Boss Metal Zone: From love to hate... to love again?

[Diego]

I guess most of us metalheads have had a Metal Zone in front of our amp at one time or another. :laugh2:

I got mine about 7 years ago, put it in front of a crappy 10W SS amp and felt in tone heaven for years! Who cares about 60hz hum from weak korean single coils anyway? :dance:

Then I got my Roland Cube 60, A/Bed the Metal Zone with the Cube's models, and promptly put that thin, fizzy, buzzy wasp hive where it belong. :13:

Today I felt kinda nostalgic, and took the poor Boss out of it's box to toy a bit with it. I tweaked the knobs a bit, and at the beginning I thought it didn't sound that bad. I kept tweaking it and I kinda liked what I was getting. I ended loving it! It can't say it sounds like Metallica, or Megadeth, or Slayer or whatever - It has it's own tone.

Plus it's the first time I'm using it with a decent pickup - JB on bridge - and I like the result. :banana:

Not to mention that I have an extra lead channel now, kicking the OD in the Cube switches the tone from gritty and tight to smooth, warm and loose... Yay.

Have any of you experienced this 'rebirth' with the Metal Zone? Or any other piece of gear you thought it sucked, but ended up loving?

 

[saladin]

Re: Boss Metal Zone: From love to hate... to love again?

I used a Metal Zone for along time in the early nineties. It didn't sound to good thru a Fender Dual Showman head I had. Then I got a Marshall JCM800 (the later version with the bad transistor distortion) and with the Metal Zone up front it sounded amazing.

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Boss Metal Zone: From love to hate... to love again?

I kind of like mine going into my BF Bassman with the gin set really low and the volume up. Roll the treble off a bit and bump up the high mids and it gives the Bassman a cool Marshally grind at low volume. It's not my fave pedal, but its decent if you sit and tweak it out.

 

[V!N]

Re: Boss Metal Zone: From love to hate... to love again?

Me and my buddies there when it first came on the market, we used the Hyper Metal before that and this one had even more knobs ! But then we got better amps and didn't use any pedals for distortion anymore.

There are only a few usefull on it and it can take a lot of time to find them, some who hate it to bits just haven't found those settings yet.

But it's a great pedal to tinker around in, just swapping the diodes will give you a more useful sound already and you won't have to search that long for the sweet spots, there are way more of them.

Check out the sound after a mod:
http://www.indyguitarist.com/soundclips/mt2_Brad_1.mp3

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Boss Metal Zone: From love to hate... to love again?

They are defently fun to mod..I have to get myself one more.
I am lending out my DS-1 to a friend, that one got a few things changed as well, same with my OD-3, that one is stock though, except for changed caps, used our own in that one.
Hmm those MT-2's are cheap here...hehe

 

[V!N]

Re: Boss Metal Zone: From love to hate... to love again?

They are defently fun to mod..I have to get myself one more.
I am lending out my DS-1 to a friend, that one got a few things changed as well, same with my OD-3, that one is stock though, except for changed caps, used our own in that one.
Hmm those MT-2's are cheap here...hehe

Dude, how cheap exactly and could you find me one as well ? I need to hack in one some more too ! :6:

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Boss Metal Zone: From love to hate... to love again?

Heh I just checked it...and of course there are none right now...but 250-350Dkr
is the normal price, I am also looking for an old HM-2.

 

[Closed Eye]

Re: Boss Metal Zone: From love to hate... to love again?

No, I pretty much hate the Boss Metal Zone everytime I hear it. In all honesty I've tried to wipe all evidence of the pedal's existence from my brain, almost like it was never part of the Boss line of compact effects stompboxes.

So, I'd say my approach to the Metal Zone is one of completely ignoring it to hearing some kid turn up the bass/treble and cut the mids at (insert local guitar haunt here). At that point I have a renewed disdain for all things Metal Zone. I also hate the fact that you have to "tweak it" to get a good sound out of it. Anybody can get good sounds from a stock DS-1 and BD-1 just by twisting the knobs in opposite directions. The amount of time I've heard some people spend tweaking the settings on the Metal Zone makes the pedal seem almost inherently anal retentive.

The only pedal rebirths I've experienced were with the Crybaby and the DD-3. Both pedals are classic and I was just revisiting the "classical" status attributed to them on both occassions.

...but I'm just blabbing. I did answer your question though, so don't go all crazy on me.

 

[baritone]

Re: Boss Metal Zone: From love to hate... to love again?

The Metal Zone has always been one of my favorites. I have 24 od/dist/fuzz pedals right now, and I love it. I have never been a "metal head", and when I bought it, I knew I was not buying it to be one. It is just such a kicking distortion pedal, especially that EQ section. I get the most enjoyment with a low gain setting just using the EQ knobs and to volume knob to push the tubes of my amp. Even with the gain all the way down, you can't escape that characteristic Boss "grainy" sound, and it mixes well with power tube overdrive. It even mixes well with solid state pedal overdrive.

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Boss Metal Zone: From love to hate... to love again?

Even Gilmour have used one??

 

[baritone]

Re: Boss Metal Zone: From love to hate... to love again?

I think Gilmour used the MZ-2 Digital Metalizer.

I think I heard somewhere that, although the Boss Metal Zone was only released in 1991, it has outsold every effect pedal ever created, even ones that have been around decades longer. But for tone snobs in general, the MT-2 gets a bad rap for the same reason solid state amps do. The Metal Zone was every young metal head's "quick fix" path to sounding just like their heroes, who use totally different gear from what we all learned to play on. So with some experience, the disappointment set in, and "it sounds terrible". But if looked at as a distortion pedal, and not as a metal distortion pedal, it can be applied to modern rock, techno, blues, and classic rock applications effectively. This is just how I feel about it, as I have heard how so many people are just so angry at this unit.

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Boss Metal Zone: From love to hate... to love again?

Metalizer...yep thanks man
The MT-2 must be a further developed HM-2 it seems?
Dunno on a good amp they sound quite ok to me.

 

[Axl H]

Re: Boss Metal Zone: From love to hate... to love again?

Rid, I have the HM-2, what did you have in mind doing to it?

The MT-2 was never a pedal I liked, too many parameters with "no" effect on its thin noisy sound, the HM-2 is alot more to my liking, but I am a Amp distortion guy.

 

[baritone]

Re: Boss Metal Zone: From love to hate... to love again?

The funny thing about the HM-2 is that it was such a popular pedal that every one you try to pick up on eBay is trashed. It's discontinued so they are only available second-hand, but I am having trouble finding one in good condition, and they're not expensive. The SG-1, on the other hand is such an unusual effect that the few that are out there are in perfect condition, and they are pretty expensive.

 

[V!N]

Re: Boss Metal Zone: From love to hate... to love again?

The funny thing about the HM-2 is that it was such a popular pedal that every one you try to pick up on eBay is trashed. It's discontinued so they are only available second-hand, but I am having trouble finding one in good condition, and they're not expensive.

Are you sure you're talking about the BOSS MT-2 Metal Zone here ? There are plenty of new and good looking used ones on eBay. Also, it's still in production and available new in just about any store, both online and out in the real world.

 

[Diego]

Re: Boss Metal Zone: From love to hate... to love again?

Are you sure you're talking about the BOSS MT-2 Metal Zone here ? There are plenty of new and good looking used ones on eBay. Also, it's still in production and available new in just about any store, both online and out in the real world.

He's talking about the Boss Hyper Metal HM-2.

Good to know I ain't the only one who likes the Metal Zone tone, BTW! Of course I used to scoop the hell out of my tone too, and please myself in tone harem, but now I'm after something different. And currently, the Metal Zone is delivering.

I do agree with Closed Eye that it's annoying that you have to sit and tweak it for hours, though. :blackeye: But I think the result can be worth it.

 

[V!N]

Re: Boss Metal Zone: From love to hate... to love again?

I stand corrected and slap myself silly .. :smack:

On the other hand, I know a store that might have a Hyper Metal in a really good condition. No box or booklet, but just a nice looking pedal that has been used, but not abused. I think it is €35 if they still have it.
Want me to take a look at it ?

 

[Axl H]

Re: Boss Metal Zone: From love to hate... to love again?

Just to correct it, HM-2 = Heavy Metal, HM-3 = Hyper Metal, MT-2 = Metal Zone

 

[V!N]

Re: Boss Metal Zone: From love to hate... to love again?

Friends, this is just not my lucky day ..
I'd better not take a swim then.

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: Boss Metal Zone: From love to hate... to love again?

I gave it a fair chance . . . the metal zone sounded good on it's own (well, scooped and poundingly tons of gain) but it didn't really cut well in a live situation . . . and I hated having to play with inner and outer knobs to desperately try and get a sound that was ok . . . and I'm a guy who likes playing with knobs . . .