Back to CommunityCreate Free Account
Riff Tone
One (Live Seattle '89)
Metallica
Guitarmetal1980s
Original Gear
GuitarESP MX220 Explorer (custom, white finish, 1984-1989 era)
AmpRoland JC-120 Jazz Chorus (for clean sections, live 1989 Seattle)
Amp Settings
gain0
bass5.5
Create an account to see all tone details
Create Free AccountEffects & Signal Chain
Notes
Live performance, Seattle 1989. Clean sections played by James Hetfield on ESP MX220 Explorer with EMG pickups into Roland JC-120 for clean tone. Mesa/Boogie Mark IIC++ used for distortion, but NOT for clean intro/verse. JC-120 confirmed as clean amp for this era's live shows.
Tone Character(10)
pristinely cleanbright and articulatewarm neck pickup tonechorus shimmerclear, bell-like cleanssubtle reverb ambienceno distortion or breakup80s metal clean introfull-bodiedslightly compressed
Difficulty
The clean riff requires accurate picking and muting for clarity, but is not technically demanding in terms of speed or advanced techniques.
Create an account to adapt this tone to your gear
Create Free AccountGuitarmetal1980s
Original Gear
GuitarESP MX220 Explorer (custom, white finish, 1984-1989 era)
AmpRoland JC-120 Jazz Chorus (for clean sections, live 1989 Seattle)
Amp Settings
gain0
bass5.5
Create an account to see all tone details
Create Free AccountEffects & Signal Chain
Notes
Live performance, Seattle 1989. Clean sections played by James Hetfield on ESP MX220 Explorer with EMG pickups into Roland JC-120 for clean tone. Mesa/Boogie Mark IIC++ used for distortion, but NOT for clean intro/verse. JC-120 confirmed as clean amp for this era's live shows.
Tone Character(10)
pristinely cleanbright and articulatewarm neck pickup tonechorus shimmerclear, bell-like cleanssubtle reverb ambienceno distortion or breakup80s metal clean introfull-bodiedslightly compressed
Difficulty
The clean riff requires accurate picking and muting for clarity, but is not technically demanding in terms of speed or advanced techniques.