Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
Somber clean arpeggios and harmonics in the verses against heavy, distorted riffing in the choruses.
What is the Welcome Home (Sanitarium) guitar tone?
The Welcome Home (Sanitarium) guitar tone is somber clean arpeggios and harmonics in the verses against heavy, distorted riffing in the choruses, heard on Metallica's 1980s thrash metal recording. It is a distorted riff tone, and Metallica reportedly tracked it with James Hetfield's Jackson King V through a Mesa/Boogie Mark IIC+ modified as a preamp, the rhythm rig listed for the whole of Master of Puppets, with Kirk Hammett's leads on a 1974 Gibson Flying V, a Jackson Randy Rhoads or a Fernandes Stratocaster copy through his own Mark IIC++, according to a Metallica gear history site; which guitar and amp carried the clean parts is not documented; the song opens with clean single notes and harmonics, and its clean, arpeggiated main riff alternates bars of 4/4 and 6/4; the verses stay on those clean guitars, the choruses switch to heavy, distorted riffing and the song ends in an aggressive finale, the shape Metallica had set with Fade to Black and repeated on One; the lyric is based on Ken Kesey's novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and the music press has compared the intro to Rainbow Warrior, a 1980 song by Bleak House; it is the fourth track on Master of Puppets, recorded with Flemming Rasmussen at Sweet Silence Studios in Copenhagen between September and December 1985 and released on 3 March 1986. Tones in this style live or die on tight low end and a scooped midrange, with the picking hand doing as much of the work as the amp.
You do not need that exact gear to land in the same place. What carries this sound is the gain structure, the EQ curve, the pickup choice and the order of the effects, and all four can be rebuilt on equipment that costs a fraction of the original. The numbers change from amp to amp, because a high-gain head and a small practice amp reach the same voicing from different knob positions. That translation is what Tonelify works out for the rig you actually own.
Welcome Home (Sanitarium) amp settings: a starting point
On a generic five-knob amp, start at Gain 8, Bass 6, Middle 3, Treble 7, Presence 6, Reverb 1 for the heavy choruses, with the bridge pickup. There is a second setting for the clean verses below.
- Gain 8
- Bass 6
- Middle 3
- Treble 7
- Presence 6
- Reverb 1
- Signal chain
- Noise gate → Amp distortion → Short room reverb
- The control that matters most
- Two sounds, and the switch between them. The verses are clean arpeggios and harmonics and the choruses are heavy, distorted riffs, so set a clean sound with plenty of headroom and a tight, scooped distorted one, and practise the change. Count the main riff as it alternates bars of 4/4 and 6/4, and let the notes of each arpeggio ring into each other.
These positions are free and they are a starting point. A Katana, a Spark and a valve head reach this voicing from different knob positions, so Tonelify rewrites every value above for the amp and guitar you own. Your first match is free with an account, and needs no card.
Adapt these to my amp- Pickup
- Bridge pickup
These are positions on a generic five-knob amp with gain, bass, middle, treble and presence, each running 0 to 10. They are a starting point, not the settings used on the record, and they will not transfer unchanged to an amp with a different gain structure or EQ voicing. If you tell Tonelify which amp you own, it rewrites every value above for the controls that amp actually has.
Second sound
Welcome Home (Sanitarium) amp settings for the clean verses
For the clean verses, start at Gain 2, Bass 6, Middle 3, Treble 7, Presence 6, Reverb 3, with the neck or middle position.
- Gain 2
- Bass 6
- Middle 3
- Treble 7
- Presence 6
- Reverb 3
- Signal chain
- Straight into the amp
- Where the song switches
- The intro and verses are clean single notes, harmonics and arpeggios; the choruses and the finale are heavy, distorted riffing. No source names the amp behind the clean parts.
- Pickup
- Neck or middle position
The same reference as the panel above: positions on a generic five-knob amp, a starting point rather than the settings on the record.
What gear did Metallica use on Welcome Home (Sanitarium)?
James Hetfield's Jackson King V through a Mesa/Boogie Mark IIC+ modified as a preamp, the rhythm rig listed for the whole of Master of Puppets, with Kirk Hammett's leads on a 1974 Gibson Flying V, a Jackson Randy Rhoads or a Fernandes Stratocaster copy through his own Mark IIC++, according to a Metallica gear history site; which guitar and amp carried the clean parts is not documented; the song opens with clean single notes and harmonics, and its clean, arpeggiated main riff alternates bars of 4/4 and 6/4; the verses stay on those clean guitars, the choruses switch to heavy, distorted riffing and the song ends in an aggressive finale, the shape Metallica had set with Fade to Black and repeated on One; the lyric is based on Ken Kesey's novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and the music press has compared the intro to Rainbow Warrior, a 1980 song by Bleak House; it is the fourth track on Master of Puppets, recorded with Flemming Rasmussen at Sweet Silence Studios in Copenhagen between September and December 1985 and released on 3 March 1986.
Sources: Wikipedia: Welcome Home (Sanitarium), Wikipedia: Master of Puppets, Metallica Gear History: the Crunchberries Mark IIC+
Tonelify reads that chain and translates it to the amp and guitar you already own, returning gain, bass, mids, treble and presence values along with a pickup position.
How do you get the Welcome Home (Sanitarium) tone on your own amp?
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Welcome Home (Sanitarium) tone questions
What amp settings do you need for Welcome Home (Sanitarium)?
On a generic five-knob amp, start at Gain 8, Bass 6, Middle 3, Treble 7, Presence 6, Reverb 1 for the heavy choruses, with the bridge pickup, and at Gain 2, Bass 6, Middle 3, Treble 7, Presence 6, Reverb 3 for the clean verses, with the neck or middle position. These are positions on a generic five-knob amp with gain, bass, middle, treble and presence, each running 0 to 10. They are a starting point, not the settings used on the record, and they will not transfer unchanged to an amp with a different gain structure or EQ voicing. Tonelify rewrites the same values for the specific amp and guitar you own, because a high-gain head and a small solid-state combo reach the same somber clean arpeggios and harmonics in the verses against heavy, distorted riffing in the choruses from different positions.
Does Welcome Home (Sanitarium) use one amp setting or two?
Two. The intro and verses are clean single notes, harmonics and arpeggios; the choruses and the finale are heavy, distorted riffing. No source names the amp behind the clean parts. On a generic five-knob amp, start at Gain 8, Bass 6, Middle 3, Treble 7, Presence 6, Reverb 1 for the heavy choruses, and at Gain 2, Bass 6, Middle 3, Treble 7, Presence 6, Reverb 3 for the clean verses.
What is the most important control for the Welcome Home (Sanitarium) tone?
Two sounds, and the switch between them. The verses are clean arpeggios and harmonics and the choruses are heavy, distorted riffs, so set a clean sound with plenty of headroom and a tight, scooped distorted one, and practise the change. Count the main riff as it alternates bars of 4/4 and 6/4, and let the notes of each arpeggio ring into each other.
Can you get the Welcome Home (Sanitarium) tone without the original gear?
Yes. The original was tracked with James Hetfield's Jackson King V through a Mesa/Boogie Mark IIC+ modified as a preamp, the rhythm rig listed for the whole of Master of Puppets, with Kirk Hammett's leads on a 1974 Gibson Flying V, a Jackson Randy Rhoads or a Fernandes Stratocaster copy through his own Mark IIC++, according to a Metallica gear history site; which guitar and amp carried the clean parts is not documented; the song opens with clean single notes and harmonics, and its clean, arpeggiated main riff alternates bars of 4/4 and 6/4; the verses stay on those clean guitars, the choruses switch to heavy, distorted riffing and the song ends in an aggressive finale, the shape Metallica had set with Fade to Black and repeated on One; the lyric is based on Ken Kesey's novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and the music press has compared the intro to Rainbow Warrior, a 1980 song by Bleak House; it is the fourth track on Master of Puppets, recorded with Flemming Rasmussen at Sweet Silence Studios in Copenhagen between September and December 1985 and released on 3 March 1986, but the parts that define the sound are the gain structure, the EQ curve, the pickup position and the effects order. Those translate to other equipment, which is what the adaptation step does.
Is Welcome Home (Sanitarium) a rhythm or a lead tone?
It is a riff part with a distorted character, from Metallica's 1980s thrash metal catalogue.
Does Tonelify cost anything to try?
Your first match for your own gear is free with an account, and needs no card. After that both plans start with a 7-day free trial: Stage is $6.99 a month for 20 matches, Headliner is $10.99 a month for unlimited matching within a fair use limit of 150 new matches a day, and yearly billing works out cheaper on both. Reading this page and the rest of the library costs nothing and needs no account.
