Numbers match the 0 to 10 scale printed on the amp in Amp Designer.
A practical GarageBand addition for controlling hiss between phrases. It is not a claim that any particular gate was used on the session.
The real rig behind this tone
Everything on the card above is our own GarageBand recreation, not a set of documented studio settings. Here is what is actually known about how the original was recorded, and how confident we are in each part of it.
This is the best documented part. Hetfield's Black Album distorted sound was built on a modified Mesa/Boogie Mark IIC+, often written as IIC++, blended with other amplifiers including a Marshall modified by Jose Arredondo. Randy Staub confirmed the Mesa based, multi amplifier setup when talking specifically about Enter Sandman.
ESP MX series Explorer style guitars with active EMG pickups are documented album era equipment. The exact MX model and the pickup position on each individual intro overdub are not independently established.
Gear research on the album points to Marshall 1960 4×12 cabinets, largely loaded with Celestion Vintage 30 speakers, as part of the guitar sound.
Two Aphex EQF-2 equalisers and an Aphex CX-1 compressor are identified as part of Hetfield's effects loop on the album.
Engineer Randy Staub has described tracking the rhythm guitars through a large array of cabinets, roughly nine to eleven of them, with microphones set at varying distances. The extra distant mics were there to capture the low string resonance Hetfield wanted. This is a documented account of the sessions.
Producer Bob Rock has said the SSL mix bus compression was applied to drums and bass but deliberately kept off the guitars, so they held their weight. Useful context for why the guitars sit the way they do on the record.
What is not documented
- Any amp knob positions. Nothing on this card comes from the session.
- The exact ESP MX model, pickup position or string gauge on each intro overdub.
- How the multiple amplifiers were balanced against one another.
- The specific microphone models and distances across the cabinet array.
- The settings on the outboard Aphex EQ and compressor.
Playing it
The thing to chase is a low E with weight that still holds its shape. The settings above deliberately avoid maximum gain and avoid piling on bass, because both are the usual route to a riff that sounds huge alone and disappears in a mix.
Palm mute close to the bridge with controlled pressure, let the open accented notes ring, and keep the pick attack even. Most of what makes this riff sound right is the right hand, not the amp.
The Modern American Stack is a functional high gain approximation, not an emulation of a modified Mesa Mark IIC++. Apple describes it as a high gain amp suited to heavy rock and metal, which is why we start there. The Modern EQ handles the midrange shaping and the Modern British 4×12 points the cabinet in a Marshall direction.
One separation worth keeping in mind: the wah filtered accents in the introduction are their own texture, and Kirk Hammett's solo is a different sound again. Neither belongs in this rhythm preset, which is why wah is off by default.
- The riff feels mushy or undefined
- Pull Gain down toward 5 to 5.5 before you touch Treble. Excess gain is almost always the cause.
- It sounds too thin
- Bring Mids up toward 4.5 or 5 before adding Bass. A scooped sound needs less scooping than people expect.
- Noise between phrases
- Raise the noise gate threshold a little at a time, and stop as soon as the rests are quiet.
- It sounds smaller than the record
- The record is layered guitars, not one take. Try the studio version section below before changing the amp.
Optional: the studio version
A production workflow suggested by the documented layered recording. It is not a reconstruction of the original session, and none of it is needed to play the riff.
- Double track it properly. Record the riff twice as two separate performances and pan them left and right. Duplicating one audio region does not work; the effect comes from the small differences between two takes.
- Add a Marshall flavoured layer. Record a third performance through the Modern British Stack at moderate gain with more midrange than the main tone, then sit it quietly underneath.
- Try a narrow Channel EQ cut around 1.2 kHz. The album's documented outboard EQ is the reason to experiment here, but no GarageBand setting reproduces that processing. Bypass the cut if the guitar goes hollow.
- High pass around 70 to 80 Hz. Clears sub bass you do not need, especially with bass guitar and kick drum in the same track.
- Leave extra compression off at first. The record's weight came from control during recording, and adding compression afterwards does not reproduce that.
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