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Riff Tone

Enter Sandman

Metallica

Guitarmetal1990s

Original Gear

GuitarESP MX220 (James Hetfield's white 'Eet Fuk' Explorer-style guitar)
AmpMesa/Boogie Mark IIC+ (studio recording, 1991)

Amp Settings

gain7.5
bass6

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Effects & Signal Chain

Notes

Studio recording for 'Enter Sandman' (1991). James Hetfield used his ESP MX220 with EMG 81 pickups into a Mesa/Boogie Mark IIC+ head, no confirmed pedals for the riff section. Settings are estimated based on era, genre, and typical Mark IIC+ usage for Metallica's Black Album sessions.

Tone Character(10)
tight and percussivescooped midsaggressive palm mutinghigh-gain saturationarticulate low-endcrisp, biting treblechunky rhythm tonecompressed and controlledminimal ambiencemodern metal clarity

Difficulty

The riff requires tight, percussive palm muting, precise alternate picking, and control over string noise at high gain, making it moderately challenging for intermediate players.

This tone has been researched 264 times by the community

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