Boss MT-2 Metal Zone

This pedals is DEFINETELY not for beginners who don't want to tweak with EQ settings for several minutes. I would have rated it lower, had it not been for the somewhat comprehensive manual, as it does provide the user with a variety of distortion styles from classic rock, fuzz rock, and scooped thrash metal.

I am using this with an ESP Horizon guitar with an EMG-81 in the bridge and an EMG-85 in the neck. The amp I've got this and my pedal going through is a Line 6 Spider II 212. The pedal is noisy when the distortion is turned up past 3 o' clock on the knob. For me, to get a very good metal sound, the scooped mids setting is the only way to go. Otherwise, this pedal sounds very thin and trebly with no bottom end to hold it down. My person favorite setting for this pedal is:

level: at about 2 o'clock
low: at about 3 o'clock
high: at about 2 o'clock
mid: alllll the way down
mid freq: at about 3 o'clock
dist: between 2 o'clock and 3 o'clock

With this setting, I get a nice Pantera/ early Children of Bodom distortion. The distortion is tight and clear, but does not produce that massive, monster "chug-chug" that you may be looking for. An addition of an equalizer may help produce this.

This pedal is VERY dependable. I've dropped it countless times from flights of stairs and have even accidentally kicked it several times. I definetely gig with this without a backup, as it is very durable.

I have yet to deal with them.

I mostly play alllll kinds of metal, jazz, and blues. This is a fine match to my metal tastes. I have been playing for about 4 years and found this pedal to suit my needs. If it were lost or stolen, I would buy it again, as I am very satisfied with the setting I have dialed in. I am not very happy with the fact that it is not a great solo pedal, as the notes do not seem to connect.

not too bad - not for beginners though!
takes a lot of tweaking to get desired effect
the suggested settings all sound like poo

This thing is as noisy as hell. when I used it I kept level at 3 and it is still very loud - it completely takes over.
Plus there is a lot of hissing - but you get that with high gain so deal with it.

I play a maton MS500 into a Marshall AVT100 combo (+ various effects stomp boxes).

This peice of crap will destroy all your tone and it makes every guitar sound the same. I have used it with my mates guitars and amps (all different) and you lose all individuality

cant say anything good about this piece of snot

i was using one of the dirty channels on the amp until i invested in a RAT and i boost this with my TS9 reissue - sh*ts all over the MT2

its a boss nuff said

never dealt with them

i play metal/hard rock and dont rate this at all
do yourself a favour and get a decent dist. pedal ie RAT
BOSS normally make excellent pedals ie DD range, flangers etc
but this is just sh*t. no words can describe my hate for this pedal -it will totally dominate your sound

The 2 center knobs have dials within dials. This is the boost and EQ which can take some time to dial in just right. The Distortion is nice and standard but nothing to write home about. Your amplifier should produce the primary distortion sound you desire.

I have Zakk Wylde EMG active pickups in a gibson explorer. All tube amp and just recently bought some expensive Sylvania 12xa7 WA pre-amp tubes from 1966. I did a lot of research and these are nice tubes for metal sound.

This is the only pedal I have. The amp is the most important piece of equipement so spend money on that, instead of a dozen pedals. Like I said above, this pedal is primarily for boost and EQ because I use the 2 middle dials more than the distortion itself. My amp tubes give me the distortion sound.

This pedal is fairly easy to use. All it takes is a few minutes of fiddling with the knobs to figure out how they all work and influence the sound. The manual also provides some good starting points.

My current setup is Ibanez Destroyer II w/Dimarzio SD > MT-2 > Peavey Backstage Chorus 208. I also have a Marshall AVT50 but it's getting fixed at the moment.

In terms of versatility this pedal is good. You can get many types of rock/metal sounds from it. But where the pedal falls short is sound quality. It seems to suck the natural tone and character out of the guitar, resulting in a sound lacking in fullness. This not the fault of either the guitar or the amp, trust me. Turning on the chorus and adding some reverb seem to help mask this, but not entirely.

Mine has worked perfectly fine. As long as proper care is taken and it is used for what it is ment to be used for (not including throwing it off a building for shits and giggles) then there should be no problems.

never used them, can't say.

This pedal would be good for a teenager learning to play guitar who can't afford higher end equipment, is into rock/metal and wants something versital to emulate their favorite sounds. If I shopped around more I probably would have bought something different like a Marshall Guv'n'er II. If it didn't suck the tone from the guitar end I would say that this would be an awesome pedal. If you find that you life it, fine. If you don't, sell it. But if your a spoilled brat who has your daddy buy you thousands of dollars worth of music equipment so you can be just like your favorite rock stars and you still complain, then shut the fuck up.

It's easy as any pedal. In the end you simply have to tweak some knobs, cmon guys! I passed a couple of minutes tweaking this thing then I found my sound and I never had to adjust it again.

Excellent sound quality, ... if you know how to get a decent distorted sound. I mean that if you don't know what is a good drive sound, you can't find it even if you have it a couple of tweakings away. I play fusion, shred and Jazz. I use this pedal in front of my Fender Twin 65 reissue with a variety of high end solid body guitars (I don't use Jazz boxes with this of course). No other pedals. Just the Twin, its reverb, and this pedal. Guys, I have a very consistent lead sound. I'm not saying that this thing is like having a Bogner cranked up. This would be a lie. But this Boss thing can solve any problem with your lead parts giving you endless sustain, fast harmonics, excellent stopped lows and everything in between. For reaching a very good sound, I recommend to cut off treble from your amp and from the pedal, ... almost to ground zero! This is the secret to have a very good fluid, dynamic, no-mosquitos distorted sound. Put your middle as you like and put in a good amount of basses. With this eq i have a really great distorted sound. Sure it's a pedal sound not a sound from a tube 100 watts head cranked up, but I'm completly satisfied with this pedal. Until recently I had a Soldano Decatone. But I sold it recently to purchase some other instruments so I find myself without a gain sound (the Twin is my only other amp). So I did buy this pedal after a couple of days of tests. I try some pedals form Carl Martin, Ibanez and some more, but this is the one that I choose. I repeat, if you tweak it properly, you can find a very good (eighties) distorted sound with tons of sustain in it. Uh, it's not that noisy I think. Best buy for the price.

I never trusted pedals, I used to own big heads in the past (5150, Soldano) so I don't have experiences with pedals. But recently I talked to a very famous pro who said to me that behind the Marshall heads which he sports on the stage for show off reasons he played simply with a Boss pedals in the clean channel of a small combo amp (linked to some 4x12 cabs). He did a lot of tours with it and never had a problem. And with tremendous results .. So ...

Never needed it.

In the end this thing is very good sounding. It has that creamy, fluid lead sound with great fast, sharp harmonics you hear from the greats (Lynch, Van Halen, Shawn Lane, Warren DeMartini) all the eighties guys). Just remember to shut down the trebles ... don't forget. Then eq the sound as you like (but don't touch the trebles!!) and you will be fine. A good sound with simply few bucks. You don't need a 5000 dollars stack to play a good solo or a good metal riff or rhythm part!

THE SOUND IS IN THE HANDS !!!!! REMEMBER !!!! If you have a good sound in your hands you will be ok with this pedal too simply with a couple of tweakings ... if you don't have that sound, if you didn't study enough , .... don't waste your money with the big boys of amps. You wouldn't sound good anyway. Don't forget.

This is a good pedal. Can sound really similar to some stuff in the records from the eighties and plus more. It can even save you if you want to go to a gig and you don't want to take with you tons of stuff. With your guitar, this pedal, you can play with any good amp and have a good drive.

Uh, another thing. DON'T COMPARE THIS PEDAL TO THE REAL THINGS. If Soldanos and Bogner amps cost 50 times more than this pedal there would be a reason right?

easy no problems at all just tweak the nobs

my guitar is an alvarez guitar with rosewood fretboard and body with s/s/h set up i use v8 pickups in my bridge then into my mt2>>Boss ge-7>>peavy bandit 112. just be patient in tweaking those nobs and shaping your tone using boss ge-7 u can get a kick ass METAL sound, i think this pedal is far compared to boss hm3.(boss hm3 sucks big time)

boss i'ts a tank you can even use it to crush your enemy's head
i would definitely gig with out a back up.

never dealt with them

im playing thrash and deathmetal. its the right pedal for me. i've been using this for 5 yrs. if it were stolen i think im gonna try the line 6 ubermetal they said it's also brutal sounding and it has a noise gate. but for the price and sound quality i think nothing beats mt2

As with most stomp boxes you have to play with it to find what you like.

My main setup is a Fender Tele (american) with a seymour duncan hot rails in the bridge plugged into the Mt-2 to a Marshall VS-100r powering a Marshall 1960 4 X 12. The MT-2 is as noisy as you want it to be...........I use it mostly for the extra EQ boost. I turn the gain on the pedal to 1/4 and have the amp gain set on 6. You must blend the two together to get a ballsy sound. If you just use the pedal for crunch it sounds very cheesy in my opinion. My tone is almost identical to Mercyful Fate's---In the Shadows album.

I have owned and stepped on it for 6 years and it sounds as good as the day I got it.

never dealt with them.

I play classic metal and some new stuff with this pedal. I have played for 11 years and have tried many different effects. This pedal can be brutal if you dial it in right........I like the simplicity of it and the fact that you can level out the distortion on it. I have some digitech pedals where you can't reduce the distortion on them....that is kinda lame. Overall I think it is a great pedal for THE RIGHT PERSON. It isn't for everyone.

There are four bands of EQ, and you must pay extra attention to these in order to get a good sound, It does require some tweeking in order to get the most desired sounds. Other than that all you have to play around with is a Level and a Distortion Knob.

My setup currently consists of a Gibson Les Paul/Flying V loaded with EMG acxtive pickups going through various Boss Effects pedals then into a Marshall JCM 2000. Ofcourse, do not try putting this pedal through a valve amp, thats just plain stupid, I dont really use this pedal anymore but if I were to it would HAVE to go through a solid state amp.

The Boss Metal Zone is a noisy pedal, period, and you will need to consider this If you are considering buying one, active pickups or a noise suppressor pedal or both will cure this problem however.

This pedal does have a hell of alot of gain, but don't be fooled for a second, that doesnt mean it sounds brutal! cos it doesnt! the only sounds you will be able to get out of this are fizzy, weak, thin distorted sounds. You won't be able to get any satisfying sounds from this pedal, unless you're a fool who has never played a valve stack before and believes a #90 pedal will give you the sound of slayer! lol.

On the other hand this pedal will give you that nasty old school black metal sound if thats your game i.e. Mayhem or old Emperor.

It's a Boss pedal, so It's one of the most reliable pedals which can take a few tours. No other pedal to my knowledge is as tough as these.

N/A

I play mainly metal i.e death/black/grind/hardcore/thrash. This pedal does not really have much practical use for those styles, with the exception of old school black metal which this pedal may serve some use.

I have been playing about 3 and a half years now, currently the guitars I own consist of a Gibson Les Paul limited edition 2004, Gibson 98 "The Paul" modded with black hardware and EMG pickups, a Gibson flying V customised and fitted with EMG pickups and a ESP Ltd baritone. My main amp at the moment is a Marshall JCM 2000, i did own a peavey 5150 II but sold it to raise some cash. Also I use various boss effects pedals, morley bad horsie wah wah, and a digitech whammy.

If this pedal got stolen I would only have wished the thief left some cash for me lol, but yeah im selling this thing anyway! If anyone needs a good metal solid state distortion pedal, they should try either a Digitech Death Metal pedal or the hughes and kettner warp factor! the warp factor sounds really warm, big and most like a valve stack than any other pedal ive heard before.

To be honest there's not much I love about this pedal, It really is crap!

I bought this pedal when I first started playing, at a time when I was ignorant of how to achieve a great sound, as im sure most people do until they realise that they should really just throw it out the window and buy a valve amp instead!

Anyone who praises this pedal as "amazing" and "10 all the way!!" is a fool and doesn't have very good ears, or is just ignorant to the rest of the world, No serious musicians would ever use this pedal for serious use i.e. gigging and recording.

Overall get a valve amp, if you cant afford one, buy a randall, if you cant afford that then buy either a digitech death metal pedal or a hughes and kettner warp factor pedal!

Boss makes good pedals, but not this one!

This is possibly the easiest pedal to use that i have ever dealt with, you pussy's need to learn how turn knobs properly or sumthing.

Sound is perfect, i can get Dave Mustaine, James Hetfeild and Dimebag sounds outta this bad boy, its a little harder when trying to immitate another sound but to find your own is easy as fuck.

I could easily use this on a gig, theres no chance this thing'll fuck up on me.

I use this baby with my Washburn V & my Randall RG75, and it sounds sweet as, i would deffinately replace this if it were lost/stolen.

When it comes to thrash this thing is near perfection ;)

It takes a long time to get a good tone out of this one. The Mid Frequency was slightly confusing at first. For those of you who complain about getting a nasal tone, first, turn down the gain.

I use this effects chain:

Kustom KLA-20 > Digitech RP80 (for amp modeling) > Boss Metal Zone > Dunlop Crybaby 535Q

The sound is great with the gain turned down a bit. If it is full, you will get a bad-sounding nasally tone. This thing has all the gain you need, with some left to spare, no need to use it all. I give it an 8 because it took me a while to figure it out.

This has been covered... this thing is built a tank.

Haven't dealt with them

I play all kinds of metal from shred to thrash to death, this thing can cover them all with a bit of tweaking. If this were stolen, I would either buy this unit again or get a Line 6 Uber Metal. I wish the Mid frequency were easier to understand, but that's about it.