Kirk Hammett

In this performance of "The Judas Kiss" in the "Quebec Magnetic" release, Kirk uses a black Teuffel Birdfish.

"The story of MESA/Boogie and Metallica goes back about as far as the origins of the band itself. James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett have both used Mesa products in their live rigs and studio recording since the Mesa Mark IIC+ hit the streets in the early '80s . The Mark IIC+ played a significant role in the recording of some of early Metallica's most recognized music "

Kirk Hammett seen in this ADA MP-1 advertisement.

He is holding the guitar in this image. It was taken during the recording of the black album.

Kirk's been using TC Electronic gear since the old days as well, choosing the precise tonal shaping options of the TC Electronic Dual Parametric Equalizer to achieve his crushing tone. Not only did Hammett use the Dual Parametric Equalizer live during the early days, it was a staple of his tone during the recording of the 1984 classic Ride The Lightning album, shaping the famous lead sounds on the album that cemented Metallica as leaders of the thrash movement.

Another of Kirk Hammett's signature ESP guitars is the Ouija Board themed guitar. "I love the look of the pickups, they're very cool guitars," Hammett's tech says at (9:15).

On the Official Mesa Boogie blog, it lists the Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier Rackmount as part of Kirk Hammett's live rig:

"A big part of Kirk’s live rig are Rackmount Dual Rectifiers. It’s a very simple rig comprised of DBX Quad gates, Digital Music Corp GCX Expander switching racks, T.C. Electronic G Major FX Processors and Dunlop DCR-ISR Rack Wah."

Kirk can be seen using the pedal at 1:08

"Conceived in the dark depths of Kirk Hammett’s mind and forged in the secret laboratories of KHDK, an iconic circuit has been perfected to achieve its full potential and create the ultimate tone, with all the control in your hands. The Ghoul Screamer is a multipurpose pedal, a true utility knife of overdrives, featuring three standard controls and five additional switches.

The Ghoul Screamer is a supercharged take on the classic tube screamer pedal, conceived of and perfected by Kirk Hammett.

The five switches control the essential components of your sound: EQ, dynamics and pick sensitivity.

The Ghoul Screamer was engineered to work excellently with any guitar, amp, pedal & pickup setup.

-EMG Pickups (source)

Guitar World has also written an article about the unveiling of the new pedal here.

In this publication from Ernie Ball's account it is proofed that Kirk is using their new set of strings.

In this video, Kirk Hammett discusses his signature Cry Baby Wah pedal:

“It was like a nitrous switch. You hit a nitrous switch in the car and then your car just takes off. That's what the wah pedal felt like from the very beginning for me, and I’ve always been way into it.

There was a time where I needed 8 different wah pedals because of the Black Album tour, we had the diamond stage, it wasn’t feasible for me to keep running to one side of the stage to play a particular solo. So we put different wah pedals everywhere, and what we did was we devised a system where the wah pedals would be just chassis, and the main guts of the wah pedal would be in a rack. We went to Dunlop, and they designed something for us along those lines, that led to me sitting down and developing this wah based on the settings that I used in the rack-mount. Which is great, I can pick up one of these and it’s there - it’s the sound.“

Bobby Cedro, a senior engineer at Dunlop then goes on to describe the specifics of this signature Wah:

“…this was actually really interesting project, difficult yet somewhat easy, too. My job was to take Kirk Hammett’s DCR1SR, which is this big rack, remote Crybaby, all of the settings, all of his parameters, all of his tweaks, and put it into one pedal. And I built a prototype, and I further had controls for him to tweak up - so as it was sent back to him he played it for a while, did a little more tweaking with the EQ and the Q. So when I got it back it was my benchmark, where I married all those parameters, inputted into this pedal.

So, all of those parameters make this pedal a very musical and even sounding pedal throughout its whole range. All that EQing does, is smooth out the response through its travel, making in Kirk’s case playing at loud volumes and distortions a very nice and even wah wah swell. So the low end doesn’t get too boomy, and the top end doesn’t get too shrill. And all the middle points too are very balanced between the top and bottom.

And that's what his fine adjustments did for him on stage, and now you simply get all his sounds, and all his years of experience, tonality, all in this one pedal.”

In www.metallica.com seek the photos of the making of Death Magnetic and you can see Kirk using the Ibanez TS-808 with True Bypass. If you look closely you can see it’s a Keeley Mod+ tube screamer. You can tell by two ways. The sticker on the top of the pedal box and it’s led light which is blue instead of red.

According to Metallica's 2010 tour gear list, Kirk Hammett plays through his signature amp, the Randall RM100KH.

You can see Kirk Hammett playing this guitar at a few shows lately, usually in nothing else matters and a few others

Throughout the whole video, Kirk is using a Composite Acoustics guitar. I was actually there at Bridge School when Metallica was performing, and Kirk's acoustic guitar tone sounded amazing!

According to Guitar-Rigs.com, Hammet uses the NS-2.

According to Metallica's 2010 tour gear list, one of Kirk Hammett's guitars is an ESP KH-2, with a "Caution Hot" sticker on it.

On www.metallica.com you can search photos of the making of death magnetic and you can see Kirk using the Radial Tonebone and on Radial's website, Hammett is quoted as saying:

"This box (Tonebone Hot British) is very deserving of the word Hot--I definitely love my Bone!"

at about 13:25 into the submitted video, Kirk can be seen playing a Marshall JMP, and i know Kirk loves his vintage Marshalls.

Hammett can be seen with this amplifier in the background. It is said that Metallica used these German, handmade amps in the 1990's

Manufactured by TC Custom during 2008 for the Death Magnetic Tour.

In an interview with MetalCastle, Kirk Hammett mentioned that he received the ESP V-II Metallic Gold as one of three new ESP guitars he would acquire this year.

Kirk Hammett also plays a ESP Green Burst guitar. "It's to match the pedal," Hammett's tech says in this interview at (7:50), in reference to Hammett's signature Dunlop Crybaby Wah pedal.

According to Metallica's 2010 tour gear list, Kirk Hammett plays through Randall Kirk Hammett Signature 4x12 Speaker Cabinets.

According to Metallica's 2010 tour gear list, one of Kirk Hammett's guitars is an ESP Spider 13.

"Guitar Rig is a guitar player's dream. Stacks of amps, loads of pedals and multiple mics at the flick of a mouse. I love it !!!!"

Kirk Hammett uses Ernie Ball Regular Slinky Guitar Strings (10-46), as shown in a photo from Fbcdn.

You can see a MXR EVH Flanger in the rack in this video between 3:06 and 3:17.

Kirk Hammett has been using the ESP Custom Shop KH-2 2009 Ouija White guitar, a limited edition with only 50 units worldwide, since 2009. This is evident in the "Metallica: The Memory Remains" performance, captured in the Live Mexico City DVD from 2009 and available on YouTube.

At 16:20 in the video, Kirk Hammett's rig is shown to consist of a RJM Mastermind GT-16.