Will the 5150 and recto always be the gold standard?

Oh I misread then. And yeah, guitar resonance can play a part. People who tell you "eMgS mAkE eVeRyThInG sOuNd tHe sAmE" are bullshitting you. Ive had EMG guitars that sounded godlike, and some that sounded dogshit.

 

Not if you can read.

 

Read? Wazzat? Is it tasty?

 

I'd agree with that. I have an LTD MH and a Fernandez Ravelle that both have EMGs in them and although they do sound somewhat similar, there is a perceptible difference.

 

I wonder if I make the tweaks to get the two guitars as equal as possible, they would sound more similar. Pickup height probably has alot to do with it, since I do remember lowering them in the past. Yeah the sound is different because they perceived output levels are different but if I raise the pickups in the Agile to where both guitars are equally hot sounding, then it might be back to "yeah emgs make all guitars sound the same".

 

James Hetfield himself saying they used Mark II's is conjecture?

 

James and Kirk could sell MoP and Black kemper profiles. Or is that already done by someone else?

 

First off it wasn't a MKII... it was a MKIIC++ so that is flat out wrong, whoever said it. Huge difference between those 2 amps. Even between a MKIIC+ and MKIIC++. That's a fact. Second, it was not a straight-up MKIIC++ in to 4X12 and micced to the board. It was the preamp out, in to a bunch of additional eq boxes, in to a separate power amp, and lots of post production magic. Also tracked/layered together with and mixed with other amps. Do some research, believe what you want... I spent lots of time and money testing the amps... which I have in front of me. Not just reposting stuff I read online.





These are a few of the MKIIC++s and MKIII++s I own. Not just read about. A MKIIC++ HRG is spot on perfect for MOP though.

 

Wow! What a collection!!! Does your Jp2C get close to the IIC++?

 

Close enough... but not exact. The JP2C is a little darker, smoother. You need the shred-mode turned on to get in the MKIIC++ range though.

 

- The MOP tone is great, don't get me wrong, but it's not worth chasing it. I like my tone better from my Boogie and VHt setup personally. But that's to each his own and just a personal preference which doesn't mean much.
- Metallica could have any tone they want and they haven't used that tone in 35 years. Plus, do they really know what they actually used? Serously, I mean for all we know they are chasing it down themselves because they never got that tone ever again, they didn't produce the album and they were so wasted all the time they probably had little to do with all the actual processes, imo. They probably know they used the C++ etc, but do they remember the mics, positioning, rooms used, console settings, takes, patchbay, outboard gear etc? I bet they would be very hard pressed to actually obtain this tone on thier own in a studio with absolutely zero help at all from anyone at all. I mean zero help at all. It would probably be just as hard for them to write a song like it belongs on MOP again too without help. That's what makes MOP and albums like this so special. They just can't be duplicated.

 

For real, Hetfield is right with the Diezel and Boogie setup.

 

there's a pile of profile sellers that offer mark profiles. Only some of them actually managed to approximate the MoP tone imo. Pete Turley has some great IIC+ coliseum profiles and Thumas had some really good free MkIII profiles on the rig exchange.

 

Hetfield saying it's a Mark II doesn't mean he's saying it's not a IIC++.

I'm not denying you've got good ear, and that's an impressive collection, but a quote from the guy who was actually in the studio playing through the amp is not "just reading about it". It's straight from the horse's mouth.

Anyway, Hetfield apparently blew the original transformer on the IIC++ and had it replaced with a Mark IV transformer just before TBA. Maybe that's what you're hearing.

 

Someone once said, it is the harshness/fizziness that makes the sound cut through the mix. Really so guitars can't cut through the mix without sounding fizzy? Do alot of mids automatically equal fizz?

 

it depends on the genre, obv. Some fizz may help in a dense mix. Most of the time it can be distracting.

 

There is different kinds of fizz, too. Some high-gain heads have a certain threshold with the treble/presence controls where it goes from a "sizzle" in the sound, to "fizz" on top of it. Older amp modelers often exhibit the "disconnected fizz" when the gain is pushed.

 

I’ve always used an EQ in the loop to cut the fizz of my 6505s/5153. They still cut through a mix like nobody’s business...

 

Can you use a helix or gt1000 or other multi fx pedals to essentially do the same thing? Also, which frequencies did you have to cut that were causing the fizz? Hoping I can use one of my mfx pedal to cut the fizz on my 6505