James Hetfield

James Hetfield was seen using a Shure Super 55 microphone, featuring a black casing and red grille, in a photo shared by Metallica on Instagram during the Rock in Roma event.

Thumbnail of the video and throughout. He's been using the Limited Edition for a long time, including Kirk and Robert ones for the backing vocals.

This picture shows James Hetfield preparing to lay down a track in the studio with a Shure SM7B in his hand.

James Hetfield used the Audio-Technica Artist Elite AE5400 microphone primarily during live performances on Metallica's tours from "St. Anger" through "Death Magnetic." He can also be seen using this microphone in the "St. Anger" rehearsal video. While he now opts for the Shure Super 55, the AE5400 was a significant part of his setup during that period. This information is detailed in an article on Metalwani.

The rack mounted Shure UR4D Wireless Receiver is pictured in the source of James Hetfields rack system.

At 14:52 Big Mick explains Metallica used to use Audio Technica AE-2500 microphones to mic their guitar cabs before they went to Fractal.

James can be seen recording with a U47 FET during the making of the Black Album at 12:45 in the video.

Here James is using a Shure SM57 during the Presidio sessions in 2001

During this performance of the 'Cunning Stunts' show you can clearly see the whole band using Beta 58a's. James also used this microphone a lot throughout the 90's and perhaps the late 80's. Before he started using Audio-Technica microphones.

At 1:10 in this video, James' rig is shown to consist of a Shure UR4D+ Wireless Receiver.

this photo from the book: back to the front, you can see hetfields rig from the ride the lightning era mic’d up with a shure sm 7

You can see this wireless system on one of the pictures.