Boss Metal Zone - The King Of Versatility?
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- Опубліковано 23 лип 2024
- Is this the most versatile distortion pedal of them all?
Life too short for long UA-cam videos? Please see the ‘Interesting bits and go-to sections’ information below.
Welcome to the show! If you’re here for heavy tones and metal, you’re in entirely the wrong place. There shall be no metal here today.
Nevertheless, we all know that the world-conquering, massive-selling Boss MT-2 Metal Zone is an opinion-divider. It’s also much misunderstood, not least by us back in March 2016 when we gently poked fun at it. But, we all grow up eventually…
Well, all of us except the MT-2 perhaps, which is still unashamedly thrashing and scooping its way to superb heavy tones the world over. But. What about these two Blues-Soccer Dad Boomer Benders, eh? Is there anything this much-maligned monster of metal can offer guitar players of more, erm, oldfartist tonal preferences?
We think so, and we’re here to prove it along with the help of a few old-school gain classics.
And yes, we use the Waza version throughout in this video: enjoy!
Pedals & stuff in this episode…
• TheGigRig Three2One
www.thegigrig.com/three2one
• Sonic Research ST-200 Turbo Tuner
Australia: bit.ly/2mR1s8c
• Boss MT-2W Waza Craft Metal Zone
UK & Europe: bit.ly/3zaTX5Z
Australia: bit.ly/3p5pZJm
• ProCo RAT 2
UK & Europe: bit.ly/3zaTX5Z
Australia: bit.ly/2Vj4ntr
• Nobels ODR-1
UK & Europe: bit.ly/3zaTX5Z
Australia: bit.ly/3BoLto6
USA Sweetwater: imp.i114863.net/Ryq1rN
• J Rockett Archer
UK & Europe: bit.ly/3zaTX5Z
Australia: bit.ly/3q8FPSN
• JHS Muffuletta
UK & Europe: bit.ly/3zaTX5Z
Australia: bit.ly/2RXmfYu
• Strymon Volante
UK & Europe: bit.ly/3zaTX5Z
Australia: bit.ly/2Ie0UZe
USA Sweetwater: imp.i114863.net/DVOvXa
• TheGigRig G3
www.thegigrig.com/g3
Amps in this episode:
Marshall 1987x with Zilla Custom 2x12 / Celestion Alnico Ruby speakers
UK & Europe: bit.ly/3zaTX5Z
Tone King Imperial MkII with 112 cab / standard speaker
* Why do we have preferred retailer links? Find out here: www.thatpedalshow.com/partners
Interesting bits and go-to sections…
0:00 Intro playing
0:50 We’ve been here before
1:40 Today’s question
4:21 Let’s hear the Metal Zone
5:45 Today’s amps
6:38 Crazy powerful EQ explanation
9:25 Hard clipping explanation
11:25 RAT vs Metal Zone
16:10 ODR-1 vs Metal Zone
19:20 Malcolm’s SG
20:45 Muffuletta vs Metal Zone
25:20 Mick’s Klon approach
26:16 Archer vs Metal Zone
34:14 ODR-1 & Archer vs Metal Zone
42:08 Closing thoughts
Guitars in this episode:
• 1965 Fender Telecaster - no video yet
• Fender Custom Shop ’62 Relic Stratocaster - no video yet
• 197-something Gibson SG Standard - thanks Malcolm!
We hope you enjoy this episode. Please subscribe to our channel.
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/ thatpedalshow
Please visit our preferred retailers!
UK & Europe: Andertons Music bit.ly/3zaTX5Z
Australia: Pedal Empire bit.ly/2mWmJQf
I‘ve said it 20 years ago. This pedal is magic. They laughed at me at the time. Now, I am officially right 😂🎉
Love the mid level controls
People are stupid and dial in with their eyes, not their ears. It's versatile as hell, although I modded mime recently to sound like a huge distortion monster.
I first used one with a JCM900 then with a '65 Bassman, a Chandler Tube Driver, a Rickenbacker 330/12 and an Alexis midiverb.
I miss that rig.
And having a place to play at proper volume.
@Feline Kaiju what's the mod? I have the Behringer clone. I'm considering rehousing it and may as well trick it out whilst I'm at it.
@stuart chapman there's actually a few mods you can do. I bought the How To Modify Guitar Pedals book by Brian Wampler. I did the Diezel mod.
Thanks guys! I'm 55, only been playing for 12 months. Bought the metal zone (my first pedal) after seeing Simon Neal on the show! At first I thought I'd been ripped off. After watching this and spending time playing around with, I now love this thing. Thank you.
0:11 Mick's pick control is only rivalled by his hands-free glasses control. I'm in awe. It always looks so effortless!
Hahahaha! And now sight!
Love this episode! My first pedal was a Metal Zone and I had sooooooo much fun. It will always hold a special place in my heart ❤️
Thank you all so much for the positively-minded content you put out. I have watched you go down so many rabbit holes for the past few years and I have tried out some great pedals thanks to you. In this process I have discovered something about myself: I just don’t hear the pedal nuances like you do. But, that’s ok. I love playing guitar. Even if my new overdrive sounds a lot like my old overdrives, sometimes stepping on a new shiny rectangle with different knobs rekindles my desire to push farther into playing. I keep watching this channel because I love YOUR love of guitar, even if I never plan on running anything close to a wet-dry rig.
I can relate to many times not being able to hear the nuances. Just a thought: do you think it could be due to volume? I know that I don't play nearly as loud as those numbers we see on their dB meter, especially when testing and comparing pedals alone. I sometimes think I would hear more differences between pedals (and sometimes even guitars) if I'd play really loud.
@@tiogate could be related to volume for sure. I also think I get ear fatigue pretty quick, so I don’t get around to switching from one OD pedal to another when jamming with other guitarists. That, and I am too caught up in what I am playing instead of the nuances of how it sounds. There is room to grow for sure.
I think you on to something., yes
Analogman mike Pierre talks about this all the time
Agreed. Actually, I was good at "100 Years Later"....
That was an absolute feel good episode! Thank you for giving the Metal Zone some love.
It's nice to see you guys do it justice. It's been such an oddly maligned pedal, a product of being far too popular and ending up in the hands of people who didn't know how to dial it in I suppose.
They're using a Waza Craft in Custom mode... Not nearly as difficult to make it sound good compared to a stock standard Metal Zone where the guitar's tone is all sucked out. Closest you can get is modding heavily, or at least removing a capacitor or two, and many people aren't gonna wanna do that. I feel sorry for any suckers who ran out and got an OG Metal Zone after watching this.
the metal zone is legit one of the best pedals ever made, mainly because of the juicy and responsive eq and insane range of the drive. people are really just not up to the task of doing in justice
I see it like a bunch of zoomer drivers complaining that their grandpa's old truck keeps conking out, but not realizing that it's because it's a manual transmission.
The Metal Zone was waay ahead of it's time when it was released. 🤘
What an astonishing pedal. Really enjoyed the 'in the background whilst working' viewing of this episode. Looking forward to the 'headphones in detail listen' later on. Presumably we'll just have JHS Josh's 4 x Metal Zone pedal board moving forward.
Good reference., I’ll never forget the video that Josh is doing on overdrives ( I think , can’t remember exactly what JHS video ) and pulls out a metal zone and says , I can take and use this pedal in any style of music , even a country gig ..
Everything I ever believed has been taken away! A freaking metal zone can get THAT close to all those pedals. I need to lie down.
Have you ever played one before? I'm just curious as to why you thought that it sucked in the first place?
Yes. Because there a lot more ways to make it sound bad than good.
@@Bullittbl ...So only make it sound good. Problem solved!
This is the first time I'd ever heard anyone do that. Thus, I said what I said.
Best comment ever. You made me laugh (because you're spot on). Thank you.
I like how you guys have so much fun demoing these pedals. Great video!
🔥🙏
Warren Haynes had a Metal Zone on his board for years! I bet if John Mayer put one on his board it would be worth $3000 ;-) Great show guys!
Regardless of whether one's ears perceive the Metal Zone to be close or not to the targets here, there's no doubt (at least to my ears) that the Metal Zone sounds great here, and is quite versatile.
Totally that!
In fact I seemed to prefer the Meal Zone's tight, snappy feel to it compared to the more gooey, fluffy tone from other more coveted pedals set similarly. I like the bite & punch it gives in these tweaks.
@@phnelson033 I can certainly understand that.
Indeed, so many popular opinions about this pedal are wrong. I find it's the same with amps and other 'notoriously bad' gear. I find there's a lot of people who have no idea about how to use gear.
Lol... Meal zone. Brilliant!
Great Video guys! really enjoyed this episode. So many people slate the MT-2 so its nice to see it get some love for a change, For a pedal that was designed for heavy music you guys worked your magic there and proved how versatile it can be with a good ear and a bit of patience. Thanks guys well done :)
So awesome! Thanks guys for the great content!
Love it. I'd faithfully used only the MT2 + a Dunlop wah for about 20 years and thru covid..... finally jumped into more pedals thanks to y'all! There are some cool fuzz like sounds to be had from the MT2 with tweakery. Cheers gents
Great show. Sometimes we don't need to keep adding pedals (as much fun as that is) but instead experiment with the ones we have, even those gathering dust from our early years.
Spot on. Those Bad Monkeys at JHS have just broke the Internet doing just that.
So glad you did this on a much maligned pedal. Parametric EQ can be hard to get your head around but once you do and then start putting it into EQ loops instead of into the front of the amp it is a pretty cool pedal
Imagine a metal zone that could save presets and had MIDI, that would be amazing
Midi Zone
Love your show! Gives me a warm fuzzy feeling. Really calms my anxiety. Thanks!
Interesting bit about the pre-gain mid bump! Maybe there should be a Rock Zone with soft clipping and the same EQ 👍🏻
I've modded my MT-2 to do just that and it sounds killer.. I can plug in to any amp and get the sound I want 😁
I’d buy the rock zone!
@@tobymoorhouse what was the mod, care to share?
@@keithbriscoe99 I tried to link to a couple of videos on my Reddit (u/tobymoorhouse) from a year ago in these comments but it wouldn't let me.. essentially I bypass the pre-distortion gyrator, add (asymmetric) soft clipping but also keep the hard clipping diodes, like an ODR-1; this smooths out the transition in to distortion at lower gain settings to my ears. The iteration I use tunes the bass knob to the low colour knob of an HM-2 with the treble control as the high colour knob, using the post-gain gyrator circuits to do so (this also allows op-amp distortion at this stage when maxed out). I added a three position treble cut switch as a surrogate treble control and kept the semi-parametric mid control stock. Hope that helps.
PS. I have killed/ruined a number of Metal Zones in the process of refining this circuit.. I highly recommend looking up Electric Druid's circuit breakdown if you haven't already
I've been using the metal zone 2 since it was first released with my Strat this way. It can be very musical when you use "Less is more" strategy. It is very, very versatile especially with a Strat. The Tele tone's on the video were great. Really cool seeing you guys using it for non-metal tones. :)
Really interesting vid. I noticed early on that the Metal Zone always had more compression than the other pedals - even at at lower gain settings. When you stacked the ODR-1 and the Archer, the signal became noticeably more compressed and the sustain increased, allowing that wonderful feedback. At that point, I knew the Metal Zone should be able to do a pretty good job of creating that tone. Was not disappointed!
yeah, the low gain tweakability with the wide EQ and the long sustain are what interest me in this pedal ( already know Ill get a good lead tone out of it...)😎
Nice work as always boys! Loved the ODR + Archer with both the Strat and the "nosey" Tele which immediately reminded me of Joe Walsh at the start of Funk 49! Lovely!!
Honestly, it sets up my day so nicely seeing you guys just have some fun. Throughout the episode I kept thinking of the fabled Tomato-tone and how a similar episode might go with it. One pedal to rule them all? Cheers, guys. -G
That last bit was so amazing. This whole thing was just fascinating. May we all learn to be less dismissive - especially regarding Boss. Wow. They get it right so often - and always have. Like you at TPS: get it right everytime. Love it. Happy & Lovely Holidays!
Super fun! Loving these recent boss pedal shows
Always been intrigued by the Metal Zone, never had one. I make do with a Boss OD-20 and the Metal Zone approximation that is on there...
Great video - you've now convinced me to find a MZ once I've recovered from the Xmas spending....
I've always wanted to watch your videos because they seem so smart and informative. With full time employment and children it is difficult to carve out nearly an hour of my day (some videos much more) to enjoy this content in entirety.
We wish you well with all that Luke. Time is fast becoming the most precious commodity of all. :0)
This pedal is a lot better than people realise. It has a full blown channel strip eq, with parametric mid. It's basically nearly ever distortion in one box. I must admit I was foxed by the whole para mid thing when presented with my first "grown up mixer". Once you get to grips with it, it's awesome. I love the Rat, HM2, DS , Guvnor Keeley Screamer but the zone does it all.
I have a Boss HM-2 from the '80s. You can get a great metal chug out of it, but it has a pretty decent EQ in itself, and I've been amazed at some of the low-fi fuzzy sounds I can get. To do that, I leave the gain at 8 o' clock or even below. But that Swedish death metal chainsaw sound is always on tap!
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I bet they sounded way more different in the room, but I was pretty impressed by how how close you got with MZ. I think using the tone knob (and volume) on your guitars would get you even closer. Great show, guys! :)
This video is a stellar clinic on how to dial in a dirt pedal. If only I had access to this waaay back when I began playing. Kudos.
Y'all have the greatest show on earth. You've been a godsend in these times of boredom, tragedy and straight up buffoonery. Thank you.
P.s. love the auto flip-down option you employ with your glasses when you get down to business there Mick.
Fascinating! I only JUST had a RAT delivered this week, and I'm having great fun with it in my chain. But now I'm thinking a Metal Zone would be a fun addition. It'll have to wait 'til after Christmas. Cheers!
“This is Malcom’s SG….not *that* Malcolm!”
Priceless.
Back in 1999-2000 I got a Metal Zone from a friend for some days and decided to read the manual and setup the pedal as recommended by the factory. I was very into Oasis back then, and there was a preset called "brit rock" or something.
I remember being very impacted by the tone. It was so similar to Noel and Bonehead tones. I was having the Oasis tone for the first time. I was just a teenager, with no experience in tone setting at all, with a crappy korean Squier in a huge bass amp, so that was very revealing to me.
I never bought the Metal Zone criticism, always thought it was unfounded, based on the grunge/punk wannabes who had no time to turn the knobs and experiment the settings, the EQ.
This is the first time I’ve ever been VERY impressed with the metal zone. May consider picking one up.
Great show guys! Thanks
You guys are awesome! This is excellent!
Thank you!
Absolutely fantastic. I just picked up an MT2.... My normal rig doesn't have an FX loop so i'll be running this front end. Really looking forward to fiddling with this.
Just stumbled here, as a metal head who hangs out on the heavy side of YT it's great to see a show from guys who actually understand the technical side of the sound, you show more knowledge and understanding in the first few minutes of this episode than most other channels do in all there videos! At least now I know where to go for high quality reviews, thanks guys
Thanks Nathan, and welcome! 🤗
Terrific episode, amazing how versatile the Metal Zone was, it could get quite close to most of those other pedals, very impressive piece of kit really :)
Love the new guitar, Mick!! Congrats!
Thanks Dave!
Always loved my metalzone, glad it's finally getting some appreciation as of recent years
Great show gentlemen! Very interesting premise and experiments. I’m still not a metal zone customer and do not expect to be yet I was quite surprised because I had been in the perception that the metal zone only did that one thing.
Thanks! for the clarification on the Metal Zone, I was a doubter but you all squeezed some nice sounds out of it. Might have to acquire one, at present I use a Pine Box Motel and boost into it when I want to get into that hairy territory .
I loved the different sounds you got from this pedal. I wish you could show a close up of the settings for each sound
Just bought a metal zone for the 2nd time in my life, really loved this video!
It would have been nice if you showed a close up of each setting on the MZ that clones the other pedals.
Cannibal Corpse famously used the Metal Zone as a clean boost into the front of their rectifiers, just for the EQ, to cut out all the bass and boost mids and treble into the front of the amp.
I had no idea other people did this(6505+), for years I kept it always on for this reason. But when I got a fender twin, I had to use it for actual distortion
Now that is a fun fact :)
The metal zone doesn't really get clean though, even with the gain on zero its still pretty gainy?
@@matt926uk1 on zero, it probably doesn't do much, but the boss ml-2 metal core does low gain very well 😀
@@matt926uk1 you obviously never heard of the band if you think hey want "clean" clean metal bands arent using it as an actual "clean" sound they are using it to de-flub the recto its more for the eq, but that tiny gain bump aint gonna effect them as much as you would think
You sound awesome on your new Strat Mick!!! It’s beautiful too 😊😊😊 also the metal zone works extremely well. It’s very versatile. 😊😊😊- Happy holidays D&M!!!
To be honest with y’all… when y’all mentioned last week or the week before that y’all had a buncha fans who didn’t comment on your videos, that resonated with me. I’ve been watching y’all for years, own both a D&M drive and a Harmonious monk, I bought TPS t-shirts and a coffee mug, and still just now I went thru and liked as many videos of y’all as I could find that I hadn’t before. TLDR: y’all are appreciated more than UA-cam/social media/ the Internet realizes. Rock on D&M y’all are the best 🤘🏻
Ah, thanks so much John 🤓🙏
Great video. Love the new Strat. To my ears, the tones dialed in were pretty similar during any of the single note playing. It wasn't until you hit some double stops and chord type riffs that you could hear big differences. I think Brian Wampler modified a bunch of Metal Zones because he liked the parametric on it with so many tone shaping options. He then made an all Metal Zone board with like 4 of them on there. Good stuff. Thanks for all you do. Happy holidays.
Thanks Evan! Happy holidays to you too man!
Metal zone is an amazingly powerful pedal, the EQ is incredible, it’s just so powerful that it’s easy to overdo it and make sound horrible…. You have to have a great ear and know exactly what you’re doing to use it… it’s funny how guitarists sound roughly the same no matter what gear they are playing through, it’s definitely way more about the player than the gear…
It's all in that parametric mid. It's the magic and the downfall of this pedal. It's baffling the first hime you encounter it. It's like a "proper" mixer channel strip. That's why it's so slated and can be difficult.
Love the new Strat, Mick. I have a CS 62 Ltd edition relic one in Inca silver. Also idiosyncratic as has a maple board. But sounds and plays awesome. Best part of all, it cost me £7! (Won in a raffle - thanks Gearburst!!) Enjoy it!
Simon Neil makes magic with this pedal and a vintage style strat.
The BOSS 30th Anniversary MT-2-3A is the only version I own. Great Video! Gives me new ideas.
Great demo, I’m glad you explained what you meant by nose!
I'm a metal guy, and I hang out here all the time. I've always felt at home in the company of Brits for some reason (I'm mostly from Colorado). But I have a great appreciation for your humor and tones. THIS gem of a video (11 minutes in at this comment) has had no shortage of that humor so far.
As someone who uses a Metal Zone for non metal (post punk/alternative), I can say it’s a very versatile pedal. I think in these tests it sounded better than the Rat and ODR. It had better definition. Muffs sound like Muffs.
I use mine mainly for solos. I don’t run it into a clean amp. My Marshall is set for a crunch tone.
Great show thanks guys
I am again astonished by how quickly Dan can dial in any given sound. His facility with the knobs is revelatory. Interesting show, but I doubt that a metal zone will be found on my board anytime soon. Thanks, gents.
Quickly? The first one clearly took over a thousand years
@@naught0 Yes, but in the overall scheme of things, 1,000 years really isn't that long. :-)
Another classic, keep the great work
Never thought of using my metal zone for blues tones. never realized it was that versatile. Thankyou
This video prompted me to dust off my venerable metalzone, and happy to report that the old style metalzone in conjunction with an EQ pedal (just to further tweaketh the tone) can produce some excellent sounds - thanks for the inspiration!!
They are using the new boss metal zone waza
I never understood the Metal Zone pedal until now. Thanks guys!
I love that you acknowledged a trope (re: stereotype) of heavier sounds by strumming some syncopated rhythm on the two high strings at tritone intervals. Surely, I used to think, nobody notices this but me.
I have a 6505 half stack, for my heavy stuff, but when I’m playing into my fender twin, i use the metal zone and its just fine. Guy before me did a diode swap, and put LED’s in the clipping section, ala the Wampler “deizel” mod. Not sure how it compares to a stock one
That Metal Zone with the Tele sounds absolutely filthy! Need to get me one someday.
Just great what you do!
I began watching this video thinking I know it’s versatile pedal, but Mick and Dan are gonna absolutely slate it. So hey ho I watched thinking car crash tv here we go, but I was amazed at what they tweaked out of it and smiling at the end as well GOOD WORK GUYS 👍
Thank you for the review! The primary point I got from this video is how versatile the MZ is. If we tried to make any of the other pedals sound like a MZ it would be a bit failure. Usually everyone I have see play with a MZ just cranks it up full then hates the tone. I had issues hoping it would make my Strat-Fender Amp sound like a screaming Marshall. You really had to play with the knobs to get it distorting with a pleasing sound and the EQ was better than any other pedal. Played with Humbuckers it can be way too much dirt very quickly. Got to be easy on the gain and dirt.
I love my Boss PQ3-B for the 3 bands of semi parametric eq. The Empress Para EQ is no longer made. Is there any other current production parametric eqs being made or is this what gets me building one for myself. Even the kits from BYOC are out of stock.
Time sure does fly when you're having fun!
My blood type is O-DR1.
Mine is currently TS-9. I have some ODR-1 though, ready for a transfusion whenever the feeling hits me.
I just got my buddy a metal zone yesterday. I love mine.
Nice work, guys. I was one of those who said to add an eq pedal to your drive. I think those tones are convincing enough. Nobody in the audience is going to ask “Was that a RAT pedal or just a metal zone trying to be one?” Lol. That’ll do! 😬
I came here thinking you guys will finally be chugging and giving us some 0s and 1s… I’ll keep coming back with some hope that one day you will 🤘🏽😛
Great show/Great Strat
Just by pure happenstance, I came into possession of a Boss MT2 and a GE7 in the same week and used them together with great effect. If I'd been more patient back then, I don't think I'd have needed the EQ pedal.
Another youthful pedal trauma undone. Unbelievable. And totally believable. Thanks, gents! A happiest of holidays to you and yours.
Sees new TPS video: automatic thumbs up
@ 28 min sounds really great. Awesome riffage, too.
Mick, I really hope you and the new Strat are able to connect, congrats. I think colors like fire mist gold look great, best of luck mate. New Strat vlogs in the near future?
I have owned two Metal Zones.. the Waza and the original... I could definitely get some cool blues riffs going on with some awesome guitar solo stuff as well, just takes some twiddling of the knobs.
ok, now combine 2 of them, great show !
Thank you! 👍 I can now use my MT-2 as an overdrive. 😁🙏🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸
very interesting, love it,...
Got the Waza version today and it sounds awesome. Take your time with the eq on this pedal to find what you want. I got a hard rock sound out of this like playing DIO. That crunch though. Used the Low input channel from the SC20H. I think the mids on this pedal is the magic. It’s just so fun getting the tone weirdly affected by the eq of this pedal.
I wonder if it's possible for someone to mod the pedal to include a width function to make it fully parametric.
Pretty amazing how close you were able to get with the MT-2 considering what it's designed for. Might have to look at one...
Can we get a version of the pedal order shirt with all the effects crossed out and metalzone underneath?! Black and orange, obvs.
What about doing this with fuzz pedals? Essentially, you turned the gain in the metal zone down and dialed eq to taste to make a cleaner drive or clean sound. What are your thoughts on doing the same thing with fuzz pedals? More specifically using a fuzz as a “clean drive” pedal.
Sounds like the perfect job for a Fuzz Face! Roll the guitar volume back and get a great, dynamic cleanish tone. Big Muff circuits, not so much though.
So nice work, tyypit! Please have Nels Cline and Box Of Metal in some episode
Dan is a master of pedal adjustment. Good ears.
Amazing. I love the pedal. Always have. Nothing gives you that EQ versatility but it takes a long time to understand and in each room needs adjustment. Lots of metalzones back in the 2000's had a lot of stickers and paint on them as people needed to 'save' the setting.
METAL KLON!! Great video guys.
Great video lads. Go easy on the gain and use the mids, then use the bass and treble. Been using a metal zone since '96 it is reliable AF and sounds great!
The pedals I had the 1990s when I first started playing Ibanez sound tank power lead, DOD flanger,and Boss chorus. I remember my friend had a metal zone he sold it and bought a DOD grunge
"FX69 Grunge, oh yeah!"