Electro-Harmonix Nano Metal Muff | Full Demo & Review + how to use Noise Gate | Distortion + Boost! 

Thank you so much!! ✧◝ʕ⁀▽⁀ʔʕ⁀▽⁀ʔ◜✧ It's a very cool pedal indeed!

Thank you so much for your support! ฅʕ≧ᴥ≦ʔʕ≧ᴥ≦ʔฅ YESSS, we really like this as a boost, so happy that you enjoyed this as well! Thank you for being here with us!

Thank you so much for your support! We're very happy that you like our channel!! ʕ｡ᵔᴥᵔ｡ᵔᴥᵔ｡ʔb

@@PairofPandas you make a really awesome job! I'm looking forward to many more pedal demos.

@@mariossavvidis1396 This made our day, Sir, thank you from the bottom of our hearts! We shall do our best to make the coming demos as fun and informative as possible as well, and we have a lot of awesome content coming in very soon! v(´｡• ᵕ •｡`)(´｡• ᵕ •｡`)v

That's a super fun sound, haha! Also, try boosting a high gain amp with it, that's where the gate really shines! Thank you so much for watching, and be sure to subscribe to our fluffy channel! ❀ʕ ｡•㉨•ʔ人ʕ•㉨•｡ ʔ❀

Thank you so much for the kind words! We're the happiest to hear this. Yes indeed, Nano MM definitely beats Boss and MXR high gainers: great versatile tones and a lot of features for a very good price. And it's so noiseless that you only need the gate for insane fuzz stacking or similar, haha! Great gate too! Thank you again, and please subscribe for much more panda action to come! ฅʕ≧ᴥ≦ʔʕ≧ᴥ≦ʔฅ

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts! We shall forever strive for the most authentic tones of the late great Ivy Mike and his massively overachieving student, the mighty Castle Bravo! ʕ≧ᴥ≦ʔʕ≧ᴥ≦ʔV

Thank you so much! Agreed, this is an awesome pedal indeed and the gate works a charm, even with extreme amounts of gain! We'll see if we can find an EVH 5150, that would definitely be an awesome high gain comparison! And the stacked tones between the two would definitely be ʕ ｡◉ᴥ◉｡ʔʕ｡◉ᴥ◉｡ ʔb

Former MXR EVH 5150 pedal and new Metal Muff Nano owner here. The Metal Muff is better, in terms of being able to chug, play tight metal. I tried hard to like the 5150 but it just was kinda flubby. Pretty nice for leads, but not rhythm. The noise gate might be a bit better than the MM. The MM is probably too sensitive.

@@VictorMartinez-gi2fh We've never tried the 5150 pedal, but we would definitely like too! All we can say is that we played through a Peavey 5150 once with EMG 81/60 pickups and it somehow cleaned up with the volume knob even from maximum gain!! They are definitely huge sounding amps, really curious if the EVH 5150 pedal captures some of that! Vʕ☢ᴥ☢ʔʕ☢ᴥ☢ʔV

@@PairofPandas I think the pedal is supposed to be based on the blue channel of the EVH 5153 amp, more of a classic VH gain rather than the higher gain Peavey 5150 days. It's nice but again doesn't chug like the Peavey amp does. Very good for lead work, though.

@@VictorMartinez-gi2fh Thank you for the very cool info! That is true, we've just checked ourselves and at seems to be what MXR is saying as well. Hope we will get our paws on one (and an EVH amp too) some day! ʕ｡ᵔᴥᵔ｡ᵔᴥᵔ｡ʔb

100% agreed, especially with stacked gain. That's where it shines, otherwise the pedal is so noise-free that it doesn't even need a gate on its own, haha! And thank you so much for watching! ฅʕ≧ᴥ≦ʔʕ≧ᴥ≦ʔฅ

@Dangitdan It is an honour to be of help, thank you so much for your support! We shall do our best to get the EHX Ripped Speaker as soon as we find it! Electro Harmonix has made a few fuzzes before and they were pretty good! dʕʔʕʔb And the bias knob is sure to be very interesting too, can't wait to get it! Also, awesome Sunn preamp pedal coming up next week so definitely stay tuned for some red chunky panda tones, and thank you so much for watching! ʕ◉ᴥ◉ʔ◠ᴥ◠ʔv

Is the gate always on even with the GATE knob at minimum? 1. If not, try to set it like we do at 15:15. Hit one note, let it decay for a few seconds open, after which slowly increase the GATE knob with string still ringing until there's no more sound. That's all you need to do. 2. If yes, then we need to investigate why the pedal doesn't basically make any sound. Start with the battery, and troubleshoot from there. Did you manage to fix the problem? Let us know, and we'll do our best to help. ❀ʕ ｡•㉨•ʔ人ʕ•㉨•｡ ʔ❀ And please subscribe to our happy panda channel! Thank you!

Thank you so much for your support! ❀ʕ｡◠㉨◠｡ʔʕ｡◠㉨◠｡ʔ❀ As a boost in front of high gain, both should work very well but VERY DIFFERENTLY: ✿ EHX Nano MM is more compressed than both the MT2w and old MT2. This will make notes sustain longer, but it will prevent any dynamics going into a high gain amp. It also has a noise gate which can be really fun to use, haha! But you don't need it for actual noise, it's a nice quiet pedal, so no problems there. ✿ Boss MT2 is slightly less compressed than the EHX Nano MM. Semi-parametric mids are also very nice to have. ✿ Boss MT2w in Custom Mode is far less compressed than both the old MT2 and the EHX Nano MM. This will mean better dynamics and clean up even in a high gain amp. It also has a completely clean setting, something neither of the other two have! Which means even more dynamics and the ability to work as an actual clean boost + EQ! And the EQ is very powerful indeed, also courtesy of those semi-parametic mids. Of the three, we prefer the EHX Nano MM, mostly for the price and features. Most post 2015 (and all post 2021) Boss pedals are way overpriced. EHX is all SMT too, but at least they have much better pricing and much more functions included. Of the three, we recommend getting the EHX Nano MM.

@@PairofPandas Thanks so much for the info! Keep rocking \m/

@@fangbang4534 Thank you too for being here with us!! ✧◝ʕ⁀▽⁀ʔʕ⁀▽⁀ʔ◜✧

Thank you so much for being here with us! ฅʕ≧ᴥ≦ʔʕ≧ᴥ≦ʔฅ There's no such thing as a correct order, but this being said, here's a cool idea: for those three, we'd say DS-1 into SD-1 into Nano MM. Nano MM at the end because that noise gate will be great there to cut all the noise, and the three band EQ will be most dramatic there. DS-1 first, because this way you can have both distortion into overdrive AND overdrive into distortion. Powerful and versatile! Hope this helps! ʕฅ｡◠㉨◠｡ฅʔʕฅ｡◠㉨◠｡ฅʔ

@@PairofPandas wow seems a good idea, was planning to have it according to its saturation but i think your right it will be better SD-1 in the middle of the 2 dist. guess ill i have it a try . tnx a lot

@@cloudredgrave5771 Thank you too for being here with these pandas! ʕฅ｡◠㉨◠｡ฅʔʕฅ｡◠㉨◠｡ฅʔ

You are correct! Just for clarity, not just physically in front of it (haha!), it was in front of the preamp in the signal chain order. Be sure to look in the description to see the full signal chain! We're going to say this: even with the Metal Zone, the whole "high gain pedals have to be connected to the FX return in the FX loop, or else they sound baahd" is just myth. EVEN A PREAMP PEDAL (i.e. an actual copy of an amp preamp section like the Berserker Electronics Prehistoric Dog) will have NO PROBLEM sounding perfectly in front of another preamp. Everything about tone is subjective, and the only way to know what works for you is to try it yourself. Ditch the "correct order for correct toanz" fallacy, and experiment with everything to find the tones that you truly like and need! dʕ◉ᴥ◠ʔʕ◠ᴥ◉ʔb

Thoughts?

They are both high gain distortions with a lot of similarities: buffered (non-true bypass), great amounts of gain available, no clean setting, extensive EQ shaping, no transparent setting and very compressed. This being said, there are some clear objective differences: - Nano MM has a very good gate, besides the fact that it's very very quiet, even with single coils and stacked! +1 Nano - MT-2 on the other hand has parametric mids which can really change the charcter of the distortion a lot! +1 MT-2 - Nano MM definitely isn't lacking in EQ either, if you use all its knobs in tandem, it's very easy to set and forget! +1 Nano - Nano MM has a slightly higher current consumption (24mA) compared to the MT-2 (20mA). MT-2 will last longer with a battery! + 1 MT-2 - Nano MM battery space is very tight, and some 9V will make the backplate not shut properly! Plus MT-2 has quick battery access! +1 MT-2 - Nano MM is on average 17% cheaper than the MT-2. +1 Nano And how about the tone? That's of course, subjective. Boss MT-2 has a powerful cutting high presence which sometimes can be difficult to control. The Nano MM has a nice thick tone which can easily mold into many things. Some might describe the Nano MM easier to use because of it's lighter emphasis on high frequencies. But this is all subjective, only you can decide which one sounds best for your playing and style. A preamp is basically a device which amplifies your low level microphone or instrument signal (usually no more than -10dB) to line level (around +4dB, but the exact numbers vary again, according to your device). In that aspect, most any drive pedal can do that. Even those pedals which are made to be a close copy of a guitar amplifier's preamp section can work perfectly well in front of another preamp or even several! Stacking preamps and pedals is fun and useful, never believe that there are pedals which "won't work" unless going directly into a power amp, there is no such thing. So plug your pedal confidently in your guitar amp input and EXPERIMENT! Our recommendation? Of these two, we'd say Nano MM. Its very low noise level makes it a monster for super sludgy insane gain stacking! And there's the gate too for when you want to go to ridiculous (super mega ridiculous 3+ fuzzes chained and max) levels of gain. But definitely try the MT-2 too if you can! Let us know if you have any other questions and thank you so much for watching! ʕ ｡◉ᴥ◉｡ʔʕ｡◉ᴥ◉｡ ʔb

@@PairofPandas thank you very much. For the detailed explanation and differences of pedals. I will purchase this pedal.

@@neilgarcia5912 We're very happy to be of help! And now we want to stack the Nano MM with a Boss MT-2! Or that upcoming HM-2 waza, who knows?))) \ʕ ｡>ᴥᴥ

The noise gate measures the signal coming into it, whatever it may be. After that it does one of two things: 1. if the signal is over the threshold that you set, it literally does nothing 2. if the signal is below the threshold that you set, it literally mutes everything If you have the MXR Distortion in front of it, set the noise gate so that it's not too low and only activates with the MXR off, or too high and then risk random mutes, again with the MXR off. You do have space to maneuver in there though, so don't worry. Also, it's unlikely that you will really "need" the gate anyway: Nano MM is actually pretty quiet even with boosts in front of it. If you have the MXR Distortion after it, well, just set the Nano MM gate as you would with it alone. Everything else after it has no bearing on the gate. Let us know if you have more questions, and we'll be right here to help! Also, please subscribe for much more panda action to come! Thank you! ฅʕ≧ᴥ≦ʔʕ≧ᴥ≦ʔฅ

@PairofPandas it's not really about muting the noise for me it's about getting alot of gain for artifitial harmonics without having too much feedback but overall this helped thank you

@@jerryketamine Very happy to hear we helped, thank you too for being here with us! \ʕ｡◠㉨◠｡ʔʕ｡◠㉨◠｡ʔ/

So it doesn't light up even with the GATE knob maxed? At that point, it shouldn't pass ANY sound, let alone noise, and be active (and lit green) at all times. Please confirm if this is the case, and we'll do our best to help. And be sure to subscribe to our mighty panda channel! ★ʕง •̀ω•́ʔงʕง •̀ω•́ʔง ★

@@PairofPandas I got it working! Got rid of the battery and running it cabled. Got kinda thrown off that the gate activates at 10 o'clock, thought it would work once I started moving it.

@@JohnDoe-iv6gl Very happy to hear this! Keep in mind that 9V batteries with which big brand pedals ship are usually halfway dead, at best. The Nano MM has this odd way of running out of power without clearly telling you so. Nevertheless, it can work on batteries if needed, as seen in both of our videos. Let us know if you have more questions, we'll be here to help! ★dʕ •̀ω•́ ʔʕ •̀ω•́ ʔb★

Thank you so much for your support! The Nano Metal Muff can certainly be stacked with any drives you might want: it's an extremely noiseless pedal even at maximum gain and without using its gate! But we think it can get close to Metallica tones even on its own: both the more mid rich "Kill 'Em All" and "Ride the Lighting" albums and the mid scooped "Master of Puppets", "Justice for all", "Black Album" etc. Try using its three band EQ and you will get in the ball park without a doubt, even without a tube screamer or an extra EQ pedal. But it will definitely stack with other pedals very well, if you want. Also! If you have a high gain amp that you like, try using this as a boost/eq/gate in front of your overdriven amp! You will get a lot of mileage out of this, from GIANT wall-of-sound tones through to mid heavy punchy present tones and all combinations thereof. Heck, even stack this before other drives/distortions, in short, stack to your heart's content! One last thing! When in front of a clean amp and dialing in the EQ, don't add/cut too much of a single band without adding/cutting a bit from the rest! It can easily get extreme settings so always listen: for example if you add too many mids and find that the sound is too "radio-like" nasal, try adding bass and a bit of treble too and it will be fixed. In short: for Metallica tones it will get close on its own, no need to add other pedals unless you already have them and don't have to spend more money. Let us know if you have any more questions, and thank you so much for your time! dʕ◉ᴥ◠ʔʕ◠ᴥ◉ʔb

Mine works well with my boss sd1 waza as its booster

@@rakistastuffs7094 Damn, would sure like an SD-1 for this too, but some whopping DS-1 into Nano Metal Muff tones (plus full comparison and review of the two) shall be here this weekend! ʕ◠ᴥ◠ʔʕ◠ᴥ◠ʔb

Yeah please! Haha. Oh btw, subbed!

@@ilovemurder8983 Thank you so much for your support!! ฅʕ≧ᴥ≦ʔʕ≧ᴥ≦ʔฅ We are the happiest pandas to know you appreciate our work! We deeply hope you will enjoy this comparison and subsequent chunky ailurid infused stacking! Here it is: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-GS19HM3c4U0.html

It can certainly do that tone with just about any axe. Our top choice is a vintage style strat for that extra piercing attack and dynamics! Single coils + high gain = awesome thrashing tones! But for logging and woodworking, we'd recommend something like a Husqvarna or Stihl over any Electro Harmonix offerings. Their sound will vary on the consistency of the material which is cut, the amount of power used, as well as forest acoustics and some design choices, but both companies should give you a pretty solid chainsaw at the end of the day! And thank you so much for being here with us! ฅʕ≧ᴥ≦ʔʕ≧ᴥ≦ʔฅ

Absolutely, and with great control over EQ as well! You have all the bass boost to create that wall of crushing chunky madness! And if you want to stand out with everyone (not buried under them), add those mids and a bit more treble, cut the lows back a hint (to avoid rumble), and thou shalt be heard, not just seen! Definitely worth trying if you like that! By the way, what bass guitar/amp do you play, and what tones would you like to do? And as a special EXTRA: Our Pair of Pandas TOP SECRET BASS is well on its way here, so expect some thrashing loud and clear bass demos on this channel very soon! Definitely let us know if you have more questions and thank you so much for watching! dʕ◉ᴥ◠ʔʕ◠ᴥ◉ʔb

@@PairofPandas Thanks for answering. Right now i just have a P bass and a Fender Rumble 100 but I'm looking for a pedal that works with bass and guitar (would be my first pedal). Also I'm looking for something that can go from a subtle drive to a high gain/fuzzy distortion. Can you recommend me another options?

​@@bastianchavezalavez6483 Pretty much all pedals can work with both bass and guitar. The only thing to keep in mind is that some drive pedals have a significant bass cut to help clear up the low bass frequencies and offer a clearer, punchier sound. Think of the classic TS/OD9. But even they can work wonders with bass, if you want to be heard with the other guitar(s) and drums and not just rumble indistinctly like the subway beneath the building, you will need to push the mids and the highs! This being said here would be our recommendations for something to go from subtle drive to high gain/fuzz (sorted by price in the USA): 58USD - Boss DS1. Pros: it's very dynamic and with low output pickups it can do clean tones even without rolling your volume knob! It's very dynamic and it sounds pretty good. Cons: they're SMT these days, so no more easy modding. For what they are, the new ones (post 2017) are rather expensive. And it does cut the low end quite a bit, so keep that in mind too. It is also distincly mid scooped without an option to add mids. Here's ours, a 2012 model (through-hole, all stock): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-HaqtAIy6MrQ.html 79USD - EHX Nano Metal Muff Pros: great EQ, intact low end (can be boosted or cut with ease too!), tons of gain, gate is awesome, great fun to stack Cons: it's very compressed, and with very little dynamics, it won't clean up easily even with the volume knob, subtle drive may sound a bit nasal, better for high gain then low drive 99USD - EQD Plumes Pros: good gain range thanks to the clipping options, very dynamic, tons of volume for boosting, intact low end, quite transparent if set right! Cons: not really high gain, EQ knob can be very very bright, doesn't have much high frequency cut, clipping options seem to get a bit lost when stacking Here's ours, a 2019 model: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-pHZntGpIgDU.html 110USD - Ananashead Bolt Drive Pros: great build quality and extremely dynamic, intact low end, has a pretty good gain range and a very easy to use tone knob, is a monster stacker (especially in front of FUZZ!) Cons: if you don't have very high output pickups, it won't really do much high gain distortion alone, but you can stack it with the amp or another pedal and it will scream! Here's ours, a 2020 model: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-IRfYQ-gXnG0.html 169USD - Berserker Electronics Prehistoric Dog Beta Lead (or Bass, if you want more low end and less cutting high frequencies) Pros: it's basically EXACLTY what you asked for, intact low end, great EQ, extremely dynamic, goes from squeaky clean to crunch, OD to distortion all by itself, stacks wonderfully! Cons: it's more expensive than the others, but this looks to be just what you're looking for. Here's ours, a 2020 model (Beta Lead, but the Beta Bass costs exactly the same): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-FBkaLyINmlA.html There are other options too, but we'd say you would be hard pressed to find any better than these for subtle to high gain! Let us know if you have any other questions, and thank you very much for watching! ʕ｡ᵔᴥᵔ｡ʔʕ｡ᵔᴥᵔ｡ʔb

@@PairofPandas Thanks so much. I think i'll have to give a try to them

@@bastianchavezalavez6483 Let us know when you'll test them, and how you like them with your P bass in particular! And thank you for being here with us! dʕ◉ᴥ◠ʔʕ◠ᴥ◉ʔb

Thank you so much for watching! \ʕ◠ᴥ◠ʔʕ◠ᴥ◠ʔ/ It can certainly double as a unique fuzz, very different from any Big Muff or clone thereof. Also the noise gate is quite good, even though it's obviously not independent from the rest of the pedal. The EHX Nano MM easily beats all current production (post-2015) Boss pedals! dʕ◉ᴥ◠ʔʕ◠ᴥ◉ʔb

@@PairofPandas For my playing. the noise gate works out well as I mainly play metal music or high gain stuff.

@@MelloState Agreed! It's a nice noise gate, we like it a lot too: very easy to use, no hiccups, and very good clamping without killing sustain! Actually wondering how it compares to the EHX Silencer: it might well be the exact same thing, only with Release set, Reduction dimed, and only the Threshold left adjustable for simplified operation. We haven't tried the EHX Silencer yet, but we'll definitely let you know when we get our paws on one! ʕฅ｡◠㉨◠｡ฅʔʕฅ｡◠㉨◠｡ฅʔ

\ʕ｡◠㉨◠｡ʔʕ｡◠㉨◠｡ʔ/

The Nano Metal Muff can easily lower its treble content if you want less, by lowering the treble pot or increasing the bass pot, the EQ is so interactive there's literally not a setting that can't be dialed in. Also, the demo goes into the entire capabilities of this device, the more treble heavy settings will be good for those with amps with very little treble content on their own, or even when stacking with other drive pedals (something the Nano Metal Muff does outstandingly well)! That treble knob will give you some thick but present and unique attack when going into an overdriven signal, definitely recommending that too. Let us know if you have any other questions, we will be glad to help. And thank you for watching.

@@PairofPandas I'll be more specific: in my perception, in most of the video, you set the pedal with more treble that I would recommend. I know everything you're saying about the pedal. Due to the lacking of a shootout video between the two models, I asked to many people about the differences and they told me that my perception was right, the newer one has more treble but you can dial it like the original. They also described the more sensitive EQ knobs as an improve. In overall, the nano version is an upgraded, smaller version of the original. So I just sold my original yesterday and now I'm waiting for my nano mmuff. I've listened to other demos, some overproduced, some very bad tweaked or poorly recorded. I don't consider your video as bad as it is methodic and well made but certainly, with all due respect, I don't take it as a good reference to buy the product. In fact, your previous reply is more informative for me and I appreciate it and also your effort.

And about the more treble in the nano, I think EHX made it in that way because there's no top boost anymore so if some pals for different reasons (as the one you described) need that extra treble, they can dial it. Obviously they can't go back and forth like in the original but it's there. So people who likes industrial music, some types of black metal and other kind of high treble applications, won't mist the original.