Battery guitar tone
Metallica · James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett
Master of Puppets (1986)
layered acoustic prelude into dry dense Mark IIC+ thrash
- Tuning
- E standard (A=440)
- Tempo
- 190 BPM
The rig Metallica used
Researched from interviews, production write-ups and gear histories — not guessed.
Guitar
Layered acoustic intro; Hetfield Explorer/white-V family with passive ceramic bridge humbucker for rhythm
Amplifier
Mesa/Boogie Mark IIC+ Crunchberries for rhythm with B&B/Aphex loop EQ; Hammett lead uses Mark IIC++/Boogie-Marshall family with Tube Screamer and Cry Baby as needed
Cabinet
Two Marshall 4x12 cabinets; exact speaker complement unresolved
Microphone
Six-mic/two-cab method including SM57, B&K/DPA omni and AKG gold-tube positions through a Trident A-Range path
Signal chain
The order the original sound was built in. The exact settings get dialled for your own amp or modeller when you generate the tone.
Get this tone on your rig
Pick your amp or modeller and we’ll build Battery for it — with a preset file you can load, not a list of knob positions.
Sources
- Flemming Rasmussen production interview: https://www.musicradar.com/artists/producers-engineers/all-the-albums-i-did-with-metallica-were-recorded-on-24-track-analogue-tape-theres-not-a-computer-in-sight-how-flemming-rasmussen-produced-metallicas-classic-master-of-puppets
- Crunchberries history: https://www.metallicagearhistory.com/post/mesa-boogie-crunchberries-amp
- Rasmussen Tape Op interview: https://tapeop.com/interviews/172/flemming-rasmussen-riding-the-sweet-silence
- Line 6 official Helix 3.80 model catalog: https://line6.com/helix-models/
- Fractal Audio FM9 current downloads and manuals: https://www.fractalaudio.com/fm9-downloads/
- Fractal Audio Blocks Guide: https://www.fractalaudio.com/downloads/manuals/fas-guides/Fractal-Audio-Blocks-Guide.pdf