Riff Tone

Master of Puppets

Metallica

Guitarmetal1980s

Original Gear

Guitar1984 Gibson Explorer

AmpMesa/Boogie Mark IIC+

PickupsEMG 81 (bridge), EMG 60 (neck) active humbuckers (note: original recording likely used stock Gibson pickups or Seymour Duncan Invader; EMGs were adopted later, but some sources suggest they may have been used during the Puppets sessions)

Amp Settings

gain0

bass5.5

mid4

treble7

reverb1

presence5.5

Effects & Signal Chain

No effects used for this tone

Notes

Studio recording, 1985-1986. Clean section likely used the neck pickup and clean channel of the Mesa/Boogie Mark IIC+. No pedals confirmed for the clean section. Some sources suggest a Roland JC-120 was used for cleans live, but not confirmed for studio. Settings estimated based on typical 1980s metal clean tones and available forum discussions.

Tone Character(10)

bright and glassyarticulate and clearslightly compressedpercussive attackwarm but not muddydynamic responseminimal breakupstudio reverb adds spaceno chorus or modulationclassic 1980s clean metal

Difficulty

The clean intro requires accurate alternate picking, clean arpeggios with string skipping, and dynamic control to maintain clarity and articulation at a fast tempo.

Sources

How to get the clean tone heard on Master Of Puppets?Tips for getting the master of puppets tone? : r/Metallica Master of puppets guitar tone : r/Metallica

This tone has been researched 15 times by the community

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