Clifford Lee Burton was an American musician who was the bassist for thrash metal band Metallica from 1982 until
his death in 1986. He performed on the band's first three albums, Kill 'Em All, Ride the Lightning, and Master of
Puppets.
In this video Burton can be seen playing a Rickenbacker 4001 in a Burgundyglo finish.
This Bass has been heavily modified with a Gibson EB-0 "Sidewinder" pickup in the neck position, a Seymour Duncan Stacked Jazz pickup in the Bridge position, and a Seymour Duncan Stacked Strat pickup in the chamber for the foam mute under the bridge, activated by a push/pull pot.
This Rickenbacker was Burton's main rig from about Pre-1980 to 1984 and was used in the recording of "Kill 'Em All" and parts of "Ride The Lightning" until it was retired due to malfunction(s). Burton can be seen with this Bass in many pictures from the "K.E.A." tour.
In a handwritten list Burton made for the orginal Metallica Fanclub in the summer of 1983, he lists his gear and modifications as follows:
"Right now, I'm using a Randall 300 watt head into: 1 Randall 1x18 cab and 1 road 2x18 cab."
"At this time I only use 2 effects. A Morley Power Wha Boost and an MXR Limiter."
"I play a Rickenbacker 4001 bass. The 2 stock pickups have been replaced as follows: In the bass position there's a "Gibson EB" pickup. In the treble position, there's a "Seymore Duncan Stacked Jazz" pickup. I have also had a 3rd pickup installed in the bridge. It's a "Seymore Duncan Stacked Strat." Both Duncan pickups are "Humbucking" in design so they help reduce unwanted noise."
After retiring his Rickenbacker 4001 Burton used a number of high-end basses.
Among these was a Black Alembic Spoiler Bass he bought and used breifly in about 1983-1985, This bass may or may not have been used on the recording of the "Ride The Lightning" album.
This bass was later stolen around 1984-1985.
This bass has never been found, so if you or someone you know owns a Black '83-'85 Spoiler be sure to look for a large chip in the back finish up around the side of the Peghead as it might have belonged to Burton.
Cliff Burton rocking a Morley Power Wah Boost pedal (notice the side sticker for boost intensity next to boost knob). You can also spot the TS9 switch under Cliff's heel, just behind the wah
MORLEY is an old pedal manufacturer from the 70’s, mainly famous for their wah pedals.
Unlike other wah pedal manufacturers like Vox, Morley pedals use an electro-optical circuit, rather than a potentiometer, to control the effect.
The foot pedal controls a shutter in front of a light bulb inside the pedal, which in turn controls a photoresistor.
Sounds cumbersome, but this works really nice. And is more reliable than potentiometer controlled pedals, as the latter tend to wear over time and become scratchy.
Plus, these pedals come in beautiful rugged chrome plated design
