James Hetfield’s Mesa Boogie Mark IIC+

By 1985, James Hetfield had grown frustrated with the thin, artificial sound of distortion pedals and the typical Marshall amplifier setup. For the recording of Master of Puppets in 1986, he and Kirk Hammett switched things up by purchasing a bunch of Mesa/Boogie Mark IIC+ amplifiers. Based on most accounts, on the album, James used its preamp in conjunction with a modified 100W Marshall JCM800, which gave him a more natural and powerful distortion tone.

To enhance his rhythm sound further, Hetfield employed B&B/Aphex Parametric Equalizers, mixing desk EQs, and triple-tracked every rhythm part with slightly varied guitar settings. This approach created an aggressive and rich thrash guitar tone with pronounced low frequencies, sharp treble, and reduced midrange.

According to MetallicaGearHistory.com, after the Master of Puppets sessions, Hetfield “borrowed” one of the Mark IIC+ amps from Hammett, and this became Hetfield’s primary recording amp for numerous albums, including …And Justice for All and the Black Album.

We tried a bunch of amps, but I ended up using the same Mesa Boogie Simul-Class Mark II that I’ve used on the last three albums. In Los Angeles, there are a million amps you can try out, but none of them were up to snuff. Bob also brought in a bunch of crappy looking vintage amps. We gave everything a shot and ended up with the same old shit. I must admit though, it was a lot of fun trying out all those little Sixties and Seventies amps-they really sounded unique. A lot of metal players have forgotten that they can be useful. We used a couple of vintage amps for texture. But I wasn’t about to play a rhythm part through a fuckin Fender Supro amp, you know? We sure as hell weren’t making ‘Led Zeppelin I.’

James talking about The Black Album, Guitar World, October 1991

Years later, the Mesa Mark IIC+ amps were revived for 2008’s Death Magnetic, and “CrunchBerries” (see photo above) was one of the three primary amps used for Hetfield’s rhythm tone on 2016’s Hardwired… to Self-Destruct.