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)

PickupsEMG 81 (bridge), EMG 60 (neck) active humbuckers

Amp Settings

gain0

bass5.5

mid4.5

treble7

reverb3

presence3.5

Effects & Signal Chain

chorusUnknown Chorus pedal (model unknown)

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.

Sources

Album Analysis: Live Shit: Binge & Purge - Part 1 (Seattle)Seattle '89 To Live Is To Die Jam Tone : r/Metallica - Reddit

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