These are my reproductions of the classic Cliff tones from the two grand Metallica albums/eras.
Allow for some tonal differences due to recording process, however, rest assured it sounds identical to the man himself, in person. I've only used Samsung Galaxy Note 8 to record these samples and as you know, phone mic can't truly capture every nuance and depth of the sound blaring from the amplifier. I do believe these samples are simmilar enough, you will be able to recognise the sounds I've done my best effort to emulate. These will be the sounds I will use in covers to follow. (and MOP tone was already used in two of my videos).
Which tone do You prefer?
I did not reproduce Kill em All, 83 tone here as it's the same as a clean bass on RTL, but with a couple of months older, duller strings.
That being said, I've wanted to show how simmilar the two albums are tonally. They are in the same ballpark; overdriven, mid heavy, thunder like, growling, dynamic bass tones. The main difference is in the foundation of the sound, due choice of bass that was used for each album/era.
Twangy, slightly hollow sound of a heavily modified Rickenbacker VS tight, focused, clangy Aria Pro II punch. Most Cliff tone chasers focus too much on the pedals, but the bass of choice has a LOT to do with it and can be replicated with more than one bass, as long as they have simmilar sound quality(like my Embassy here used in place of a modified Rick).
Gear used:
For the RTL(1984) tone I have used '63 reissue Epiphone Embassy PRO Sparkling Burgundy bass, loaded with a ProBucker 760 vintage humbucking pickups. Predominantly bridge pickup with a dash of a neck pickup to add a bit more bottom. Cliff's Rick had humbucking "hot stack" Jazz pickup in the bridge position, made by Seymour Duncan which is basically a beefier version of a classic Jazz bass single coil tone, not unlike my own bridge ProBucker. The bridge pickup seems to be the dominant feature of this tone. In the neck position he had notorious low end king, Gibson Sidewinder "Mudbucker" pickup, which seems to have been used just for an improved bottom end. Tonally we are in the same ballpark here. Overdrive source is the regular, guitar Tube Screamer(not pictured here), for the lighter more fluid sound.
For the MOP(1986) tone I have used an all original 1982 Aria Pro II SB-600 in a rare, black finish for that model. Loaded with an MB-II humbucking pickup in "dual coil" mode.
(There is some confusion in old Aria Matsumoko catalogues, some listing one pickup model MB-1E usually found on SB1000, some other MB-II, for the SB600...it is very possible there is a typo, meaning MB-1 some older SB600 basses had, depending on the year, but my model is already rare for a 1982 SB600 standard production and there is a lack of info....big thanks to mr Leon Lundqvist for pointing that out!
EDIT: After discussion with an Aria expert, mr Davor Maričić, we have come to conclusion it is in fact an MB-II pickup in my SB600, just like in Elite and Black n Gold 1, while MB-1E is strictly reserved for an active SB1000)
Therefore this bass is tonally exactly the same as Cliff's prefered Aria Black n Gold. Overdrive of choice was an Ibanez TS9B aka Bass Tube Screamer, allowing for the more bottom end and punch than the guitar verson.
Hope You will enjoy! I have really done the best I possibly could to capture these sounds. \m/
28 сен 2024
