Riff Tone
Blackened
Metallica
Guitarmetal1980s
Original Gear
GuitarESP MX220 (aka 'Eet Fuk') Explorer-style
AmpMesa/Boogie Mark IIC+ (studio recording, 1988)
PickupsEMG 81 (bridge), EMG 60 (neck) active humbuckers
Amp Settings
gain0
bass5.5
mid4.5
treble7
reverb1.5
presence6
Effects & Signal Chain
No effects used for this tone
Notes
Studio recording for '...And Justice for All' (1988). Clean intro/riff likely used the neck pickup (EMG 60) for a glassy, articulate clean. No evidence of pedal use for clean section; all effects from amp or post-processing.
Tone Character(10)
glassy and pristinearticulate and brighttight and percussive attackslight reverb ambiencehigh headroomactive pickup clarityno audible breakupstudio-polished cleanno modulation or delayfocused and clear
Difficulty
The clean riff requires fast, accurate alternate picking and tight muting to maintain clarity at tempo, but does not involve advanced chord shapes or complex fingerings.
Sources
Create an account to adapt this tone to your gear
Create Free AccountGuitarmetal1980s
Original Gear
GuitarESP MX220 (aka 'Eet Fuk') Explorer-style
AmpMesa/Boogie Mark IIC+ (studio recording, 1988)
PickupsEMG 81 (bridge), EMG 60 (neck) active humbuckers
Amp Settings
gain0
bass5.5
mid4.5
treble7
reverb1.5
presence6
Effects & Signal Chain
No effects used for this tone
Notes
Studio recording for '...And Justice for All' (1988). Clean intro/riff likely used the neck pickup (EMG 60) for a glassy, articulate clean. No evidence of pedal use for clean section; all effects from amp or post-processing.
Tone Character(10)
glassy and pristinearticulate and brighttight and percussive attackslight reverb ambiencehigh headroomactive pickup clarityno audible breakupstudio-polished cleanno modulation or delayfocused and clear
Difficulty
The clean riff requires fast, accurate alternate picking and tight muting to maintain clarity at tempo, but does not involve advanced chord shapes or complex fingerings.
Blackened settings for your amp
Exact settings ToneAdapt players use on these amps.
More Metallica tones
- Master of Puppets · riff
- Enter Sandman · riff
- Seek & Destroy · riff
- Creeping Death · riff
- One · riff
- Fade to Black · solo
- Ride the Lightning · riff
- Fade to black · riff
- For Whom the Bell Tolls · riff
- One · riff