Trying to copy Metallica's "clean" distortion

[MartinBarre]

RTL was Marshalls, MOP was Boogies. AJFA was studio EQ'd crap. Man I loved the sound on AJFA when I was a kid, but the sound just doesn't hold up at all.

The songs do though! MoP tone, with Justices songs, sounds ideal in theory, but I think Justice is pretty much a perfect album anyway so who knows?

[Nightbat]

What's the difference between Ibanez's Tube Screamer and Boss's MT-2 (which I was looking into)?

Night and day

It seems Boss's pedal has far more options for altering the distortion sound.

If you want a thanksgiving turkey dinner, you don't buy a chicken

To put it simple
The MT-2 does not have the character of a tubescreamer, even with it's enhanced controls

[levantin]

The metal zone is a nice toy to play with if you're a bedroom guitarist. Playing live it's horrible, it won't cut through the mix without sounding horribly shrill.

The tube screamer is used almost exclusively to push a tube amp over the top, hence the name "tube" screamer

If you are just starting out or playing live irregularly I'd say get a modeller like a pod or boss gt unit; cheap and can give you a decent approximation of the tone you are looking for.

[Grim]

A 6505 will work too imo.

Mark V can do it.

[Newc]

He has this amp:
http://www.ibanez.com/electronics/model-TBX30R

Thus I doubt he's:
A) Gigging
B) Able to afford a Mark IIC+, Mark V, JCM800, or 6505

While a modeling device like the POD will approximate the tone that will come out of a Mark IIC+, it will not get the sound you're hearing on the CD, which has been doubled and mixed seamlessly into one stereo guitar track. Period.

[Grim]

Get a Roland Cube. They are affordable and they will work for a good Metallica tone. I just bought the 80x today,