Master of Puppets
Metallica · Master of Puppets · 1986
The main riff is Hetfield's white Jackson King V "Kill Bon Jovi" on the bridge Seymour Duncan Invader into a Mesa/Boogie Mark IIC+, with a BB/Aphex EQF-1 parametric EQ in the loop cutting the mids into a V curve. Most accounts have the Boogie slaved into a modified Marshall JCM800 driving two 4x12s, though Rasmussen himself has described a Boogie-only chain and has named a Gibson Flying V rather than the Jackson, so the guitar and the power stage are both argued over. Rhythms were multi-tracked with slightly different settings per pass, so a single amp will sound thinner than the record no matter how close the knobs are.
Where these numbers come from: the player said these settings themselves
Tuning
Standard tuning, no capo
Album and title track are in E standard; Metallica have played it live a half step down (Eb) since the '90s, so tune to standard to match the record.
Guitar
- Jackson Custom Shop King V ("Kill Bon Jovi") · Seymour Duncan Invader · bridge pickup
- Gibson Explorer · Gibson humbuckers · bridge pickup
Amp
Mesa/Boogie Mark IIC+
Gain is the Lead Drive control, with Volume 1 around 9, Master about 4 and Lead Master near 3.75; treble and most pots pulled, bass pushed. Values are the widely circulated reading of Flemming Rasmussen's handwritten session notes for the album's rhythm sound, and per-song sheets vary slightly.
Amp
Marshall JCM800 2203 (modified)
The Mark IIC+ was slaved into the modified JCM800's power amp and out to two Marshall 4x12s, so the Marshall's own preamp controls were bypassed; Rasmussen has also described the tone as the Boogie head alone, and that account is credible.
Pedals
- BB/Aphex EQF-1 · parametric EQ in the amp's effects loop · V-curve: boost lows and upper highs, deep cut around 700-800 Hz
- Mesa Mark IIC+ onboard 5-band graphic EQ · graphic EQ · Classic V shape, deepest cut in the 750 Hz slider
Tone character
tight palm-muted crunch · scooped mids · sharp treble bite · firm controlled low end · dry, fast attack
The main riff is all downstrokes at roughly 210 bpm with tight palm muting, so the challenge is right-hand stamina and keeping every eighth note even.
Want this on your own amp?
These are the record's settings. Tell us what you play through and we'll translate every knob to the amp you actually own — free.
Adapt it to my gearSources
No published source — the settings below are estimated by ear.