Any Clips/Recordings of the Metallica Master of Puppets Tone?

    Hi All, I'm new here, but have been following the progress of the KPA for some time now and am really close to placing an order for one (I'm in the US).


    I know that there's been Mesa Boogie Mark IIc+'s and Mark III's profiled, are there any clips of the 'MOP' tone? I understand it's not everyone's cup of tea, but to me it's been the most difficult high gain tone for a digital processor to recreate.


    Thanks..
    Michael

    So we´re speaking of this tone:


    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCSskPE4Wu0


    I am not an expert on Metallica´s tone, but i think you should be able to come VERY close. I have stored 3 Mark IIc+ profiles of other users which i would start trying with. Select a cab of the various "metal friendly" 1960 cab profiles i did and then start fine tuning with AMP EQ and definition. You can also hear a fair amount of leveling subgroup compression with longer attack time there.


    Maybe we can start a contest to recreate the tone as good as possible.

    Wow, thanks for the link. I always thought Metallica had a great metal tone. The naked guitars sound... well very naked. :D Never thought that it was the whole production which made it sound so good. Very revelating (is that a word?).

    Quote from schneidas


    Wow, thanks for the link. I always thought Metallica had a great metal tone. The naked guitars sound... well very naked. :D Never thought that it was the whole production which made it sound so good. Very revelating (is that a word?).

    Thats the whole story. I love the first 4 Metallica Albums, also for their visionary way of production at that time, just trying to do new things. But as soon as you get a little deeper into mixing and mastering you start to realize that it is the drums and bass that makes up 70 to 80 % of the mix. I see a few Reasons why Master of Puppets being one the most respected Metal Albums of all times:
    1. The Drum Sound was something completely new, with extreme dynamics and EQ settings.
    2. Hetfields Rhythm guitar playing is awesome. Extremely tight without the possibility of digital editing at that time. Quite a performance imo. Combined with that ultra scooped "Anti-Marshall" and tripe tracked guitars it became the prototype of modern metal "guitar wall of sound"
    3. Last but definitely not least its Cliff Burtons incredible talent and songwrtiting skills you hear at almost every melodic part.

    Thanks for the responses!

    Yes, that's it exactly.. That's several takes stacked on top of each other, so I wouldn't expect the KPA (or a real IIc+) to sound that full on it's own. And you're right about Hetfield, I read an interview with Flemming Rasmussen and he said that Hetfield's timing on overdubs was super tight.


    I'd love to hear someone try to dial in that tone on a IIc+ profile and several stacked tracks.


    I'm inching closer to putting in an order for a KPA, so maybe I'll be the one to do it! I have a Mark III combo amp that I'd like to profile with similar settings used for the Master of Puppets tone.

    Quote from XpennoKPA

    Not MOP I know but I did a couple of black album mixes, not trying to replicate the tone exactly but just to get a good boogie tone. You should be able to get close to MOP if that's your thing.


    Sad But True Intro


    Spence

    Man that sounds great! To me that's the closest Black album Recto digital simulation I've heard. Did you profile that yourself, or is it one of the stock or user shared profiles?

    I have a little bit to add to this subject, having done a weeklong workshop with Michael Wagener a few years back. Flemming Rasmussen did the tracking on "Puppets", so Michael had only limited info there but he did mix the album and here's what I can recall him saying about the guitars.


    First, Bob Rock's "Thickener" (mentioned in "A Year In The Life Of Metallica", as well as the "Classic Albums: Making Of , Pt. 1") was also used by Michael Wagener on "Puppets" who credited Flemming Rasmussen with the technique. This involved tracking just the notes played on the 6th (and possibly 5th) strings and layering them in at about 11 & 1 o’clock pan-wise along with 4 doubles of everything else (i.e, the full riffs ‘n chords) panned at 7, 9, 3 & 5 o’clock or thereabouts. MW commented that simple hard L/R panning was a bit too extreme and this helped fill in the mono image (and the chugs, I would imagine.)


    Second, he also mentioned that when recording rhythm parts that had thirds in them, James would record root 'n octaves while Kirk would record the third separately, also in octaves. Less intermodulation distortion that way, which explains the almost harmonized-guitar tone of Metallica's early rhythm tracks. Ronnie Montrose took this idea to the extreme on his instrumental album "The Speed Of Sound", which was around 1982 or thereabouts.


    So, there you go - six rhythm guitar tracks on "Puppets", and God knows how many cabs, mics and amps were involved. But definitely no Tube Screamers for Jaymes on that album, unlike RTL.


    -djh

    Quote from dhodgson

    So, there you go - six rhythm guitar tracks on "Puppets", and God knows how many cabs, mics and amps were involved. But definitely no Tube Screamers for Jaymes on that album, unlike RTL.


    And yet you can get 90% close to that tone by buying a 2C+ (or profiling one :whistling: ).

    Use your ears, not your mathematical sense.