“I’m still chasing that sound”: Kirk Hammett thinks his best-ever lead tone was on this Metallica album
Metallica have put out 11 studio albums over the course of their near-45-year career, each with vastly different sounds and production aesthetics. So you might expect guitarist Kirk Hammett to have trouble singling out the album with his best tone.
But in a new interview with Guitar World, he wastes no time in asserting that his best-ever lead tone was, in fact, on the band’s sixth album, 1996’s Load.
READ MORE: Kirk Hammett thinks that PRS guitars are “basically Les Paul copies” and that’s why he doesn’t own one
“I would have to say my lead sound on Load is the best tone I’ve ever gotten,” he tells Guitar World’s Amit Sharma. “I’m still chasing that sound. It was the 1961 SG with PAF pickups going out to 20 amps all blended together. Okay, I don’t know if it was 20, but it was definitely more than five.”
Hammett says his second favourite lead tone was on the band’s 1983 debut, Kill ‘Em All. “I talk to Lars about that killer tone all the time,” he says. It was just my Flying V with EMG pickups and my Tube Screamer going through James’s legendary fuckin’ Marshall that got stolen in Boston.”
For reference, James Hetfield’s modded Marshall amp was stolen in 1984 alongside a bunch of the band’s other gear outside a venue in Boston called The Channel. Per Ultimate Guitar, the incident was even rumoured to have contributed to the dark tone of Ride the Lightning cut, Fade to Black.
Hammett says his Kill ‘Em All tone “had this pureness that felt so real”, adding: “It wasn’t super processed or overworked. It sounded natural and fit the music. Magic!”
The Metallica guitarist is also asked what he feels is the greatest solo he’s ever recorded, to which he replies: “The solo in Fuel was done on the green Strat from the I Disappear video. I love that guitar so much. I still have it; that thing just feels like an old friend. So I really love how that solo came out. But it’s a tough question, bro.”
He goes on: “I think I’ll say it’s the one from Hero of the Day. Every note counts and fits perfectly. I feel like everything is in its right place and the solo lifts the song to another level, which I always try to do – even if I’m not always successful. The track has a different level of intensity afterwards.
“There’s another solo I really like – I’ve tried to relearn it and I just can’t fuckin’ nail it. It’s the one from The Unforgiven III. Some of the playing is out of time, but it sounds super-effective.”
Elsewhere, Kirk Hammett recently commented on Metallica’s addition to the lineup of Back to the Beginning, the colossal final show from Black Sabbath that’s due to take place in July. “I’m in a situation where I can actually say thank you to the progenitors of a freaking genre,” he said.
The post “I’m still chasing that sound”: Kirk Hammett thinks his best-ever lead tone was on this Metallica album appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Source: www.guitar-bass.net
