I ended-up going with an Ibanez Smashbox for my first high-gain pedal. I don’t play a lot of high gain stuff, but it’s fun for the occasional aggression-session. I think a metal zone is next. I’m collecting overdrives and distortions after 30+ years of playing without pedals. The pandemic changed my gear approach.
I like the Metal Zone. I was listening to Dismember here on youtube last night, apparently a lot of the classic Swedish death metal sound is a "dimed" MT2. Right on.
@@saltpeter7429 yeah, they either used the MT-2 as a boost, or full dimed into the clean channel, and then layered that with the amp's usual tone for quad tracking. Dismember, In Flames, etc. At The Gates and some of the more brutal/dissonant bands also used the Metal Zone as a boost for the "amp's normal tone" takes, or would use a "double boost" of a metal zone run into a heavy metal.
Hi Robert - my first time watching your videos, and I like what I see. One suggestion tho - a side by side demo of each pedal would have been extremely helpful for those of us who are boutique tone shopping. 😎🤘
HM-2 works great for blending. Run it into a slightly dirty channel on an amp, like a crunch, or clean with the gain way up/distortion with the gain way down, and dime everything. Record your take, then play the exact same thing again with a more "normal" high gain amp tone. Do this for both guitars. It's called quad tracking, and when you do it like this with this pedal it sounds amazing, as opposed to like shit. Another option is to turn the gain down on the lead channel of the amp, or if you're using a 3 channel amp use the in-between/crunch channel, and have everything dimed but the gain on the HM-2 so it works as a dirty boost EQ. This method is what was actually used in the 90's by bands like At The Gates, Entombed, Dismember, In Flames, etc.
Through much of the early to mid 90's, Entombed and At The Gates actually used an edge of breakup tone by turning the gain on the lead channel of their amps almost all the way down, and then ran an MT-2 on low gain - around 9 o'clock - with the volume at max into an HM-2 with the EQ and volume maxed, and the gain at 0, and then used the mid sweep on the MT-2 to tweak problem frequencies into or out of the sound, and then that ran into the front of the amp. They basically used both pedals as a double boost
Vinnie Moore used the Ibanez Super Metal pedal into a solid state Peavey for the now legendary shred album 'Mind's Eye'. Also, if you haven't played one yet look into the Neunaber Neuron at some point. It's not a 100% metal oriented pedal, but it really delivers the goods.
Not a metal fan at all but I like supporting your channel and enjoy hearing people talk gear. My brother has a Framis Cobra and Mesa Triple-Rec. I like those for metal sounds.
Great video Robert i am also an avid collector of boss pedals the metal zone was the first pedal I ever bought I still own it also,I have to agree with you the amp tweaker has to be the best heavy metal distortion pedal ever made James Brown killed it on that one for sure.
I have love and devotion to and for the MT2. Being a Death Metal fan myself, I have no qualms with the ever maligned box of disto. I'm rockin two pedals these current days, a mod tone " High Gainer". The mini version and the full size. The full size pedal is acting up these days, but when it works right it's cool. I read a review where some guy called it "Jake E Lee in a box" For now I'm getting by using the little mini- version, which in and of itself is a fine pedal. Works good to boost and grime up a dirty channel as well.
Good list, Robert. My personal favorite distortion pedal for metal is the REVV G3. I just really like how it sounds. In terms of #2 on the list, as a Christian I can definitely see why some people (including myself) would want to avoid that pedal. Before you ask, yes there are Christian Metal bands. Remember Stryper? Thank you for the content. Have a great day.
Im not knocking you. Its funny, my phone number at work has a 666 in it and when i call a service tech to come in, some cant even repeat the numbers back to me. Just saying, not judging
I saw Stryper at the INSIDE OUT SOUL FEST in NH a little over a decade back. Wow. Oz Fox and Michael Sweet were akin to Tipton and Downing or King and Hanneman. Great show. Those fella's have a lot of talent.
I totally agree with you, however, I didn't end up buying that pedal not only because I'm a Christian, but for the fact that I have 100 or so pedals. 😉 I also 100% agree with you on Stryper. They're a great band that I've met and hung out with several times. They even helped is do an announcement years ago when my wife was pregnant with our daughter.
I'm glad you mentioned the Hardwire series. I have one without the Digitech name on the rubber piece. Love the sound. I got lucky and found it on sale at the old IRC music in Castleton for $100. I've heard they sell for much more now.
Gilmour used the HM-2 on his solo album About Face, and on Momentary Lapse of Reason. It was also used by Steely Dan on some famous solos. Gilmour also used the Blackstar HT-Dist X in his later work.
Man I love the top 10 videos. Hope you're doing well in life Robert. Keep up the good content, been a subscriber for a long time and glad to see it still going strong!
I love your videos Robert! I definitely want to check out a few of these. I might add the jekyll and Hyde as an honorable mention. Keep up the awesome work! 🙂
i went through a time where i challenged my MT2. bought litterally dozens of distortion pedals and preamps, some being preamp clones of really great solid state amps. after the year long showdown, I ended up adding an MT2W to my board right beside the OG metal zone.
Honestly, the MT-2w is one of the best metal distortion pedals I’ve ever heard, particularly in the Custom mode. I’d put it up there with the Empress Heavy, the Pepers’ Pedals Satanist/Wendigo, and the Amptweaker Tight Metal Pro (as far as tone goes, anyway, not features). Boss truly outdid themselves with that pedal, and they all but eradicated the internet hate for the original Metal Zone that was circulating all over the place about 10-15 years ago.
Great list. I just picked up the MZ, for $99 its impossible to go wrong. Versatility and through a Marshall it gives me the tine I was searching for. I could have picked up an EVH 5150 but the price of the MZ made it the winner. The REVV is a great sounding pedal too.
I adore my Pepers' Pedals Humungous Fuzz, doom for feckin' days. I'd have added the LPD Eighty7, it's my go to metal distortion pedal, and I have over 30 high end/vintage distortion pedals starting in the $200 range, it's THAT good.
Hey Robert, A little while back I was going through many more pedals than lately because I found myself messing around with the knobs and the sound in general rather than just playing and practicing to improve my playing ahah! I dig your feeds though explaining a lot of these though and it’ll definitely steer me in the right direction and avoid one that’s just not that good 👍 On a side note, I had purchased two pedals from Missing Link Audio and they sound pretty damn good, so good that I turn my Boss Waza Blues Driver on less and less. ( They aren’t ‘Metal’ pedals by any means, just wanted to mention them to you and share though, I don’t mean to go off the cliff and change the initial topic even though I am here lol 🤙 ), one’s the Medicine Man and the other is the Peacock. I love most of the Boss pedals as well, I’ll probably use their delay and EQ pedal on my board forever, even their RC-1 Looper is a damn good bang for the buck imo. Thanks again for your helpful feeds.
As long as you dont profess you're love and devotion to Saton. Lol. I saw a funny video about that kid Ricky Kasso that killed some boy in the woods back in the 80's. It was a big chapter of the Satanic panic. Anyhow, someone in that town famously carved " Satin lives" or something silly like that into the park gazebo.
@@saltpeter7429 I was at an Open Mic last night. Somebody had a shirt that said "Teaches Children to Love Satan". Looking at this guys hair looked like he needed serious help.
I went into a guitar store (Yes, it was Guitar Center!) and asked: “What is your best selling distortion pedal. He brought out the Metal Zone. “Shut up and take my money!” I did the Diesel mod on it later. Hated it. Couldn’t put it back to original specs fast enough. Time for another one actually
Like you I still have my first distortion pedal it's a TC electronic Dark matter distortion pedal it's currently on my pedal board for the price it's a great pedal!🎵🎶
Alright Robert! Love the vids! Not really into any of em, but I am caveman old-school. Love my gain , just in a different way. Rock 🪨 on ! Oh yeah no metal muff?! Lol 😆
In regards to the Ibanez Super Metal, the 10 series Metal Charger is an identical circuit. Great sounding pedal, but the L and 10 series are notoriously flimsy, and the footswitch and in/outs fail easily. I like the Mini version. Its identical in tone to my old broken Metal Charger, but true bypass, and takes up such s small space on my board. All about mini pedals these days.
I don’t think so, my man. I own both the MS10 Metal Charger and the SML Super Metal from that era, and they’re definitely different. I’m actually planning a Super Metal shootout video in the coming months, but there’s still two more versions of the Super Metal that I need to acquire.
I don't use pedals to often but my go to metal Pedal is the BOSS MT-2. I have a keeley modded one. I still want to get an Original Amp tweaker Pro. I still use my HM-2 from time to time. I dont use it for the chainsaw sound. I use it to re do my old bands Hardcore/Thrashmetal tone. As you put a shitty sounding tone LOL. The Behringer HM300 comes really close to the HM-2 tone. I have the Blackstar Overdrive in that series with the tube. That thing kicks ass. Those are great pedals. No DOD Death Metal?
Richard Kruspe in a box, which one comes closest? I get close with what I got but always looking for a good excuse. For some silly reason I put Ringo's "It Dont Come Easy" up against "Links 234", would like to nail it without the vintage Mesa.
Agreed. But now they’re under new ownership AGAIN as Samsung/Harman just sold them to Cort earlier this year. Hopefully Cort will actually do something with the brands.
@@RobertWJackson Then... Shouldn't it instead be appropriately titled : "10 of the greatest..."??🤔 Don't get me wrong, I genuinely prefer the more improvisational method you do far better. It's just that the initial assumptions of an expected ranking method inferred by the term "Top10" screws with my ASPD & OCD a little.🙃 That's all. Let's just say, in simplified terms, that my fMRI scan? Shows a wacky circuit schematic, and leave it at that.🤪🤣🙃🤟✌
as a HM2 nut, I can assure you there are loads of pedals from the 80's up to today that can get the same sound as a HM2, even the Waza version (which is not as good as the OG version, IMO).
@@RobertWJackson when they lowered the noise floor it messed up something in the upper mids. It's hard to make out but it is there. Also, they increased the output volume by a few decibels which also obscures how it interacts in front of an amp, especially a dirty amp. Maybe not so noticeable into a clean amp or when set not completely dimed, but it is different, even in standard mode.
In all Irony, there is one starved-plate distortion pedal that isn't ass-awful, and it's the Behringer VT-999. Otherwise, TwoNotes, AMT, and all of the Ibanez/Maxon/Vox pedals with NuTubes have a pretty good rep. The Blackstar ones, from what I recall, the higher gain ones are great... the lower gain ones, not so much. Those Vox digital modeller pedals with NuTubes after the processing unit are pretty fucking killer, from the reviews I've seen here on RU-vid. The high gain one is called "The Cutting Edge" which I actually see as a tongue in cheek self-own for metal heads, and it sounds GREAT. Vox are a British brand, so the humor checks out.
Great show. I have not had everyone but at least one of each of the brands including the Pepers. I just heard one that I assumed before I even tried it that it would be crap. Big time wrong. It's the Vox Valve Energy Cutting Edge. Check out Ola Englunds recent review ___Will it chug-Vox Cutting Edge
I'm probably about 10 yrs older than You... So. .. I had the HM . Distortion. Orange pedal. Idk. The first one.. I had the Black one with orange letters. Metal zone?! . But out of my Boss pedals. I liked the Turbo Overdrive. I got more Useable power Distortion. Without as much fuzz. That's probably my favorite. .. I don't use pedals anymore. I run . modeling Amos with effect in the amp. ...my current amp is a Blackstar id 60 TVP head and I'm pushing 6 Celestion vintage 30's.. But. I also didn't have Very good amps back in the day
Starts of with the Metal Zone lol If that does not trigger some people nothing will 🤣 That being said, it's the most sold guitar distortion pedal ever so it just speaks for itself. love it hate, does not matter, we would not be here today without the MT-2. The Satanist was renamed for undisclosed reasons when Tony broke up with TMD, something tells me it did not go smooth and Tony wanted to just break off completely from that era. I would add the Airis Effects Nemesis preamp as among the best out there, it's basically a hot rodded JCM800 and it is impossible to make it sound bad.
I thought i have gave up on distortion pedals until i saw #2 on this list. I own a slew of tube amps but about a year ago i got me a 5150III EL-34 COMBO....the way you described that pedal is kind of how that amp is designed. The 3 channel thing with channels 1&2 having their own EQ..Volume etc. You would recommend that one Robert for an EVH amplifier like that?
Hello!! I'm a tuber and if you put a mxr fet driver in front on the blue channel with the gain cranked you can get great tone and feedback with a low output pup and a .022 600v capacitor going from the pup hot to ground avoiding the treble bleed. Other good led diode boxes are the Emma and the Marshall guvnor. I prefer the made in England. If you like that classic vh sound. 🪨 rock on!
@@robbiestingle7640 thanks Robbie. I am a Les Paul guy but what you say makes sense. I own 30 guitar's, yes i have a problem. How about an Eric Johnson Stratocaster?
@@barrymiller2272 hello! Actually I worked at Kramer so I build / restore 82 through 85 Kramers. Picked up alot from Eddie he loved poplar and staggered windings alnico 2 humbuckers. After 81 all his bodies were poplar. He used 82 pacer specials for 5150s and 82 pacer deluxe for the ad Frankie's. He did fight the treble bleed wiring though. That I picked up from Slash , I think the 022 600v capacitor was the missing piece to the puzzle. The MOJO tone vitamin t oil filled works well with denser woods or the big brass floyd block to fight the treble squelch as well as a filler block of wood between the pup and body. Single coils are harder to get the sound out of although the lace sensor pups seem to do well. He was also into signal strength then, that's why he only used one pot. Once he moved on to Peavy with the solid state pre amp that all went out the window but I still live by this today. Of coarse wax potting was crucial also . Thanks for the reply and your welcome! Rock 🪨 on!
@@robbiestingle7640 wow thanks Robbie! Killer information. I have 2 Gibson "Slash " models and 1 Epiphone. I don't like the new Slashbuckers Gibson are using, but i purchased a practically new "Victoria " model from a guy i know from LA. He demoed it on RU-vid and sold it to me for 2k including shipping. I have a Frankie, you're opinion on the Wolfgang pickup and should i be using that guitar?
@@barrymiller2272 hello! Thanks so much for the question! So fender/evh really missed the boat with the Frankie, it's got a kinda cheapo floyd(I only use floyds from 82 t0 86 after that the tolerances fell way off and the fine tuners were loose) , the wood is basswood which isn't too bad, you can get away with the orange drop cap getting rid of the treble bleed , and the best pup I've found and use in all my Kramers is the Seymour Duncan 78 custom shop wax potted alnico 2 staggered windings, don't confuse it with the production line model, this is wound by Marcella Juarez and goes for 180 now. Has to be ordered through a dealer like pitbull audio, ask for Fernando and drop my name too. I get the 4 conductor and tin the white to red .also comes in trembucker spacing for straight routes or humbucker for tilted like the Frankie. . I would play that with those mods, hey its not totally authentic but it will get you there . Sure do appreciate the interest! I also float my floyds about 1/8 of an inch (sometimes less) cause it's extremely difficult to keep them in perfect tune decked. You should get a decent sound the way it is now , it just will be alot better. Remember that every pot , including effects, sends signal to ground weakening signal strength thus lessening feedback reaction time and tone quality. This is old school tube stuff. I really think Eddie sounded best in 82 . Back when notes bloomed and feedback split 3 octaves. This is my world. Thanks again and rock 🪨 on!!!!
Boss METAL ZONE.THANK YOU Rob.f the haters.best versatile “metal”petal IVE EVER OWNED.Period.same with the Boss DD8 as far as delay’s go,but yeah..BOSS baby.hard to beat brotha.love your videos,and your sense of humor.so keep ‘em comin.
Dude, video's like this one make me laugh. I had the pepper pedal. It was not a keeper. Wampler Dracarys, NOPE! Filaments, had that one too, NOPE! Empress heavy, YEP! Hardwire TL-2, YEP! Amptweaker tight metal, YEP! Ibanez, DOUBLE NOPE! Blackstar Distx, NOPE. Blackstar HT metal, YEP. Better luck next time. Just sayin
