James Hetfield's Mark II C+ "Crunch Berries"

Here it is folks, James Hetfield's Holy Grail Mesa Boogie "Crunch Berries":



And a few other Mesa heads and his rack from 1993:

thanks I havent seen the middle pic before where did you find it
have anymore

Montyjay.com !!! :mrgreen:

He is 4nkam on this forum.

gosh.....

that one sure looks beat up! LOL I bet it's got KARMA

justice sessions....



some settings.....

The 4.25 on the Treble is a little surprising to me. It seems to be not part of the general consensus of 7-9.

Interesting.

Chip

I think little plastic Ernie's just went up in value. :lol:

chipaudette said:

The 4.25 on the Treble is a little surprising to me. It seems to be not part of the general consensus of 7-9.

Interesting.

Chip

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Me too. I did those settings once and it sounded nothing like Black Album, even with a bright guitar. I think he was using something else alongside the Mesa to get top end, and had the mesa set up as the low end. However, the graphic EQ is spot on for black album tone if you turn up the treble a little.

This is a bit disturbing to me. I was under the impression he used a MK IV for the Black album and the tour but I see the live **** road cases and the black album logo. I just got a IV and am worried because it doesn't seem to have as much gain as I thought. Does the IIC+ have more gain than the IV or am i just worrying?

-Angel

Masterof1angel said:

This is a bit disturbing to me. I was under the impression he used a MK IV for the Black album and the tour but I see the live sh!t road cases and the black album logo. I just got a IV and am worried because it doesn't seem to have as much gain as I thought. Does the IIC+ have more gain than the IV or am i just worrying?

-Angel

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You may quit worrying. They blended the IV with the IIC+ and about 50 other amps while recording the Black Album. The IV actually has slightly more gain than the IIC+. You may want to post a question on the "rigs and tones" board about how to get the sounds you are looking for.

ryjan said:

Masterof1angel said:

This is a bit disturbing to me. I was under the impression he used a MK IV for the Black album and the tour but I see the live sh!t road cases and the black album logo. I just got a IV and am worried because it doesn't seem to have as much gain as I thought. Does the IIC+ have more gain than the IV or am i just worrying?

-Angel

Click to expand...

You may quit worrying. They blended the IV with the IIC+ and about 50 other amps while recording the Black Album. The IV actually has slightly more gain than the IIC+. You may want to post a question on the "rigs and tones" board about how to get the sounds you are looking for.

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thanks for the reply. I know these f*ckers uses tons of stuff to get the sound they want on a CD. I've stopped chasing the "cd tone" long time ago. The best way to get the CD tone is to use a good multi-fx unit and plug it into audio speakers. :lol:

I always thought the IIC+ had more gain than the IV. But, thanks for confirming it doesn't.

The IV will sound darker and more compressed than the C+, making it a more modern sounding amp. It will also have a bit more gain that's accessible earlier on, whereas the C+ needs to be cranked more. If you up the presence and get an open sounding pickup, you'll get as close as you can to a C+ with the IV. But as mentioned, they also used the IV on that album, so technically you have what they used. Dial in those GEQ settings and you're 90% there.

Elpelotero said:

The IV will sound darker and more compressed than the C+, making it a more modern sounding amp. It will also have a bit more gain that's accessible earlier on, whereas the C+ needs to be cranked more. If you up the presence and get an open sounding pickup, you'll get as close as you can to a C+ with the IV. But as mentioned, they also used the IV on that album, so technically you have what they used. Dial in those GEQ settings and you're 90% there.

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True dat! I can get my IV to sound identical to the Black ALbum, AJFA, and MOP. Just that inherent "mark" amp sound. Pickups make a HUGE difference though. I use EMG's and have the gain at 8 and the lead drive at 5.75 with gain to spare. (I also have a violent pick attack) If my buddy plugs into my amp with his medium gain pups, he has to turn the lead drive up to 8 to get the same saturation.

The Mark IV does not have more gain than a IIC+. They both have about the same amount which at their limits is way more than you will ever need so it really doesn't matter anyway.

I wouldn't worry about a lack of gain on the Mark IV. Those two words don't belong together. Before buying my Mark IV I used a Randall RG75 SS and was worried when I got the Mark that it may not have enough gain for modern metal. How wrong was I!

If your Mark IV is working properly with all tubes running good you should be able to dial in too much gain to the point it becomes oversaturated and notes run to mush. I run mine with Lead drive and gain at around 7-8 and the treble at around 7-8 also. Presence at around 6, Class A running two =C= 6L6's, Tweed power, Mid Gain and Pentode.

Man it sounds incredible. The EQ is in and running with a modified V thats not completly scooped.

If anything the Mark IV has taught me to back off the gain and I always find myself sometimes backing the gain stages down further as it sounds even tighter and crunchier.

I really believe all of the Metallica tones can be found in a Mark IV with the right tubes, settings and EQ.

Although at the moment i'm really digging LOG and the Mark nails that tone whn playing along! (Funnily enough)

+1
Yesterday, for the first time, I was able to dial in a good saturated lead tone without an OD pedal in front or a graphic eq pedal in the loop. I'm very happy with the tone. All I have is a Tuner pedal and a Delay pedal in the loop. If I can find a way to eliminate those too... :mrgreen:

Masterof1angel said:

This is a bit disturbing to me. I was under the impression he used a MK IV for the Black album and the tour but I see the live sh!t road cases and the black album logo. I just got a IV and am worried because it doesn't seem to have as much gain as I thought. Does the IIC+ have more gain than the IV or am i just worrying?

-Angel

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Try some high output pickups for the mega gain stuff. I still want to try the SD metal blackouts.

Somehow for that graphic eq setting, I get tones nowhere close to the black album sound. :? Anyway, I replaced the stock seymour duncan JB with a Dimarzio X2N and I can get fat, saturated distortion at low volumes, gain around 6 and drive around 7. I'm going direct into amp with a jackson dinky. However, even with the X2N, I cant get remotely close to metal on the R2 channel.

emperor_black said:

Somehow for that graphic eq setting, I get tones nowhere close to the black album sound. :? Anyway, I replaced the stock seymour duncan JB with a Dimarzio X2N and I can get fat, saturated distortion at low volumes, gain around 6 and drive around 7. I'm going direct into amp with a jackson dinky. However, even with the X2N, I cant get remotely close to metal on the R2 channel.

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Really? Mine is dead-nuts on. Gain=8, T=7.5, M=6.5, B=1.5, LD=6, M=4, presence=pushed, Fat=pulled, harmonics, triode, simul-class, 2x12 cab. EQ in the "Hetfield M".

ryjan said:

emperor_black said:

Somehow for that graphic eq setting, I get tones nowhere close to the black album sound. :? Anyway, I replaced the stock seymour duncan JB with a Dimarzio X2N and I can get fat, saturated distortion at low volumes, gain around 6 and drive around 7. I'm going direct into amp with a jackson dinky. However, even with the X2N, I cant get remotely close to metal on the R2 channel.

Click to expand...

Really? Mine is dead-nuts on. Gain=8, T=7.5, M=6.5, B=1.5, LD=6, M=4, presence=pushed, Fat=pulled, harmonics, triode, simul-class, 2x12 cab. EQ in the "Hetfield M".

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What do you mean by "Hetfield M"?