C'mon, you think rockstars understand tech. I can play but I have not changed my own strings in 5+ years. All of my buddies are techs and they do that shit better than me, plus they will do like 50+ point inspections when they do it for me. I don't understand shit about guitar electronics, amps, or pedals, and I do not care too. *The people that love teching, do REALLY REALLY love it,* and I let them enjoy it, while we both reap the benefits. I pay and buy a nice lunch for my buddy, and I get a nice guitar setup out of it.
The key component to James guitar sound is his right hand. There I said it. Back in the day, he used a horrible Flying V bolt-on copy through a second hand, modified Marshall and he sounded incredible. Just listen to No Life Till Leather demo, followed by Kill em All.
Yeah. Actually I think he sounds generic these days, and probably mostly because of his rig and maybe a little sprinkling of not having that right hand attack anymore. He had 'it' back in the day, and he could have played through an AM radio and it would have been awesome.
Even though I don’t really understand a lot what the techs are talking about when it comes to certain gear god I love these videos. Love seeing the Amps, guitars and pedals
This looks like the coolest AND most nerve-wrecking job ever, especially during live shows when you do the switching. Can you even think about a moment you make a mistake and have for example a clean sound at the beginning of blackened ? The horror.... :)
Most think it is "functional". Some hate on it deeply, some think it's fine. Really, it's how it is being used. Myself? I am ok with some of it. But the quality is a huge problem. Ask any DL4 user how many issues they have had with it. I also had a M13 reboot mid-set and dump ALL my presets. I am not the only person I know this has happened too. Maybe they fixed the issue with a firmware update but I sold it instantly as I could not trust it in a live setting any longer.
So, the problem with modeled solid state sounds is that at high volume they just don't work and every single one I've used has had a problem mixing with a band. Now, if you put that model in line with actual tube fed heads and mic it up - you've got a much more stable, high volume tone that blends a little more easily.
Lol! Yeah...goes on for 3 minutes about how, "I love having the TC so we can just dial something in without having a road case full of pedals..." Then two minutes later, "Oh yeah, we have real stuff around here." Haha! Their tones are great, so no criticism there. Just funny.
Live Tone is about consistency, Studio tone is about Perfection. Their live sound has improved, but you wouldn't notice that at one of the shows that they'd record for a 3D movie or the Orion shows. The Studio tone has been stellar since Puppets except for St. Anger, which was an experiment. The only studio sound problems outside of the first two albums (gear shortage) and St. Anger (Experiment) were Justice (Bass Mastered Out) and Death Magnetic's compression, which was a mastering issue.
His tech must love his job with all that kind of work changing strings/tuning, changing guitars for him, running his technical side of his overall sound, and effects. It's probably a very tough job, but probably fun AF too. My hats off to Chad for keeping it all ready to go for James!🤘
Secret to Hetfield's sound: 1. ESP guitars 2. Het Set pickups 3. Mesa Boogie and Diezel amps 4. Hetfield's right hand No big secrets here. His guitar tech is trying to make it seem more complex than what is actually is.
André Silva never an 85, it used to be 81/81 but when they recorded the Black Album, James got a couple ESP MX-250’s and they had 81/60 in them. He liked them so he swapped them out in all of his main guitars (not every guitar because he needed a certain sound and those guitars had them so he doesn’t swap them out) he has used that setup until 2011-2012ish when he got the Het-Set.
@@drk3758 You're right about the 81/60, for some reason I wrote the 85 (maybe because Zakk Wylde uses them and I ended up messing up the number). Didn't know Hetfield used 81/81, I know Kirk did because I have a 1990s ESP KH2 which uses them.
André Silva yeah the 81/81 came stock with his MX-220’s (because kirk used them and the MX-220’s were the first time he used EMG’s so he got ESP to make him his guitars with those pickups)
if you have mids at 0, you sound like shit. if you have mids at 10...you sound like shit. the best tone lies in the sweet spot of the mid range ( which is around 4, 5, or 6)
@@jaymz Scooping mids on a standard 3 knob EQ usually sounds meh. But with the mesas you have a 5 band equalizer (or dynamic voice on the Triaxis) so that works great and sounds badass while cutting through.
Yeah, I love the sound Eddie’s getting out of the new 5150 head. I tried one a couple months ago and was blown away. I watched a couple other vids of James’ gear and he’s had the same Boogie/Diezel for a while now. I guess it’s just his personal preference now. However, if they wanted a Kill em All or Master sound, they could use a Kempler profiler amp and come really close to the original. Check out: Kemper Profiling Amp - METALLICA / HETFIELD TONE ~ CLONE TONES
They do but..the mesa pre amp-power amp set up...the 2:90 is....is blended together with the DIEZEL amp head for the overall sound,we all have come to love. And..So in awnser to yer question...guitar amp heads or combos don't need a pre amp or a power amp they are all in one.
The secret sauce is an old modded mesa studio preamp eq that bypasses its preamp circuit to be used as the eq for the triaxis 2. The triaxis 2 has most likely had some of its physical internal components replaced by Mesa with original mesa mark2c+ components, or components based on this amp. The 2c+ was used to record the puppets album and is hetfield's all time favourite amp. The onboard eq setting is normally at 0.0 but the tech has raised it to around 3, most likely to deceptively hide this.
It wasn’t always IIC+. I used to own a Mesa quad preamp and simulclass 290 that came out of one of his late 80s backup live rigs according to the paperwork. It sounded good but it always sounded like me playing. You really have to be James to sound like James.
@@jaecenwhite2590 The quad is not a tight metal rhythm tone. Too much of this "tone is in the hands" nonsense. Give james a line 6 and he will sounds like crap. Have you heard Death Magnetic? You fanbois, I tell ya...
@@jaecenwhite2590 I have a mark iic+ and yes I agree you won’t sound exactly like James obviously because we are not him, but it does get extremely close, and if you put a diezel preamp into the boogie, it actually sounds pretty good, I especially like the way the A string sounds, it has that weird cutting note that I don’t know how to explain, tight? Idk. But it sounds great when playing blackened and MOP, also creeping death
It becomes more practical to transport and set up a rack case than it does separate amps and pedals etc. Everything is in one box, there are doubles of everything for a backup and there is m essentially only one power cable and one input for the entire rig. Which hopefully means plug and play every for every show.
^ what this guy said, it’s easier to troubleshoot issues, easier to transport, easier to keep consistent, more durable, faster setup and takedown and the guy in the video also explains another good reason why like 2 mins in. Only downside is you need to understand how it works (hence the use of a tech) and the fact that it’s as expensive as balls
the DIEZEL is a amp head with a buildt in pre amp.. the mesa is a power amp that needs a pre amp..his mesa power amp is the mesa 2:90 made to work with the triaxis pre amp... I have that exact set-up..ill use it till the day I die !!!
No kidding. As a long time fan of these guys, I always wondered if it was his tech that was on the pedals or if it was someone else altogether. This interview was really really cool for anyone with a nerdy, tech side.
I wouldn't be able to link you to anything in specific but it's something I found out a long time ago. Think Justice for All to the Black album era. I remember being blown away when I heard about it, I've never had much luck with the Boss Metal Zone.
it has happened before, during fade to black, James was just about to kick into the heavy riff near the end before the song picks up....and this clean sound just comes out, not quite got the same effect lol. Its on youtube, check it out. The only difference is, is it was more of a James error than the techies.
I wish I just had one chance to play on a great set up like that, just once... I'm sitting here with my modest Line 6 Amp attached to a Marshall Amp AVT 100 through a Boss GT10 and playing with $1700 Jackson V. Sigh....
Lmao.. You got me beat.. I use a 1994 fisher 340w, amplifier head deck stereo that a old rack system pushing two 15" tower speakers, with a few different boss stomp boxes.. Very sorry system for a person who's been playn for 20+ yrs... 😞
From what I've read, James and the rest of the guys treat their road crew and techs very well. When you think about it the crew and techs are all employees that work for the band, they just don't get treated like that. Hell Justin Crew has been Kirk's tech for almost 20 years.
Techs like Chad are extremely bright dudes. I am not suggesting that guys like Chad would even want it, but a little acknowledgement like THIS KILLER INTERVIEW is great to see. It's informative for the curious out there, but, a lot of fans likely have very limited awareness of what's involved with a show: the sound they hear and how it gets to their ears (&see vids on mixing). Rare interviews like this can inspire new music nerds much the same as suffering through ONE bad sounding concert can ;)
no, it was a contact failure in the switch wich is very common with 3 way switches , so he has switched back and forth the switch and the contact then was good
@@Frrarii happens to me with my epi explorer and jackson rr sometimes, kind of annoying but ya just have to switch it back and forth and its good again
They're all using axe fx 2's now btw, including Rob. A lot of people here seem to hate digital systems, and if you don't know what an axe fx is then have fun reading up on what they are.
Nice to have a lackey doing all of your effects for you! I wonder if James bothers tuning on stage or if someone off stage runs on with a freshly tuned guitar when it goes out of tune? I suspect the latter.
To be fair, I'm not paying to see James tune his guitar, I'm paying for a professional show. Guitar techs are unsung heroes who make our rock legends look and sound their best.
Wow, you guys crack me up. This video was done many years ago by TC Electronic about the G Major. They wanted to cover some other aspects of James' equipment to make it more interesting. It was to be posted on the TC website. Filmed by TC, for TC. The person who published this took it from TC and posted it on his own channel Were some of you hoping for a complete schematic? Lighten up. I do not watch "rig rundown" videos, nor do I read guitar magazines so sorry the inside info wasn't up to your expectations. Sorry I didn't consult YOU the internet before I "winged it" under the stage with little sleep on a show day. What's with the entitlement? Did you pay for any of this? Where does it say I must give you anything let alone complete information on everything? Why do you think you have the privilege to know everything about what James uses or how he uses it? I ran into the TC guys at NAMM and they said this video has a crazy number of views so I'm checking it out for the first time since they taped it. (Also, I thought they were going to edit the thing!) Sad But True and Seek are in D tuning. This happened before I started with the band. They wanted to play the two songs together and didn't want to change guitars or tunings so they dropped Seek and it stuck. At the time, the Pod was the clean JC120 sound only. Yes it is a stressful job with very little room for error. Stop worrying about a secret box or modification. Even if you had his exact equipment, that's not going to be what propels you into greatness. To address the old video of Jame's guitar cutting out, this happened on occasion with a particular brand of toggle switch when the humidity reached a certain level. Often times the temperature would drop during the show as the sun set or weather changes causing condensation and my heart to stop beating. Adding the active pickups to the mixture means I spend a lot of time some nights spraying contact cleaner into the toggle and the output jack being that circuit is dependent upon that ground. Passive pickup circuits seem to immune to this. To the negative posters; I am not a spokesman, presenter, anchor or broadcaster and never claimed to be. I'm just a real person with a cool job that I worked hard to get and work hard to keep so I can provide for my family. If you don't like this content, there are a billion videos on UA-cam, change the friggin' channel. I'd be happy to meet those of you with a problem face to face to see what you might have to say. Meanwhile, enjoy your sad life in your bedroom. Thanks to those with a genuine interest. Respect back to you.
Wow, that's my reading for a month, I wonder if Seek is still tuned down, it wouldn't matter I guess if he's used to singing it like that, I guess that would go for any song thats in standard tuning. I keep my guitar tuned down and use a capo, funny playing where ever I may roam with a capo, I heard a cool version of Blackened that blew me away and it was in d so I got to play along.
465marko traditionally that is the case, yeah. however you can (if your band plays to a click/backing track) have tones changes controlled automatically by computer.
there is a big difference between 'sometimes' and 'always' kirk and rob always have a wah pedal it's not often they play songs that James needs a wah pedal. In 2009, they played suicide & redemption and they also played ecstasy of gold. James uses a wah but it very rarely.
Felix Nilbog In the studio its standered tuning, but he's been tuning to D these past couple of years because he messed up his vocals during the black album tours, so he was forced to play songs in lower tuning due to his voice. (I think)
I'd be cool if james sat back there and played some examples while he talked about the sounds. But then again, I still think strippers actually like me so I'm naive like that.
You know you're famous when someone else gets interviewed for your gear.
I guess if you ask James wouldn't know what his gear is by now
suhijo Doubtful, everything in his rig has to be run by him.
C'mon, you think rockstars understand tech. I can play but I have not changed my own strings in 5+ years. All of my buddies are techs and they do that shit better than me, plus they will do like 50+ point inspections when they do it for me. I don't understand shit about guitar electronics, amps, or pedals, and I do not care too. *The people that love teching, do REALLY REALLY love it,* and I let them enjoy it, while we both reap the benefits. I pay and buy a nice lunch for my buddy, and I get a nice guitar setup out of it.
doesn't really require fame. you just need to be a touring guitarist with a bigger budget.
@@afrocoolio25 tbh it’s really not that hard to understand
Being James Hetfield guitar tech would be quite the job!
I would do that for free! haha :-)
@@ArnieBlow until you fuck up once
BruderSeth And then you get the death glare, which causes you to crumble to dust rather than getting fired
@@BruderSeth axle rose used to fire his engineers daily!
Its a tough life
The key component to James guitar sound is his right hand. There I said it. Back in the day, he used a horrible Flying V bolt-on copy through a second hand, modified Marshall and he sounded incredible. Just listen to No Life Till Leather demo, followed by Kill em All.
You nailed it man! Guitar players hands are the foundation of "Tone". Amps and guitars are the gravy on top!
Yeah. Actually I think he sounds generic these days, and probably mostly because of his rig and maybe a little sprinkling of not having that right hand attack anymore. He had 'it' back in the day, and he could have played through an AM radio and it would have been awesome.
the v was even a dang epiphone
I totally agree, James can grab a toy guitar and make that sound amazing. It doesn't matter the brand, just the players hands. :D
mrpokemon8778 It wasn't an Epiphone it was a cheap Japanese import made by Electra.
What a luxury it must be to have a team of guys like this behind you...
That's what she said
Thom Lm haha
and women too
For ppl like Metallica, it is not a luxury. It is a business.
That's success right there bruh 💯
want to know the secrets they wont tell you. his main sound comes from a Roland cube and zoom digital pedal in a hidden box.
videogalory ha ha fair play it made me laugh
I don't doubt it one bit
I have a Roland Cube
You forgot the metal zone hidden
I heard that he recently switched for a line 6 Amp with digitech pedal for effects
Even though I don’t really understand a lot what the techs are talking about when it comes to certain gear god I love these videos. Love seeing the Amps, guitars and pedals
Metallica has a great live sound.
I wish their live sound engineers would do their studio albums
I agree completly!
This looks like the coolest AND most nerve-wrecking job ever, especially during live shows when you do the switching. Can you even think about a moment you make a mistake and have for example a clean sound at the beginning of blackened ? The horror.... :)
You should know all the songs 🎵 and all the pre sets by now.
"We have real stuff around here".
Nice line 6 distortion modeller right out in front.
Most think it is "functional". Some hate on it deeply, some think it's fine. Really, it's how it is being used.
Myself? I am ok with some of it. But the quality is a huge problem. Ask any DL4 user how many issues they have had with it. I also had a M13 reboot mid-set and dump ALL my presets. I am not the only person I know this has happened too. Maybe they fixed the issue with a firmware update but I sold it instantly as I could not trust it in a live setting any longer.
fiveways
Meanwhile, the Line 6 DM4 is the *_”secret sauce”_* that’s not supposed to be talked about!
So, the problem with modeled solid state sounds is that at high volume they just don't work and every single one I've used has had a problem mixing with a band. Now, if you put that model in line with actual tube fed heads and mic it up - you've got a much more stable, high volume tone that blends a little more easily.
shortly after this, they went full modeling (Fractal), no amps used at all.
Lol! Yeah...goes on for 3 minutes about how, "I love having the TC so we can just dial something in without having a road case full of pedals..." Then two minutes later, "Oh yeah, we have real stuff around here." Haha! Their tones are great, so no criticism there. Just funny.
I got distracted with all the songs playing the background.
ikr, same 😂
Live Tone is about consistency, Studio tone is about Perfection. Their live sound has improved, but you wouldn't notice that at one of the shows that they'd record for a 3D movie or the Orion shows. The Studio tone has been stellar since Puppets except for St. Anger, which was an experiment. The only studio sound problems outside of the first two albums (gear shortage) and St. Anger (Experiment) were Justice (Bass Mastered Out) and Death Magnetic's compression, which was a mastering issue.
His tech must love his job with all that kind of work changing strings/tuning, changing guitars for him, running his technical side of his overall sound, and effects. It's probably a very tough job, but probably fun AF too. My hats off to Chad for keeping it all ready to go for James!🤘
Secret to Hetfield's sound:
1. ESP guitars
2. Het Set pickups
3. Mesa Boogie and Diezel amps
4. Hetfield's right hand
No big secrets here. His guitar tech is trying to make it seem more complex than what is actually is.
Now it's all axe fx no tube amps anywhere on stage,
Interestingly enough the classic stuff was mainly with THE EMG 81/85 set.
André Silva never an 85, it used to be 81/81 but when they recorded the Black Album, James got a couple ESP MX-250’s and they had 81/60 in them. He liked them so he swapped them out in all of his main guitars (not every guitar because he needed a certain sound and those guitars had them so he doesn’t swap them out) he has used that setup until 2011-2012ish when he got the Het-Set.
@@drk3758 You're right about the 81/60, for some reason I wrote the 85 (maybe because Zakk Wylde uses them and I ended up messing up the number).
Didn't know Hetfield used 81/81, I know Kirk did because I have a 1990s ESP KH2 which uses them.
André Silva yeah the 81/81 came stock with his MX-220’s (because kirk used them and the MX-220’s were the first time he used EMG’s so he got ESP to make him his guitars with those pickups)
THANK YOU FOR existing Metallica !
I love you James! ❤
What a stressful job...hard work. Props Man!
Chad reminds me of Paul Heyman from WWE lol
Asyraf Fazali lmal
Asyraf Fazali Really :DD
he does look like him
Very interesting interview more of this pleaaazzeee!
I liked the scooped sound tho. They made Standard tuning sound so heavy.
if you have mids at 0, you sound like shit. if you have mids at 10...you sound like shit. the best tone lies in the sweet spot of the mid range ( which is around 4, 5, or 6)
jaymz They used mids usually 5 - 1 somewhere between there
@@jaymz Scooping mids on a standard 3 knob EQ usually sounds meh. But with the mesas you have a 5 band equalizer (or dynamic voice on the Triaxis) so that works great and sounds badass while cutting through.
Its now 2022 and I somehow got this feed.
Metallica is still touring but Hetfield’s rig has been simplified to Fractal modelers and Matrix amps.
And it totally sucks
@Ibanezguy2007 They lost their sound when they left Marshall amps.
Yeah, I love the sound Eddie’s getting out of the new 5150 head. I tried one a couple months ago and was blown away. I watched a couple other vids of James’ gear and he’s had the same Boogie/Diezel for a while now. I guess it’s just his personal preference now. However, if they wanted a Kill em All or Master sound, they could use a Kempler profiler amp and come really close to the original. Check out: Kemper Profiling Amp - METALLICA / HETFIELD TONE ~ CLONE TONES
Pretty awesome to get to see some of the behind the scenes stuff. Props to those guys.
They do but..the mesa pre amp-power amp set up...the 2:90 is....is blended together with the DIEZEL amp head for the overall sound,we all have come to love. And..So in awnser to yer question...guitar amp heads or combos don't need a pre amp or a power amp they are all in one.
These days it's just a bunch of Axe-Fx units. How times change.
I didn't know Michael Keaton was James' guitar tech.
I thought he looked Michael Keaton as well when the video first started!
That's some trust right there. Couldn't imagine someone running my pedal board.
They should dump all that stuff and have Hetfield plug straight into his old IIC+ amps. That's when he sounded best.
slaved to a JCM 800.
Slaved only to the power section
Dan D AGREED
JCM 800 with an Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer, with an ESP MX-220
@@exorcizamus2419 And the Mark IIC ++ yep that right ++ not +
For those of you that are talking about the tuning of the guitars,
When they say D they mean D# for live which is also the same as Eb.
who cares
The most beautiful job
Wait, I am competing buying guitars on ebay with Hetfield!
Not a fair fight!
cool, that seems like a dream job to me
James "secret sound" might be an electric zither plugged into a couple coffee cans connected by a string.
Tore from TC Electronics, Jame’s guitar tech: “The reason why I like this TC unit..”.
who else was hoping he was gonna pull out the ken lawerence guitar
The secret sauce is an old modded mesa studio preamp eq that bypasses its preamp circuit to be used as the eq for the triaxis 2. The triaxis 2 has most likely had some of its physical internal components replaced by Mesa with original mesa mark2c+ components, or components based on this amp. The 2c+ was used to record the puppets album and is hetfield's all time favourite amp. The onboard eq setting is normally at 0.0 but the tech has raised it to around 3, most likely to deceptively hide this.
How the heck do you know this?? 😄
OK thank you so much
Bring the 2c+ back. Seriously.
Mk IV
It wasn’t always IIC+. I used to own a Mesa quad preamp and simulclass 290 that came out of one of his late 80s backup live rigs according to the paperwork. It sounded good but it always sounded like me playing. You really have to be James to sound like James.
@@jaecenwhite2590 The quad is not a tight metal rhythm tone. Too much of this "tone is in the hands" nonsense. Give james a line 6 and he will sounds like crap. Have you heard Death Magnetic? You fanbois, I tell ya...
IIC++
@@jaecenwhite2590 I have a mark iic+ and yes I agree you won’t sound exactly like James obviously because we are not him, but it does get extremely close, and if you put a diezel preamp into the boogie, it actually sounds pretty good, I especially like the way the A string sounds, it has that weird cutting note that I don’t know how to explain, tight? Idk. But it sounds great when playing blackened and MOP, also creeping death
I love how Metallica has a “headquarters.”
HQ
>james should use the mark iic+ again
>triaxis is already set to lead 2 yellow which is the mark iic+ preamp
Triaxis is more durable for touring.
Is there a point where super famous rich guitarists just go nuts and start playing through these crazy racks of...STUFF!!!???!?!?~!?
+Jeffrey Osborne Yes, Larry Lalonde's set up and pedals is crazy as fuck (Guitarist for Primus)
It becomes more practical to transport and set up a rack case than it does separate amps and pedals etc.
Everything is in one box, there are doubles of everything for a backup and there is m essentially only one power cable and one input for the entire rig. Which hopefully means plug and play every for every show.
^ what this guy said, it’s easier to troubleshoot issues, easier to transport, easier to keep consistent, more durable, faster setup and takedown and the guy in the video also explains another good reason why like 2 mins in. Only downside is you need to understand how it works (hence the use of a tech) and the fact that it’s as expensive as balls
Wow I would have a lot of anxiety if I was this guitar tech. He's just fine
the DIEZEL is a amp head with a buildt in pre amp.. the mesa is a power amp that needs a pre amp..his mesa power amp is the mesa 2:90 made to work with the triaxis pre amp... I have that exact set-up..ill use it till the day I die !!!
No kidding. As a long time fan of these guys, I always wondered if it was his tech that was on the pedals or if it was someone else altogether. This interview was really really cool for anyone with a nerdy, tech side.
I wouldn't be able to link you to anything in specific but it's something I found out a long time ago. Think Justice for All to the Black album era. I remember being blown away when I heard about it, I've never had much luck with the Boss Metal Zone.
the opening chords are Killer... the open E he plays is the coolest tone...
That's why he said it ;) Happend during Blackened too
I used to have boss metal zone, but my friend lost it :(
its was a great pedal
13:15 are you sure that seek and destroy is tuned D ?
Yes it is nowadays
Gabivador yea, indeed it is. i've checked it at home with guitar.
Serdar Yumer Must be very awkward to play.
stoltobot Why? It's played the exact same way, only it sounds a step lower
***** no, he is correct, seek and destroy is tuned to D in live performances, i've checked it out.
I have walked understage past these racks before, now I know a whole lot more, cool.
What alot of people miss on James tone is that "Growl" sound he has. Its pretty interesting sounding aside from it being epic already
Almost ten years later, I wonder if James's rig is still the same.
it has happened before, during fade to black, James was just about to kick into the heavy riff near the end before the song picks up....and this clean sound just comes out, not quite got the same effect lol. Its on youtube, check it out. The only difference is, is it was more of a James error than the techies.
8:53 - "secret sauce" is that the Tri-Axis is being run through a Boss Metal Zone. Seriously.
I had one in the effects loop of an amp. You turn the distortion to 0.
TC reverb does it all. Not once did the camera pan to the Deizels,or the Triaxis settings lol
TriAxis still kicking!!
I would love to spend a day with that guy, he is totally cool. I wonder if he plays in bands?
And they made Master of Puppets without any of this crap. One of the greatest albums of all time.
I wish I just had one chance to play on a great set up like that, just once... I'm sitting here with my modest Line 6 Amp attached to a Marshall Amp AVT 100 through a Boss GT10 and playing with $1700 Jackson V. Sigh....
+The Angry Goat Awww poor you
+The Angry Goat I know man, playing through a dual rectifier with a 1100$ guitar, sigh...
Lmao.. You got me beat.. I use a 1994 fisher 340w, amplifier head deck stereo that a old rack system pushing two 15" tower speakers, with a few different boss stomp boxes.. Very sorry system for a person who's been playn for 20+ yrs... 😞
I know... I'm playing through a mark iic+ with a 1200$ guitar and a 2x12 boogie cab... Life is tough life is tough
The Angry Goat I've been playing for 10 years and im using a 60 dollar acoustic g-10 and a 200 dollar ibanez
From what I've read, James and the rest of the guys treat their road crew and techs very well. When you think about it the crew and techs are all employees that work for the band, they just don't get treated like that. Hell Justin Crew has been Kirk's tech for almost 20 years.
Que honor de trabajar con James..........
Well Since I think the Early 2000's They Went to D Tuning but songs originally was E. So Pretty Much Seek went to E > Eb > D :L
Missed opportunity around 10.25. He's free to ROAM anywhere he wants.
Yeah, that would have been funny.
The first :07 of the video are the best...... great sound......
Metallicu sam slušao u miru ,pa u ratu,pa u miru!! Metallica zauvijek
Techs like Chad are extremely bright dudes. I am not suggesting that guys like Chad would even want it, but a little acknowledgement like THIS KILLER INTERVIEW is great to see. It's informative for the curious out there, but, a lot of fans likely have very limited awareness of what's involved with a show: the sound they hear and how it gets to their ears (&see vids on mixing). Rare interviews like this can inspire new music nerds much the same as suffering through ONE bad sounding concert can ;)
*Random Guy*
"Hi I'm Chad and I'm James Hetfield's guitar tech."
That's when everyone wants to be Chad.
Chad does nothing but get laid.
and the triaxis 1 is not modded, used for clean, while the mesa eq (secret sauce) is tucked snuggly away from sight.
Nothing can beat my peavey rage tone!
He's not giving much away! Except the twin amp set up.
Good interviewer. Good vid.
so was it his fault when james fucked up fade to black intro in that video? lol
no, it was a contact failure in the switch wich is very common with 3 way switches , so he has switched back and forth the switch and the contact then was good
and I'm sure he got the eye
@@Frrarii happens to me with my epi explorer and jackson rr sometimes, kind of annoying but ya just have to switch it back and forth and its good again
Coolest job man, yeah!!!
John Petrucci uses the same Mesa pre and power amps in a video they put up recently.
They're all using axe fx 2's now btw, including Rob. A lot of people here seem to hate digital systems, and if you don't know what an axe fx is then have fun reading up on what they are.
James needs to get a JCM 800, Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer, & an ESP MX-220
Nice to have a lackey doing all of your effects for you! I wonder if James bothers tuning on stage or if someone off stage runs on with a freshly tuned guitar when it goes out of tune? I suspect the latter.
To be fair, I'm not paying to see James tune his guitar, I'm paying for a professional show. Guitar techs are unsung heroes who make our rock legends look and sound their best.
the board on the floor? it's a midicontroler. the triaxis are afaik midicontrolable. so they can store the settings and Switch them via the midiboard.
Paul Giamatti couldve played the guitar tech in through the never
More than half. Maybe 80% are ESP's, at least in the live shows. A couple of Gibsons, Trussart's and Ken Lawrence and that's it.
James is nice guitarist he should play in a band !
great stuffs!:)
Wembley stadium 2007. Kirks intro solo on fade to black, came in clean for a couple of secs before they switched. Was pretty funny!
Just 2 notes
he has a modded mesa pre amp thats the secert he has a bunch of em that and a mark 2 c plus
Chad is a certified badaxx🙋🎶💯🙏👍🎸
i think the secret sauce is a modded eq that mesa built for him in the 80s and its based of an old mesa amp
I wanna see his set-up on kill em all
I thought Hetfeild guitar has a distant cheering effect after every riff that he played lol.
Danny V. Reverb
Wow, you guys crack me up. This video was done many years ago by TC Electronic about the G Major. They wanted to cover some other aspects of James' equipment to make it more interesting. It was to be posted on the TC website. Filmed by TC, for TC. The person who published this took it from TC and posted it on his own channel Were some of you hoping for a complete schematic? Lighten up. I do not watch "rig rundown" videos, nor do I read guitar magazines so sorry the inside info wasn't up to your expectations. Sorry I didn't consult YOU the internet before I "winged it" under the stage with little sleep on a show day.
What's with the entitlement? Did you pay for any of this? Where does it say I must give you anything let alone complete information on everything? Why do you think you have the privilege to know everything about what James uses or how he uses it?
I ran into the TC guys at NAMM and they said this video has a crazy number of views so I'm checking it out for the first time since they taped it. (Also, I thought they were going to edit the thing!)
Sad But True and Seek are in D tuning. This happened before I started with the band. They wanted to play the two songs together and didn't want to change guitars or tunings so they dropped Seek and it stuck.
At the time, the Pod was the clean JC120 sound only.
Yes it is a stressful job with very little room for error.
Stop worrying about a secret box or modification. Even if you had his exact equipment, that's not going to be what propels you into greatness.
To address the old video of Jame's guitar cutting out, this happened on occasion with a particular brand of toggle switch when the humidity reached a certain level. Often times the temperature would drop during the show as the sun set or weather changes causing condensation and my heart to stop beating. Adding the active pickups to the mixture means I spend a lot of time some nights spraying contact cleaner into the toggle and the output jack being that circuit is dependent upon that ground. Passive pickup circuits seem to immune to this.
To the negative posters; I am not a spokesman, presenter, anchor or broadcaster and never claimed to be. I'm just a real person with a cool job that I worked hard to get and work hard to keep so I can provide for my family. If you don't like this content, there are a billion videos on UA-cam, change the friggin' channel. I'd be happy to meet those of you with a problem face to face to see what you might have to say. Meanwhile, enjoy your sad life in your bedroom.
Thanks to those with a genuine interest. Respect back to you.
Lol great reply!! Great video and so cool seeing a local guy from Stoughton running axes for James!!
Wow, that's my reading for a month, I wonder if Seek is still tuned down, it wouldn't matter I guess if he's used to singing it like that, I guess that would go for any song thats in standard tuning.
I keep my guitar tuned down and use a capo, funny playing where ever I may roam with a capo, I heard a cool version of Blackened that blew me away and it was in d so I got to play along.
Both Diezel AND Mesa Boogie? What is this new deviltry?
13:17 what model guitar is that
So...would this guy be backstage, and push a button when it's time to add an effect? is that how it works?
I came here cuz' I also want to know hahaha. Sorry for not answering the question..
465marko traditionally that is the case, yeah. however you can (if your band plays to a click/backing track) have tones changes controlled automatically by computer.
Why not have James talk about his gear....wow guys from Death Angel Rob and Ted talks about there gear and others ...wuzup with James?
there is a big difference between 'sometimes' and 'always' kirk and rob always have a wah pedal
it's not often they play songs that James needs a wah pedal. In 2009, they played suicide & redemption and they also played ecstasy of gold. James uses a wah but it very rarely.
the gold one is a line 6 distortion pedal ;)
Keeping it as professional as possible. Then it's business as usual.
I thought James was somehow controlling the distortion with the pickup selector.
Tuned to D for seek and destroy??
I still cant believe that. I learned it in E
What the hell is a backing track?
Okie dokie
E on studio version,D on lives since James voice started to be weak,expect the 80s and early 90s lives that was on E
Felix Nilbog In the studio its standered tuning, but he's been tuning to D these past couple of years because he messed up his vocals during the black album tours, so he was forced to play songs in lower tuning due to his voice. (I think)
Orion in the background X3
And now I understand why Metallica sounds so compressed and digital.
the host should have explained that this will not be watched by only other guitar techs
he explained as simple as was possible
I'd be cool if james sat back there and played some examples while he talked about the sounds. But then again, I still think strippers actually like me so I'm naive like that.