i find about his technique is that even if you can downpick as fast as him, you can not achieve the same "fluidity/groove/note transitions" that he gets. for example, that classis spider riff in the beginning of Master. I can only get that fluidity when I alternate pick it.

i get that fluidity only downstroking (i actualy plays most of my stuff downstroke )


btw: everybody here is telling things about a moddified Marshall head: wasnt that thing stolen back in the 80ies??? i also believe that that was the reason for writing "fade to black"


also, if i listen realy well to "fuel" of the cd, i can hear some AC30 (realy boosted it up, perhaps thru other cab) in it

 

[bentium]

oh, and i found something cool on youtube today


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQj095yldOw

 

[4nkam]

btw: everybody here is telling things about a moddified Marshall head: wasnt that thing stolen back in the 80ies??? i also believe that that was the reason for writing "fade to black"

The original used on Kill Em All was stolen. They later got replacements from different people. The modded marshalls they have used for a long time have been the Jose marshalls and it's a huge part of their sound.

They did use a ton of other amps on load/reload including Vox, Matchless, Fender, etc.