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Riff Tone
The Unforgiven II
Metallica
Guitarmetal1990s
Original Gear
GuitarESP MX-250 (James Hetfield's main guitar for Load/Reload era)
AmpRoland JC-120 Jazz Chorus
Amp Settings
gain0
bass5.5
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Notes
Studio recording, 1996-1997 (Reload album). Clean sections of 'The Unforgiven II' are widely reported to use the Roland JC-120 for its signature clean and chorus sound. James Hetfield used the ESP MX-250 with EMG pickups for this era. No evidence for live-specific gear for the studio clean tone.
Tone Character(10)
warm and smoothlush chorus shimmercrystal clear cleansrounded attackslight reverb ambiencemid-scooped but not thinfull-bodiedno audible distortionstudio-polished claritysubtle compression from active pickups
Difficulty
The clean riff requires precise arpeggiated picking and smooth chord transitions, but is not technically advanced. The chorus effect highlights any mistakes, requiring clean technique.
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Create Free AccountGuitarmetal1990s
Original Gear
GuitarESP MX-250 (James Hetfield's main guitar for Load/Reload era)
AmpRoland JC-120 Jazz Chorus
Amp Settings
gain0
bass5.5
Create an account to see all tone details
Create Free AccountEffects & Signal Chain
Notes
Studio recording, 1996-1997 (Reload album). Clean sections of 'The Unforgiven II' are widely reported to use the Roland JC-120 for its signature clean and chorus sound. James Hetfield used the ESP MX-250 with EMG pickups for this era. No evidence for live-specific gear for the studio clean tone.
Tone Character(10)
warm and smoothlush chorus shimmercrystal clear cleansrounded attackslight reverb ambiencemid-scooped but not thinfull-bodiedno audible distortionstudio-polished claritysubtle compression from active pickups
Difficulty
The clean riff requires precise arpeggiated picking and smooth chord transitions, but is not technically advanced. The chorus effect highlights any mistakes, requiring clean technique.