Who here has actually played a Metal Zone?

[frankfalbo]

Re: Who here has actually played a Metal Zone?

Man, I find it amazing that people can twist knobs on a pedal with a dynamic 3-band EQ for a few minutes and then just decide that it sucks.

Also just to clarify, calling something the Rockman of ____ era is not an insult.

The way it overdrives kind of takes over your tone. It matters a lot less what guitar or pickups you have with the MZ, and the same was true about the Rockman. I wish I never sold mine though, because every now and then I want that sound. I had the MZ for a couple weeks, and the thing about it was I could get to about the same place by using the "grunge pedal" setting in my old Digitech 2101. So I sold it off. But yeah the 3-band means you can really twist it around. But so could the EQ in the Digitech. The MZ bass EQ is incredible. It's in subwoofer territory. I kind of wish I could bypass the distortion and hit that EQ section with something like the Mayhem or the Power Grid. That would be a cool combo.

 

[Thunder]

Re: Who here has actually played a Metal Zone?

Had one for a month then sold it. Nothing to write home about.

 

[Rowan]

Re: Who here has actually played a Metal Zone?

I used to have one. It could fetch some angry tones but it wasn't warm or organic enough for me.

 

[super rad stuff]

Re: Who here has actually played a Metal Zone?

slight hijack- what's a cool offbeat tone you may have gotten out of your metalzone? i set the mid and trebles all the way up, the bass at around 2:00, gain at 3:00, and level maxed, while setting my guitar's tone down out of phase and in series with slug coil cut in the bridge. super fuzz goodness, just not as square waved

 

[hanumanlangur]

Re: Who here has actually played a Metal Zone?

Also just to clarify, calling something the Rockman of ____ era is not an insult.

The way it overdrives kind of takes over your tone. It matters a lot less what guitar or pickups you have with the MZ, and the same was true about the Rockman. I wish I never sold mine though, because every now and then I want that sound. I had the MZ for a couple weeks, and the thing about it was I could get to about the same place by using the "grunge pedal" setting in my old Digitech 2101. So I sold it off. But yeah the 3-band means you can really twist it around. But so could the EQ in the Digitech. The MZ bass EQ is incredible. It's in subwoofer territory. I kind of wish I could bypass the distortion and hit that EQ section with something like the Mayhem or the Power Grid. That would be a cool combo.

I didn't take it as meaning anything bad. Billy Gibbons used a Rockman for recording, after all.... But yeah, the pedal has so much gain that it has to have really powerful and dynamic EQ controls (to modify such an amplified signal), and the semi-parametric mids control adds a lot too. I don't care for the way it sounds with the knobs all at 12:00 (scooped, tinny, flat), but it can sound totally different with knob twisting.

slight hijack- what's a cool offbeat tone you may have gotten out of your metalzone? i set the mid and trebles all the way up, the bass at around 2:00, gain at 3:00, and level maxed, while setting my guitar's tone down out of phase and in series with slug coil cut in the bridge. super fuzz goodness, just not as square waved

I have a setting for a pretty cool low-gain distortion tone (think early hard rock, clear, smooth, and even with some light crunch). It's definitely nothing metal! I was watching an AC/DC concert and I was all psyched up about watching Angus Young rock out and run around like a half-naked little gremlin. I wanted to see how close I could get to that sort of lighter Marshall sound with a Metal Zone. :headbang:

Level: 2:00
High: 7:00 (lowest setting)
Low: 11:00
Mid: 2:00
Mid Freq: 2:00
Dist: 7:00 (lowest setting)

 

[baritone]

Re: Who here has actually played a Metal Zone?

slight hijack- what's a cool offbeat tone you may have gotten out of your metalzone? i set the mid and trebles all the way up, the bass at around 2:00, gain at 3:00, and level maxed, while setting my guitar's tone down out of phase and in series with slug coil cut in the bridge. super fuzz goodness, just not as square waved

Run a compressor with crazy sustain into the Metal Zone with crazy fuzziness. Every note blends into static.

Of the 26 distortion pedals I own, the Metal Zone is one of my favorites. Most are used to using it with a solid state practice amp, but this thing rools with a toob amp. Try everyting on 10:30 or 11 o'clock, and dig into your guitar's knobs n switches.

 

[super rad stuff]

Re: Who here has actually played a Metal Zone?

the only thing i don't care for with the metal zone is the low gain sound(esp. rolled back volume control) it has that vowelly, cocked wah sound to my ears. however, it's still a useable sound, just not so much to me.

 

[super rad stuff]

Re: Who here has actually played a Metal Zone?

Run a compressor with crazy sustain into the Metal Zone with crazy fuzziness. Every note blends into static.

i must try this next time i'm at guitar center:fingersx:

 

[baritone]

Re: Who here has actually played a Metal Zone?

Which location do you go to? I live near the west location, but I still prefer to go down to Maryland Pkwy to the Sam Ash and the Cowtown right next to it.

 

[The Pink Elephants]

Re: Who here has actually played a Metal Zone?

Played one for like 15 minutes. Wasn't for me. I remember when crankin' the mids and playing with the right frecuency gives I kinda cool lead sound, like a cocked wah thing.

I read somewhre that Dickey Betts has one in his pedalboard, it'd be funny to hear the tones he gets out of it

 

[super rad stuff]

Re: Who here has actually played a Metal Zone?

Which location do you go to? I live near the west location, but I still prefer to go down to Maryland Pkwy to the Sam Ash and the Cowtown right next to it.

i know where that is. i've been passing there almost everyday to go to sunrise hospital to visit my twin brothers that were just born. but i go to guitar center summerlin(west location, right?), which is still far as s**t from where i live(centennial).

 

[castiron]

Re: Who here has actually played a Metal Zone?

i played around with one a buddy of mine had. i hung myself shortly after with the guitar cord.

 

[korovamilkdud]

Re: Who here has actually played a Metal Zone?

I was using them for awhile, but they were never stock for long in my hands. I was always adding a Fat Boost switch or looking for ways to de-fizz it or something. It did always have a neat feel to it, I'd grant it that. Very spongy.

 

[Abyssous]

Re: Who here has actually played a Metal Zone?

I had one in a bcb together with a power supply, EQ ge-7, bass equalizer, chorus, compressionsustainer and octaver.
when i was about 16 i guess.. i never liked the pedal.
but my friend had exactly the same settings and pedal combination. we also had the same amp same amp settings as well(peavey special 212). we tried his pedals on my amp and then on his amp and the same with my pedals. his mt2 pedal was completely different in tone and distortion sound than mine.. so .. i sold the **** thing..
question remains then: are there renewed series with exactly the same name (just MT-2) or is it something else. if so, you can be lucky if you have the right one.

 

[Gr8Scott]

Re: Who here has actually played a Metal Zone?

My nephew has one. It sounds horrible. I think it primarily sounds bad because that's the tone he likes. I'm not into grindcore, so I don't dig that bag of bees tone. If dialed right, it can produce some fairly decent sounds. A friend of mine had one back in the 90's and it was a righteous pedal IIRC because he tuned it for a more hair-metal kind of sound through a JCM-900.

 

[Ascension]

Re: Who here has actually played a Metal Zone?

I did get a really killer tone out of a Metal Zone through my old Fender Blues Deluxe but that was the only combination I ever found that sounded decent.
Stock the pedal is just NASTY. The mids are honky no matter what you do with the tone controlls and the buzzola is just a bunch of harsh mush.
I have however done the Sustainiac mod from Monti Allums on a couple of them and the difference is really shocking. The pedal smooths out and the mid response changes dramaticly after the mod. The Sustaniac mod turns a totally unusable ratty POS into a really smooth sounding nice usable pedal in about half an hour!

 

[hanumanlangur]

Re: Who here has actually played a Metal Zone?

I can get a really cool EVH brown sound out of the Metal Zone. Better than plenty of pedals designed to sound like it, in my opinion. I love this, it's like a make-your-own-heavy-distortion pedal -- super flexible (actually, I'm selling most of my pedals and just keeping this one and a Tube Screamer).

Level: 8:00
High: 7:00
Low: 8:00
Mid: 5:00 (maxed)
Mid Freq: 1:00
Dist: 12:00

 

[super rad stuff]

Re: Who here has actually played a Metal Zone?

I can get a really cool EVH brown sound out of the Metal Zone. Better than plenty of pedals designed to sound like it, in my opinion. I love this, it's like a make-your-own-heavy-distortion pedal -- super flexible (actually, I'm selling most of my pedals and just keeping this one and a Tube Screamer).

Level: 8:00
High: 7:00
Low: 8:00
Mid: 5:00 (maxed)
Mid Freq: 1:00
Dist: 12:00

what pedals are you selling?

 

[B2D]

Re: Who here has actually played a Metal Zone?

The trick with getting good sound on the Metal Zone is to use the EQ carefully and be conservative with the gain.

I found that I get very good sounds out of them witht the volume set slightly higher than bypass, the gain on about half, and then EQing it so that the bass is smooth and full but not overpowering, and then treble is clear but not shrill, and then centering the mids where you like them and then blending them into the tone and NOT sucking them out.

Don't max out the gain... that pedal is capable of getting hellishly saturated.

In short you can get some cool sounds out of it if you know how to use the controls well enough. Keeley makes a mod of it that is fricken awesome. It's not hard to get good tones out of an MT2, but it's harder to do that than to go overboard with the controls and get BAD/overkill sounds.

 

[daemon barbeque]

Re: Who here has actually played a Metal Zone?

Was my first pedal. It's a cool device to kick it infront of a JCM 800 or similar amp and play thrash. The throaty sound comes handy with mid-low gain amps.
But it has it's own dynamic range and i don't like it. The EQ is really wide ranged and effective ,but the gain structure is not my cup of tea.