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.

Its easy to turn the knobs.....thats about it.

Finding a good sound is extremly hard. you will either get a high pitch ear peirsing sound or a low bass sound where you cant destingish the notes. I found a good blues sound....exept for the fact that i dont play blues. I am forced to turn the pedal off every break in between hitting notes because the hum is soo bad. I use a gibson les paul, Ibanez gax-30tr, and a schecter omen. non of them make a difference, so I just use my amp effects on my line 6 spider 2.

Its reliable, no matter what i do i cant get rid of it. If i had any other distortion, I would plain just not use it at gigs, which i pretty well dont, I just use my spider 2 distortions.

never had to use it

I play rock, metal, and slow stuff, i cant use it for any of it, unless i use it for solos in a slow song or somethin.I've been playing for6 years and it was my first pedal, so i just use my other pedals. I am about to buy about $2000 worth of pedals and gear and I am trying to stay away from boss equiptment, because i also have a boss chorus and I dont like it either. I hope it gets stolen. I dont like anything about it. dont waste ur money, spend a bit more on a better pedal.

Hard to get something better than the presets from manual. Some presets are the maximum, which you can get, because then you simple add a bit more gain or something you will get a big amount of noise

It's quite noisy. If you trying to get some metal distortion you will get quite "sandy" sound. The only one decent sound, which I could get was useful for some old school heavy metal or hard rock (listened through Crate GTX212), but there are many better devices for that purpose.

Maybe it could be usefull for some kind of industrial or noise, I don't realy know much of these kinds of music, but it quite useless for any kind of metal.

Boss has managed to create another distortion box, I thought it would be a rehash of their older boxes but I was wrong. The Boss MD-2 Mega Distortion is just that, MEGA gain. There are 3 knobs other than Level, that allow you to customize your sound. The tone/bottom dual knob is similar to that of Boss' Metal Zone Pedal. I think this sounds more versatile and less treble heavy than the Metal Zone though. With a gain knob AND a distortion control, it's very simple to start turning knobs and figure out what sounds, if any work for you and what sounds to stay away from. A surprisingly simple and versatile pedal. Boss' simple little manual is included and gives some suggestions for sounds but it's not needed.

When I shop for effects I don't do so intending to emulate my favorite artists. I like things that have unique abilities, or pedals that do multiple things well. For practice and my 'noise' project, I've been running cheap Squier Strats through smaller Marshall combos at lower volumes. The MD-2 is nice for that, I have found, at higher "live" volumes through Ampeg heads and no-name cabinets that the Mega Distortion is surprisingly competent. I like the fact that when I turn my guitar volume down the MD-2's sound stays true in character at a lower volume, with the guitar volume down, a little of the edge is taken off, but the tone stays pretty consistently the same. I haven't noticed much excess noise, using a power supply or 9 volt batteries. I really like the fact that this pedal sounds good for pop, to punk and all the way down to Drop-D tuned metal like Helmet, and the "New Metal" that kids are playing these days. I play everything from experimental and sludgy to fast and technical and I have found the MD-2 to be useful in every aspect of my music so far. Try it with Boss' old "Enhancer" pedal for even more tone options!!!

It's made by Boss, their pedals are legendary for toughness. I have a Boss Enhancer (as mentioned above, the mint green one) that sounds great after the Mega Distortion that incdentally has been kicked around for 15 years by various careless musicians, and it's as good as new. I would and have used many Boss products to gig without backups and those little bricks never let me down. I've already dropped my new MD-2 twice but I'm not concerned, it works fine and Boss offers a pretty generous 5 year warranty now.

I have never needed help from Boss but I assume that after being in business for so many years, they must be doing something right. I have owned half a dozen Boss pedals over the last 15 yeard and they've all worked as promised, without fail.

I have been playing aggressive and experiemntal music for over 15 years, guitar and bass, and this is one of my new favorite effects boxes. I used to own the Boss Metal Zone but it was just too much treble heavy gain and hiss. The MD-2 can go that way, but only if you want it to. There's much more emphasis on low end, which I really like and for a hardcore/metal distortion, the tone is surprisingly warm. It doesn't have that digital fakeness that lots of new 'emulation/modeler' type pedals have. It sounds real. I have been using DigiTech's Clapton/Crossroads pedal on certain settings for metal guitar but the ability of the MD-2 for fine tuning blows it away. If the Mega Distortion were lost or damaged I'd try to find a replacement used, as, like most Boss stuff, it was a bit more expensive. I picked the MD-2 on a whim, as an exchange for Boss' compressor (too subtle for me). I didn't bother to try it out in the store, so when I started using it, it was a pleasant surprise that it fits in with my tone, style and nuances of my picking hand. Boss needs to get some fresh colors for their pedals, as this is ANOTHER orange brick. Seems like they only use shades of yellow/orange, blues and blacks! It's just hard to tell what someone's playing if all you see on their pedal board is an orange pedal, almost the same color of ther classic distortion. A minor gripe though, this pedal works well for me and my heavy handed rock.

This pedal is extremely simple to use. Just mess around with it until your happy.

This is pretty amazing, even without mods, even though I haven't been able to find any. Sound when not playing is very quiet and the distortion is wicked. Little boosts in tone and bottom are perfect. Then turn distortion low and gain boost high for thick rhythm distortion. Then turn up the distortion and turn down the gain and the sustain and tone for soloing is unbelievable. I only wish I had two or some switch so I could use both of the amazing settings. A little bit more tweaking and I could get a ridiculous lead sound so my TS7 (modded soon) and/or SD1 can be my rhythm.

It's built like a rock, like all Boss pedals.

Haven't dealt with them.

Between my TS7 and this, I choose this all the way. It's very versatile and I am amazed at how many different tones you can get out of it. I used to use it as a tone boost through my Crate VC3112 tube amp but I am away from it now and just have an old Kawai 60 watt keyboard amp. The tones I am getting are awesome. If only I had a good solid state amp with nice speaker and I'd be perfect.

I think it is very easy to use. But of cpourse you need to spent some time with it to figure out in what way the controles effect each other. Bur it took onmly about ten minutes to get a good first sound out of it. Fine Tuning took a a little bit longer.....

I was looking for some sound pointing towards Rammstein. This pedal does that well. It has ways more distortion than anybody will ever need. The sound cuts through a band mix quite well and is very agressive. It sounds very powerfull and strong but it might tire the ears after a while. The basic sound of the MD-2 is great for powerfull guitar work (Nu Metal and Rammstein sort of style)but not really designed for high speed stuff. The tone is not clear and well defined enough for that IMO. I like it for rhythm work but I would never use it for soloing.

I give it a ten even I just own it for 3 weeks. But due to the excellent reliability experiences I have made with Boss pedals all over the years I guess a ten would fit.

Never had to use cause i never had problems with any Boss pedal.

The style of music I play is somewhere between Rammstein, Black Label Society so sort of the Metal and Heavy Rock area. I use the MD-2 in front of the clean channel of an Marshall DSL 401 tube amp. This amp gives great Rock sounds but is not agressive enough for the metal stuff. The MD 2 is the perfect solution for that cause it sounds like the Marshall DSL 401 would sound like designed for metal. What I`m trying to say is the basic sound shape is similar. Thes two match and fit perfectly!!!! I play an Zakk Wylde Custom Les Paul (Epiphone) with EMG 81 and 85 pick ups and some other pedals (Morley Tremonti Wah/ Boss DD6/Boss CE5).

its easy

This is the worst sounding,most useless piece of circuit I have ever heard,no joke.It does nothing well,chunky palm mutes.fat leads,chords,forget it.I have tried everything to get a decent sound outa this thing on guitar,and bass,and didnt find one.The gear I tried it with was a 73 strat,and a 77 precision,and 81 squire jazz bass,amp was a 67 traynor yba-1,67 bassman+hiwatt dpr-504 into orig hiwatt cab w/purple back fanes.Bass rig was bassman head svt-810.For bass it overtakes your tone,and is muddy to the max.I have lots of the best pedals made,and always A/B them to new ones I take home.Even if a pedal only does one thing useable,I will keep it.I bought this pedal on saturday and returned it monday.I have never returned a pedal before.It may become a future collectible,because if BOSS is smart,they scrap this garbage,and nobody will own them.

If your starting out and not sure what to buy,please dont buy this pedal.If you want Boss get 3 pedals,sd-1,ds-1,and the metalzone,in that order.Also a graphic eq pedal after these or any combination of these will get you anywhere you want to go.Even just a ds-1 with eq after it,will make the md-2 mega distortion, sound like the joke that it is.The best distortion pedal I own is a Doobtone DS-1 mod.The Doobtone with a sd-1 or ts-9 etc. in front of it,into a point to point tube amp,and your search is over.My review is negative,but its my opinion.If you like this pedal,try a Doobtone ds-1,and then tell me I`m full of shit.

How easy is it to get a good sound out of it?

Not really that hard, for me.

if it is your first pedal, you might want to read the book that comes with it, to get an idea of how to use it.

Set up was as easy as most of the pedal out there; input, output, and power conetions (if you are using an AC adapter).

How is the manual for it (if there is one)?

Boss is great, when it comes to manuals.
It will explane everything to you ever wanted to know about "how it (the Boss MD-2, in this case)works".

I like the fack that they somehow managed to put a few sample settings. This gives me an idea of what the techs had in mind and what pedal is ment to sound like. It also gives you something to work from, if you are new to pedals all together.

It's a no-brainer, even for people who need one.

It has pictures!

A word to the buyers of the new units:

You will have to sort through the mess of papers that come with it, in order to get to your manual.

I went into "the lab" and pluged the thing in, as soon as I pulled it out of the mail box. I got it new off of e-bay and was waiting to pounce on the mail box, as soon as the mail truck rolled up, but I was out of town (on business) when it came (Doh!).

I had know idea what kind of sound I would get from it. I had a dim view of this pedal, when it came out on the market. Like the famed Bosss XT-2 and PW-2 (It sold for only nine months), I thought it would be short lived. I thought that Boss was following the trend of the "nu-metal" craze and that this pedal was going to be D.O.A. and flop out. "Take a picture... It will last longer."

I don't even know why I bid on it. It must have been two in the morning and I was half there. I picked it up for about $30 (US Dollars). In the world pedals, this is cheap for a new In-box pedal. Hey... I could always turn aound, sell it, and double my money. I could also traid it in on something else.

So...(to make a long s t o r y l o n g e r . . . )

Can I get the sound of my favorite artists?

To my wounder, I was able to do a lot with it. At low settings, you can get overdrive. If you crank the "Gain Boost" and "Dist"(Distortion), you will get a good fuzz-like that sound alright.

I played some Zep. though it and it came out sounding good.

Who are they?

Led Zepplen was the one used in the test.

Is it noisy? On what settings?

If you crank the thing up to "11", you'll get some noise(Fricking Duh!).

What setup (i.e. what guitars and amps) am I using this with?

I was playing my Custom Fender Standerd (at least it was at one time) Strat. I ran through, a Boss FV-500H Volume pedal, into a Dunlop JH-1 Jimi Hendrix Wah Pedal, through the Boss MD-2, into a MXR phase 90, through an Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man, and in to the amp(a Fender Blues Jr.).

Are the effects weak or do they always sound great?

Hey... I'm a beliver (I don't like something this much, all the time)

The low-end comes through and the highs don't mud up, but you don't get a "metallica buzz-crunch" out of this, But an EQ might get you there; However, I did not use one in this case, I wanted to see how it stood on its own. It held up and I did get a phone call from next door.

It could be used by roachs, after a nuclear attack.

I ware Biker boots, My pedals get stomped like crazy.

It is a Boss and Ive never had anything go wrong with a Boss pedal... Yet.

They must be over in India with the guy who helpped me fix my fathers dell.

I will let you know, if there is any truth to that statement, if I ever need to call.

What style of music do I play?

Rock, Blues, Metal, and Grunge.

Is this pedal a good match?

Yes, it is.

How long have I been playing?

Around ten years, now


What other gear do you own?

A lot more than I can list here

If it were stolen or lost, would I buy it again or get something else?

I would Buy another, as soon as I could do so.

What do I love about it?

I has a lot of gain, it keeps the low-end, and your highs don't get lost.


What do I hate?

I didn't get one befor now.

What is my favorite feature?

the gain boost

Did I compare it to other products and Which ones?

No... I did not really know what I was testing, let olone what to do a side-by-side with.

Anything I wish it had?

A sweepable mid (like the Boss MT-2).



Does it help me make music, or does it get in the way?

I like each pedal that I own. Each one gives me another tool or flavor to work with, I play many styles of music and need a wide selection to get the sound I want. If I have a pedal that "get's in the way" I sell it or traid it.

Where as most standard distortion pedals will go from a lite overdrive sound (that sounds muddy), to a mid-level distortion; this pedal will run from a mild distortion, to a high-gain distortion.
If I had to pick the top ten distortion (non-overdrive or fuzz) pedals on the market, this would be on it.


Anything else I'd like to share?

If you are in to Boss pedals, "this is a must have". It deals with the people who are always knocking the Boss MT-2. They think it sounds to thin (yes I said they think... They have not played around with it enough and set the EQ right). This pedal is also high-gain, and it is centered more for people who want more what I call "muffed-boom", then then "metallica-crunch". This is a pedal to make all the nay-sayers happy. I still think it's funny how these people knock the Boss MT-2, and yet, at the same time, it is Boss' best selling pedal ever (One Million units and counting). Someone is using it!

I like mine. I own a Mesa/Boogie Triple Rectifier... am I selling my MT-2? No! I think it sound good going through my Fender Blues Jr. I can't play my half-stack at two a.m. and it is easyer to fit it into my Honda.

pretty simple to use just 5 knobs, really is no need for the manual unless you like using the suggested settings

you can get alot of diff. types of distortion out of this pedal, i play mainly hard rock/metal and some alternative music, i can get some good godsmack/deftones rythms out of it and i can get zakk wylde-esque pich's and squeals out of it, i'm into really heavy low-end distortion, so if your a "shredder" and like lots of highs and mids in your dist. then you probly wont like this pedal because it really favors the low end maybe something like the metalzone would be better for you......i'm using this pedal with a 2006 schecter c-1 hellraiser with EMG'S 81&85 in it, peavey valveking 100 watt tube head valveking 4x12 cab and ashdown FA 4x12 cabinet board is...this pedal IS noisy at gig level volumes, but it's not really a problem with feedback for me simple solution...step on the noise gate when your not playing...it's not very noisy if you keep the gain boost and dist. knobs pretty modest, but why would you want to be getting a pedal called "MEGA" distortion and then not turn the dist. all the way up,, just turn the pedal off, turn down the volume on your guitar or step on your noise gate when your not playing and you want have any unwated feedback ...with certain settings i can get tones that almost sound like they have some chorus or flange in the dist.with them, i think it's pretty cool actually...anyone else have that problem?

looks and feels really dependable, really solid pedal...i'd most likely use it without a backup

haven't dealt with them

i've been playing about 5/6 years i try to play a little of everything but mainly i play hard rock music and this pedal gets along with me pretty good it smokes the hell out of my ds-1 and the dist. on the valveking the metalzone and the heavy metal2 can hang with it to a certain extent, but i like the md-2 the most if it were lost or stolen i'd consider getting another one or probly try something else like the rocktron rampage dist. just for the hell of trying out since i've tried everything else but if i didnt like it i would send it back and get anothe md-2...the only thing i wish it had was a knob to control your highs, but i guess i can live without it...IMO it's a pretty good pedal if your considering buying this pedal it's def. worth a try if you dont like it then just send it back but i think you should atleast give it a chance to prove itself in stead of crossing it off your list because you read a couple bad reviews on it

5 simple knobs: Level, Tone (sharpens tone), Bottom (increases bass), Distortion and Gain Boost (for even MORE distortion).

When I first set this up I was blown away. Using the basic settings in the manual that came with it, I was nu-metalling it up like Korn on a bad day.

I used a Parker P.42 into a Laney LX65R on the clean settings. I wouldnt go higher than 12 o'clock on the Gain Boost though, because the amount of distortion you get beomes stupidly high (think a hissy, white-noise like version of 'Here To Stay' by Korn and you'ra nearly there.)

Built like a bloody tank, this'll last you YEARS!!! Even once nu-metal is out of fashion....oh wait....

*points at Reliabilty section*

I play a lot of hard rock, nu-metal and the like. Within minutes I was getting tones along the lines of Korn, Tool, CKY, Deftones and more. It does take some getting used to with the tone/bottom dials, but its a pedal I would gig with and not need a back up.

This review is being written for all those Fender 65 Twin Reverb Reissue Amplifier users that are having a difficult time in achieving a decent distorted or overdriven sound because their amps are so clean. Moreover,I am amazed by the low rating of this pedal at 7.7 out of 10. I have tried numerous pedals Boss OD-3, OS-2, SD-1, MT-2, Boss GT-5, as well as HAO Pedals, Ibanez Tube Screamers, the Jim Dunlop line and others. I simply could not achieve a sound that I could live with. Some were too noisy, scratchy, too expensive or just did not perform well with the clean nature of this amplifier! This Boss pedal is like all pedals produced by this Company - easy to use, well built, etc. Let me explain the set-up to achieve the sound I wanted using this amplifier.

I want some Fender 65 Twin Reverb Reissue users to try out the following amplifier and pedal settings listed herein, and I'm sure you won't be disappointed. If your trying to get a Marshall sound (which I was without buying the expensive Marshall Head)) you can to some degree with the aforementioned pedal and amplifier. In fact, it sounds much similar to the Marshall JCM 2000 Dual Super Lead using this pedal. If you want a sound like "So Excited" by SRV; "I Don't Need No Doctor" Humble Pie, etc. you can get it with this pedal. I had a Boss MT-2 which was excessively noisy and I was not impressed with it with this amplifier. The MD-2 pedal is NOT NOISY with this amplifier. Finally, I can hear what I'm playing without that loud background noise! Also, it gives you a nice sustain on notes.

The following are the settings used. Please be advised that you might have to tweek these settings to achieve your desired tone.

FENDER 65 TWIN REVERB REISSUE:

Use the NORMAL CHANNEL INPUT NUMBER 1:
On this channel, I have a Boss RV-5 Digital Reverb Unit set low on reverb. Probably less than 3 setting. That is, just enough reverb to be noticeable. Remember the Normal Channel on this amplifier does not have reverb.

Volume: Set at 3
Tone: Set at 6
Middle: Set at 5
Bass: Set at 7
Please note these values are set for a room environment. You would, of course, adjust the values differently for playing out in a larger venue.

MD-2 PEDAL SETTINGS:

Level: 10 o'clock
Tone: 9 o'clock
Bottom: 1 o'clock
Distortion: 10 o'clock
Gain Boost: 11 o'clock

Like all Boss Pedals they are built to last. Never had a problem with any I have owned. Currently I own 8 Boss pedals - Line Selector, Wah, Phaser, Flanger, Mega Distortion, Reverb, Octave, and Delay unit. Easy to use and sound great when used with the appropriate songs.

I currently play Surf and Blues. I use the above amplifier with two Ibanez 5 string guitars, and currently use a Boss Line Selector to split the "7 BOSS PEDALS" into either the NORMAL CHANNEL or REVERB/VIBRATO CHANNEL of this amplifier. The nice thing about this amplifier is that you can have the SURF SOUND on the REVERB/VIBRATO CHANNEL and the BLUES/HEAVY METAL SOUND on the NORMAL CHANNEL. The latter is achieved by using overdrive pedals or, as stated herein the MD-2 on this channel. Please be advised that you might have to get an additional reverb unit (Boss RV-5) for this channel to give you at least some reverb on blues tunes, etc. As stated previously, I have gone through numerous pedals trying to get something that works well with this amplifier. I believe this pedal suits the Fender 65 Twin Reverb Reissue Amplifier when used on the Normal Channel. I have been playing professionally and non-professionally for 30 years.
Hope this review helps........

not physical. Getting a right sound trial and err. Too much mud comes with this. Treble can shred you with white noise. This thing is monster. Be cautious.

hmmm... Terrifying. It is hard to tame

I use it to other distort. has much bottom, it can make up loss other pedals suffer. Use gain and distort cautious.

sometimes, it scares me. But it can be friendly too. Watch! It can make many sounds with a tiny knobs.

boss is tank

ok

Not typical distort. Use like cautious wind. Might like, might hate. Has other use than strict distort, like bottom boost.

You will get sound of hell ripping you half. Or you can mild. It has much range. And much pain. Be cautious.

This is not one of the easiest Boss pedals to use. However with a bit of experimenting, it's possible to milk some meaty tones, as well as some rather more subtle sounds to boot.

The hardest part to get the hang of his the tone/bottom controls, but apart from that, everything's Boss standard issue: level, distortion, gain boost knobs, and input, an output, an impossible to miss stomp switch and an easy to replace battery (very important!)

Although I have a Gibson LP Standard, I am currently using my Standard Fender Mex Strat (+ stock pups) with my new post-hardcore-psych band for the added bite. I just use a really clean amp model on my Vox Valvetronix amp, so i can get full use of my ever growing pedal board.

I play with the gain boost at 3/4 o'clock and the distortion control at 10 o'clock, which gives a far more natural crunch to proceedings. The distortion is quite noisy, yet far richer than the somewhat tinny Metal Zone. It's a rather quiet pedal in the volume stakes, and to get any real bite out of it, the level control has to be used liberally.

I've experimented with the MD 2 quite a bit, and although I don't play very much of them, the pedal can create decent Grunge and very heavy metal sounds using the bottom end eq control to make the tone far muddier. However, when using my prefered settings and the neck pickup of the strat, it creates a very cool tone for soloing (especially when combined with delay and wah).

Bought it second hand and it still works perfectly. Bomb shelter.

Never needed it.

I play very spacey post hardcore which calls for sparkling clean guitar to quickly build into a very powerful distortion sound.
I use it with a Boss overdrive for bluesier sounds, a Hendrix JD Crybaby, with built in fuzz, a Boss Loopstation and the delay/chorus/phaser built into my amp.
I compared it quite a lot with the Boss MetalZone which is vaguely similar. Yet I felt this was a far warmer alternative, if not quite as extreme. It seems to be incredibley underated.
I can't see me replacing it at all in the future, as I use it dominantly as a heavy gain boost, and not a traditional distortion pedal.
However, it will never be a substitute for a good natural valve distortion, so will undoubtedly get used less and less once I get hold of a Fender Super Sonic, or a Marshall JCM.

one of the easiest:)

can get muddy if the gain or distortion is too high, but overall this is an awesome sounding pedal. The bass control is amazing! Just be carefull not to over do it or it will get muddy.

Its sounds like a good amp channel. Think: mesa dual/triple recto

duh

Roland is good about delivering replacement parts. It may take awhile, but its worth it.

I've had this pedal for more than a week. And, I have to say, this pedal has changed my life. Dialing in heavy guitar sounds has NEVER been this easy for me :)

It's about as easy to get a bad sound out of it as a good. Which means it's extremely versatile. The only thing to keep in mind with this pedal is that it has a mid scooped tone. Mids are one thing you are not going to ge with this pedal.

That said, you can mess with the distortion and gain knobs to dial in the right amount of saturation anywhere from a mild distortion upwards into the "Metal Zone" territory. There's also two EQ knobs so you can dial in the desired amount of bottom (and plenty of it) and also the right amount of top end (and plenty of that too!).

I'm playing a strat with a Seymour Duncan Hot Rail in the bridge into a Fender HR Deluxe. Actually, I would not recommend this with a single coil pickup in a strat. Anything high-gain with single coils sounds muddy and loose. This pedals strength is to be tight so it needs a strong compressed output pickup (i.e. Humbuckers). My current rig is a Morley Bad Horsie Wah, Toadworks Death Rattle 3, Boss MD-2, Line 6 DL4, Line 6 FM4, Fender HRDx.

First off, let me just say that if you're using this pedal to produce a cranked amp to 11 type natural power amp saturated tone, you need to take a step back accept the fact that this pedal is not designed for that and ain't gonna get you there. I got this pedal because I wanted a tight heavily distorted tone that would break up the signal with as little headroom as possible but not sounding too thin and metallic (no pun intended).

That said, this pedal is an awesome addition to complete my current rig. It's excellent for palm-muting, crisp-tight rhythms, and thumping drop-D metal chording. Tweaking with the EQ controls, I can dial in the right amount of bottom and top prefect my needs. Considering I'm using it with a mini-humbucker, I can get the fatness dialed in which wasn't possible with my other Toadworks Plexi Channel.

I'm giving this a 10 for what it does. Again, if this were the only distortion/overdrive pedal I had and thought it should be everything I expect out of an drive pedal, I probably wouldn't grade it very high. But hopefully you'll understand where I'm coming from. Use it as a tool for what it is, not for what you want it to be. If you need a crisp, tight, distortion in your rig, check out this pedal - hopefully it will do for you what it did for me.

Boss pedals are tanks. They always work!

I've been playing guitar for 10 years. I play all types of music and therefore love all types of effects and distortions (this being one of them). I'm meticulous and have been evolving my ear to different genres of music through the years. If this pedal was stolen, I'd go out and buy the same one. The tone is great and I love the EQ controls. I'm not a fan of the DS-1 which I knew wasn't for me right off the bat or the metal zone which the more I played it, the more I felt was just too thin (compressed sounding)... this pedal is the one I tried in the store for 30-40 minutes and the more I played through it, the more I dug the sound.

I play this through an epihone explorer and an ancient Laney of some description and i play metal in its varius forms. Setting both the Gain and Dist. at 1 o'clock, the level at full and then fidling with the Tone/Bottom to match your amp can get you a good hard, lond metal sound. However, it can take a bit of experimenting to work out how to use the Tone/Bottom nob propally and i still don't really see the point.

The sound is generally very good unless you do the stupid thing and put all the knobs to full which results in a bad fuzzing sound. I've also found that by turning down the settings with Dist and Gain at about 11 o'clock you can get a good overdrive (think Black Sabbath) whereas the settings above can get you Maiden or Metallica tones with ease. The pedals also good for heavyer stuff like Killswitch Engage. If you turn down all the knobs you can also use it as a simple volume booster for solo's etc.

It's a Boss. Before i bought this off my mate he hit it repeatidly with a hammer to prove its indestructability. Although the paint can wear a little around the edges the electronics can suvive anything. This has suvived many gigs and will certainly suvive many more with no need of a backup. Just remember to keep the battery fresh.

Never delt with. Their pedals never brake

As i've said before, this pedal does metal very well and thats what i use it for. This pedals been played for 4 or 5 years and has always given a good performance live or not. Its bright orange so pretty hard to lose and i don't see why you'd steal it but i'd definatly get another although probally still second hand. Overall this is a great pedal for a gigging musicion and is good value for money. There are always better affects and instruments out their for say studio recording but there also a lot more expensive. This pedal does a very good job for a very resonable price.

Fairly Simple. Level (Volume) EQ(Treb/Bass) Distortion(Grit) Gain(Warmth). Your settings will change with different amps.

My electric guitars include a stock Fender American Tele, and a stock '72 Original Custom Tele.
I was immediately blown away by how great this pedal sounds with guitars loaded with single coil pickups. As you may know, single coil pickups are finicky and tend to be really noisy with distortion pedals. The sound of a Tele plugged into this pedal is a meaty/growling distortion, with huge bass/ low midrange, and an aggressive yet musical treble sound. I would compare the sound to a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier.

Boss products are very reliable. I noticed that this pedal is light weight compared to my other effects pedals with similar size.

I called Roland directly to obtain a user manual on a used DD-20 I picked up. They were very helpful and considerate.
I would like to see more technical info about their products on the Boss Website.

The key for me was finding a badass distortion pedal that complimented the voice of my Tele. The MD-2 does that and added some serious growl with cutting harmonics, giving me a mean palm mute, and not being overly noisy. It's also versatile for a distortion pedal because of the EQ and both Distortion and Gain knobs.
At purchase I compared the MD-2 with: all of Boss' current dist/overdrive pedals. It won hands down.
I've tested and owned many distortion/overdrive effects pedals, and this pedal nails the heavy hard rock sound I was looking for.
I'm really happy with this pedal and cannot wait to tear up the stage with it.
I highly recommend the Boss MD-2.

Pretty basic stuff, as every Boss pedal.
Really don't need manuals for that.

I don't use this very much; anyway it's on my floor board.
Guitar (Jackson Soloist / Epiphone Slash Signature) -> Boss GE-7 Equalizer -> MD-2 -> CryBaby -> Laney VH100R tube head -> Marshall 4x12.
I just don't need it, 'cause the Laney already delivers monster overdriven sounds, so, if u have some all-tube, high-gain stuff, this one ain't for you.
Anyway it provides a very heavy and dirty distortion, even with the lowest settings. Sometimes I use it as a Boost for soloing, but it ain't great at this.
The sound is... think Creed, it's almost there.
It's not bad, but it is somewhat "artificial";
It comes handy for sure when u have to plug into some Fender-like clean amps, and delivers reasonably fair tone.
I strongly suggest to put some EQ before this pedal, since low-end and hi-end built-in EQ is not enough.
With some more mids and hi-mids from GE-7 (pre- MD-2), you get a sound which is similar to Boss Metal Zone, but heavier. Nice.
With better EQ it would be a 8, given the price range.
Almost forgot: does not have true bypass.

Rock-solid.

I mostly play blues-rock-hard rock, so it isn't really my kind of stuff, but I was sort of curious and wanted to give it a try.
I own it since last year, and overall I think I will keep it.

Semplice da usare, come tutti i pedali Boss, non si hanno problemi nel comprendere la funzionalita di ogni singola manopola. Il manuale comprende al solito dei settaggi orientativi molto utili all'inizio per capire le varie sfaccettature del pedale. Ottimo il controllo Bottom che brilla se usato con una chitarra a 7 corde

Provato con una Gibson Sg e un Samick da 60W. L'MD2 sa dare solo una cosa: una distorsione molto sporca e rozza. Principalemente questo e il suo suono base anche lavorandoci molto e con vari settaggi. Il suo campo d'azione e principalmente metal. Niente Metallica, niente distorsioni pulite e dure: l'MD2 se usato al massimo delle sue potenzialita ci dara una distorsione alla Obituary di Slowly We Rot, di quelle marcie per intenderci. Usato ad alti volumi o dal vivo tira fuori tutta la sua cattiveria, un muro sonoro vero e proprio!

Questi pedali sono notevolmente robusti, resistono a tutto, botte polvere ecc. l'unico neo puo venire solo dai due controlli sovrapposti, il piroletto piu piccolo tende alla lunga, ma non sempre, a diventare piu molle e a ballare un pochino.

Mai avuto bisogno. Sicuri del fatto loro alla Boss danno due anni di garanzia con tre aggiuntivi per chi registra il prodotto sul loro sito

Suono Death e Black, e questa scatoletta fa il suo lavoro benissimo. A mio avviso questo pedale puo piacere solo agli amanti delle distorsioni pesanti e sporche. Per chi cerca una distorsione metal standard piu alla Metallica se vogliamo o semplicemente un distorsore estremo e versatile e consigliato l'MT2, mentre per chi come me cerca un suono piu grezzo l'MD2 e decisamente meglio.

I have a stock Boss: MD-2 Mega Distortion. Setting up the pedal is pretty easy, there are 4 (basically 5) knobs: level, 2 tone, distortion, gain boost. There isn't anything overly complicated, and the knobs all do what they say
The manual isn't good, Boss supplies a big online one, and that has 1 or two basic settings, just follow those and change them as you want.

Humbuckers--->pedals (normal order)---->Fender Blues amp.
The pedal generally isn't very noisy, of course when you turn everything to 'idiot settings' there is an insane amount of buzz.
This is a really really strong disortion with a lot of bottom end. I was told it was designed for nu-metal, but I don't play that. There is no clarity for when playing 2+ notes even at moderate settings. Chords? Not even possible to understand.
If you are looking for a very heavy distortion, both tone wise and degree wise, this is your pedal. If you are looking for moderate distortion/fuzz type stuff, it's not really worth it.

It's Boss, the paint is chipped up on mine, and I don't even step on it anymore.
The quality is great, nothing to complain about, no backup needed.

N/A

It's a really heavy distortion, so nu-metal all the way. I wanted Led Zeppelin type distortion (the heavy kind) and this pedal does it way overboard. The low tone is great though, much higher quality low end than ANY other Boss distortion.
I wish I didn't get it now....but the power struck me when I first heard it and played it. I already replaced it with a Tubescreamer T808, that is the best pedal ever.

Simple turn the knobs to tweak the sound

Well, I wrote a review on this pedal back in March, in which I absolutely slated it. However, I have found a use for this pedal and now it is the only distortion that I use. It works brilliant in front of a valve amp as a booster...keep the tone controls down low, treble at 12 oclock bass very low, distortion set to 0 and add boost to match your sound...awesome for driving a valve amp at bedroom levels...over the top when the sound is cranked up, but for low level bedroom you can't beat it. Stick a GT6 through the effects loop to tweak the sound and you have a great set of sounds at your disposal.

Typical Boss

No experience

For use as straight forward distortion pedal in the clean channel of an amp...forget it, but makes an excellent booster for bedroom practise using a valve amp. I know give it a 7 instead of a 1, give it a try, but don't try and use it live, it will blow your amp and your audience.

Relatively easy to use, probably could do with less knobs.

Use an epiphone les paul and have tried it out on quite a few amps from a cheap carlsbro, to a marshall dfx to a jcm800 half stack and it majorly sucks with all of them! I cant get even a half decent sound out of it at all, it colours the tone of my guitar to the extent that it sounds like a keyboard! Problems with feedback too. Its a shame, I thought once I got a decent amp it might shine, but I was wrong...
If you want a heavy sound at all in my humble opinion stay away!

Sturdy as a brick, shame its about as useful

Never dealt with manufacturer.

I play hard rock and some metal and this thing doesnt cut the mustard at all. Some people obviously like it but there's no way I would recommend it if you played heavy metal, even my zoom 606 distortion sounds are infinitely fuller and more vibrant than the fuzzy synth noise you get from this.

Very easy to use. Manual offers all the information you need. Level, tone, bottom ajust, gain, and distortion knobs. Does take a while to get the right sound with your amp (I suggest don't dime anything at first).

Running an ESP SC-200 -> MD-2 -> EQ-7 -> Roland Cube 30. The pedal doesn't create any noise at all, besides a little bit of bass hum with all the knobs dimed. You shouldn't be doing that anyway, so don't worry about it. I keep mine at around Tone 3 O'clock, Bottom 3 O'Clock, Distortion 4 O'Clock, Gain 2 O'Clock. Gives me a good grind that sends me across the room every time I hit a chord. However, it does muddle anything beyond 3 string power chords, so be warned. Even power chords sounded a little blanketed, so I suggest roll off a little bottom and use an EQ if you have one. With the EQ engaged, I get a great Tool/Linkin Park/Deftones sound. For soloing, it's not the best (you won't get that shrill Judas Priest overdrive tone), but it does seem to have more heft than say the Metal Zone.

It's a BOSS.

Never dealt with BOSS, all their products are very reliable.

I play lots of alternative and art rock, and this thing fits the bill pretty good for my style. Think Incubus, Deftones, Tool, A Perfect Circle, ect. It's a pretty good match. Don't expect stellar tone out of a stomp box into a practice amp, though. If it was stolen, I'd be pissed and probably hop on eBay and get another one, since they run cheap there. I love the heavy, smooth, full distortion tones this thing offers. However, it basically sucks for that 80's metal palm mute riffage, so don't attempt to use it for that. Palm mutes sound muddled and fuzzed over.

I think that this peddal is easy to get good sound out of. It has a meaty sound, but sometimes can be too much. the manual had a standard set ups which were quite good at first. but i learnt more that u can do with it :D

im using it with a yamaha pacifica because i cant afford a gibson yet. i think its not very noisy. the effects are good for general play.... but it needs more when u play solo's, i cant find the right peddel to give it a really good sound when u play solo's.

its indestructable....

none needed, indestructable....

its good for general metal/emo play but during solo's it needs more meet and depth, but not to the extent all u can hear is the bass....

level, tone, bottom, distortion and gain boost. very easy to dial good sounds. a little patience to get great sounds.

just plain great!
this is a very chunky distortion pedal. think tool for example. I'm using a gibson SG with this pedal and a marshall in clean or semi-dirty settings. and this pedal has way better tones than the marshall I have (it's AVT20) which some people would laugh at me because of this! well, it's not like the amp, IMO amp is way clearer and less gain. the pedal is compressed and can be dialed to a scoop mids tone which you can't really have with a marshall.
anyway,
it's a fun pedal with a lot of versatility.

oh baby... kick it harder.

it's a very cheap pedal if you think about the quality!
it's versatile and has all the gain you'd ever need withot turning them all the way up. honestly I'm playing a lot of hi-gain stuff and I only set both knobs to 12 o'clock. that's all!
if you want gain you gotta have some hot pickups! get EMGs, SD distortions... stuff like that. nobody can get a chunky heavy tone out of some vintage sounding single-coils! not that I don't like them, it just doesn't fit.

MD-2 is a great dist./OD pedal. and it's cute, too!!!

There is small manual, some standard setups ... It's not hard to us but you need some time to set the best sound.

I have Hughes&Kettner Club Reverb 65W, Cort KX1F Katana. MD-2 work fine with them. It's noisy when you put it too high ... You need, a Noise Gate. It's very good for metal and rock because you fit it to yourself like a suite. It's better than MT-2 pedal.

Muhahaha ... Russian Tank - no way to destroy - BOSS :)

I never need any support ...

If you need good distortion pedal you need to test them but for me MD-2 is the best. MT-2 have too bad sound forme. DS-1 is not so powerful like MegaDistortion :)

5 knobs for tweaking, 1 button for stomping. Very easy to use.

If you don't know what you're doing with the gain knobs you won't like this pedal.

I own an ESP LTD F-50, I run it through a Boss NS-2, MD-2, and GE-7, into a Rogue 100W 2x12 amp.

One day I had the opportunity to try out every Boss pedal. Every one. I was looking for a distortion pedal.

The SD-1: Too weak. Went well with a good amp overdrive, though.
DS-1: Too weak. Tone control sucked.
MT-2: Very harsh and artifical, very thin sounding
MD-2: Woah...

This pedal is VERY full sounding. It has a highly tweakable bottom end, which when lowered will get you a nice thrashy tone. The highs are gritty, but not to the point that it'll hurt your ears.

The two gain knobs give this pedal a lot of versatility. You can go from a VERY convincing light overdrive with both knobs all the way down to a fuzzy, noisy mess with both at full.

You have to remember the difference between Gain and Distortion to use them right. Gain is overdriving the sound. Distortion is clipping it. The Gain will sound (somewhat) tubey and natural and the distortion will sound harsher. I prefer the Gain all the way up and the Distortion knob to be tweaked to perfect the tone.

This pedal gives me a perfect skull crushing low end. It's so much heavier than anything I could do with any of the other pedals.

For leads, it can sound harsh, but switching to a neck pickup or both pickups will give you a very smooth, very full lead sound.

It's built out of solid steel. I trust it to survive.

Never had to contact them.

I enjoy this pedal. It works very well with the heavy metal and hard rock that I like to play.

I do NOT agree with a few people here who said that this wasn't a metal pedal. It works VERY well for metal.

I have probably the cheapest set up you could get. Total I've payed 550 dollars for my setup ( guitar, amp, pedals, everything ). Right now I have a tone that's just as good as many amps costing twice as much as my entire setup.

I intend to upgrade to a Behringer LX-1200H Halfstack and an Edwards E-FR-120GT. I will probably keep my current pedals even with the upgraded amp and guitar.

This pedal is super easy to use just stomp on it and go! She only has one sound no matter where the knobs are set, and that is so FULL SHRED!

I run this lil orange killer into a variety of Rouge, Crate, Peavey, and Behringer amps....(you know the ones with all the killer effects built in). I only like to use "top drawer" gear if you can feel me.

Anyways....the only way I can describe the sound of this demon forced down the throat of my amps clean channel on 10 is that it is Super High Intensity Turbo! Or shit for short.....yep I said it!.. this pedal sounds like shit!

This monster is built like a Sherman tank. Great design. I Tossed it out a two story window onto pavement and it still delivers the Super High Intensity Turbo!

Roland and Boss................nuff said.

I only play tunes that totally kill.....nuff said. I have been playing detuned one finger power chords for 25 years now. Sometimes I use my first finger...sometimes my third. But they will all crush your skull!
I can't mention what would happen if it were stolen.......for legal purposes.
If you wanna annialate, and destroy everything in your path.........man this box has the S.H.I.T.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey, it's got manual, but only for idiots...
Very straight forward set up, so I got into my set up in no time.
Some people will take more time to find right sound from their Guitar&Amp....Play with knobs then you will get it!

Firstly, my set up was suggested by local music shop based on my guitar and amp.
My set up is Epiphone LP stanadrd, Morley Wah, Boss MD-2, Ibanez CF7, Boss GE7, Boss NF1, to Marshall-MG30cd.
I tried only the MD2 into the amp, I was very impressed with the sounds, it's got plenty of bottom and middle, with warm, good amounts of tone adjustable...
After connecting all loops, there were very different sounds and tone, heavy distorted sounds are great...just love it!
I play 80' hard rock and 90' heavy metal...I can get exact sound of Randy Roads, and Guns and Roses.
Only thing you have to experiment is playing two knobs- dist and Gain Boost...It generates very different or crapy sound sometimes when you set up differently with these two knobs.

It's BOSS...!!!

Never needed help.

I've had this one for 4 weeks now, I've tried few different distortion pedals in different brands, but MD2 gave the best sound I was looking for. I also, loved Boss MT2(Metal Zone), but MD2 has got more natural wide distorted sounds, that gives you options to play 70~80 Rock, up to very heavy metal music.
If stolen, I will get another one without doubt.
I've read the reviews on this site, some people are not happy with this pedal and gave very low score. BUT...I must say that "Check your Guitar or Amp"...it's all depends on your basic equipment you have, it's only a guitar effect, it's not a magic stomp box!...

it is rather difficult unless you know EXACTLY what sound you want. so if you're going after a crappy distortion sound there ya go.

i have a gibson les paul standard running into a fender deluxe tube amp. this thing sucked. it muddied up my amp and made my guitar sound like a crappy squier w/ a cheap pick-up. I had it for 3 days and took it back to guitar center because i felt so ripped off and embarressed for even buying it. I got an ibanez turbo tube screamer and i don't regret that. The md2 just isn't "nu-school" or "old school" or any-school that matter besides muddy-rip-off-school. DO NOT BUY THIS HUNK OF JUNK!!!!

WEAK! VERY WEAK AND CHEAP SOUNDING...TONE IS DISGUSTING

Typical Boss, simple knobs to tweak the sound. User Manual supplied is adequate as with all Boss stuff.

Ahhh sound quality.....I wouldn;t use the word quality and MD2 in the same sentence.....this has to be the worst distortion pedal I have ever bought and it went back in the box after about a month of desperately trying to get any sort of half decent sound out if it....it is now packed away in the loft where it shall remain !!!

I have 3 valve amps all good quality, but no matter what you do the sound is awful and mushy, buzzy noise....nothing like the demo on the Boss cd. Maybe it would sound ok through a Marshall Valve Head with a 4x12 cab....but then why would you buy this pedal in this case ???

Built to last, like all Boss pedals.

No experience/

I would not recommend this pedal to anyone at any level....buy the MT2 if you want some kind of tone, or try one of the Marshall pedals like the JackHammer....or if you have enough money look at one of the boutique pedals....but please don't buy this awful piece of equipment !!

I've never looked at the manual and never messed with Editing patches. That being said, I play Horror Punk. Low-end driven punk and this works perfect for the 3-chord bop. I also play it, with different turns of the knobs, in a Classic Rock cover band and it screams just like it should. Very easy to get good and varied sounds out of the bugger by just turning the knobs.

I run this through a Fat Strat with a Seymour Duncan JB Humbucker and into a Fender Deluxe 85 for practice and a MG250DFX into a 1936 2x12 cabinet on stage. No noise whatsoever. The distortion is right on.

I wanted to touch on a few comments of my other fellow posters. If you do a search on this page for "Palm", you will see that it is about 50/50 on whether or not you will get good palm mutes and "chunks" out of this stomp box. I just wanted to mention that with my Fender the palming is horrible and waaaay to chunky to even try to make sound good at any setting. However with the Marshall it sounds great and hits like it is supposed to. I would suggest other people that have had troubles to try it with another amp to see if that might be your problem while giving it the palm.

I'm giving it an 8 because it sounds very different through different amps. I also played it through a Peavey Bandit 112 and it was better than my Marshall and Fender. Just putting that out there.

I've had no problems with it. I have a backup battery in case I need it so no worries. It is a sinch to change. Unless you have an AC Adapter for it, then you should be all set.

It was on sale at a Guitar Center so I picked it up new. I love those racks of pedals that you can play with while you are in guitar shops. It could provide hours of entertainment, if they didn't didn't make you get up after a while, that is...

It's great for Classic Rock, great for Punk, great for melodic hard rock and rythmic riffs. I've had no problems with it. Like I said, I mainly play Classic Punk tunes and this fits perfectly. Great bottom end with my 1/2 step tuned down Strat.

This pedal was easy to figure out, just hard to find a good tone for it.

The sound was awesome if all you want to do is open strings low on the neck, but the higher yuo go the weaker it gets. Also, palm muting is horrendous. There is no bite to it, so I teamed it with a Boss Super Overdrive which still did not help the sound.

It was reliable, but do you really want to use it?

N/A

The setup I tried with this pedal was:

Cort M200 plugged into Marshall Vibrato/Tremelo, Boss Super Overdrive, Boss Mega Distortion, Danelectro Octave, and Dunlop CryBaby Wah in that order. It all feeds into my Marshall 100W.

I play in a punk/metal band that relies heavily on speed. I switched from the pedal to my amp's distortion and found an improvement. The only time I use this pedal now is when I'm using my 15W practice Marshall because that doesn't have a footswitch. I would not buy one of these again.

Typically Boss- very straightforward and easy to use. The knobs are
pretty much self-explanatory IMHO.

Not great but not bad either- a typical Boss distortion in this
respect. It's almost like a "DS-3". It starts where the DS-2 left off
with a separate bottom control and a gain boost knob for added
distortion.

Typically Boss- rock solid reliability and construction.

Never had to deal with Boss/Roland.

Again, typical boss distortion- ok but not great. Worth the money.
Some decent tones to be had with some tweaking. You have to be rather
conservative with the gain boost knob. I don't think it sounds
particularly good with the distortion and gain boost knobs set too
high.

EASY...just a few knobs to turn. Find your sound...experiment.

Very good for what it does. Here's the chain: Morley BH wha, MD pedal, EVH phase and a dd-3 delay. Played with a Music Man Petrucci 6 string. A rockman smart gate in the effects loops of an Ampeg all tube combo. 50 watts. I don't try to cop the sound of my favoite artist...I try to find my own. ( alright...the EVH pedal...but hey...it sounds good!)

It's a boss....should be fine.

??????????????? for a boss pedal?????????????

I was trying out for a heavy detuned metal band. It did really well with the rhythm sounds. I needed more boost for the solo's so the jury is still out there. I really like the sound...it gives a good solid heavy tone. I read some of these reviews and I don't know what they're talking about. Hiss...well ya...use a gate. Thin? Get some real equipment....that's my opinion. Better than my Mesa?...different...and no. But that's OK. It's for my little combo that I truck around to jam with who ever. I makes my 1x12 combo sound really hefty. I think it's a good pedal.

This pedal is very simple to use. It features two gain/distortion pots (one gives it more gain and the other one gives it more fuzz ?)
and a basic EQ. The footswitchis large and responsive. This is a very good pedal as far as ease of use is concerned.

I played my BC Rich NJ Bich and Rave II Warlock (both good guitars) through this pedal and into a Marshall Valvestate 8080 amplifier with no other effects, compressors, noisegates etc. what so ever and the basic sound was beyond disppointing.

Basically, what you get is a very extreme fuzz box. There's no definition and no 'chunk' when palm muting. The whole thing just sounds raspy. Don't get me wrong, I listen to Mayhem, Venom and Darkthrone regularly; all bands with less than pretty guitar tones, but this pedal just sounded cheap. It sounded better when I tried it in the store. However, if you use this pedal with a bass guitar, you do get a rather gruesome grinding sound which is, in fact, rather useable should you happen to be in a grindcore/gore band or a Necromantia tribute act. I'm not a bass player though, so I have to give this a low-rating. If I were a bass player I might be a little more pleased with it. It might work better with other effects however. Take everything I say with a pinch of salt, it's just my opinion.

I didn't use this pedal too much and I dropped it a couple of times but the thing's basically indestructible. The electronics are solid and very reliable. I can't really fault it on build quality.

I have never dealt with the company.

I play mostly extreme metal (primarily black metal) and I can safely say that this pedal was absolutely useless to me. I never found a good metal sound on it and, no matter how much I tweaked it, I never got any kind of decent distortion sound. The only reason I even gave it a rating on sound is because, for some reason, it makes bass guitars sound absolutely skull-crushing. If you're after a fuzz-box for some 70's style fuzzed-up stoner/psych rock then maybe this would work better for you but metalheads should steer well clear.

Easy just as every other boss product. There's nothing absolutely idiotproof, but this comes pretty close.

The chain I use is: LP Slash (w/Seymour Duncan Jeff Beck in the bridge) / Jackson Soloist (w/2 custom made stratocaster single coils and a bridge SH-8 Invader) -> CryBaby -> Boss GE-7 -> Boss MD-2 -> Laney VH100R -> FX Loop (Boss DD-6) -> Marshall 4x12 Lead 1960 w/GT-12T-75.
It has a little hiss, but nothing worth talkin' about... except if you crank both Dist and Gain Boost to max...
It has a good basic sound, when connected to tube amps (tried it also with a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe and a vintage Fender Twin)...
You can with ease obtain rock lead sounds, and rhythm also, but be careful when raising up the gain boost. This thing has really more gain than you might need. Not entirely usable, though.
The eq is rather simple and delivers an almost excessive amount of low-end.
Good to have the kind of sounds from Creed, Nickelback and so on...
But nice also when playing electric chicago blues, being a little careful with the settings.
It preserves dynamics and touch pretty well in respect of some other dist boxes, like MT-2. Bear in mind that this AIN'T a MESA rocket bottle or a Brunetti Overtone. You can't expect too much.
But, considering the cost, it's a good deal.
I give it a 7 for the cost/performance/ease of use balance.

Rock-solid. It's a Boss.

Never had to contact them.

I've been playing for 10 years, more or less.
I play R'N'B, Blues, 60's / 70's Rock, early Hard Rock & Southern Rock.
I'm not the guy with a ton of rack equipment, aural exciters, compressors, gates... I like pretty much the true sound I get from my guitar and from my amp when cranked.
This is a good match for my style, obviously.
Try to match it after a little eq like the GE-7 for some more punch in the mids (that's for metalheads).

This thing is quite easy to use. There's a Level knob, a Tone/Bottom knob, a Distortion knob, and then my fav, a Gain boost. I didn't need the manual, as the lead guitarist in my band owns one, so he explained everything.

The ol' MD-2 suits what I play just fine. The lead guitarist in the band uses one too, but he has his bass dialed right up. I play a Fender Jap Jag with a DeMarzio heavy blues pickup in the neck, an' a Semour Dunkan hotrails in the bridge. I used to use a Big Muff, but my guitar disagreed with it, and it was hard to get a "chunky" sound out of it. (Plus my amp ain't too good, a Warp 7) But the MD-2 has a bigger sound, and it gets that lovely "chugging" sound when yer palm muting. We play slow, sludgy noise and this pedal goes well with my Blue Box and Small Clone. I can't really think of anything negative, the damn thing is near impossible to kill as well, having copped many a drop.

Like I said before, boss pedals are pretty hard to kill. Once, as an experiment, a friens and I tried to destroy a DS-1. After throwing it onto the road, dropping it off the road of my house, and running it over with my car. We gave up, and the damn thing still works (The only damage was the knobs falling off) I'd be quite happy useing this without a backup, we've done a few gigs an' I've never even thought of the thing konking out on me.

I've never had to ring support, and, from what I've learned I won't need to.

We play horrible sludge, and this pedal suits perfectly. I've been playing fer 6 years, and I recently bought a Fender Jag, after playing a decrepid Magnum. (Although the Magnum has a muddier sound due to humbuckers) I have a Warp 7 halfstack which is always bugging the hell outta me (It was cheap and loud, that's why I bought it) I have a Small Clone, a Big Muff, a MXR Blue Box, and, apart from the Big Muff, all these pedals sound great together. (Don't get me wrong, Big Muffs are cool, it's just that my guitar and amp hate them) I don't get any bad humming or anything, and the feedback it creats is reasonably controlable. All in all, a pretty damn good pedal, if yer playing "Heavy" music.

Excellent pedal. Some people said that It was too confusing, or uneasy to cahnge on the fly. To them I would say, what single effects stomp box do you know of that IS able to change on the fly? and I'm not talking about tap tempo delay or trem for you smart asses out there. ;)

Love, love, love it. Mine has a little hum, but I'm sure it's just my particular case, and you'll see that in the next box. If you want responsive, then I would just say get a tube amp. No pedal is going to give you the response of a tube amp as far as dynamics, and losing a bit of gain when you roll off the volume.... delicious. but yea, I like to do that, and couldn't with this pedal, no surprise. :/. Still sounds nice for driving rock, to blues.

Oh yeah, I can't go by without mentioning the neat little tone knob on this thing. For you Single Coil guys out there that are unsure of getting a heavy Dist. Pedal, this one has a little low-end boost knob that really beefs up the sound of your strat or tele.

I got that damn buzz in it (probably from stepping on it too much ;) ) and it's so annoying. I didn't read all the reviews, but I'm guessing my problem is unique.

NA

The only amps I've ever played it on were tube. Got a sweet single channel All tube combo and looking for a nice meaty gain that will get you from blues to classic to modern rock? this is it.

well, there are different things about this one, but it's pretty easy to use if you are logical and not trying to put everything on max.

the key is to find the ballance between dist. and gain boost

dist gives this pedal a DS-1 type of distortion.
gain boost gives a more OVER DRIVE character.
cranking up these two will result in huge sustain thus hum and noise and bad things, so don't do that. it's like using two dist pedals at once.
do not go over the top, just have some moderate settings and you will find yourself in pure gain heaven.
this type of distortion will fit wonderfully for alt rock, rock, blues, even some slightly dirty jazz
I would use something else for metal though, like MT-2.

if you want incubus, limp, deftones, linkin park sort of distortions this is the right box. not for shredders or other music types under the name metal
for that you need a mid-scooped, trebly pedal, like MT-2, MXR dime, etc.
I've been playing for 8 years and I'm pretty picky about the tone, MD-2 is just a great pedal.
Mega Distortion produces a very warm distortion. cleans up very nicely and with mindful settings can give most wonderful tones you'd want.
and always try something before you buy.

It's a distortion pedal, pretty simple.

Only one word can describe this pedal...MUDDY!!! It does not matter if the tone knob is all the way up, the mega distortion still sounds muffled. I thought the gain boost would give the sound extra shred, instead it just garbled it. The sound was grainy, much like cheap single coils played through a pawn shop practice amp with a blown speaker. Palm mutes were lost in the pedals own grind. The only good thing I can say about it is it had killer sustain.

After a nuclear holocaust only three things will be left: cockroaches, scorpions, and Boss Pedals! They're invincible!!!

Due to their reliability, I've never had to deal with Boss customer support.

I play hard rock/metal,not the nu-metal junk, real metal. I was looking for the heaviest distortion on the planet. I went for this pedal because of the gain boost. I thought the gain boost would give the sound extra shred, instead it just garbled it. I put this up against a Boss Metal Zone, and the Metal Zone sounded tremendously better!!! This pedal would be great for a super grungey alternative band, but terrible for metal/hard rock. The metal zone has much cleaner highs, and a smoother, more pleasing sound with just as much distortion!!!

How can a distortion pedal not be easy to use? Any idiot can twist a knob.

Only one word can describe this pedal...MUDDY! It does not matter if the tone knob is all the way up, the mega distortion still sounds muffled. I thought the gain boost would give the sound extra shred, instead it just garbled it. The sound was grainy, much like cheap single coils played through a pawn shop practice amp with a blown speaker. Palm mutes were lost in the pedals own grind. This pedal would be great for a super grungey alternative band, but terrible for metal/hard rock. The only good thing I can say about it is it had killer sustain.

It's a Boss! After a nuclear war only three things will be left, cockroaches, scorpions, and Boss effects pedals!!! They're invincible!!!

Due to their reilability, I've never had to deal with Boss customer support.

I play in a hard rock/metal band. I put this up against a Boss Metal Zone. The Metal Zone sounded much, much better. Don't let the advertising fool you. The extra gain that this pedal gets is not impressive. The Metal Zone gets just as much distortion and it sounds much better!

Typical Boss compact pedal. One of the newer models, which means slightly too many functions and an attempt to cover too many bases with a single pedal. Combined Bass/Treble EQ is fiddly and impossible to adjust on the fly.

I normally play through a DeArmond Jetstar, using a Behringer V Amp to connect to my PC, and have far too many overdrive/distortion pedals (who doesn't?).

Boss are misrepresenting this pedal by trying to make out its some kind of nu-metal pedal. It's not. If you want that kind of mid-scooped, wildly over-fuzzed sound, then buy the Metal Zone MT-2, because this pedal will be a disappointment.

Having got that out of the way - I like this pedal a lot. I don't want the Metal Zone sound I mentioned above: just a powerful, warm, distortion. My local guitar shop were kind enough to allow me to try the full range of Boss Distortions (DS-1, Turbo Distortion, MT-2) and this pedal came out as my favourite. It sounds great at low distortion settings, and judicious use of the very powerful EQ means I can get some very pleasing sounds. Cranked up, the MT-2 adds a lot of drive and compression, but stays away from fizzy transistorised sounds. It cleans up nicely with the guitar's volume control, and sits well in a mix with other distortion pedal sounds.

A great pedal for the right application - always try before you buy!

Boss pedals deserve their reputation. Nothing to beat it for the price.

Haven't needed to talk to Roland UK recently, but I hear good things about them.

A good pedal, much more versatile and subtle than the screaming red paint job would suggest. Not for the nu-metal crowd, or for people who turn everything up to 10 and then wonder why everything sounds bad.... but recommended for rock, blues and alternative styles.

The pedal is overall extremely easy to use, and its equally as easy to dial up a great sounding distortion. The extra gain boost is almost useless, cause it adds tons of hum and muddifies the distortion pretty bad, but over all it sounds amazing.

As i said before, the gain boost makes the distortion sound really muddy. But im a massive fan of bottom end distortion(incubus,linkin park, limp bizkit), and htis thing totally delivers. It can be a lil hummy whith the volume up and gain maxed out....but you wont hear it during the song.

Boss=Tank

N/A

Ive been playing guitar for about 6 years and i run a schecter c-1 elite into a morley volume, a dunlop wah, and a boss noise suppressor, delay, phaser, tremolo, mega distortion, and blues overdrive. Then my amp is a crate 4x10. I love incubus, muse, kutless, and thousand foot krutch. This pedal delivers the best distortion ever, heavy but still distinguishable.

Straight forward.

I play a les paul with an SH-5 duncan custom pickup into a JCM 900 and 4x12 quad. It's a good pedal but i found it very muddy with the bass turned up which is exactly what i bought it for, more chunk down low. Tons of gain and distortion but only muddies it up more when up too high, basically everything needs to be backed off quite a bit. Nice sustain just no clarity, more of a dull thump than chunk when muted

It's a boss it has to be reliable.

I was dissapointed and diddn't get at all what i was looking for, it's a little too dark for my liking. Something added to bring out some clarity in the hard thumping bass might work, bass up full was just overkill and backed off a little was only slightly better. I play hard rock to metal and often tune down, i spent a day trying to get a good sound then decided to take it back and order in a bassier pickup instead. Ive no doubt it has it's place for some people it just diddn't work for me and my rig. I wont right it off it just wasn't for me, perhaps i should have tried the MT-2 instead. The MD-2 sounded better on the boss website. Try it before you buy it which is what i should have done, intead i took the advise of some comments in here and the boss sound samples. Worth giving a go, don't forget i play a les paul which is already a darkish warm sound...... Good luck.

It's pretty easy to use. To tell you the truth, It sounded the way I expected it to when I plugged it in, so didn't have to fiddle with it much.

I use a guitar I put together into a Mesa/Boogie DC-3 and a Music man 212. This pedal has a good shred vibe to it. If it were a little less fake sounding, then it would sound better for really fast stuff. When playing really fast lines it tends to just make them sound a little bit messy.

It's a boss, as you can tell, everybody knows a Boss never breaks.

Luckily, I have not had to deal with them

I play what my band calls Jazzed-up Funkjamrock. It's always nice to get a hard rock deal going on when we play once in a while, This pedal is just a little bit overkill. I just like going through my SD-1 and my small clone, that setup doesn't muddy up my sound. If your going for a thrash, slayer kind of vibe then get the Metal Zone, It doesn't sound as nu-metaly. This is just a really dark sounding pedal that may be good for some, just not my style... I'm keeping none-the-less... You never know.

Fairly easy to use. Lots of combinations are possible with the distortion and gain controls.

I agree with other reviewers who say this pedal is basically an upgraded DS-1. The exception is the MD-2 has slightly more compression which is evident at any setting. It's not quite as open sounding as a DS-1 but has tons more gain. One thing I notice, is how many different opinions I've read about the sound quality of this unit. Many people think it sounds buzzy, but I've found this more related to the amp your using. Through my Mesa 50 Caliber, this pedal sounds like buzzy crap. However, when I run it into my Laney GH50L, it's amazingly warm and toneful. Very close to the amps natural distortion which is wonderful. It's all about finding the right gear combinations. Although my DS-1 sounds great, I love having the extra gain at my disposal when I need it. This pedal is especially good with Strats, giving them huge rhino balls with tons of distortion!

C'mon, Boss is legendary in this category.

Ha!

A great pedal for the arsenal. I also recommend the DS-1 which is a little more natural and tube-like. I've spent thousands on various distortion pedals and the MD-2 is one of the best. Tons 0' gain = tons o' fun!

This pedal isn't really hard to use, but it can take a little while to get the right sound, simply because I find after adjusting the pedal, the amp's eq needs to be adjusted to finish off shaping the proper tone. Otherwise, its very easy to use.

I'm using a Jackson PS-4 (alder body, maple neck, rosewood fretboard, Floyd Rose lic. trem, H-S-H jackson pickups) and a Schecter S-1 Elite (mahogany body and neck (set neck) with figured maple top, and two Duncan Design Humbuckers, HB102s). I have a Marshall MG30RCD I never really use, and a Peavey Classic 30 all-tube amp, which is what I use this through.
This pedal is quite noisy if all the gain is turned up on both knobs, but that is somewhat expected, given the ridiculous amount of gain this can achieve. I mostly got the pedal to get a powerful, dramatic sounding solid-state distortion for chords on the heavier parts of songs. The bottom knob really adds to the sound a lot, I generally like a pretty bassy rhythm tone, and this has it. The tone knob (inner knob on the concentric knob) is a bit harsh if cranked, almost painfully high treble, but I think that was their point with it. The natural sound of the pedal, with no eq-ing, sounds a little more rectified and smushed (not really compressed too much though) than your average dist. pedal, but again, I think that's what they were aiming for - and definitely what I was looking for. Surprisingly, it makes a decent lead distortion as a change from tube overdrive; it has a ridiculous amount of sustain and compression if the gain is cranked, and harmonics and feedback are all over the place. This might not apeal to some, but another selling point of this pedal to me was just how high you could crank the gain - I consistently play with all the gain I can get, or a clean channel, with occasional in-betweens. Overall, its rather impressive, but still isn't enough to get a 10, simply because the tone can be a bit stale and lifeless on half the settings.

haven't had this one to long, but my other boss pedal has held up very well for about 3.5 years, so I'll assume that the metal casing on this one is just as good.

never dealt with them

I play every kind of music, metal, techno, classical, rock, pop, whatever - but a lot of original stuff too. This suits the need I had for it - a huge, crushing distortion for large chords. However, I can say that it sounds terrible if played through a solid-state amp - when I tried it in the Marshall MG30, it was just a terrible mess, kinda of like if you overdrive a home stereo pre-amp by plugging straight into it... ugh...
but it sounds quite good through my tube amp, the 12" speaker probably helps with the bass as well.
If you want this pedal for the right reasons, you'll like it - but if you expect a solid-state amp to morph into a mesa-boogie, you'll find it actually sounds WORSE than the built in distortion in your amp - needs a tube amp.

When I first got this out of the box I didnt need to read the small manual that came with it, its really easy to use.

I use a Vintage VRS, which I've found gives me a nice sound, very good for the price and I've had to use a small Fender Frontman practice amp latey as I was using my mates Line 6 Spider but he needed it back and even on such a poor amp this pedal sounds pretty great. When I first started using it the feedback I got was terrible and I was pretty dissapointed with the quality but now the feedback has completely gone and I have no idea why, but its deffinatly a good thing anyway. I had to fiddle with the pedal for a while to get a nice sound that I wanted out of it, but after some trial and error I've got myself a very nice tone. I play alot of grunge/rock such as Nirvana, Foo Fighters, InMe, R.A.T.M, Tool and absoloutly loads of Silverchair, this pedal got me a sound I can use for nearly all of these bands and Im especialy happy with the sound I can get for playing some earlier Silverchair tracks. One thing is though, I've played a bit of Metallica on it and it didnt sound terrible but I wouldnt use it at a gig if I was playing that kind of metal, because I dont think its really a metal pedal. So if you play alot of Slayer, Pantera, Metallica etc I wouldnt recommed this pedal.

Its well built and hard as a rock.

Havent dealt with the customer support, but Boss is a good company.

Im happy with the sound I get out of this pedal because of the type of music I play, but this IS NOT a metal pedal. So if you play alot of Slayer, Pantera, Metallica etc I wouldnt recommed this pedal. When I was deciding what pedal to get I was looking at this one and the Danelectro Black Paisley Liquid Metal pedal, and this owns it completely. The only other pedal I actualy own is a Digitech RP200 and the distortion on that doesnt even compare to the MD-2.

If it got stolen, I'd probably try a different pedal out, but I might come back to this one.

damm easy to use and it doesnt take a idiot to get to noe the settings well even without the manual.

awesome pedal...although i mus agree that there is realli too much low end...however, it can be fixed by turning the high tone way up and the low tone a bit before the middle...the sound that comes out is real good for leads and crunchy riffs..i like the distortion..it has got a real bit in it and the crunch of the sound is really what i am looking for....lots of vibe in it and i wouldnt say that its lousier than the metal zone .the reason why its cheaper than the meatl zone is because it was relaesed much later...but the sound of the pedal i shld say isnt compremised and it also covers lots of genres...frm hard rock to even metal eg.pantera and metallica...its realli verstile...unless u r a real metalhead, i wld suggest the metal zone but if u are one covering mostly hard rock and stuff , this stompbox is for u.the onli dislike is the colour but thats superficial..if u wan a realli low end boost turn the tone way up and blast the gain...the sound is like a monster truck..but yet as most reviews say,its uncontrollable....turn off the distortion adn u get a real nice overdrive too. basically the pedal is real verstile and it gives lots of substain... much more thatn the metal zone...get this if u wan a cheaper alternative to metal zone or u wanna try and mix new types of distortion...

in truth, boss and digitech is the only real pedals u can trust

i play mostly metal and rock like guns and roses or metallica...i wanted to try sumthing new bec the metal zone is owned by many and decided to try this which is relatively unknown here.. all i can say is , its areal nice pedal nad if it was lost i would buy it again..but of course i will still try other pedals and stuff like that..the sound is also godd and if ure inot nu netal or sum heavy modern new age rock band...the pedal is for u....jus wish that the color would be different and not that much low end...however again tone and sound is subjective

Pretty easy to use if you know what your doing.

Guitar Jackson DK-2 dunlop535Q BOSSmd-2 into Line6 spyder 1x12 mic'ed by my PA system. It holds its own at high volumes. The kinds of distortions you can get on this pedal are amazing!!!!! IF your into the metal , oldschoolrock , wutever go out and pick up this pedal. I can get the sounds of GURRG of MUDVAYNE how that for 85 dollar pedal!

Bulit like a tank.. its a BOSS

NEver delt with them.

I play heavy metal it does very well for this style of music. ive been player for over 6 years this is the best distortion pedal ive come accoss besides the digitech metal master but thats more of a korn sound.. anyway go out and buy this amp if ur into the nu-metal stuff or just wanna create your own sound for your band. Ive compared this too dod, line6, ibanez, mxr, marshall, u name it.

It's pretty simple to use, volume, high end, low end, gain and distortion knobs.

At the minute I've a Fender Mustang with a JB at the bridge and a Laney VH100R head into 1960A Marshall cabinet. Over the years I've owned a lot of different equipment but this pedal has never been out of the rig. It seems to sound good on any amp with any guitar, I've played with it using the following borrowed setups for gigs etc.,

Danelectro Hodad (with very weak pickups) --->MD-2---> Roland G-408 (solid state jobby)

Epiphone Flying V --->MD-2---> Some traumatic Marshall Valvestate thingy

My Mustang --->MD-2---> '94 Fender Twin

All sounded brilliant.

I play mostly hard rock/metal at the minute and this is perfect for it and doesn't give you that overused sound usually associated with the genre.
This pedal can go from light distortion to heavy, thick beautiful noise.

This was my first distortion pedal and I've never had to replace it. I've had it for a number of years and it has never let me down apart from the screw that lets you into the battery compartment bending. Which I'm sure was my fault. I've never even thought about bringing a backup to a gig.

Never delt with them crazy Roland kids

I've been playing for 7 years and have used many a distortion pedal (such as Pro Co Rat II, Turbo Rat, Electro Harmonix Big Muff Deluxe, Marshall something, Boss DS-2) but I always come back to this. If it were stolen I'd most definately buy another.

Easy to get good sounds out of, just plug in and start experimenting. Let your ears guide you.

First off, I agree with the previous reviewer who said "Boss hit a homer with this one". I have been playing for 9 years and have had more dirt boxes than I can count. My primary dirt box is a Visual Sound Ultimate Overdrive pedal. I love that pedal, its very warm and natural sounding. I wanted a heavier, more extreme pedal to compliment my Ultimate Overdrive. I tried the Metal Zone, Jackhammer, Dime Distortion, Big Muff, Rat, Metal Planet, Rampage, DS-2 Turbo Distortion, DOD Grunge, DOD Death Metal, and an Ibanez Smash Box. I hated all of them. They all lacked something. So, I read the reviews on the Mega Distortion and decided to go try one. I have found my pedal. This has got to be the best Distortion pedal Boss has ever made. The tone is rough and slightly raspy, but not enough to be displeasing. With the tone control, the bottom control, gain boost control, and the distortion control, you can dial in a ton of sounds. You can go from DS-1 territory to really thick distortion. I am not a fan of "Nu Metal", and dont play three chord no solo garbage. I use this pedal to get a nice thick sustaining lead tone out of my Heritage H-150CM guitars. I play through Fender tube amps, and use the pedal with delay and chorus. This pedal has just enough mid range, and just enough roughness to sound mean. No artificial honky sounds like you get from a Metal Zone. I play Classic Rock/Metal, and Blues/Rock, and this pedal alone could cover a lot of territory. This pedal compliments my Ultimate Overdrive pedal very well, and with the two I have a killer setup. The pedal is not overly noisy, but you have to be careful with the gain boost and distortion knobs, turning both up too far results in massive feedback. Very nice pedal, and as mentioned earlier, could probably have been called "DS-3 Distortion" instead of "Mega Distortion". If you are looking for the heavy metal grind honky mid range tone, look elsewhere. Giving it a 9 because nothings absolutely perfect.

Its a Boss, any questions??

Great pedal, lots of tones, and the orange paint even looks cool. I have finally found a pedal to use with my Ultimate Overdrive. Everything else I tried sounded inferior. I like the thick tones, and the versatility. It helps me to make music, and if lost I would buy another. Not for metalheads, but for those who want nice thick and mean tone.

Dump the DS-1, forget the Blues Driver...Keep the MT-2. Why the hell they called it "Mega" Ill never know...but this is one versitle pedal. It covers a wide range of distortion up to todays sounds, and can throddle down to a mild distortion like the ds-1. Its a keeper.

My rig = Jackson Dinky or G&L legacy with duncan lil 59 in bridge -morley wah - boss cs-3 compresser -mesa bottle rocket - guyatone od2 - guyatone hd 2 - boss MEGA DISTORTION - boss md2 - boss flanger- boss enhancer (great pedal if you can find one) -boss noise gate - rolls 2 way amp switch - into fender pro reverb with fender sattellite (delay) under and/or mesa studio 22 with mesa 1-12 theile under , art fx-1 in the loop for delay.

The sound is massive with the md-2 and both amps on. No compression...nothing else except the enhancer and noise gate. A wall of defined and harmonic growl. Very different than the mt-2...but just as much balls.

The dialback gets me the ds-1 no problem, but that pedal never had the snort for my liking.

Foo fighters, Puddle of Mud, Deftones, all that big ass Mesa grunt is there with a tweak. It may sound like crap through a little solid state amp, I dunno. But what I got happening with this pedal makes me change my underware after playing.

No tone loss in the chain, but considering how much crap I run through anyway...like I would know.

boss..yeh right

dunno..have never had a boss fail, I cant say that about eh, digitech, mxr, or dunlop.

This pedal is well worth the $ if you have a halfway decent rig, and want a very versile distortion for minimal bucks. I highly recommend.
This is the second time I have posted at harmony central, but use the site all the time for others opinion. I have been playing 20 years now, in and out of bands, etc. If this was stolen I would get another in a heartbeat. Great pedal...Boss hit a homer with this one.

not that easy, finding the 'sweet spot' using gain knobs is hard, and when you find it you will notice that you actually hear a bad noise instead of tone!
and dialing the tone is so har since it's a micro size kob on top of another one...
pretty hard to use for a distortion pedal

this pedal sucks!
the purpose of this little stupid pedal is to create distortion, not noise! well if it had as much distortion as the noise it had, I would probably keep it, but NO! you don't get distortion unles you turn all the way up the dist + gain boost, but at that point which you still don't have enough distortion, you don't hear anything but noise. just unbelievable!
tone is fine, not that bad, can suit many styles I can say, it's not so harsh but still lacks ballz

I'm so sure the tone-bottom kbob will have problems, what a silly idea to do that
other than that it's a regular boss pedal, it'll last a long time

don't buy this pedal!
if you do, make sure you can return it in 30 days!
you will retun it probably in the first week or days...

pretty easy actually. 5 knobs: level, tone, bottom, dist and gain boost. I highly recomend looking the manual carefully. gain boost isn't another Dist. knob. it's for boosting distortion. there are differences between 'em, like dist. is harsh, it's the effect but gain boost is mild. Tone and Bottom are on the same knob, makes it a little harder to use Tone.

I've been playing for about 7 years. I play jazz, rock, nu-metal, etc
first, I would never ever use this pedal for jazz, it's rediculous. but for rock, nu-metal WOW! amazing! you can have very mild rock sounds of 70's or growling nu-metal riffs. the trick is in the gain boost! put the DIST all the way down and use gain boost, you will find yourself in another world. do the opposite and you will get this raw distortion. it's not like MT-2 but for me it's much more sweeter. I hate MT-2, never ever loved it. even when I was playing trash... old times. MD-2 is so natural sounding, it really deserves it's name. another thing about boss' marketing is, I believe it is a nu-metal prdal. but people who have no idea what nu-metal is, should look somewhere else. that's right most of these bands are playing with boogie heads, but it's also true that those boogie heads are at least $1500, see the difference? still out the amp, you never get a sound even close to what you hear on records.
MD-2 gave me all the growl and kick I wanted. I don't even use both dist and gain boost all the way up. in that case it will get noisy, every single dist. pedal on this planet will do the same.
my setup is Gibson SG special, Boss MD-2, electro harmonix PolyChorus (beats all the chorus pedals out there!), boss DD-6, marshall AVT20. not so much but usefull stuff, and MD-2 doesn't add extra unwanted sounds like big muff, I hate that pedal, I'm happy that I got rid of it

it's a BOSS but it's not a TANK. I'm very sure nothing will happen to mine because I never stomp on any pedal like a gorilla! but I have seen many broken boss pedals, most of the time knobs break, but again those knobs are not kick-proof.
using backup for pedals is necessary, I would use a backup for this, since it's my favourite dist. but I wouldn't expect any malfunction during a performance.
use your gear neatly and it will last decades.

both roland and boss' websites suck in my opinion. but other than that I don't know why whould I care about customer support unless it breaks down

if it's lost, I would buy it again. it's a very nice dist. pedal. very tweakable. I love the gain boost knob. there are soooo many dist pedals out there and each of them have their own sounds and purposes. if you are looking for a 'metal pedal' go for the right selection of pedals, like MT-2, ibanez smashbox, or zoom trimetal... forget that one, zoom is crap. but don't think just because it says "mega distortion" on it it will give you what exactly you want. I didn't buy it because of the name or brand, I read reveiws and I played with it before I bought. every single store has their demo sections and you can compare MD-2 with MT-2 so easily. for me it's a fantastic pedal, I can play anything I want. it's not the pedal which makes it good sounding. it's the player's ability, don't blame on pedals!!!

There are five turnable, non-pushable knobs plus a pedal switch. Battery
access is easy, the only problem (on mine) being that the battery gets
stuck easily as the metal strappings are too tight (almost got the wires
ripped out).

Getting a good sound is either very easy or impossible depending on
your setup, expectations and music style. For me it was impossible. Hard to rate.

I first bought this while I had a Fender Squier Tele Affinity with a
Hiwatt Bulldog-20 amp (which recently broke). The clerk had told me they had run out of Metal
Zones but this was just as good. So I came home and plugged it in, played
with it for an hour, and found that the distortion was the exact same
as my amp's. But I kept it for when I would get a better guitar.

Meanwhile, I joined a metal band (Iron Maiden, some death metal, covers
of whatever we felt like playing, etc). This pedal was useless for it. No
metal sound at all, just some crappy overbassed and overmid-ed rock
sounds, barely hearable with our other guitarist using a MT-2 and making
me look bad. And horrible hiss. It's awful for single-coil pickups. I was
forced to use amp overdrives instead.

Eventually, I got an ESP EC-100 guitar with double-coil duncan pickups.
The horrible feedback was gone (but still some noise while you're not
playing anything). But the sound was similar to what it was before. In
fact, I couldn't change it at all, even after months of tweaking it to
every possible setting. But a year had passed; too late to bring
it back now.

Then, a few months ago, I got a GE-7 equalizer, hoping it would save this
red little shit. And, in fact, I was finally able to cut the mids with the EQ and
shape my sound to a decent, but definitely not metal, grunge-like sound,
good only for some rock or punk rythm playing. But that's when I realized that
the MD-2 has NO MID CONTROL whatsoever. A nu-metal pedal with no mid
control, no scooping. Weak. After 300$ Canadian, and a new, 550$ guitar,
I can only get a decent sound that I can only barely get by with. Very weak.
The EQ really showed me everything this pedal was and still is missing.

I tried the MD-2 on a variety of setups, in all 3 guitars and about
6 amps, from great to average quality. I also compared it to the Metal
Zone and Metal Master a few times. This is utter crap for metal (and I mean METAL, like in
speed, death or Iron Maiden style metal, not alternative
hiphop crap or anything that starts with a "K" and ends with an "N") compared to those. On
any setup, it has no lead-playing potential whatsoever (seems like it's made
for rythm Drop D mostly), and you only get a single, bassy sound, acceptable only on
higher quality amps and gear depending on your expectations, at the exception of
being able to crank out a nice bluesy sound on some settings. I'm almost ashamed of
playing with this in a metal band. The only saving grace vs the MT-2 is the fact
that the sound is definitely not as compressed or artificial. With that said, only
my wallet tells me I'll have to wait for something new.

If you compare this to the MT-2 physically, the only difference in terms of knobs is
that the Mid knobs were exchanged for a Gain Boost knob. Then Boss markets
this as a metal pedal. They must be complete fools. First of all, as I said, getting
a metal sound is all about shaping the mids. Second, the Gain Boost
knob sounds only like a toned-down version of the Dist knob. It does nothing
for metal at all, and is only useful for some overdrive sounds and compromising
with the Dist level to get rid of some of the hiss. But if you use the Dist knob as
the main distortion, it becomes nothing more than a Fuzz Boost.
Any way you put the distortion knobs, you get the same sound. If you put
them really high, all you're doing is adding fuzz, not a hard edge to your sound.

Then, of course, you're left with the Treble and Bottom knobs. They
work fine, and you can get some pretty powerful, bassy palm mutes with the bottom set
right (a bit more than the MT-2), but without the metal 'clank' that the other pedals
turn them into.

But apart from the overdone bass, this simply falls back to being a badly marketed DS-1 but with no
potential for variety at all. Damnit, if you're going to put two distortion
circuits, how about putting in two _different_ ones?

All in all, this is a surprisingly weak pedal o

The only problem I've had here is that once, even though the light was
on and I had spent an hour verifying every switch and connection on
my setup, the pedal wouldn't spit anything out. But it only happened once.
Besides that, this is unbreakable, which is sort of unfortunate for me.

Never talked to them, hope I never have to since they're probably deaf.

I would only recommend this pedal to somebody who likes a specific rock sound
and has lots of time to spare. If you bought this pedal by
mistake and can't bring it back, get an EQ pedal. It might help a bit for the
moment. But this is NOT a metal pedal, it can't even dare to compare to the
MT-2, and I only find the MT-2 to be a decent pedal. In the long run, this just
isn't worth the money or trouble. Heck, if you want a solid rock distortion, you're
still probably better off with a DS-1 or 2 if you find them cheaper (or not). Me, I'm saving
up for a new amp, a Metal Master/Zone and a car.

"Mush for the masses". Thanks Dan. If I had read that before it would have saved
me a lot of typing.

It's fairly easy to use being that it is a pedal. I was not however able to get that good a sound out of it. Waaaaay too bassy imo.

Ibanez USA Custom w/Seymour Duncan humbucker -->Carvin MTS 100 watt tube head-->Carvin 2x12 cabinet. (effects are as follows: Digitech X-Series Compressor pedal, Boss MD-2 Mega Distortion, Rocktron Deep Blue Chorus pedal.

I consider the above to be pretty good equipment with the exception of the Boss MD-2 which I am replacing. For me it is too bassy and and a tad on the muddy side. It was ok if used with the clean channel on my head (still a bit bassy and muddy but useable) but when used with the distorted channel on my head it was mushy cr@p.
What I want and hopefully will get soon is the ability to turn a two channel head into a 4 channel amp by use of a distortion pedal.
So then I could have a light gain (pedal + clean), med gain (reg dist. channel no pedal, hvy gain (pedal + distort channel and a pure CLEAN. To do this I need a pedal that comes closer to emmulating my "natural" distortion from my head than this pedal is able to do.
I am going to try a Boss DS-2 Turbo Distortion next.

It looked reliable for the 3 days that I used it. :)

na

Could be good for some people...just not my cup o'tea.

comme une pedale boss normale : une facade epure avec les boutons suffisants pour faire ce qu'on veut comme on veut.
le manuel comporte ce qu'il faut et donne 4 configuration en exemple, mais je prefere faire mes propres patches.

tu achete ce dont tu as besoin ! ceux qui notent mal cette disto n'ont simplement pas acheter ce qu'ils voulaient...
pourtant c'est dure de ne pas trouver une disto "a son pied" dans les differentes configuration offertent par la MD-2.
on peut jouer du fat blues, du rock, du metal, du grunge, du jazz (eh oui ! si on coupe la disto en donnant un peu de gain boost et en jouant sur le tone on peut trouver un bon overdrive... mais ca reste de l'overdrive puissant qd meme : du MEGAoverdrive si on veut), tout un panel de style.
ceci dit le son est assez "type boss". un son reconnaissable parmis d'autre... fuzzy diront certain, "bourratif" ou seche diront d'autres, moi je le trouve parfait avec mes reglages. je peux jouer du kirk hammet sans probleme et du nirvana a l'aise !
il y a un peu de bruit mais ce n'est pas genant... sans bruit de fond qd on ne joue pas, on n'a pas d'harmonique et pour declencher un larsen a la van halen faut etre motive. mais la c ok !
du tout bon

je l'ai depuis une journee mais j'ai rarement vu une boss cassee.
je dis NC !

rien a demander encore

en bref une bonne pedale TRES POLYVALENTE je tiens a le precise. ce n'est pas seulement une pedale heavy metal mais bien une disto complete. comme je l'ai lu sur une autre review, boss aurait dut appelle cette pedale DS-3.
je la conseille a tous ceux qui comme moi veulent une alternative a la disto de l'ampli (un bandit 112 de peavey pour moi) et a une big muff usa qui a un son enoooooorme et avec laquel certaine rythmique ou certain solo passe difficilement.
a essayer (au moins !) absolument !!!

It took me a little while to get the clean CRUNCHY distortion I like but it was possible. With default settings it has a sort of muddy/muffling sound but it can change.

It depends on what kind of music you play. I like a mild veriety from hard rock to grunge and this pedal seems to do well. (If you like Creed or Boston you can get both of those tones)

It's hasn't broken yet.

No comment.

I think that for my needs there is no other. I've tried the Boss MT-2 and though it sounds good for Heavy Metal it was to screamy for me. But as long as you want modern Creed-like crunchy distortion I think this is fine.

By the way Guitar Showcase in San Jose (on Boscom and Camdon Ave.) is a great place to try out pedals. (They've got them all set up in a corner)

the controls are simple, level, distortion, bottom, tone (highs, basically) and the gain boost. its all ridiculously simple, although the bottom and tone knobs are stacked, which is annoying but no big deal performance wise. to me, the gain boost is nothing more than a fuzz addition, so i'll drop it to an 8 for that annoyance of a knob. it doesnt take much fiddling to find a good sound, so its a solid 8.

bc rich warlock with emg active pickups-->tu-2 tuner-->md-2-->os-2-->dunlop crybaby. to write a honest review, you cant have other pedals involved, it changes the sound completely, so i made the md-2 the only pedal in my chain, and: noisy. quite noisy, which worried me, but once you get into a band situtation, you wont even hear the buzz, honestly, and it doesnt affect you while you're playing, its not loud enough for that. although into a pa, or mixing board, or recording, it may be an issue, so a noise suppressor might be necessary, i dont know. the distortion is powerful, plenty of low end, fairly crisp highs. it doesnt have the bite of say, a digitech metal master on the right settings, but its enough. distortion at about 2 o'clock should be plenty, bottom and tone at 3/4, gain boost, whatever. this isnt fuzzy at loud volumes like the mt-2 either, although the mt-2 can be fixed with an eq pedal, but thats so much more work. feedback can be an issue with this pedal, but thats only if your technique sucks like mine does...in the hands of a good guitar player, not an issue at all.

its a boss, blah, blah <-----i hate it when people say that. look, forget brand name, forget reputation whatever, it doesnt matter. for instance, some get great digitech pedals, some get horrible digitech pedals. personally, i've never had a problem with any boss pedal, and this one is as strong as ever. if i could gig, i would...nobody gigs without a backup unless they're poor, which i am. but i'd trust it

the website could be better, people have mentioned manuals and all, they've got good points. but its obvious that boss cares about their products, so i'm sure the customer support is fairly good as well.

i like to think i play thrash and black metal, but i suck. so i play slow thrash...and this pedal works. it doesnt have the greatest growl or the most powerful distortion, but it works very well. palm mutes are clear, power chords are sharp and heavy. i've been playing for 2 years now, and i've had this pedal for about 1 and a half, never had any problems. if it were stolen, i'd look for a zoom tri metal...lacking that, i'd maybe hope to get a good metal master and take my chances...but probably, i'd come crawling back to the md-2. i think if you have an alternate distortion pedal, like i do (os-2), you should go for a heavier distortion with much more growl, but as for now, i'm happy.

5 knobs , figure it out.

i play thorugh a mex strat w/fender fat 50's pickups, boss md2, turbo tube screamer, crybaby, into a peavey delta blues all tube amp with the 15" speaker. i hate metal, boss misadvertises this pedal. its more for clapton, allman bros, skynyrd, and even van halen. this and the tubescreamer together are amazing for leads with endless sustain and no feedback. anyone who bashes this pedal needs to stop playing through a $50 crate amp with a Samick guitar. effects cant make bad equipment sound good!!

havent delt with boss much, but hear they are very reliable

N/A

with the added bottom end tone knob, and the 2 stage distortion, u can totally dial in your fav sounds with little effort. good buy.

i like boss, you plug and play and that's all. don't really need a manual, just common sense and experiment.

i use an orange head, custom cab (g12m and g12h) and a gibson 61 sg-reissue. my stock setting on the pedal is master volume at 3:00, treble 2:00 and bass 3:00, distortion and boost both at 10:00. i get hard rock and metal, very mesa-ish, without sounding totally ridiculous. the best part is i get a strong clean sound with the orange at low gain and let the pedal do the rest.

never had a boss break, been thru almost all of their pedals.

no need to call since they make top notch products.

i have played hard rock, metal and punk with this thing. i've tried a billion heads and overdrives, this is the one i keep. it's not even true bypass and i don't care. the definition is great. the trick is to set the gains low and you can get stuff to work with. massive gain just makes it huge, dark and scary. i'm guessing it could blow the speakers up, but not like zvex.

Very easy to use, 5 knobs, and on or off foot action. Evan a drummer could use this!

I use my Ibanez then a HM-2 then this, then my peavey 130 watt lead amp. With the HM-2 set up with a metallic scoop distortion, and and this set up to how boss suggest, they sound great. The HM-2 handles all the rhythm work, and this handles lead stuff. Sounds great, no noise when not being played, unlike the HM-2. This can cover everything i do, from metallica and ozzy stuff to guns n roses and ac/dc. Ive posted a review for the HM-2 on here, and everyhing that can do, this does just as well, but with the option of a low down rythm overdrive sound. Very good in my opinion.

Its a Boss! what do you expect!

Never dealt with em, what a shame for me.......

Great pedal for pub jam nights and practises, really easy to set up, wide range of sounds, good sound quality, well made. Cant go wrong in my eyes!

Twiddle the knobs to get the amount of distortion,boost it,bass it,level it,play it!Fun!

Boss is very clever in marketing these beautys.When I compared this to the Boss DS-1 AND Boss BD-2,guess what?...The voicings are the same and the only difference is in the sustain.The Ds-1 is mild,the Bd-2 is medium and the MD-2 FULL ON Blow the cherry right off Grandmas pie.The older guys will appreciate this,or if you've been around the block a few times with distortion and overdrives.In the 60's,the hype was fuzz face and muffs (like it is today).People thought (and still think) Hendrix played through a Fuzz face,when in reality it was the fuzz face that was gutted and his then tech (Roger Mayer?)who rebuilt the BOX with his own recipe that gave him that famous enormous distorted sound.Go ahead and buy some Marshall stacks and get your Fuzz face out and see if you can match that sound as you play along with Purple haze.Pretty buzzy eh?..It's ok,you tried,failed and are out some bucks.Now,come back to reality.This pedal is versatile enough to give you Claptons 'Sunshine of your Love',and many 60's tunes you always wanted to play.The younger guys are probably to impatient to understand this as they have to spend a few minutes "tweaking the knobs" and don't get an instantaneous buzz saw midrange honk.It's no wonder the DS-1 has been such a best seller.You get DS-1,the BD-2,better eq and more sustain with this offering.I was curious to see what the other reviews said,and can see it's really a diamond in the old mans rough and probably will appeal to only a few of us die hards,as it's not geared towards todays music.The 7 string thing is a selling hype as this is extremely versatile in the low end,which is what you need for 60's rock.You won't get any piercing treble out of it but you can sing the blues or play that good time ROCK and Roll!


'

Boss has warrantys on all their new pedals.They are reputable and would expect prompt service.

never called them

Rock,Blues,35 years,Fender Blues Deluxe,versatile smooth pedal with light bite and good eq.Very good tone that's warm and transparent.Use it with a clean boost like a Boss Od-3 to get a little more mid if you like.

There are 5 eq band knobs, all of them are very easy to use. Getting a good sound out of it it tricky on its own, since its lacks bite and balls, which most people will be looking for. After I bought a Boss 7 band EQ pedal, I was suprised when I hooked them up together because I was able to get a powerfull low end tone of it, so basically you need an EQ pedal to get what your looking for.

I run this pedal along with an arsenal of pedals, but to break it down, I'm going through a ESP SC sig,into a Line 6 flextone head.
There is some hum and feedback going on, but nothing major. Overall like I said this effect is weak on ite own, but combined with an EQ it come into another real, and takes on a whole new effect.
My favourite artists are the Deftones and One minute silence and bands along those lines, and with some tweaking you can come close to any sound you want, with an EQ I must stress that. Overall I would recommend it only if you have a EQ pedal, to punch it up.

Its a tough unit very tank like, so its very reliable and I would gig without a backup.

I have had this pedal for about 6 hours now. I've been playing with it for about 3 hours, which is along time just sitting there and fiddling with it. This pedal has 5 black knobs. They are named Level, Tone, Bottom, Dist, and Gain Boost. When you first get the pedal, your going to think "What a piece of crap!" then once you expirement with it, you'll find that it gets easier and easier to use after time.

The manual that is included, does not really hold any value if you want any presets. It has 4, but I only tried 1, and it didn't suit me, so I moved on to making my own.

My setup is as follows

Peavey Wolfgang EVH w/ EMG pickup---->Boss MD-2---->Line 6 POD 2.0---->Line 6 POD 2.0 Floorboard---->Marshall AVT 20 Pre-Amp

and the sound quality is excellent. You can get many sounds out of this, but you cannot get as much TREBLE as you can BASS. According to reviews, you need to look at the Boss MT-2 Metal Zone if you want that Metal/Treble sound.

I can simulate many artists with this little stomp box. It packs alot of punch, and you will see that with some tweaking, you will find that it can simulate heavy guitar sounds. It cannot get a Metallica sound, but can get a good Nirvana sound. I have found Staind, Godsmack, Black Label Society, and Disturbed settings on this.

This thing is very dependable to me. I have kicked it around, operated on it, punched it, and yanked on everything. It still sits there, good as new. I have read a story in the reviews below this saying that a guy dropped it off a second story window, onto pavement, and it only scratched it. Im not going to say that thats true, but it most likely would happen.

I think I would use this at a gig without a backup. It is very small, and reliable so, I think I would.

I have not dealt with customer support. I cannot comment on this.

I play a range of music, from the styles of Lynard Skynard, all the way to Sepultura. I dont know the whole songs, but I know bits and pieces of the soft things. This works very well for the heavy bass, and distorted guitar.

I have been laying guitar for a year and a half, and i think im fairly good at it, I play mostly rhythm, but know about 4 solos. I own a POD 2.0, as my other gear, and this is like all of the distortion settings in one. It is very cool.

If it was stolen, I think i would go buy another, if you are going to buy one, look on www.ebay.com for them, they are really cheap, and way less than what music shops will give you them for.

I really like the Bottom and Tone knobs on it, I think that their the best and give it its boost in sound. (Level also does) I guess I don't really like the Gain Boost knob, because it doesn't do very much, until its more than halfway up. but it might for you.

I have compared this to every other Boss distortion pedal, and have read reviews on every single one, I figured that this one would give me my BASS/DIST sound.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact me at punk_rocker128@hotmail.com you can ask me about its features, and about why its better that other pedals. I hope this review was useful to somebody.

It has five controls, so that makes it a bit more complicated than your "basic" distortion. But it's still a distortion at heart, so won't take long to figure it out.

Like most distortion pedals, the MD-2's "quality" will depend on your equipment and your personal expectations. If you bought it thinking "Mega" means you're getting the apocalypse in a box, you'll be disappointed. I know I was at first. After playing around with it, I realized that BOSS should have named this pedal the DS-3. I compared it to my DS-1, and basically the MD-2 is the DS-1 with a bit more distortion and a lot more tonal flexibility.

I own over 20 BOSS pedals. I bought my first BOSS pedal new in 1985 and it still works perfectly. I've been buying used BOSS pedals ever since and they've all worked perfectly. I've only ever seen one dead BOSS pedal. It was a fried DD-2 at a pawn shop.

I've never needed repairs. When I mailed out for more information, they sent me magazines and stickers.

If BOSS would market this pedal as the DS-3, there would be far fewer negative comments. I think this pedal rules when I crank up the Bottom, put the Tone a bit over center, crank Gain Boost full up, and turn off the Dist. The extra bass boost you get from the Bottom gives you a GREAT lead tone - if you're a classic rock kind of person (note: I use an American Standard Strat). The Dist control sounds a lot like the Gain Boost, only a tad more harsh. BOSS could easily drop the DS-1 from their catalogue and push the MD-2 as its replacement. This pedal can do anything that the DS-1 can do, and better. But trying to push it as some kind of "New Metal/Seven String" pedal does not makes sense to me.
Besides the name, the only thing I would change about this pedal is the Dist. Why not make give it a different kind of distortion sound? That way, users could mix and match. If I lost it, I don't know if I'd buy another one. I own a lot of distortion pedals as it is. Maybe I'd sell my DS-1 first, then put the money towards a replacement MD-2.

For this pedal you have to sit down and tweak it cause there is 5 knobs(well 4 with one on top of the other)....but boss pedals are simple to use!!

ok im using a 78 gibson sg standard through(for practice a peavy classic 30 w/ a eminence greenback)and live im using a 73 fender twin reverb head (yes i said head incase you double check that) the head is moded to a blackface '65 specs so there is no master and im goin through a fender custom shop 4x12 cabinet w/celestion vintage 30's...Well lets just say that this thing is pretty damn close to a rectifier sound...now dont think that if you run out and buy this for some small solid state amp that it will sound like im sayin but it will sound good....rectifiers are actually (mostly)used on their silicone setting which is actuall solid statewhich means its goin through the preamp tubes and the power tubes but not the rectifier tubes..intresting huh?i thought so myself but thats how all those bands who use boogies get that sound..this pedal was basically boss's atempt at having a modern metal sound and i have to say the did a great job at it..this pedal can be noisy so what i am gona do is buy a mxr smart gate(i hear there really good)also the best way to set it is level tone low dist extra gain
12:00 3:00 3:00 5:00 9:00
dont use to much of the extra gain (or whatever its called i cant rember and im to lazy to go and look) cause it will become very noisy
and be a little careful with the low with open back cabinets cause your speaker will woof

its boss they are pretty reliable but not indestructable

overall its a cool pedal i cant give it a perfect because its not i dont think any guitar player is 100% happy with their tone..also i dont think a pedal can 100% mimic an amp distortion..........well thanx for redin and hope this proves to be helpfull.Rawk on!!!

boss pedals are always so tweakable, i also play with synths, so this is greatly appreciated by me. I would have to say however that for somebody starting out, it may not be that simple to "know" how to get a good sound from this unit. But your ears are the best tool. Personally i spent about half an hour fiddelling around with its knobs and tried various guitars and then i was away.

The boss website doesn't lie when it says that this pedal creates monsterous distortion. I have several distortion pedals by boss, and i love all of them. But i like them all for different things. I perform and produce industrial music, with a bit of metal influence. I would have to say that i would be a bit afraid of using this live as it does emphesise the bass overall, but in the studio its dynamite with all the control i have. It works best on my ibanez 550 through (surprisingly) a leem ka-1210 amp! I tried it on my JCM-800 nad mesa boogie, but these are such colourful amps anyway it detracts from the sound of the effect. its in the top 3 of my favourite stand alone distortion unit, the other 2 are also boss pedal, Turbo overdrive and Heavy metal HM-2 (which are now dis-continued, if you can get your hands on one, dont hesitate) I still really want a MT-2, haven't got round to that yet, i hear they have much better sustain. I never try to mimic other artists guitar sounds, but i did notice that combining the MD-2 with super chorus i made a nu-metal Nine Inch Nails sound!

put it this way, ive spilt beer on my HM-2, its been thrown into the audience, ive been off my face on stage and stamped on it maybe just a few too many times and its been thrown in a record bag afterwards with a load of other pedals and minus the paint chipping off its imaculate. The MD-2 is no different

never dealt with them, if their products can take the beating described above, why would i need to....

as mentioned before, i play industrial with metal and some melodic rock. Its quite easy to tell which of these styles benifit from the MD-2 and which dont. In recording conditions, this pedal is like all my others, another useful tool. Live i have yet to tell. Ive been playing on and off for ten years, although i also produce music and program synths and drums etc. (boss's turbo overdrive still however kicks butt on a synth sound). So i use boss pedals for many things, of course mainly guitars but they're so versitile you can use them on anything. I combine The MD-2 with joe meek compression, and live i will combine with boss compression sustain. If i lost this pedal, i would buy it again. I love the unti because its so much different from the other distortions ive heard, but as with many stand alone distortion pedals, it seems to lack sustain somewhat, unless i use the ibanez 550. With a tele forget it. I would also not recoment you use this pedal with Gibson SG's or fender strat's. But on an ibanez 470 or 550 or a jackson, your in heaven.

First and foremost, I bought this pedal for my guitar, but I recently switched to bass. I am submitting this review as for use with a Musicman Stingray bass. Great control over the tone and distortion. Boss rocks. 'Nuff said.

I run an Ernie Ball Music Man Stingray 4-string bass -->Boss MD-2 -->Electro Harmonix Holy Grail Reverb -->Hartke 3500 Head -->4x10 cab. Sounds GREAT. You can really get a good rumbly driving bass sound if you back off of the distortion a little. "Bottom" knob really helps in keeping your lows when you kick it in, which is usually a problem with other pedals I've tried. (Big Muff Pi, Even some bass pedals!) If you turn up the dual, yes dual, distortion knobs, you can get thick rich bass distortion.

VERY reliable. We all know boss is the standard for stompboxes. I would use this without a backup, and do nightly.

Only dealt with them once, long ago. Can't really say.

I play rock music in a 3 piece band. When the guitarist goes for a lead part, I just switch it on and it really thickens out sound back up. I own LOTS of gear, various guitars, amps, and pedals. If it was stolen or lost, I would definitely go buy another one, for it is the best money I've spent lately.

It's easy to use, but damned near impossible to get a good sound from it.

I'm using a Fender Strat with Hot Rails pickup, locking tuners, and a Hipshot Tremsetter through a Marshall MG100DFX. This pedal is way too bassy and distorted... it sounds alright when strumming a few power chords, but God forbid you try to palm mute, because all you'll get is a low, rumbling noise at any distortion level. If you turn down the bottom knob, the rumbling will stay but the pedal will lose all its balls. Also, having 2 distortion circuits is pointless. They both sound virtually the same and turning them both on at the same time sounds horrible. Getting a good lead tone is harder than getting a good rhythm tone.

BOSS pedals are pretty well made and durable, but plastic will only get you so far.

Never dealt with them.

I play hard rock, metal, and prog... this pedal is useless for all of them. It's just a bad sounding pedal, no other way around it. Maybe someone may be able to put it to good use, but for me, it just doesn't sound right.

Lets face it, if you cant use a Boss pedal, you need to take up drums!

This pedal sounds good alone, but only for certain aspects of playing. To get it to sound excellent, i link it with a GE-7 equaliser which gives the heaviest distortion i've ever heard come out of one guitar. Its a fantastic sound. Without the EQ, i';d give this about a 6 or 7, with it, it gets the full marks!

Put it this way, you could drop this off a building and it wouldn't break!

Never had to deal with them

I play mainly Metal, eg. Metallica, stuff like that and I use this setup..
ESP EX-350 > Crybaby > MD-2 > GE-7 Equaliser > Bespeco Volume > 200w Carlsboro
And it sounds excellent. I replaced a Zoom multi FX pedal with this and the difference in sound quality is stunning. Highly reccomended

Takes quite a bit of tweaking to get the "perfect" sound you're looking for - I still haven't quite found mine, though I think I'm close. I've been playing in a metal/prog band for a couple of years now (though by no means a professional), and I'm still trying to find my sound. This is helping.

I'm running a Parker NiteFly with 3 single-coil DiMarzio's into a Peavey TransChorus 210. It buzzes quite a bit, but single-coils often buzz, so I don't blame the pedal. When I roll the tone completely off and flip to the neck pickup, I can get a warm, smooth jazzy sound, with a hint of fuzz. When I crank the treble and switch to the neck, I find a crunchy meaty metal sound. Works great with a Dunlop 535Q Wah, when used as a filter. But it's really tricky to bring out the best of the pedal, guitar and amp. However, I've found that this IS a versitile pedal, if you're willing to take the time with it. This makes a great pedal for a good wall of sound, but clarity is lacking. Also makes a good tube screamer replica, if you kill the treble. Best as a seconday, to switch to a completely different sound. I'd still recommend having another distortion, like an MT-2 or Tube Screamer to thicken out your arsenal.

I've had no issues with the pedal, but I take good care of my equipment. Battery power lasts fairly long. It's solid, made of metal and plastic. I suppose the buttons could snap off in the right circumstance. Right now, it's the only distortion pedal I have (I'm broke) but if I lost it or damaged it, I'd probably persue picking up an MT-2 first. Eventually, I do think I'd pick this up again.

Haven't had any dealings with Boss yet...

I play mostly metal, of the more progressive variety. When I take a solo, it's more along the lines of David Gilmour, Steven Wilson, or Steve Rothery. However, I find myself writing more intense material, often along the lines of Alice in Chains, Dream Theater, and Fates Warning. I'm not nearly as talented as ANY of the bands I've mentioned, but their influences are present in my playing, and this pedal does a fairly decent job of influencing this. I like alot of bass in my sound, and this pedal does an excellent job of bringing that out, but make sure you have an amp that is capable of handling it. Best suggestion - play with it at the store. Take your time, experiment with ALL options to make the best, most edjucated decision. This is an impressive pedal, but is most certainly not for everyone.

Quite easy.

The sound tends to drop when I swich on the pedal, because it is a bit fuzzy sound and makes those low frequences. I have humbuckers on my guitar, maybe that's why.
You can cranck up the volume without feedback, which is good. The sound is in my opinion too fuzzy when you turn up both distortion and gain at the same time.

You amp should play VERY LOUD to get the best result. If you play too low the "bottom" power completely disappears.

No good for solos. This is a bottom pedal!!!

BOSS

I propably would have bought something else now. One with more "bite" and less deep growling sound.

Straightforward and simple.

NOT my idea of a good disortion sound i.e. MUCH too fuzzy and mushy specially if you turn up the distortion and gain boost.It doesn't have the hardedged punch I want.Nice to get a pedal for Christmas but this one is going straight back to the store where I will trade it for a Proco Rat which leaves this one for dead in every department.

Well some guys say Boss pedals are indestructible but I wouldn't know about that. Nothing is that good.

I wanted a GREAT distortion pedal for Christmas. But this isn't anywhere near it.Thanks anyway Dad.I know you'll understand when I change it for a Rat.

very easy to use the manual gives some settings. If you know how to use a distortion pedal and what each knob does then you'll be laughing

very distorted but more mellow sounds can be extracted. One thing about boss pedals is that they are very trebly what i mean is no matter what i do to the guitar e.g. use the neck pick-up and roll back the tone there's still a good amount of treble i'm not complaning i'm just saying does anyone else get this?

Boss pedals = tank

never delt with them

a good all-round distortion pedal if you can't get a DS-1 then get a md-2

All I have to add to the reviews below is that I think the Distortion and Gain Boost controls have a *slightly* different effect on the sound.Try having only one full up with the other all the way down. Then try it the other way and see what you think. I think the Gain Boost gives a little bit of a thicker quality to the sound but not enough of a diference to lose any sleep over.

If you are a Heavy Metal guitarist then AVOID this pedal!! It's too much of a warm and cosy sound, not dark at all like some people say and not the kind of brutal distortion you need for Metal.I thought the Big Muff reference in another review was close to the truth. You can't make out seperate notes within a heavily distorted chord with the gain turned up so it sucks for heavy rythmn playing. You can get some nice lead lines though in the style of the Isley Brothers "Summer Breeze" (That Big Muff thing again!). I tried turning the settings down low like one of the previous reviewers suggested and it was actually pretty good for crunchy Rock/Blues riffs which was a surprise since this is Boss's attempt at a modern metal pedal.

Newsflash for Boss geeks who don't know any better: Boss pedals are reliable but under no circumstances do they EVER rate a Ten in the real world. Thats purely for guys who sit in their bedrooms with them and never take them on the road. That is the REAL testing ground for equipment reliability, and Boss ain't indestructible as I have found out the hard way.

I got this pedal in a trade for a DOD Eq pedal which I didn't need. I didn't like it much at first because I was trying to use it as a metal pedal which -lets face it - is what Boss are calling it.It's grown on me though and maybe in time it could grow on me even more, but if it was lost or damaged I wouldn't bother to replace it.It's more for messing around with than for gigging.

Really easy to use! Has knobs for Level, Tone/Bottom End, Distortion, and Gain Boost. Its not that hard to figure out. You don't really even need a manual for it, its just common sense. My only gripe is that the knobs are too cluttered together, but that's no biggie.

I use this pedal with a 2002 Gibson Les Paul Special and my Tom Delonge Strat. It has all the distortion I need to replicate the sounds of my favorite bands (Weezer, Blink, Foo Fighters, System of a Down, yada yada yada...) I run this pedal into a Marshall JCM2000 DSL401 and it sounds incredible. Very tube-like. This effects pedal gives you real DISTORTION, not MUD. This pedal isn't very noisy, but you are gonna get a swelling feedback sound if you stand too close to your amp while you are not strumming your guitar. That tends to be common when dealing with distortion and high gain devices - this can easily be stopped with a noise gate.

Made in Japan. Duh, of course you can depend on it. I wouldn't even bother to buy a backup because this thing is so reliable. If it happens to break during a gig, I'll just have to use my amp's crappy overdrive. Chances are that won't happen though.

This pedal is perfect for the style of music I play - Weezer, Nirvana, Blink, Sublime, Green Day, System Of a Down, Foo Fighters, almost any modern alternative rock. This pedal is just what I need. If it were stolen, I would buy it again - without a doubt! The thing I love most about it is its versatility. I can get a dark grungy sound, or even a bottom-end that sounds good with a drop-C tuned guitar. My favorite sound this thing produces is that fat alternative power chord rock sound - very Weezer-like. My only gripe about it is the knobs are so close together, but it doesn't bother me that much. Its just an excuse not to give this pedal a perfect rating.

Easy to use but sadly ease of use does not = great sounds.

I tried it out because of the guy who said that it made the Marshall pedals sound like shit and since I have a Jackhammer I thought this would be a grewat upgrade. Sadly this thing can't even begin to compete with the Jackhammer which has a ballsy amplike sound and more than enough gain for any practical purpose.This one has a whole stack of gain but when you turn it up the sound goes to mush. The sound reminds me a bit of a Big Muff Pi but it doesn't have the rich and sweet harmonic overload that makes that pedal such a classic.It's also 'buzzy-fuzzy' kind of distortion which means that it wont work for metal. I'll stick with the Jackhammer. Through a big amp at high volume it eats this pedal alive when it comes to metal and hard rock. And that's from a Boss Fan.

Boss wrote the book on this one.

I play metal and hard rock and this pedal isn't suited for that kind of stuff.I'll stay with the Jackhammer for now though I hear that Tonebone pedals are great but expensive. Maybe its worth checking out though.

Takes 3 minutes to learn how to use it.
Don't try to put both gain knobs all the way up unless you want a
eating-children sound. The BOTTOM knob is really useful, to achieve that right amount of low end. It's booklet has some shitty settings, ignore them and make your own sound.

This thing has amazing bass and tons of gain, but IT DOESN'T LACK TREBLE (like that shitty weak-sounding Marshall stompers),so it
totally sounds GreaT as a NICE SOLID ROCK DISTORTION. Sounds really smooth when palm muting, wich I find awesome for my tastes. I wouldn't use this stomper for metal though, cause it's lacks that "biting" metal edge. It's a GREAT DARK MODERN SOUND, not vintage-shit-wannabe here, and it worths every penny.

BOSS

BOSS

IT HAS BALLS. And it has MONSTER GAIN too. I think anyone who thinks this little red box doesn't have enough balls or gain should go to bed. It's not a "biting animal" like metalzone though. AWESOME for any variation of MODERN rock. I LOVE IT'S UNIQUE DISTORION.

It has two gain knobs, which doesn't make any sense at all to me!

After reading the review below, I just had to make the following statement on setting up pedals properly:
1) Set your amp as you like it, with some volume.
2) Set the volume on the pedal to unity, and its gain as close as possible to being as clean as the amp.
3) Match the bass, treble or other tone controls as close as possible to the amp. Stomp back and forth between the straight and effected signal to check it.
4) Bring the gain up to where you want it.
5) Play riffs, chords, rhythms, leads, parts, etc. all over the fingerboard. Boost/cut frequencies on the pedal until it's balanced all over the fingerboard and sounds good to your ear.

This system will help you achieving the best results with any distortion device.

If you do so, you will see that the MD-2 is a great pedal for fat, crunchy riffs in the style of Nickelback or Creed maybe. For this, I set the gain knobs around zero to 9 o'clock. Because it doesn't scoop the mids like a typical metal pedal, it is also suited for sustaining lead playing. In no way is it too bassy, you can dial in as much bass as you need without getting muddy.
Contrary to Boss own statements, the MD-2 isn't well suited for metal, nu-metal or the likes. If you turn the gain up, it becomes rather noisy and mushy.

It's a Boss, need to say more?

It's a Boss, need to say more?

I play since 20 years (and professional since 5 years). I do some session and studio work for others also and try to test as much gear as possible. Whenever I lay hands on a new device, I a/b it with one of my keepers and decide if it's worth it or not. The MD-1 didn't make it, but to be fair I have to say that there isn't a high gain solid state stomper on the market yet that is all right for me (and I checked them all, believe me!).
Overall I would say that the MD-2 is a rather good and usefull pedal. I adresses the problem that most distortion devices don't have enough bass response. I hate to step on a pedal and loose all my low end! This doesn't happen if you use an amp with channel switching, so I think that most distortion devices are rather useless and sound boxy and fake, because of the limited frequenzy response in contrast to an overdriven tube pre-amp. It's good to see that there are some pedal makers out there who work on this problem rather than making another copy of a tube-screamer. Boss may not have quite succeeded this time, but they are on the right track!

Pretty easy to use. 5 controls. You do have to mess around with a bit before you get any decent sounds out of it. The manuel is ok, but it still pushes this thing as a nu-metal pedal, which is really, really isn't. Hardest part about the thing is using the knobs to locate a decent sound. But if you have a better understanding of what kind of sound this thing creates, then you won't have as much of a problem.

When I first got this pedal, I hated it. I was expecting some super-harsh pedal with a whole lot of low-end. Not really for nu-metal persay, but atleast something to get a sound near Tool or whatever. This isn't the pedal for any of that, honestly. It can't do nu-metal or almost any common metal sound. While you can't expect a nu-metal sound out of it, you can get some great sounding gothic/industrial tones out of it. Like someone below mentioned, you can the same sound as the guitar in the Quake 2 soundtrack, which I always thought was pretty cool. What you have to do is just use one of the gain knobs by itself, and back off on the other knob. There really is to much distortion in this unit, but when you back off of a knob you can get a pretty decent sound without making any hiss. With both on at full, you can expect quite a bit of noise to be generated. I keep the distortion dial all the way off and use the gain boost by itself. I am running a custom Les Paul into a Marshall JCM900, and when I realized what this thing was ment to be used for, I started liking it more and more. This is NOT for leads, of for body-bobbing mosh music. This is really a throw-back unit to the days when goth/industry rock was a bit bigger then it is today. When you use this, play some power chords in Drop D in an almost chromatic succession, like some of those goth guitars back in the day. You'll see what the sound they were aiming for was. The low-end on this pedal is very large, but it's probably the weakest part of the unit. It gets a bit plodding when it's up to high. Keep it at about 3 or 4 o'clock and you won't have a problem.

I've dropped this a couple of times, and it's never broken. I'm not sure if I would ever gig with this, because it's not really my style of music, although it's fun as hell to mess around with. If I did, though, I think I could probably depend on it. Both me and the other guitarist in my band own about 6 Boss pedals collectivly, and we've never had any problems what-so-ever.

I've never had to deal with Boss.

I think the deciding factor on whether you should buy this pedal or not pretty much comes down to what kind of sound you're aiming for. If you want Korn or Slipknot or whatever band is big in nu-metal now, for the love of god, don't get this pedal. You will be very dissapointed. If you like gothic/industrial sounding guitars, or just something to call your own, you may like this pedal. Try it out before you get it, and keep in mind that it really has been mis-marketed. I've been playing for about 4 years now, and I've always enjoyed the crunch I've heard bands like Rammstein used, so I suppose I'm a bit biased to this pedal. But it still has its downfalls. To much distortion; Use one or the other gain knobs, or maybe both on half-way, but don't use them at the same time. The sound you will get is incredibly fuzzy. The bass knob is a bit to much to, but I think that was their marketing gimic.

I think this has the potential to become one of those out-of-print cult-classic pedals, because we all know how trends in rock go around full-circle. I don't think this is going to be on the market for much longer, because it hasn't been very well received from what I understand. Totally Boss' fault; marketing it as a nu-metal pedal, when nu-metal is almost dead, was a huge, huge mistake. If they would of just said "High gain!", it would of went over much better, and it would of been a much more truthful representation of this unit.

If it got stolen, I might think about getting another one. But since I don't use it for any of our songs, then I might not. If I were in a goth/industrial band though, this would probably be a wet dream for me.

Don't compare it to the Metal Zone. Totally, totally a different sound. Maybe compare it to more distortion-based pedals and see what the difference is. And god, I can't believe people are still raving about that metalzone thing. Go try a Zoom TriMetal and see what you've been missing.

I'm not sure if this was worth the $80 of my money, but it's still pretty fun to use. Definitly inspect it and work with it for a while before you buy it.

Other than the fact that it has 2 gain controls, it's just as easy as any other distortion/overdrive pedal in the world.

Ok, here's how it works. Boss pushed this as a "Low End" kind of distortion pedal made for people who tune down, or use seven strings. Of course, if you do this, it's not like you're really going to need an extra amount of bass anyway. But still. The distortion isn't really all that bad, it just in my opinion has WAY too much bass. If you turn the tone past 5-o-clock it's to harsh, but it saturates pretty easily with both gains all the way up. Expect LOTS of feedback with 2 gain circuits set up the way this is though. Now back to the bass. Before i even turned the amp on in the music store, i turned both gains all the way up, the bass all the way up, and the tone on 5-o-clock with the amps settings all centered. You don't really realize how much bass there is until you do a palm mute, and it just kind of hums and resonates and doesn't even really sound like the same pedal. It would be a neat trick to use here and there, but i wouldn't want that sound all the time. I gradually turned the "bottom" all the way down, and it still sounded this way, just with less and less bass. Like i said, it pretty much gets one sound. And if you're not happy with that sound, you're screwed. And i wasn't. On the upper hand though, it does have A LOT of gain.

It's all been said before.

I've never had to talk to them.

I was comparing this one to a Metal Zone in guitar center. And i realize that you can't truly say you know about something until you've owned it for at least a few months, but honestly, i know exactly what this pedal would sound like under most all circumstances. I've owned Metal Zones in the past, and i'm about to own another one. The only reason i even looked at this one is because someone told me that Boss came out with another high gain distortion pedal. But overall, the Metal Zone has just as much gain, about 70% of the bass (just not as saturated of a bass tone), and a WHOLE lot more of an ability to shape your tone.
I'm not actually a HUGE fan of the Metal Zone either, but i have to admit, it's handy if you're poor like i am and end up using bass heads or guitar heads with no overdrive. So, if you are reliant on distortion pedals, i would buy a Metal Zone over this one any day. Since they're both around the same price, and the Metal Zone has more tricks up it's sleeve.

A piece of cake to use but what I don't go for is the way that Boss decided to use two gain controls, DISTORTION and GAIN BOOST instead of just one. I can't hear real any difference between them so it's not like their doin something different. Even the manual says that GAIN BOOST just adds even more gain. I'd prefer to have all the gain in just one control. Other than that though it's pretty much plug in and play.

According to the reviews ahead of mine the md2 sounds like a great metal pedal/a bullshit metal pedal...it's high-gain/it's moderate gain.... it sounds great through a small amp/it sounds like shit unless you use a big, clean sounding stack...it can't compete with a regtifier/itcan easily compete with a rectifier...and so on. Confused? Me too but here's my two cents worth anyway.If you walked into a guitar store and asked for a metal pedal and you were given this one to check out you'd probably be disappointed. Like other reviews have said it's Boss's fault for pushing this as a metal or nu-metal pedal.That doesn't make it a bad pedal but I can see why some ppl are dissatisfied if they're gfiven the wrong expectations.To me the md2 has more of a retro feel to the sound - it's a bit fuzzy though not nearly so much as a big muff. I prefer it for lead rather than rhythmn. It's a soft( but not soggy), sweet and slightly *tubey* kind of sound. The guy who namechecked Santana is in the right ballpark. I think though that this is a great pedal for Stoner stuff. Think Fu Manchu, early Monster Magnet,QOTSA etc. I'd give it more of a rating if it had a bit more versatility but it's a bit of a (cliche time folks!) one trick pony.Still, could be what your looking for if you want something that isn't as fuzzy as a big muff and has more warmth than a metalzone.

It's all been said below.Nothing to add.

A niche product IMO . Totally saddled with the nu-metal tag which is a shame. I liked it enough to buy. Just wish it had some more sound variety.

Its easy to use, enough said.

I like the review below, because it gets to the point: You have to tweak each pedal to its sweet spot.
As said before, the strenght of this pedal is not in the high gain range, but a medium hard crunch sound, thats best with all the knobs in a medium setting and the drive and gain very low.
I compared it to the Ibanez Smash Box, Boss Metal Zone and the Zoom TriMetal. These pedals are really aimed for high gain. The Smash Box has a lively, dynamic sound with aggressive highs (Marshall JCM 900 anyone?), the Metal Zone was not my cup of tea, unnatural scooped sound with fizzy highs. The Zoom TriMetal is a monster, there's a ton of gain and a strong tight bass response. I ran it through an old Ampeg SVT and it literally killed my bandmates Rectifier (no kiddin'). Just for fun, I also tried it with the Rectifier, but that was BS. The bass of this pedal overloaded the preamp stages and turned everything to mush! So, use it with a rather clean amp.
I doubt that it would be cool with combos or such either, as it needs the punch of a closed back cabinet IMO (but this is also true for all the other high gain stompers metioned above).
All I want to say is, don't compare apples and oranges, the MD-2 is a cool device with a great crunch sound.

Boss pedals are reliable, but not indestructable.

I think that some of the trouble the folks here have with this thing is the advertizing as a "nu-metal" pedal. That's bullshit! If this is Boss' idea of nu-metal, than they are really lost. As a nu-metal distortion, I would give it a 3, but all this hype aside, it is a very good solid rock sound. Nice crunch and good bottom end that doesn't get boomy or lost in the mix. I gigged with it lately (running it with a BJF Dyna Red and an MJM London Fuzz in a Marshall JTM 45 half stack), used it for a light crunch sound and had no problem to compete with my fellow guitar player and his Recto. So far so good!

Scores high for ease of use.Five easy to read knobs. Even an idiot could use it. Obviously that's a good thing to judge by some of the overheated praise this unremarkable little pedal gets.

The Mega Distortion title is a bit of a misnomer since The gain isn't all that high anyway but it sounds phony when you turn it up high. A Metalzone has way more gain than this pedal and has alot of control over how you set the mids. Maybe that's what's wrong with the Mega Distortion.. I guess guys who don't use high-gain amps don't much idea what a good high-gain distortion sound is really like. This pedal sounds best when you keep Bottom and Tone controls halfway up and have the Distortion and Gain Boost near minimum. This gives you a nice rock'n roll crunch, but turn up the gain and it sounds like total ass. You want fudge? The Mega Distortion's got it.You want punch? Get a Metalzone.

Yeah we all know...Boss is the man etc., etc.

It's got a decent crunch sound on low settings but it doesn't have the tone or the gain to make it a winner when you wind it up. I use JCM 800's myself but I can tell ya, I sure wish I had a plexi stack to fart around with. Now there's real sweet distorted lead tone. I don't see how this would make it sound better. Probably best used for a cheap booster with tiny practice amps where you can pretend to be one of the big boys in your bedroom.

Very easy to use, turn it up and then some!

Great great great! This got to be the best non-boutique distortion pedal on the market. Forget the Smash-Box or that crappy Metal Zone with their fizzy highs and scooped mids! This thing has tons of great, phat, full sound. You've got to use it with some big clean stacks (Fender Dual Showman or Marshall 100 W Plexi) to really apreciate it. Running it in a high gain amp like an ENGL or Soldano like some reviewers here is just too stupid, sorry!

IT's a Boss!!!

Look above, don't need any support with this!

This is a great sounding little germ. Never expected such quality from Boss. It makes some other high gain pedals look like toys. Would buy it again in a heartbeat.

I've used a Metalzone for years and this isn't all that different except that there's no midband eq section so it didn't take long to figure.

My Metalzone crapped out on me during a practice session. Time to try out a few new options and since one of my friends is manager at a guitar center he usually lets me try stuff on a sale or return basis.He gave me a Mega MD-2 and an Ibanez Smashbox to check out and I just 'knew' that the Mega would totally smoke this Ibanez piece of shit, maybe like a Metalzone for the 21st century. Man was I wrong. The Smash box was responsive, expressive and dynamic... brutally powerful and with a really wicked rock/metal vibe. The Mega has a touch deeper but less tight bottom end and just plodded along without complaint, too polite, too civilized, too MOR for my tastes. I kept the Smashbox but realized after a few days that I really had to have another 'Zone as well (got a used one -$40).Its become an indispensible part of my sound used with a GE-7 Equaliser.I find that having both pedals now works really well for me as it gives me more tonal variety without losing the tight powerful sound profile that I prefer. Anyway back to the Mega. I couldn't believe that this pedal came from the same company that put out such definitive pedals as the DS-1 and the Metalzone. Even an Equaliser couldn't really turn it around .(I'd recommend anybody who wants to get the best out of their distortion pedal to try out an equaliser with it. The Metalzone sounds pretty ok without one but totally killer with one). I'm not going to pretend that the Mega's better than it really is just because it wears the Boss name. Maybe it's for you if you dig Bon Jovi, Lenny Kravitz, kind of stuff. It's not even much good for nu-metal. Most of those bands use Boogie amps and it's nothing like that kind of sound. It sounds like a half-assed attempt at some kind accountants/evecutive's idea of a rectifier sound but it's way too sanitised to even get anywhere near the sound of a true high-gain metal amp.It's just not a killer sound. Not a prime choice for metal. Not for me anyway.

My original Metalzone bombed on me but to be fair it's been truly hammered over the last few years, 800+ gigs as well as countless practice and rehearsal sessions so I can't complain. That's a tough pedal by anybody's standards. I've definitely had my money's worth.It does show though that Boss pedals are not totally indestructible as some guys say, but then what is.

Some guys just don't seem to get this fact:The reason some of us give low ratings to pedals we don't like is not because we're morons or "noobs", not because our equipment is at fault and not because we lack enough real-world experience to make an informed choice. We give them low ratings because we just plain don't like 'em. Got that? Good!
In a world where there is so much competition,any new pedal needs to have something to make it stand out from that competition. The Mega just doesn't make it. It's too generalized and anonymous in sound terms for my tastes. I had my preconceptions overturned because, much to my surprise it was the Smashbox that sounded absolutely AWESOME. Tough shit if that offends anybody. It's absolutely the right word to use here. I'm a longtime fan of Boss pedals but this one didn't exactly make the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
For some strange reason it seems to bruise some peoples fragile egos when their opinions are controverted.I can't understand this. I wouldn't be without my Metalzone even though I know some guys really hate it. That doesn't bother me because I've got mind of my own.I'm not asking them to use it and nothing that they do or say can affect my sound. Only I can do that. The purpose of these columns is to review equipment, not to deliver pretentious sermons as to why you presume to know another person's reason for not liking a particular product. I'd say that my equipment is considerably better than Lafayette's for example, at least for my purposes (PRS Singlecut, 2 Jackson USA Soloists - an SL2H with EMG's, a Custom Shop "Skulls" model with Duncan's -, Charvel 750, Engl and Soldano amps) but I don't share his patronising, self-regarding smugness which dictates that you can't possibly make a meaningful assessment of a $69 stompbox unless you've been playing for 30 tears and have a garage-load of trophy equipment.I find it strangely hypocritical that he tells people it's cool to form their own opinions( Yeaah..like we know that already dude)when he's re-posted to criticize some guy for doing exactly that. Well, who the hell do ya think these pedals are aimed at old-timer??? Boss would go bust inside a month if it was only guys with pro-standard rigs who bought their pedals! A little humility wouldn't go amiss sometimes. There are some very talented kids out there who would love to have a Valvestate amp to play through if only they could afford it. The bottom line is that there are no rights and wrongs when judging equipment, only personal likes and dislikes. This review is only one man's opinion, and the fact that I have a lot of gig experience and some pro-quality gear doesn't make me an expert on anybody elses taste. Just make sure you try out at least some of the alternatives before you lay your money down. The only thing I can guarantee you won't regret doing is taking some time before you make your choice.

Five knobs: 1 level, 2 for bass and treble (concentric, like the MT2), 1 for drive and 1 for gain boost.
Pretty straight forward.
The sample settings in the manual are quite helpful.
I thought this was a mega-distortion-only pedal but the overdrive sample setting shows that it is also capable of mild overdriven tones.

I use this with a variety of guitars, but mainly my strat and tele. My amp is a Marshall tube combo.
I have owned many stompboxes over the last 12 years of playing but still am always in search of the ?one?. Overdrive/distortion pedals that have come under my feet included: Boss DS1, MT2, OD2, SD2, Tech21 TriOD, Double Drive, Ibanez TS9, Maxon OD808, Danelectro Fab Tone, Daddy-O, Marshall Jackhammer, Guv?nor Plus, DOD American Metal, Classic Tube. Yes, I am a stompbox junkie, help me, pleeeease?..
Each time I get a new box, it sounds top of the world, then I get bored and it stops sounding so great.
But for what it?s worth, the MD2 does sound great?..for now.
I?ve divided my overdrive tone zone into three at the moment:
For mild break up, nothing beats the OD808. For medium range crunch tone, the Double Drive does a great job. For over the top gain, the MD2 is hard to beat. Reminds me of Zakk Wylde (to me at least). Doesn?t get heavier then that in my books. Any heavier and I doubt you?d get anything musical out of it.
I have mine set as follows:
level - adjusted to match bypass volume
Treble - 2 o'clock
Bass - 3 to 4 o'clock
Drive - full
Gain Boost - 3 o'clock
The noise level is acceptable.

All my Boss pedals are still working...but then again, I don't really abuse them...so..

Never dealt with them.
The Boss Us website is kinda neat with the various soundfiles, but it could be more extensive though.

I may be presumptious but I do believe that all guitarists everywhere crave for ?that? tone. Some are fortunate 'nough to have found it, some, like myself, are still searching?but once in a while, those of us still looking will stumble upon a tone that will inspire us so much that we just can?t put the guitar down.
For me at least, the MD2 comes pretty dang close?well, I did put the guitar down to write this?.

It's more or less your basic distortion pedal, just an added gain stage and an extra knob for tone control...

I use a fender strat through a marshall combo. This can get noisy, but if you don't keep the gain and boost knobs on 10 then it isn't a problem. When I was playing with it at the store it reminded me of the guitar sounds found in Hum and maybe TOOL. I'm not saying that it nails their sounds, but then again, I'm not trying to. I like that big wall of sound distortion Hum and the Smashing Pumpkins offer (definitely does NOT sound like SP though). But this also works well for a hard rock sound (like a Pearl Jam or maybe even Blind Melon).

I agree with another reviewer here that no distortion pedal is really very versatile. However, this can provide a few sounds - thick or regular, heavy or light. However, I can't get a good lead sound. Of course, if you are into the cookie cutter rock style this is geared for, then that really isn't a concern, I'm guessing.

So if you are looking for a distortion pedal for metal, this probably isn't for you. If you are a tone nazi, this probably isn't for you. But if you want a hard rock/alternative (the term alternative being used VERY loosely) rythmn/textural sound, this is great.

Sure I can rely on it, but things are bound to happen

never dealt with them

For what I play this goes very well. I've been playing for 10 years now. Does that mean my sound sits well with everyone? No. Professional musicians and other more experienced players don't always agree with what I do sonically, although they still respect what I am doing. Kinda like atonal music - it may not sound "right" but who is to say it is wrong? So is this for everyone? Definitely not. Should you buy this pedal? I don't know. Some people that have reviewed the pedal here seem to have played it for 5 seconds at the store or maybe bought it in a catalogue, heard it for the first time in their bedroom and then complained here about it. Take time to play with it in the store and you will get an idea if you should spend the money on this pedal or not.