Re: Good Metal Pedals?
Here's my rundown on some dirt boxes and floor preamps that I find to do very well
The Blackstar HT-Blackfire is pretty much the ultimate modern metal pedal with two modes, one being a tube like hi-gain metal rhythm sound (80s and beyond; clear, spongy and saturated with just enough sag going on. Very reactive and responds well to a heavy picking hand) and a super pushed and thick lead channel which is like playing with god mode engaged. They are discontinued and I use mine as a preamp integrated into my live rig. They might still crop up on Ebay but they are otherwise discontinued. I really wish I knew just how they worked and how much gain came from the tube and whether the rest was FET based or if there are diodes and op amps.
https://www.blackstaramps.com/products/ht-blackfire/
People seem to really love the AMT pedals. They copy the preamp layouts of many boutique tube amplifiers with FETs in place of the tubes, have built in clean channels modelled after a fender to use straight into the power section or effects return of an amp, a direct cab simulated out and can be used traditionally on a clean amp bypassing the built in clean mode. The series one versions of these allowed you to get the Vox or Fender based pedals as your clean preamp sound and then slave the footswitch into your high gain model box of choice and have a custom two channel setup right at your feet. They have some sweet floor based preamps too.
Some even tube driven but I hear the solid state versions are great for modern stuff. Also worth checking out is the stonehead. It is a solid state amp no bigger than a few Boss stomp boxes, lightweight, plenty of channels and surprisingly loud.
http://amtelectronics.com/products/
The Biyang metal end is an oddity. Very affordable and very adjustable.
http://www.cheaperpedals.com/products/biyang-metal-end-king
People rave about the Emma Electronic PisdiYAUwot Metal as staying super tight and musical under a lot of gain.
http://emmaelectronic.com/products/pisdiyauwot/index.html
The ISP Theta while pricey is a real gainiac with an in built decimator to control all that gain and the ability to run a built in preamp to boost the onboard gain. Probably has the most gain out of any preamp ever.
http://www.isptechnologies.com/portfolio/theta-pre-amp-pedal/
Honourable mentions include the Mooer solo distortion or the Mooer cruncher (which is a very convincing MI crunchbox copy if you like that cranked plexi sound that takes up barely any real-estate on your pedalboard).
Steer clear of metal pedals with scoop buttons because they seem as though they were designed by people who don't know much about guitar tone in a band setting.
