Rumored Mesa Mark James Hetfield signature

[angelspade]

Under

Not sure how you know which ESP guitars sell the best but there is a big difference between an import Explorer knockoff and an sig Mesa amp. You can cop Hetfield’s tone pretty easily for under a grand and a sig Hetfield amp would be prob 3x that

Your opinion is appreciated, and you certainly have a right to it. That said, a good predictor of future retail performance, is past performance. Items stamped with Hetfield or even Metallica tend to move a lot of units. I suspect a Hetfield signature amp would not stray far from this trajectory.

 

[TheGreatGreen]

I saw that movie and only remember a Stairway sign

I've been to stores that had both signs up.

 

[IronSean]

I haven't read any of this thread but I can't imagine anyone outside of a few dudes here on RT buying a Hetfield amp

That doesn't make any sense. The meteoric price of IIC+/++ amps is in no small part due to the popularity of Metallica.

Lulu disagrees

That's funny, but if we're being real it still charted in 20+ countries and sold hundreds of thousands of copies. I know lots of bands that would love those numbers.

 

[anomaly]

The problem I have with the ride the lightning tone is it's not articulate enough, you can't hear every note clearly like you can on the next three albums. Dare I say the tone is a bit bloated as well, not exactly mix friendly. Just my opinion. I think MOP, Justice and the Black album have my favorite Metallica tones.

 

[angelspade]

The problem I have with the ride the lightning tone is it's not articulate enough, you can't hear every note clearly like you can on the next three albums. Dare I say the tone is a bit bloated as well, not exactly mix friendly. Just my opinion. I think MOP, Justice and the Black album have my favorite Metallica tones.

People who respond well to the RTL tone seem to like it because of it's thickness in the low-mids and compression. Hetfield once described it as "muscular"...Which I get. Garage Inc. is still my all time favorite Hetfield tone.

 

[tallcoolone]

That doesn't make any sense. The meteoric price of IIC+/++ amps is in no small part due to the popularity of Metallica.

Which is why they released the IIc+ RI. The Metallica fan guitar players with disposable income prob already have one of those so are they going to drop another $4k+ to get a Het sig model? I dunno man…

 

[DrewJD82]

Which is why they released the IIc+ RI. The Metallica fan guitar players with disposable income prob already have one of those so are they going to drop another $4k+ to get a Het sig model? I dunno man…

Seems like the Hetfield amp was ditched well before they started the IIC+ reissue, I don’t think anyone was expecting to sell Metallica fans 2 different amps.

That said, I’m in a Metallica gear group on FB and I absolutely would not be surprised in the least bit with a good chunk of guys buying both amps, considering some of these dudes are dropping $10K-$15K on Hetfield ESP Explorers and have multiples of them.

Also, there wouldn’t be a $4K Hetfield amp, being that it never happened at all due to Hetfield wanting it to be affordable.

 

[DrewJD82]

The problem I have with the ride the lightning tone is it's not articulate enough, you can't hear every note clearly like you can on the next three albums. Dare I say the tone is a bit bloated as well, not exactly mix friendly. Just my opinion. I think MOP, Justice and the Black album have my favorite Metallica tones.

I think that’s more to do with recording technology/budget at the time they made the album than any kind of production choice. I’d love to hear that album re-mixed on modern gear, without doing anything to make it sound modern.

 

[tallcoolone]

Seems like the Hetfield amp was ditched well before they started the IIC+ reissue, I don’t think anyone was expecting to sell Metallica fans 2 different amps.

That said, I’m in a Metallica gear group on FB and I absolutely would not be surprised in the least bit with a good chunk of guys buying both amps, considering some of these dudes are dropping $10K-$15K on Hetfield ESP Explorers and have multiples of them.

Also, there wouldn’t be a $4K Hetfield amp, being that it never happened at all due to Hetfield wanting it to be affordable.

I’m sure there would be a bunch of guys into the idea, I just think that number would be in the dozens and that wouldn’t justify the amp. But hey, it’s just my opinion and you know what they say. I figured $4k b/c that’s what Petrucci’s model runs

 

[Les Zombie]

I’m sure there would be a bunch of guys into the idea, I just think that number would be in the dozens and that wouldn’t justify the amp. But hey, it’s just my opinion and you know what they say. I figured $4k b/c that’s what Petrucci’s model runs

Het sig amp was supposed to be a IIC+ channel and a channel to sound similar to a VH4 with a blend knob to mix both, plus clean to sound similar to a roland JC-120. It woulda been a little different than the reissue iic. I woulda bought it even thought i have a iic++ because it woulda been different sounding, but it didnt happen, so it dont matter.

I asked james many years ago in 2011 or mighta been 2012 why he didnt end up doing a deal with gibson to produce some of his les pauls and he said gibson was difficult to work with and something about it being a long process, he got the prototype gibson iron cross but it didnt go beyond that, henry was running the company back then, james said kirk took the bait and let them make the gibson hammett V.

Cesar is running the company now and
I wouldnt be shocked if someday gibson tried talking to him again, Cesar seems to like making kirks guitars, maybe he can work something out with james at some point and do some guitars and a mesa amp. But its a long shot i guess. Metallica doesnt even play real amps anymore so i guess its pointless, unless gibson just wanted to throw a bunch of money at james just for the sake of selling some products.

 

[SonVolt]

They still record with real Mesa amps AFAIK. Fractal is easier for them live.

 

[rottingcorpse]

Let’s just be real, sloppy ass Metallica don’t sound very good live regardless of what they are using, and their studio tones aren’t exactly thrilling these days either.

Nailed it.

 

[angelspade]

Het sig amp was supposed to be a IIC+ channel and a channel to sound similar to a VH4 with a blend knob to mix both, plus clean to sound similar to a roland JC-120. It woulda been a little different than the reissue iic.

If this were ever to happen...I would be all in 100%.

 

[ners]

That would be super cool to be able to blend channels like that, not sure I've ever seen an amp that could do that.

Doesn't Metallica also blend a Jose and a Wizard though? I remember a Tone Talk episode with their producer where they record all 4 at once then during mixing decide which amps to blend for each track/riff/etc.

 

[MadAsAHatter]

That would be super cool to be able to blend channels like that, not sure I've ever seen an amp that could do that.

You've never seen a jumpered 4 holer Marshall?
That's exactly what you're doing with the Normal & Bright volumes; they just use a shared EQ section.

 

[ners]

You've never seen a jumpered 4 holer Marshall?
That's exactly what you're doing with the Normal & Bright volumes; they just use a shared EQ section.

Ehh I thought about that example but those channels are similar enough that it didn't strike me as novel as blending a IIC+ & VH4 in a single amp.

 

[SonVolt]

Is shoving a true VH4 circuit into a Mark even possible? Is there even room for 2 preamps? How much of the VH4's tone comes from the Poweramp vs Preamp? So many questions...

 

[DrewJD82]

I’d be really curious to know what it takes to get Hetfield onboard with and endorsement/signature anything. From Randall’s comments, it’s not money, which probably annoys the shit out of any company looking at him like a cash cow. Dude’s got strings, picks and the guitars, I think that’s it for sig stuff when he could most certainly have signature anything and any company would be thrilled to have him as an artist.

For the money a JH Gibson sig would go for, I’d rather he had one with Ken Lawrence.

 

[SonVolt]

I’d be really curious to know what it takes to get Hetfield onboard with and endorsement/signature anything. From Randall’s comments, it’s not money, which probably annoys the shit out of any company looking at him like a cash cow. Dude’s got strings, picks and the guitars, I think that’s it for sig stuff when he could most certainly have signature anything and any company would be thrilled to have him as an artist.

For the money a JH Gibson sig would go for, I’d rather he had one with Ken Lawrence.

Don't forget his sig EMG pickups.

 

[IronSean]

Is shoving a true VH4 circuit into a Mark even possible? Is there even room for 2 preamps? How much of the VH4's tone comes from the Poweramp vs Preamp? So many questions...

The Mark V/VII amps shove 9 modes and 3 channels into relatively small amp shells. They do some clever engineering to try and re-use the parts of those circuits they can for the other modes, so it's somewhere between 3 and 9 full circuits they have in there. Either way, don't think space is the main concern. And James has a working prototype, you can see it in the video at the start of this thread.