Boss MD-2

Pretty easy to use I guess, unless of course you mean getting a decent sound out of it which is impossible.

This has to be one of the worst sounding distortion pedals I have ever heard. I was pretty pumped when I ordered it because I thought I'd finally be able to get a good sound out of my 7 string going into a computer and BOY WAS I WRONG. The sound is very tinny and squealy at best with absolutely no chunk. When you turn up the 'bottom' knob all that happens is a you get a boom behind the thin squealy horrible sound, still with no substance whatsoever.

It's boss, i'm sure its a tank. Too bad it sucks...

Once again, its boss.. pretty good company.

I bought this for playing low tuned death metal and hardcore. I was hoping for a Meshuggah-ish tone, but instead this pedal is probably closer to what a dying seal might sound like. Do yourself a favor and get something else.

This is the BOSS MD-2 Mega Distortion pedal. It is orange like other Boss distortion pedals (except the metal ones, which everyone knows are black). It has an input, an output, an a/c connector (if you want to use an adapter or daisy chain if you want to otherwise you have to screw the footswitch open to get to the 9v battery connector)five knobs; level (controls the volume of the pedal), bottom (a bass control), tone (a treble control), Dist (distortion abbrieviated), and gain boost (additional gain). It takes some playing around with to get a sound one likes with it and you also have to work with your amp's eq.

I'm playing metal and experimental stuff with it. My guitar is a Washburn WG-587 and my amp is a Randall RG-100 classic head with a Randall cab. The manual gives some settings, but the solid distortion setting is the only good one. It is quite trebly on this setting since the tone knob is maxed out, which is why the minding of amp's eq was mentioned earlier. I use the pedal in conjunction with the amp's drive channel to make it sound more bad ass, and it makes it suitable for heavy rock and metal.

I would definitely rely on it, for the $134 I spent on it at the local music store it makes the FAB Metal Distortion I once used seem like a toy. It is built like a tank so I probably would use it without a backup

Never dealt with it yet so I won't know

I bought this to have a great sounding distortion for my 7, and it delivers. As I previously said, if you fork out the cash for it at wherever you got it, it will make the distortion pedal you had as a noob seem like a toy. I wish the manual had more settings.

Easy... so what it sucks...

I don't think I've ever tried worse distortion than this one... It produces messy, slappy sound... You cannot recognize your songs with it...

It is reliable...

You don't want this... except if you're def...

Boss! simple as. Easy, quick, shed loads of info on how to set it up nice on the boss website

Gibson Black Beauty Les Paul, Epiphone SG400 Custom (3 pickup), Jim Dunlop Cry Baby, into clean carlsbro amp GLX 150 T head and matching 4x12 cab/line6 spider II 112 75watt

I play alot of classic rock and heavy rock. And it sound amazing. Crank up that bottom end knob and give it a decent amount of top end and it's fantastic. Stick the gain level at somewhere between 12 o clock and 3 o clock to get the sensitivity up abit (not too high though or you get loads of feedback) and stick distortion at about the same. Amazing pedal. Only problem starts phasing abit once volume gets above 3 o clock, but that could be my crappy amp

BOSS!!!

Never dealt with boss, but that website is mint

awsome pedal! specially for the price. I've been looking for the perfect distortion sound for ages now and i think i've finally found it between the Boss DS2 and this it's amazing. Specially cranked through 4x12 75watt celestion speakers you get an amazing bottom end out of it and the tripple humbuckers on both my guitars helps beef up the sound :) only critism is that my jim dunlop cry baby sounds abit crappy when the peddal is on

Anyone who has ever used a Boss pedal can figure this one out easily. I read the manual but it didnt teach me anything I didnt know already. IMO even a Boss newbie can figure it out. The gain boost control could confuse a few, so I give it a 9.

I use this with a 1 channel, 100 watt Marshall tube head through a Marshall 4X12 cabinet. I use 5 different Schecter guitars (mostly all Mahogany with SD USA humbuckers)
I used a Boss Turbo Distortion previously, and this pedal seems to take the same basic distortion, removes some mids, adds the gain boost circuit and also the LOW control that is ideal for those of us who detune. turning the LOW control to about 2 o clock beefs my guitar tone up plenty enough to catch my low strings (I tune to C)
The gain boost circuit is interesting.....I tried turning the DIST control almost all the way down, then turning the GAIN BOOST up and I got a raw, vintage-like distortion. I usually keep it around 9 o clock because I keep the DIST turned very high. Anymore GAIN BOOST and I get some nasty feedback (with all due respect to the pedal, I am using USA Duncan Custom 5 or Custom bridge pickups so these are fairly hot to begin with). The gain boost doesnt effect the volume too much like you would expect.....just adds more sizzle.

It's a Boss pedal. In case of Nuclear Holocaust, cockroaches and Boss pedals will be the only things left.

I've had Boss pedals repaired before and they take great care of their customers......are they sure Roland is their parent Company?

If you detune and/or play aggressive rock/metal, you need a powerful, hi gain/sharp edged distortion with plenty of bass. many players like myself dislike the Metal Zone and Metal Core pedals because they are "cold sounding", "EMG-like", or simply too aggressive. IMO this one delivers the perfect amount of modern edge without sounding too far from a screaming tube head, sort of the "sweet spot" between the orange (Distortion, Turbo Distortion) and black (Metal Zone, MetalCore) pedals. I havent tried it on bass, but the LOW and GAIN BOOST controls should make this one excellent for that.

Its Boss and so its easy to use. Turn the knobs and away you go. BUT...getting a decent sound is difficult to say the least. Its way too muddy. You can't get a nice crisp clean distortion. Its either too heavy or too light if you turn the bottom end down.

I play with baritone guitars through a Marshall VS8100 Valvestate Half-stack. So maybe its because my guitar already has considerable low end. Its noisy. The feedback you can achieve is cool. Its very controlable so if you're looking for a cool feedback pedal this is it. The claim Boss makes to this that you can get the same sound or tones as you favorite hard-rock artists out there can't be further from the truth. I just bought this pedal and after only 1 day am considering selling it.

Again, its Boss. These pedals were built to withstand a nuclear holocaust. Its definately reliable to work, but not to sound great.

Never had to use it, so ???

Overall I would give this pedal a 3. I wouldn't replace it if stolen. I'm not impressed. Boss has let me down on this one I'm afraid.

Easy to get good sounds from this pedal - just start twisitng knobs. I will say that the two EQ knobs are powerful and minor adjustments do make a big difference. If you spend a little time with it you will get good results. The low end knob also seems to affect the mids - so, more low end also equals more mids.

This pedal is highly underrated. I have owned (and hated) almost all the Boss overdrives and distortions. I would not have given the MD-2 a second thought until I heard someone else playing through one. The sound really makes you sit up and take notice! I agree with others that this could be called a Mesa Distortion, because it certainly can be setup to sound that way. It is less noisy than the DS-1 I used to own, and also sounds much better with the added EQ function and additional gain.

I play through a Fender Strat w/ noisless single coils into a Fender Blues Jr. amp. Set just right it sounds fantastic! Here are my basic settings:

Volume: 12 o'clock
Low: 1 o'clock
Tone: 1 o'clock
Dist: 10-11 o'clock
Gain: 12 o'clock

I own a lot of other Boss pedals: delay, chorus, noise suppressor. This is the only distortion of theirs that I would consider after having owned and sold the BD-2, OD-3, SD-1, DS-1. My MD-2 sits alongside my MI Audio Blues Pro and Blue Boy overdrives. It gets a great aggressive rock sound. I play everything from blues to hard rock.

All of my Boss pedals are extremely dependable.

Never needed to have anything fixed. I like their website with clips and manuals to all their pedals.

I would give this pedal a 10 for value. You could certainly pay more for a boutique pedal that will beat it, but at this price point there is nothing that can quite match it. It definitely sounds like an upgraded DS-1, so you at least need to like how that sounds before you try this. However, it is superior to the DS-1 because of the ability to dial in more low and mids, plus more gain, plus less noise.

Quite easy to use. Level, Bass, Treble, Distortion, Gain Boost. Not difficult to get good sounds out of it. With that being said, it's also not difficult to get bad sounds out of it.

I bought this pedal used about a week ago, and I'm quite pleased with it's sound character thus far. So far I've used it with a 1988 Peavey Tracer Deluxe on the bridge pickup going into a Blues Jr. IMHO this pedal is a keeper. I really don't understand how so many people can give this pedal bad reviews. It's your basic two-stage-gain-type-distortion. The first stage seems to be a bit tighter with the gain boost (the second stage) being somewhat looser and louder. Overall, I can get nearly any sound from about medium distortion all the way to very heavy saturated sounds. The harmonic content is where this pedal really shines. The overall character of the tone with both gains set at about halfway is similar to my red Jekyll and Hyde, but with less noise. People who are saying that this pedal is muddy must be running all knobs maxed out -- duh. Overall a killer pedal for Petrucci type sounds. I also use it in front of a DOD 250 modded to grey specs, and there's minimum added noise, but killer feedback. I wouldn't exactly say "Nu-Metal" at all. Overall, I think this is going to make a fine addition to my board--tight, crunchy, lot's of sustain, ending in controllable feedback with rich harmonic content. Very musical. My only complaint is that the treble control seems to go a bit harsh when turned up high, and the bass seems a bit flabby when maxed out. Other than that, highly recommended.

Insert cliche here: It's a Boss.

Never needed them in the past, and I don't imagine I will now.

I play heavy, melodic, jam-type stuff. Think: Garcia meets Satriani. This pedal is well-suited to me. I've been playing for about twenty years, and this pedal is one of the biggest surprises I've found. The only thing I wish it had was maybe a little more mid-range, and not so nasaly of a high end with the treble turned up.

Like everyone else is saying, pretty straight forward on any standard boss pedal.

Um, I wouldn't say you could get the same tone as some of my particular fav artists....but everyone has there own guitar hero....so perhaps other's can get that tone but I like TOOL and BUCKETHEAD. In terms of Adam Jones, this pedal is actually pretty close. It's weird, because the un-modded DS-1 and this pedal, the md-2, sound close to his tone. The DS-1 lacks that bottom end Adam is know for and the MD-2 has that bottom chunk but gets too muddy sometimes. I have a 1989 Washburn (lawsuit) Les Paul WP-80. Adam has the awesome Silverburst LP from the 80's and respectively, Seymour Duncan JB's. I have the Dimarzio super distortion's. So it sounds close but unless I buy a Silverburst and some SD's along with a Diezel and Marshall NON-master bass head...well yeah! In terms of Buckethead, it sounds fat like his tone but again it gets too muddy. So if you try to do his signature, uh, videogame like fast licks it sounds pretty close. I know he's pretty much a Mesa Boogie whore. I've owned two of these and both are fairly quiet when the bypass is on (pedal off). I play outta a Fender 112 se solid state for all you tube snobs! lol I read a review of this pedal of someone saying they weren't able to try it with an EQ.I have an ibanez EQ and I highly recommend you buy one!Any Eq I guess, as Im sure each EQ has it's tone, but the EQ really fixes a lot the mud associated with this pedal.

Oh yeah. Boss is made out of well, super steel as far as I'm concerned.

Never contacted CS for Boss.

I play mostly hard rock-metal type music. TOOL, Buckethead, just a bunch of dropped d all day. It sounds pretty cool but I gotta admit I know there are cleaner sounding pedals out there. And not just those "boutique" expensive ass ones. I've never heard a proco brat or rat distortion but those sound great from what I hear. I read (the same reviewer on here btw) saying ppl knock the mt-2 metal zone too much.Dude, those pedals straight suck! Man, yeah there loud but just cuz something is loud does not mean a thing! My ex-gf was a loud bitch but her tone was awful lol. Anyway, metal zone's sound like crap compared to these. It still has that bottom end the metal zone has but no hiss! The reviewer was saying you have to really have to mess around with the settings for the metal zone...he must have listened to a modded one cuz I fucked with the thing all day once and omg, shrill! Idk how they could be selling so well according to the reviewer cuz dang, what an ugly sound! To top those off, they sound hella digital.

But i'd def buy another if I lost it (and have!). I love the bottom end and chunking. I hate that it mud's up a bit. I wish it had a bit more mid range..possibly another dial on the pedal. Def helps in the writting process. Sounds great when you layer the distortion.

Every Boss pedal is easy to use. It has a gain boost, which makes this pedal standout! But, it really needs a knob to control the mid. No mid control. That's why I just can give 8.

My guitar is a Gibson Les Paul. I use this pedal with several Marshall all tube amps in order to get a distortion heavier than Marshall's dirt channels. It does the job well. It can be noisy if I set it too strong, but this is not a problem because even the good amp's distortion can be noisy if you do that. I have many this kind of pedals, such as Line6 AM4, MT-2, HM-2, DigiTech Metal Master...atc. Only the MD-2 is still on my pedalboard. You gotta know that most of distortion pedals can be good sounding in the bedroom volume, but if you take it on the stage playing it in live volume you'll notice everything changes. some will get too bright or muddy or like plastic and some produce uncontrolable feedback. My Boss MD-2 is the one one that still function perfectly in loud volume! DS-1 can also do the job well,too. For more fluid shred tone, I really like the MD-2! The guitar volume knob can control the MD-2 well, that's another good reason that it beats many metal pedals.

Come on! It's a boss!

No need. It never die.

I'm a gig guitarist in a rock band. We play blues rock and hard rock 3 nights a week in a big bar. This pedal helps me a lot! Boss pedals are too normal and low priced so that many people doesn't like, but if you play music rather than toys, time tested boss is good enough! Many expensive pedals are just toys.