BOSS MT-2 –Metal Zone Effects Pedal for Guitar and Bass. Legendary High-Gain Distortion Pedal with over 1 Million Sold. BOSS 5-Year Warranty.

Product Information

Mirror, mirror on the studio wall, which is the fairest metal pedal of them all? Given sales of more than one million, its searing tonal capabilities, and an undeniable cult-classic standing, the direction of the devil horns unequivocally points to the BOSS MT-2 Metal Zone. Part of the reason for the MT-2’s infamy is its sound out of the box. We’ve all been there; the confusion when you first plug it in and wonder how you could have made such a decision. But have patience – all it takes is a little tweaking. So how do you get a good sound out of a Metal Zone? Under appreciated, misunderstood, whatever; 30 years on, the MT-2 Metal Zone remains in production and is an evergreen pedalboard choice. In 2018, Boss released a Waza Craft version of the Metal Zone, with an enhanced Standard mode joined by a Custom mode voiced for contemporary metal styles. The famously “mean and green” Tube Screamer possesses unique EQ characteristics; shelving flabby low-end and boosting mid-range to increase clarity. Because of these qualities, Tube Screamer pedals interact incredibly well with distorted high-gain guitar amplifiers and also help to produce extra saturation by adding a touch more gain. Most metal players will typically set a Tube Screamer’s ‘Drive’ knob low, and use the ‘Volume’ control to adjust the gain to taste — with ‘Tone’ acting like a presence control.

The dual-stage gain circuit of the Boss Metal Zone relies on two serially arranged distortion circuits with elaborate filtering that promise distinctive distortion. Depending on the position of the gain control, the MT-2 from Boss delivers a dense overdrive or an aggressive high-gain distortion with endless sustain. Overdrive vs Distortion vs Fuzz: What's The Difference?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yj53Q-pisbw&t=1s This is why using the mids control to tame problem frequencies makes sense. Although it's listed as 'Mid freq' on the front panel, it has a very wide range, going from 200Hz all the way to 5kHz. As a result, it's better to think of it simply as a single active EQ control, and disregard the idea it's only for shaping mids. Treat it carefully, as it dictates the entire sound of the distortion.More recently, tech metal bands have leaned on modelling units like the Axe-FX series. Even so, many of the models used, like the FAS Modern, are simply hot-rodded emulations of classic metal amps, often with a boost in front. Preamp pedals, on the other hand, are a little bit more sophisticated. These are designed to emulate the preamp stage of a guitar amp, which is where almost all of an amplifier’s gain, EQ characteristics and, ultimately, “tone” come from. Preamp pedals therefore boast the controls you’d find on most guitar amplifiers; including EQ knobs (like ‘Treble’, ‘Middle’ and ‘Bass’) that allow you to precisely adjust their sounds. Preamp pedals can be plugged into the front-end of your amp, but often work better in the effects loop as they can essentially bypass and replace your amp’s existing preamp stage — yielding a richer and more organic tone. Distortion stompboxes are quite straightforward. They’re designed to be plugged into the main input of your amplifier and engaged over a clean tone — adding tonnes of gain to your signal. Most distortion pedals also have fairly simple controls, often sporting ‘Level’, ‘Drive/Distortion’ and ‘Tone’ knobs. If the HM-2’s sweet spot was to be found by turning everything all the way up, the Metal Zone required a little finessing. As distortion pedals go, its circuit has a lot going on.

Now, take some time to really experiment with the EQ, bearing the above points in mind – particularly when using the pedal’s active EQ boosts to overdrive your amp, in conjunction with that highly tweakable midrange. Our preferred setting, in fact, uses the high and low band controls as a boost, with a heavy cut in the upper mids. Clutch are currently working on their yet-to-be-revealed 13th studio album, the followup to 2018's Book of Bad Decisions. Ultimately, the best advice we can give is to forget the memes and experiment: the Metal Zone is a hugely powerful pedal, and taking the time to carefully tweak the EQ can – with a bit of patience – yield formidable results with just about any guitar rig. Used judiciously, the Metal Zone can tighten up your amp’s sound. Some amplifiers just need a little guidance, a physical presence to tighten them up and make them seaworthy. The Metal Zone does that. This was how Weaver found the rhythm guitar tone on Two Hunters –an album that should be required study for anyone interested in extreme metal guitar. Kurt Ballou is a producer at GodCity studios in Salem, Massachusetts as well as a guitarist with Converge, and he's a master architect of heavy tones who knows gear better than most. He even makes his own pedals and guitars under God City Instruments name. While he's an aficionado of the Boss HM-2, for a while he used the MT-2 and like other heavyweight players on our list, he utilised it as a boost.

Rating

The MT-2 is perfect for beginner guitarists looking for their first pedal, intermediate guitar players wanting to push their playing further and advanced players wanting a legendary guitar tone. We’d even say the MT-2 is for anyone wanting to push their sound to the dark side. At the time of its release, it was the first pedal to feature dual-concentric pots. This means that one dial is split into two different parts, meaning you can adjust two different settings, without taking up too much space on the pedal. The MT-2 has two dual-concentric pots within its EQ section, with one control for High/Low gain and the other for Middle gain/Mid frequency. The MT-2 has been such an important pedal that Boss has released a few variations of this timeless classic. Custom mode delivers full-throttle gain tones with wider range, increased dynamics, and tighter low end Even at the highest gain settings, the low end remains full yet tight, focused, and well-defined, perfect for chugging out low-tuned riffs Yoshi Ikegami

Max Bowman of Olympia, Washington death metal band Mortiferum was another. He might have graduated to going straight through a dimed Orange amp to find the appropriate texture of gain for Mortiferum’s über-doomy riffs, but the Metal Zone helped open the gates to that world.

Metal Zone

Ikegami believes that this flurry of YouTube content, not to mention the endless online chatter, has cemented the MT-2’s standing.