MOP was Hetfield's SeymourD Invader loaded guitar into the preamp of some Mesa Mark amp. That amp's preamp was slaved into a Marshall power amp. Easy to recreate at home, obviously.
Then he recorded three rhythm tracks, one left, one right and one in the middle. Try copying that! ;-) BTW Kirk was not allowed to record any rhythm tracks. Hetfield probably considered him the noob in the band or whatever.
Wow...lots of info. Where to start... 8) Anywho, I never stated that I wanted the "Master of Puppets" tone. What I said was that when I play, I like tones "ala Album X and Y". Those are nothing more than references to describe a sound because it's the easiest way to get a point across.
I actually spoke with Flemming prior to him posting those settings online. It was probably about a year prior. I'm the one who mentioned to that forum they should contact Flemming (who I knew didn't care sharing info because I spoke with him before), which resulted in him posting them.
Master of Puppets was Kirk's Mesa Mark IIC+ Head slaved into a couple JCM 800's they had at the time. There was actually 6 tracks of rhythm on there, not 3...and none were up the middle. There was 2 tracks of the main rhythm, 2 tracks of the countering rhythm, and 2 tracks of just the palm muted low E's in the song for extra chunk.
It's common practice for one guitarist to record all of the rhythm tracks (in metal at least). The reason being is that there is little nuances in everyones playing that sets them apart, and it's a lot easier for one person to double himself than have someone else try to copy it. When we record, I (or the other guitarist) will track all of the rhythm, and usually quad track everything (4 tracks of rhythm).
what 'live' in athens?
the amp settings for all up to the black album are available on the net.. though black is the most complete.
kirk not playing rythm.. it's cos hetfield is lightyears ahead of him as far as rythm playing goes and it's easier for everyone that het plays everything 5 times, than to wait for kirk to record it 50 times.
as far as the tracks on each album go.. AJFA has WAY too many to list. try 5 different amps and a couple of different guitars. thus producing the thick sound (though the bass on that record is just ridiculous)
AJFA was pretty much the same as MOP, though this time they slaved the IIC+'s into a Mesa strategy 400 Power Amp instead of a Marshall. I think the only track that featured a different amp was "Shortest Straw", which was a Mesa Quad Preamp. There's various things like a JC-120 and an ADA MP-1 on places for cleans and leads, but the bulk of the album is just the IIC+. They were also using EMG's by this time.
And yeah...gotta love the "live feel" of Alive in Athens... 8)
his white flying v copy didn't have an invader yet, at least not on the photos of that time
but the black one had a 500t, which is closer to painkiller
Yeah, to my knowledge, Eric is right on this one. If I recall correctly, it was still the 500T at that time.
Anyway, thanks again for all the info guys!