The Power of the Metal Zone!

[Ritter667]

This is the thread where the controversial, but undeniably equally popular, hated and loved, and perhaps most misunderstood distortion pedal ever, the Boss MT-2 Metal Zone, gets the love it deserves.

I personally use no less than 2 Metal Zones in my setup, the original Boss Metal Zone as part of my main high gain distortion setup, mixed in parallel with a Mosky Black Rat in Turbo Rat mode, and a Behinger clone, the Behringer Ultra Metal UM300, as my post reverb high gain distortion, sometimes stacked into a Joyo Orange Juice overdrive, which tightens up the distortion of the Metal Zone considerably and make it seriously grindy.

It compliments the Turbo RAT distortion perfectly, and makes for a monstrously heavy and ballsy high gain distortion tone.

And post reverb it makes for the perfect blackgaze (black metal + shoegaze, yes, it is an actual genre) distortion.

The setting I use are:
High = 11 o'clock ; Low = 1 o'clock ; Mid Freq = 9 o'clock ; Middle = 1 o'clock ; Dist = 10 o'clock main/noon post reverb


Here's 2 great demonstrations of the Metal Zone's capabilities on bass:



Also personally, while not owning or even actually having played the MT-2w Waza Craft version, judging from the YouTube videos where it is demonstrated alone (not just the above two), I prefer the distortion tone of the original Metal Zone for bass.

Anyone else?

 

[gregmon79]

I voted "It's ok man". Just depends on what you're after. It's like the ODB3. I've heard some say it's terrible. I've heard some say it's awesome and underrated. I personally really like the ODB3. But it's not for everyone. Just like the Metal Zone. It's a good value if anything else.

 

[BEADist]

I used this for a few years with a sludge band. The Boss GT-Core did my parallel routing and pre and post EQ-ing of either MT-2 or HM-2. Isolated I liked the HM-2 tones better, in the mix I liked the MT-2 sounds better. IMO a sweep-able mid EQ makes so much sense for a bass sound.

In the early nineties the 'MT-2>into GE-7>inside NS-2 loop' setup was really popular in the death-metal scene. Both guitar players in my band had this setup. One of them understood EQ and sounded really good! This setup was very practical because rehearsal spaces and small venues did not have amps that did these death-metal sounds and now you could just bring your own (although this was quite an expensive setup for a young person). Because of this I do not look at the Metal Zone as a bedroom device at all, on the contrary!

Hey Ritter667, are you the same person that has a similar thread on Basschat ? ; )

 

[monsterthompson]

There’s the trick of running it into the FX loop as a preamp shown here on guitar (nsfw language)

 

[chris1327]

is there a significant difference on bass between the metal zone and the heavy metal? i think the original hm2 is the most beautiful pedal i’ve ever seen. i wanna buy one just to have it.. almost as a sculptural object lol

 

[gregmon79]

is there a significant difference on bass between the metal zone and the heavy metal? i think the original hm2 is the most beautiful pedal i’ve ever seen. i wanna buy one just to have it.. almost as a sculptural object lol
View attachment 7063463

I could be wrong but the voices of the two are quite different. That's as specific as I can get in my limited knowledge of the two.

I agree! I've always loved the look of the HM2 with the "Heavy Metal" and "HM-2" on the face. That and the colors just set it off. If it's beat up, even better \m/

 

[micguy]

I'd say that demo shows it can sound "metal", but I prefer to have bass in my bass tone; for my needs, not a fit.

 

[shirojiro]

I use a metal zone now and then for heavy distortion.

I modded it though - I removed two capacitors. I have to double check but I think they were C25 and C35.

The result was less scooped mids and less fizziness.

 

[Ondoval]

is there a significant difference on bass between the metal zone and the heavy metal? i think the original hm2 is the most beautiful pedal i’ve ever seen. i wanna buy one just to have it.. almost as a sculptural object lol
View attachment 7063463

They are very different beasts in my experience. I have both and I can't get usuable (for me!) guitar tones from the HM-2. EQ is very different for sure. The dist knob on the HM-2 is weird. Does almost nothing from 9 o'clock until 3. Only decent sounds I got from it was a crunch actually. Swedish deth metal bands did wonders with it tho. They used the HM-2 in combination with the MT-2 and for that sounds it's killer. Check out Slaughter of the soul by At The gates for one example.

The Metal Zone tho.. it was my first pedal in the in the 90s and its freaking awesome. Great for metal guitar obviously, but it can do other sounds as well. The EQ is ridiculously powerful. Takes time to dial in. Very small adjustments on the EQ makes a world of difference. It is also great on bass IMO, for the same reason. The very powerful EQ. I've been considering a MT-2 tattoo... Maybe I should just go for it?

 

[Bassdirty]

I'm assuming we're talking ..for Bass guitar?

Then, no. Extra No.



T$

 

[triviani]

The Metal Zone tho.. it was my first pedal in the in the 90s and its freaking awesome.

Mine was also my first. How many thousands of these did Boss sell to first timers? lol.
It's still in some closet at my parent's home, should I look for it?

 

[Ondoval]

Mine was also my first. How many thousands of these did Boss sell to first timers? lol.
It's still in some closet at my parent's home, should I look for it?

You have a closet with pedals from the 90s? I would defo look in that closet

 

[Ritter667]

Mine was also my first. How many thousands of these did Boss sell to first timers? lol.
It's still in some closet at my parent's home, should I look for it?

My first pedal too, cause it said "metal".

At first I didn't know any better, then a failed to actually know what to do with it, and sold it, much have happened 5 or 6 time, buying, and then selling again, until I finally learned how to appreciate it and use it properly.

 

[voosies]

The Metal Zone is one of the most consistently overlooked mass produced pedals on the market. The main reason people hate them is user error. In the 90s, everyone had Crate amps and Metal Zones for guitar because they were cheap and readily available, same era where scooping the mids to 0 was the next big thing. Instead of giving you a "heavy" tone... you'd get an angry can of bees with little to no definition, and 0 ability to cut through a mix. The EQ is one of the widest, most interactive EQs of any pedal I've tried to date. The knobs are touchy so it's very, very easy to dial in a bad tone. What I like to do is start by dialing in the volume with the distortion at 0, I keep every EQ knob at 12 o'clock, once the volume is set, dial in the gain. Then start with the EQ, I like to start with the lows, then highs, then I use the midrange frequency selector to dial in what frequency I want to boost/cut, and then I adjust the mids accordingly. The Metal Zone's wide EQ range also make it a great preamp if you slave it into a power amp, or into another amp via the fx loop. However, I rarely use mine that way. Into the front of an amp, I actually quite like it. Incredible as a boost for amp gain, or as a standalone dirt box. It has enough low end to make it sound great on bass as well.

 

[voosies]

The Metal Zone is one of the most consistently overlooked mass produced pedals on the market. The main reason people hate them is user error. In the 90s, everyone had Crate amps and Metal Zones for guitar because they were cheap and readily available, same era where scooping the mids to 0 was the next big thing. Instead of giving you a "heavy" tone... you'd get an angry can of bees with little to no definition, and 0 ability to cut through a mix. The EQ is one of the widest, most interactive EQs of any pedal I've tried to date. The knobs are touchy so it's very, very easy to dial in a bad tone. What I like to do is start by dialing in the volume with the distortion at 0, I keep every EQ knob at 12 o'clock, once the volume is set, dial in the gain. Then start with the EQ, I like to start with the lows, then highs, then I use the midrange frequency selector to dial in what frequency I want to boost/cut, and then I adjust the mids accordingly. The Metal Zone's wide EQ range also make it a great preamp if you slave it into a power amp, or into another amp via the fx loop. However, I rarely use mine that way. Into the front of an amp, I actually quite like it. Incredible as a boost for amp gain, or as a standalone dirt box. It has enough low end to make it sound great on bass as well.

Bands like Acid Bath and Crowbar used these things to get some huge guitar tones. Hell, even Prince and Joe Bonamassa used them. I wish more bass players would try them, though. I LOVE mine on bass. All of that EQ range makes for an incredibly diverse amount of tonal options. From mild breakup to just full on pummeling distortion

 

[voosies]

is there a significant difference on bass between the metal zone and the heavy metal? i think the original hm2 is the most beautiful pedal i’ve ever seen. i wanna buy one just to have it.. almost as a sculptural object lol
View attachment 7063463

The Heavy Metal is very... very different to the Metal Zone. When you hear people talking about the "chainsaw" tone popular in Swedish Death Metal, it's the Heavy Metal HM-2. Traditionally ran with all knobs at 10. The HM-2 was BOSS trying to emulate a cranked Marshall full stack... they failed miserably at that. But we got a great pedal out of it! The Metal Zone can be dialed in to sound somewhat similar to that chainsaw sound, not exact, but the real deal with the Metal Zone is the versatility of the EQ. The HM-2 can't be dialed in to sound like maybe 95% of what the Metal Zone (MT-2) can do. They're voiced much differently. If I had to pick one or the other for versatility, I'd pick the Metal Zone. If I wanted resale value? I'd pick the HM-2 haha. The Waza HM-2W is actually pretty great and... dare I say it... better than the original HM-2S. Crucify me.

 

[Ritter667]

The Heavy Metal is very... very different to the Metal Zone. When you hear people talking about the "chainsaw" tone popular in Swedish Death Metal, it's the Heavy Metal HM-2. Traditionally ran with all knobs at 10. The HM-2 was BOSS trying to emulate a cranked Marshall full stack... they failed miserably at that. But we got a great pedal out of it! The Metal Zone can be dialed in to sound somewhat similar to that chainsaw sound, not exact, but the real deal with the Metal Zone is the versatility of the EQ. The HM-2 can't be dialed in to sound like maybe 95% of what the Metal Zone (MT-2) can do. They're voiced much differently. If I had to pick one or the other for versatility, I'd pick the Metal Zone. If I wanted resale value? I'd pick the HM-2 haha. The Waza HM-2W is actually pretty great and... dare I say it... better than the original HM-2S. Crucify me.

Generally the the HM-2 is raunchier and somewhat tighter sounding, while the MT-2 is somewhat smoother sounding.

At extreme setting The HM-2 has a tearing/ripping quality, whereas the MT-2 has more of a piercing/cutting quality.

The MT-2 definitely is also the more versatile, but you can't get the same raunchiness out of it as the HM-2.

 

[voosies]

is there a significant difference on bass between the metal zone and the heavy metal? i think the original hm2 is the most beautiful pedal i’ve ever seen. i wanna buy one just to have it.. almost as a sculptural object lol
View attachment 7063463

Generally the the HM-2 is raunchier and somewhat tighter sounding, while the MT-2 somewhat smoother sounding.

At extreme setting The HM-2 is has a tearing quality, whereas the MT-2 has more of piercing quality.

The MT-2 definitely is also the more versatile, but you can't get the same raunchiness out of it as the HM-2.

I agree. They're different beasts for different tones. Can't beat having both! If I had a desert island rig and I had to pick between the HM-2 and the MT-2, I'd still go with the MT-2. Neither are bad by any means, though. One of my other favorite pedals is my Behringer HM300 HM-2 clone. The Metal Zone has a ton more low end than the Behringer. The Behringer I used to boost a RAT with for bass, I recently started using that setup again with my current rig. That setup through a scrappy little combo amp was the first great bass tone I ever really had.

 

[Ritter667]

I agree. They're different beasts for different tones. Can't beat having both! If I had a desert island rig and I had to pick between the HM-2 and the MT-2, I'd still go with the MT-2. Neither are bad by any means, though. One of my other favorite pedals is my Behringer HM300 HM-2 clone. The Metal Zone has a ton more low end than the Behringer. The Behringer I used to boost a RAT with for bass, I recently started using that setup again with my current rig. That setup through a scrappy little combo amp was the first great bass tone I ever really had.

Well, I find the HM-2, while having a somewhat tighter quality, paradoxically lacks definition and articulation, like the notes you play gets ripped apart and drowned in raunchy distortion noises.

In comparison the MT-2 retains much better note definition on more extreme settings, at least with the EQ dialed in properly.

This is how my main high gain distortion setup looks:

Boss LS-2 [A+B Mix <-> Bypass] (parallel effect loops mixer/switch) ={ [Loop A Send] ->> Mosky Black Rat (RAT clone, in Turbo RAT, LED diode clipping, mode, quite raunchy, fuzz-esque, high gain distortion, sometimes stacked into the Behringer fuzz in front of it, and always mixed with the Joyo Orange Juice orverdrive or {Orange Juice -> Metal Zone} from parallel effects [Loop B]) ->> Behringer SF300 Super Fuzz (Boss FZ-2/Univox Superfuzz clone, octave fuzz, always used with the Mosky Black Rat stacked into it, and always mixed with the Joyo Orange Juice orverdrive or {Orange Juice -> Metal Zone} from parallel effects [Loop B]) ->> [Loop A Return] ->|+|<- [Loop B Send] ->> Joyo Orange Juice (Orange amp like medium gain overdrive, always mixed with either the Black Rat or {Black Rat -> Super Fuzz} from parallel effects [Loop B]) ->> Boss MT-2 Metal Zone (dialed in with a medium gain distortion, always mixed with either the Black Rat or {Black Rat -> Super Fuzz} from parallel effects [Loop B], and always with the Orange Juice in front of it stacked into it) ->> [Loop B Return] ([Loop A] + [Loop B] mixed at an approximate 70/30 ratio) => [LS-2 Output] }=>

Only pedals that are always on in the above setup is the Black Rat and the Orange Juice, otherwise used in various combinations.

And then as I mentioned in the OP, I use the Behringer Metal Zone clone, as a Blackgaze-esque, post high gain distortion, sometimes stacked into another Joyo Orange Juice medium gain overdrive, to tighten up the distortion and give it a more grindy quality.

The Mosky Black Rat in Turbo RAT mode sounds amazing for bass.

 

[Dlew919]

Bands like Acid Bath and Crowbar used these things to get some huge guitar tones. Hell, even Prince and Joe Bonamassa used them. I wish more bass players would try them, though. I LOVE mine on bass. All of that EQ range makes for an incredibly diverse amount of tonal options. From mild breakup to just full on pummeling distortion

Eric Clapton and David Gilmour also had them on their boards to get that creamy thick sound in the 90s.