Boss HM-2w

OK my suggestion is this, and I'm not joining fb just to enter it, so maybe one of you who already does fb could be so kind as to post it over there, or not .

mode 1 is standard old MIJ HM-2, of course

mode 2 throws a big wide very-heavy mid-boost in front of the new tone controls and their reassigned values, which are now;
lows= now controls a slightly wider spectrum than the standard hm2's narrow focused boost, which was more of an upper-bass only thing
highs= now it only controls the treble instead of being tied-in with the upper-mids/buzzsaw
The huge frothy mid-boost up front will still contribute some of that chainsaw tone, but now we will be able to tailor the edges better.
 
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My problem w/ Wawa - they are basically reissues and that would be all I needed. But, what they have done is add trivial "other modes" that are nice but really "Whoi cares" in the grand scheme and now charge ridiculous prices.

I have had an HM2 forever, so whatever.

But fine; Here is a Bobza HM-2

1. Classic HM2 in full standard glory.
2. A Swedish Deth Metal blow button - SDM mode: All classic settings on 10, no matter mode/settings
3. Mod Mode:
a. Expanded range Bass & Treble controls w/ better pot tapers
b. Mid switch for cut/flat/boost (bypassed in mode 1 & 2)
c. Noise gate button in/out
d. Clean blend knob (See Angry sweet)

THAT is a $150-180 HM-2. That is a bad@$$ metal pedal. An HM2 with a mid boost is probably what you'll get


Boss just wants a market/spend factor, the single cheapest for the most sales boost. Can't hate, but not making me buy. Pfft - just get an Angry Swede
 
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Ola wants a stacked Hm-2 into Metal Zone for At The Gates in one pedal, and he mentioned the noise-gate, which is ok if it's switchable on/off and just a clamp-style gate. It's really only needed if you truly run the pedal at all max everything. It's just the highs knob above roughly 3:00 that adds the hiss.

My fantasy of a built-in mid-boost for the hm2w mode2 is very thick and heavy, not the typical upper-mid focused bass-nipping ts style.
The fat-mids boost is only cool if they also have the slightly wider spectrum on the lows knob, and highs that control treble and up, not mids.
In this new mode2 you would just start with the tones at noon/0db, and only need to dial them up or down a little, no "diming-it" required on the distortion knob in mode2 either!


Realistically I understand that they probably wouldn't want to do mode 1 as standard and mode 2 with altered tone-values, as they are indeed IMO probably already set on a specific price-point.
Having two sets of tone values, a fat-boost and a true-bypass switch might be hitting the $199 area. Boss probably wants to keep around $149 like the other dirts, except for the new fuzz.
 
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The HM-2 as it was in the the "original" mode and then the same in the "enhance" mode but "MORE", more drive, more mids, more sustain.

The HM-2 was one of the Boss pedals I never grabbed on to. When I started playing my first distortion pedal was the DOD FX-56 American Metal. After that I had a Boss Digital Metalizer (which I always felt was underated). One of my favorite Boss overdrives is the Dual Overdrive. That one I wish they would bring back.
 
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PFDarkside said:
Personally I’m shocked the OS-2 is still around and the SD-2 was discontinued.
Click to expand...

Yeah. While I'm not a fan of the OS-2, I do see the appeal of it. It is nice for pushing a slightly breaking up amp. In that situation, the ability to mix the overdrive with the distortion (soft vs. hard clipping) is pretty neat.

Another feature that could possibly work with the HM-2 is soft clipping for a vintage metal sound and hard clipping for that over the edge grind. With the right design, maybe.
 
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The stock HM-2 with the lows a notch or two under max, and the highs at just a little above noon is already great for classic metal, like priest and maiden.
I've read before that the HM-2 is actually a pair of stacked overdrives with the active eq, and I've also read that it's essentially a fuzz and not a distortion.

Running the mxr6eq with a big mid-hump before the stock hm2 sounds great, and this way you can back-down the highs on the hm2, so you get thick and frothy without needing to boost the pedal's highs so much. Obviously it increases both gain and sustain a lot so the hm2's distortion knob suddenly has some sweet-spots that aren't all the way up or all the way down when used as a coloring-boost pedal. Still though it would be nice to have more tailored highs and lows when in the new mode.
 
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MT-2.
End of story.
giphy.gif


Sent from my SM-A115A using Tapatalk
 
Now when Ola talks about At The Gates tone being the HM-2 into the MT-2, I would assume he means HM-2 as a boost with active eq and then using the distortion from the MT-2,,,,,,,,but I also faintly remember seeing a drawing of the different ways some of the bands in that genre were applying it, and I swear there was one with HM-2 dirt first and then the MT-2 after it being used as a post-EQ, gain was at or near 0. I wonder if that was At The Gates setup???

And there was another band using it combined in some way with a DS-1,,,,,,,,,,,,and then another through Peavey solid-state gain channel I think.
 
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It would be a good news that Boss re-issue it... But is the FB group just lobbying ? Did Boss said they will re-issue it ?

But Waza will mean higher price than the regular Boss pedals that are usually not expensive. And people wants the original HM-2 as modified versions are already available (HM-3 and so on...)

Good news for swedish crust anyway.

Listend to the first chord at 0'18. Pure HM-2 don't you think ?

Wolfbrigade "Barren Dreams"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rBQYGnxqe8
 
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not really a fan of the hm2 or the waza series to be honest, but this might be the one pedal that will be improved with the new settings. i remember a few years ago i was working music retail and the boss rep came in. i asked him why boss never reissues their classic pedals, because they were going for a lot of money used and it seemed obvious that a reissue of, say, a CE2, would be a smart idea. The rep said most people agreed with that and it got brought up all the time, but the head of boss was very against it, as he was forward thinking and never wanted to fall back on what they did 30 years ago. ive always wondered if the waza craft was a sort of compromise, where the classic circuit got reissued, but also boss got to add new, modern takes on a classic.
 
superpete said:
not really a fan of the hm2 or the waza series to be honest, but this might be the one pedal that will be improved with the new settings. i remember a few years ago i was working music retail and the boss rep came in. i asked him why boss never reissues their classic pedals, because they were going for a lot of money used and it seemed obvious that a reissue of, say, a CE2, would be a smart idea. The rep said most people agreed with that and it got brought up all the time, but the head of boss was very against it, as he was forward thinking and never wanted to fall back on what they did 30 years ago. ive always wondered if the waza craft was a sort of compromise, where the classic circuit got reissued, but also boss got to add new, modern takes on a classic.
Click to expand...

Yes, that’s my understanding as well. Another take is that the old BBD chips have been replaced with new BBD chips, and the whole thing is SMT. So while they are replicating classic tones it’s still done in a forward looking manner.
 
Francois said:
It would be a good news that Boss re-issue it... But is the FB group just lobbying ? Did Boss said they will re-issue it ?

But Waza will mean higher price than the regular Boss pedals that are usually not expensive. And people wants the original HM-2 as modified versions are already available (HM-3 and so on...)

Good news for swedish crust anyway.

Listend to the first chord at 0'18. Pure HM-2 don't you think ?

Wolfbrigade "Barren Dreams"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rBQYGnxqe8
Click to expand...

Boss actually started the fb group for the purpose of taking suggestions. The Boss president said it's slated for 2021 (probably late in the year I would think).

There have been some copies by other brands that are very close, but none by Boss that were close at all.
HM-3 is completely different,,,,,,,,,wouldn't want to max all those knobs lol.

The HM-2w should be $149, and there's no way they'd do anything with it to top the $200 mark, it just wouldn't sell IMO.
A built-in gate sounds like something they would find feasible, and anyone who has played this pedal all-maxed knows it's crazy noise.
 
I just seen something I totally don't understand. (happens a lot with me)

If you go to Reverb, log-in, and then look at the recent transaction history for the Boss CE-2, you'll see pure craziness.
My assumption was that the release of the waza-version would have a lowering effect on the prices, especially the crazy prices. Not so.
 
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