Boss MT-2 Metal Zone

Not too hard. I heard it's pretty rough to get a good sound out of it if you start from scratch, so I took everybody's advice and started from a recommended setting.

I got an awesome sound out of it as soon as I put it to the setting, but really got my sound when I downed the distortion a tiny bit, and upped the mids and treble a bit. A really pure sounding distortion. Really huge sounding. It can cut through the mix really well. I use a hot-rodded 70's Strat Reissue to a Princeton 112 Plus (good clean, no comment on overdrive), as well as a shit-load of other distortion, overdrive, and fuzz boxes. I use a Mr. Crybaby volume/wah (mostly as a volume/gain boost, and sometimes a pitch-shifter, flanger, phaser, etc. It sounds great with them. Note: It has VERY sensetive eq knobs, so be careful when dialing in sounds.

Can I depend on it? Yeah! Would I use dit w/o a backup. Yeah!

Never dealt with them.

I play metal (metallica [all their albums especially Reload]), but I reeeeally like hard rock, eg: Rage Against the Machine. I can get very good sounds for them all. I try to get original sounds, and the in depth eq holds my hand through my tone quest. I really like it. If it were stolen, I would definently replace it. I've wanted one for a while now, and played through lots of distorion/overdrive boxes, a few of which I bought. This one is the most versatile and enjoyable. I've been playing for about 4 years. I know what you're thinking: He just wants to play top 40 songs and look cool with a guitar. Well, I've really done my homework. I can talk theory till the cows come home, and ought to be able to, since that's pretty much all I did for the first three years. It's only recently that I joined a band and started really having fun with my instrument. Peace out!

really easy to use. it took me less than a minuite to find the exact sound i wanted.has settings for volume, a full EQ, and distortion.

great sounding. the best ive heard. i use it to play metallica, PanterA, and slayer.its perfect for the whole master of puppets and black albums. it sounds just like hetfields for those metallica fans.

as well as all other boss effects pedals, its reliable. it will never brake. and if it does mine came with a full 5 year warrenty.

never dealt with it and i dout i will

i plat heavy metal all the way and this is the perfect pedal. it lookes so cool. flay black and orange writing. its so cool. the only thing thats wrong is the cost but its well worth it

Manual is very clear, but the pedal is s simple that you won't need it. The settings from the manual are pretty good, but I find it is better to find your own sound be screwing around and seeing what YOU like.

Epiphone Korina Explorer-MT2-50 watt Marshall
It's EASY to get the 80's Megadeth sound out of it. You can get a really good Randy Rhoads tone by turning the mids on full but the mid freq to down down all the way. It can do metal really well, but it's harder to get a good Guns n' Roses tone. Not silent, but quiet enough.

Very reliable and sturdy. But I plug it in, I never trust batteries.

I wouldn't know.

I've been playing for 3 years. My favorite bands are: Megadeth (but their new stuff sucks), Ozzy and Guns n' Roses. Great pedal, I'd buy again if something went wrong. At first I though "Every one has one, I don't want to sound the same" but you can get so many sounds out of this...

It's use is self explanitory for the most part. The manual is alright, but doesn't really explain how to get any specific sounds. You really have to mess with it to get what you what, but usually you can find what you like.

You will not get a better sound out of anything else in this price range. I've played other things like the DOD Death Metal and DOD extreme metal, and both sounded like cheaper versions of this. To get better distortion will involve spending more money. This IS the best pedal for anyone looking for a metal sound and has a scrict budget.

Never had any problem with it. It runs on a battery, so obviously you have to keep an eye on that, but otherwise it's very reliable.

Never dealt with it.

I like all kinds of music, especially metal, and this pedal does the job for me. At first I didn't have very high expectations for it, but it really surprised me how good it actually was. I can get a crunch out of it I never expected until I messed with it myself. If you are looking to spend less than a hundred dollars on something, and you want a metal sound, go with this pedal. You may have to mess with it before you find what you like, but chances are you will find something. Overall this pedal is the best of it's kind.

Not overly easy to use, six controls. a lot of fiddling to be done to get a half decent tone, most involving patience, a virtue that shouldn't be needed when using a simple effects box.

As for the manual, never got one, it was used. Judging by the manual that came with my boss DS-1, it leaves a lot to be desired. not missing out on much.

I originally bought this pedal thinking I'd get a decent thrashy anthrax/metallica style tone out of it, and I have to say, I was dissapointed. It's a beginners pedal in my opinion, not for experienced guitarists who are looking for a good metal crunch.

I use a jackson soloist, originally through a crappy marshall solid state practice amp, but now I own a marshall JCM 800 50 watt head, I have absolutely no need for it in my lineup. It simply cannot compete with tube distortion.

I'm not totally whacking it, it's good for beginners and messing around with when writing songs with the band, I use it at college where they only have fender champs, and it works well for messing around with. If you are serious about keeping it in your lineup, invest in a boss GE-7 equalizer, it makes the world of difference.

It's a boss, so it could survive a beating and come out smelling of roses. I would use it without a backup, but then again, I wouldn't gig with it.

Never needed to deal with boss on any occasion.

Overall, an adequate pedal with limited use for a professional player. more a beginners pedal if anything. I regret buying it now, but I won't sell it just yet, as I take it to college often.

This is a decent distortion pedal if you have a solidbody guitar equiped with humbuckers.. If you play a guitar with single coils your better off looking at an Ibanez TubeScreamer..
The manual is decent and should be of great help to people new to these wonderful gadgets..

Noisy when mated with any single coil pickup (go figure!)
The knobs work well at getting different sounds.. From a slight distored boost to Korn to Slipknot, it can get a lot of good sounds..
However, don't expect to sound like a good solid bodied guitar plugged into an old amp.. Infact this pedal workds better with solid state amps.. I use it with a number of solid state and tubed Marshalls.

BUILT LIKE A TANK!!! But this tank likes it's fuel.. Unplug it when it's not in use cuz it'll do a good job at eating your batteries!
I'd use this at a gig with no backup hands down.. (just have extra batteries..

Never had to deal with them..
Have heard good things but lets face it.. It's a pedal!
If it breaks buy a new one!

It does what I want it to do when I want it to do it..
I have no complaints... I'd buy another if it broke, and I have had one stolen so I'm already on my second...

Very nice pedal. 6 knobs allowing you to dial a wide range of tones.

Awesome!!!!!!!Even if I run it through a Peavey Rage 158 it still sounds great and noise is almost inaudible. High volume:no feedback at all.It's very easy to get Dimebag Darell kind of sound.

It's a Boss! And for those complainin'that it eats batteries, JUST UNPLUG THE INPUT JACK of the pedal-this turns off the circuit. Leaving it with the input plugged turns on the circuit even if the led is off. (this works for all fx pedals).

?

It's the best deal if you want the best distortion without getting bankrupt with a processor or Line6 Pod.

settings are effect volume, high frequency cut/boost (+/-15dB), a parametric mids dial to choose the frequency between 200Hz and 5kHz that u want for ur most "standing out" frequency, a cut/boost for the freq u chose with the para. EQ, and a distortion level.
the distortion level is basically a second volume control. u dont wanna back off too much or u start to lose volume. but then if u want a less full-on distortion u should look at a different pedal. I've been using this pedal about 2 years now. I've played thru the DOD deathmetal a fair bit at a friends and I believe u can get the same noises out of this. the thing about the dod that annoys me is that it has a "feature" which automatically cuts out any feeding back. i hate that. this pedal can do the sounds of the dod. if ur at the level of playing where ur looking for a very very strong distortion and u dont have thousands to spend on an amp then this is what u are looking for.
the manual is fine.

i used to play this thru a 15 watt fender amp with a fender squier guitar. the same as most starters get. if u have an amp that doesnt have a HUGE colour to its tone (like fenders when u set there settings to level) then this pedal will perform at its best and give u a GREAT heavy metal sound.
i used to play thru the 15 watt with a fender with single coils (yes it got fairly noisy when i turned up, but hey, thats what pedals+small amp+single coils do). it served me very well for 1.7 years that way. now i have a 100 watt hughes and kettner and i play the MT2 into the clean channel on my ESP LTD F200 (see my review).

this pedal should be used for sounds like Metallica, Megadeth, most other 80's rock. but that isnt to say it sounds old and cheesy. No way.
this pedal will give everyone but the most ANAL player the tone of ppl like korn, deftones, sevendust, machinehead and anything else current. and just out of intrest - imagine the sound of sumone hitting a steel girder with a metal hammer - if u set it right, u can get sumthing like this out of the MT2. its easy to get rid of, in fact its probly to do with how i mute my strings sumtimes.. anyway needless to say it sounds good n grunty/ballsy and u can pull harmonics like nobodies business and even better if u use your bridge pickup. after playing with this thing i kinda do heaps of harmonics now and a guy in the guitar shop said "u got the whole zakk wylde thing going there!" i luved that compliment heheh. anyway this thing is great. by the way my old squier is now tuned to C (sumtimes B) and i can get the sound of all my favourite swedish deathmetal bands.
this pedal will sound great thru most amps but i tell ya... it LUVs to play thru loud amps that can handle its bass :) my fender amp couldnt handle how much bass i wanted but now i can do whatever :)
i also just bought a boss chorus and now i can do all my cheesy Blind Guardian impersonations using that and the MT2 hehehehe

if u have a power supply or a new battery this thing is solid as a rock.
its BOSS. what do u want??

i've never dealt with boss. doubt i'll ever have to.

i play metal/rock/celtic (?) clean sort of stuff. this pedal is a great match for my heavy styles. TAKE NOTE - if u want a creamy lead sound with will not give it. its meant for rythm. but ppl who dont know the diff tween overdrive and distortion will think its great for solos :)
i can't think of anything wrong with this pedal. i'm going to hang on to it forever as a back up for distortion even if i got a multifx or a different disortion (doubt the latter will happen...)
if it were stolen, i'd wish it wasnt cos i'm pov lol.
but i'd buy it again in a blink of an eye.
when i first tried this in the shops i couldnt figure out the parametric EQ. give it 20 minutes max and u will understand it just fine. and then u'll realise the range this thing can do.
great pedal Boss. Boss don't realise wave after wave of new models for a reason - they're originals work! this pedal is old as the hills and will get a lot older.

this model is not hard to use,although it will take a while to really dial in your sound with it.you kind of get to know it as you use it and figure out its characteristics.the mid control is the only tricky part

i play this through the effects loop of a gt-3 processor,wich gates it perfectly.that goes into an old dod rack eq,into a peavy 50/50 power amp,into a marshall 1960 4-12.heaviest,craziest,most"hea crushing distortion ive ever heard,and ive tried them all.all these tube heads around here will whine on and on about how this thing lacks tone,"what is tone anyway?,good tone to most of these guys who down these pedals is anything that sounds like jimi hendrex or stevie ray vaughn.music is built on the fact that there are no boundaries.no limits,so if you wanna sound like everyone else on this planet,go buy a jcm-900,or a mesa rectifier,wich actually are good amps,but are to over used.and they will never have a distortion tone that can induce violence like the metal zone.so dont let any tube head "ive listened to classic rock to much"close minded hippie tell you about tone,go for what you want,and screw what anyone else thinks.go ahead and take evryones advice about tone and see where it gets ya,sounding exactly like everyone else

it was trashed when i first got it 5 years ago,worked fine then works fine now,most reliable piece ive ever owned

nevr had to

if you like metal,and you want people to run around and hit other people while you play,this pedals for you,if you wanna sound like jimi hendrix or some other classic rock figure,or if you have to have the same old tone that everyon has,youll hate it.have you ever gotten so mad and screamed for so long that you got dizzy and felt your self slipping away?thats what this pedal sounds like

Alright, if there's a singal review to pay attention to, it's this one. Everyone else bad-mouths this, cuzz they don't know how to use it. It's got six knobs, oooh! Everyone used to Boss having 3 knobs, but I guess this is the next level for the idiots. Pretty easy to get sounds out. The manual comes along with it and explains everything, even some good settings for different sounds.

Good quality. Not only for Metal, but I can use it for punk and blues, cuzz the DS-1 just sounds cheesy and doesn't cut shit. No noise unless with a shitty guitar and in front of a wah. Wah should go first, then your pedals. I use a Gretsch New Jet with an Invader pickup in the bridge, and a JB in the neck. I play through a Morley Wah, the MT-2 and it all goes to a Fender Super 112 amp(old 90's tube amp). Nice setup with a nice pedal. Amazing range of sounds and artists I can get with this, it's all over. Only a little noisy with my wah and distortion way up.

Definently rely on it. I don't gig yet, but when I do, I know I'll use this. In my garage it has gotten some beatings. Stomp it, have sex with it and then play. They should change their name to Tanks instead of Boss.

Boss has a great website, but I dunno anything about their support. They have a five year warranty, but they can stretch that out forever.

I play punk music, but this covers all music. I don't see why people trash it so much, the knobs help you get more sound than you can imagine. What's that shit about not enough crunch or growl or bite? This is an amazing pedal with monstrous sounds. I've been playing for almost two years, and I know good equiptment when I see it. If it were stolen or lost and I had a thousand bucks, I'd buy this again. I dunno where you'll find a better distortion pedal. I love all the sounds and stomping on it. Nothing I hate except it eats batteries like Homer eats doughnuts. Compared to the Marshall, Ibanez, and Danelectro distortions and overdrives, this can blast any of them far. I will definently have it forever, and when I make music, this will be my favorite pedal.

Everything is pretty self explanitory, it just takes some tweaking to dial in 'your sound.' It's got most everything a distortion pedal needs to have complete tonal shaping ability.

I've ran this pedal through '68 Fender Blackfaces, a Marshall 6100LM's clean channel, and a Marshall DSL 401's clean channel. At best, this pedal can sound as good as a Line 6 Flextone's 'Insane' channel or whatever. Bottom line is, the distortion through here doesn't have any warmth and is very flat, just as good as a typical solid state type distortion. You can get it to sound like Metallica, Slayer, and anything very heavey, minus the tonal clarity and tonal sweetness. Any tone you try to get through this that isn't heavey over the top metal won't sound very good. My basis for rating this is based on what I think is the ultimate distortion pedal(an Ibanez TS-9 Tube Screamer). This pedal just doesn't have the charactoristics of any tube amp, but, I'd assume that most people who buy this pedal probably don't even know what a tube amp is let alone what they sound like.

Never failed me, it just sucks a battery dry quite quickly.

Right now I'm really into Neoclassical Heavey Metal (Yngwie Malmsteen, Cacophony, Vinnie Moore, Jason Becker). This pedal definitely does not have enough clarity to play this kind of stuff. It would be a good pedal if your main thing is heavey metal rhythm, but if you play lead, don't expect it to give you a sweet tone like a Mesa Boogie (but I guess that goes without saying).

It's pretty damn hard to find a really good sound out of this pedal. The midrange frequency knob really helps, but most kids will just walk into the store, plug into this, crank the gain all the way up (which is for the most part a bad idea for any pedal), and fall in love with the absolute wall of noise.

This is entirely my opinion. It's a piece of shit. It sounds very "effecty", which is so far from what I'm looking for. I play through Gibson guitars and Marshall TUBE amps. Maybe this would sound good through a solid state amp, but it just can't compare with the tone on my JCM 900 or 2000DSL. It simply adds distorted noise, not gain. What people fail to realize is that on stage you do not need that much gain to sound heavy. What makes a song heavy are the drums. A song can have absolutely no distortion but still fuckin' rock. I just prefer a "purer" sound. I can guarantee that most of the artists who people who buy this pedal are trying to emulate do not use a metal zone. But they are also rich. What I would recommend is a tube amp, good guitar, a overdrive (OD-3) or tube screamer (ts-9), and practice. Lots of practice. Instead of looking for a magical distortion pedal, write a song. Or practice. Create something new.

Fairly easy, plug it in and spin the knobs, your good to go.

Lots of over the top Treble, which I love. Lots of mid, but i turn that off and turn the mid frequency to about 1 o' clock.
Could use a graphic eq on a newer model.
i like the pedal a lot, best distortion ever, but the pedal needs to be updated, MT-3? anyone, anyone?

I Have had it since 98, i dropped about, alot. still works...
The volume knobs is bent a little...still works.
Got rained on and i plugged it in and it sounded all wawagrrgrr
but it dried off and sounded better than before, so thats cool.

I never dealt with them people, but i would like to talk about a New metal zone, maybe diiferent nm... Something more better sounding,
Graveyard Zone, BoneYard, Fuck I dont Know!

I think its a fucking supreme pedal but needs to be updated.

It's easy to use, works extremely well and has many ways to shape your tone with 4 knobs! The Manual........I don't even know if it came with one...... Basically any distortion box you've ever used.

DUDE!!!!!!! I use this pedal with a BC Rich Warlock (Custom Bridge High, no Neck Pickup...One Tone, One Volume), and a Les Paul Copy. This box can hit any tone you want! When the gain is cranked it gets noisey, but what does'nt? I play mosty punk with a Zakk Wylde twist. The band I play in a pop punk, mostly Blink 182, New Found Glory, Fenix TX, with the occasional pinch harmonic thrown in. This thing has mad gain! SICK ASS SICK for anything!

Had it for a week, I think so! Boss has a good warranty.

This pedal is amazing! I've been playing for around 5-6 years so far. This pedal is the first decent distortion box i've ever owned! Is awesome, it it were stolen, I would whoop ass hardcore and kill the family of the culprit! I play punk and metal, this pedal makes it sound amazing!

It is easy to use, ok, it takes a while but the sounds you are looking for are there believe me, the control you have on the middle settings on the Zone are just amazing....

Well, I use this pedal for all my distortion sounds. I have tried pretty much every distortionpedal out there and this one is the best for me. I play proggressive metall and I can get all the distortionsounds I want. It has a lot of gain but the thing is that it compresses the distortion and doesnt lose focus. It has its own sound, and it is very versatile. Sometimes I like the trebly midscooped thrash distortion(probably the best pedal for thrash) and sometimes I use really fat distortion and it does it all. The thing I have noticed is that it depends alot on what the rest of your equipment is. I use a Laney VC50 and a ESP Eclipse(not ltd) and the sound changes dramaticly if I switch the guitar to my strat. The same goes for the amp. I think that if you have a really great clean channel that has a lot of headroom this pedal will really shine.

It is rocksolid

If you like metal, or rock or whatever style that uses distortion, U have to buy this thing. It really is great at what it does. It has gain to spare and it has its own unique sound. If I lost it i would buy it again cause it is a big part of my sound. I have used this pedal for a long time but I just too lazy to send in a rewiew. Any questions? Feel free to email me

To me this pedal was easy to use. Maybe not as easy as some DOD pedals but then other pedals don't have the potential this pedal has. If you have an ear for adjusting your tone then it will be simple. If not then use the manual to get you close.

I have several guitar and different pickups with too many amps to list. From a head to a combo amp this pedal will give some good distortion. My opinion this pedal is the best pedal for brutal distortion. I have about every distortion pedal and this one is at the top of the pile. GuitarWorld did a review of it and said the same.It will give low end chunck even to a Crate Blue Voodoo!

It's a BOSS!

I play heavy metal. Some where around the lines of FearFactory, Soulfly & Slipknot. I've been playing for 6 years and have been around the block when it come to heavy distortion. Will it give you a Measa Boogie dual recto sound?? No. But it will give you some very heavy distortion. I've seen just about every local band member use one that has a Marshall amp. To the people that say that no pro's use one need to do their home work. I seen reviews where the guy from Primus uses one to the guy from Entombed uses one. So if you are on a budget and want some extra gain then this will do the trick.

Ease of use: A no brainer....it's just a parametric eq for christ sake
My fav patch is dist-50% low-65% high-50% mid freq-55% mid-40% level 50%
The manuel is ok but you need to play with it to find YOUR sound

I use an Ibanez RG 570, a,b,y switch, Morley Bad Horsey Wah, DOD envelope filter, Ibanez TS-9, MT-2, Ernie Ball volume control, Sabine tuner in front of the amp and in the effects loop I use- Boss GE-7(EQ), Boss Super Shifter, Boss Flanger, Ibanez delay, and a Boss CH-1 chorus pedal. This is all fed into a Peavey 5150 II head (good enough for Eddie...good enough for me!) driving a Peavey 412 cab loaded with Celestion V-30s. I use the amp distortion more than pedals but when I need a brutal sound I use the MT-2 with the GE-7 and it is more than brutal. Kinda Zack Wilde, Dimebag Darrell thing.

Have NEVER had to repair or return a Boss pedal.
Would gig with out a back-up

Never had to use customer support

I play in a cover band so I have to have a wide range of distortions to choose from. The MT-2 covers the heavy stuff quite well.
Been playing 16 years
I probably would buy it again.

This pedal is more complicated to use than other distortion pedals out there, but you get a high degree of control over the sound. It is a metal pedal, 'tis true, but you can dial up anything from Black Sabbath-like tones to ultra high-gain Pantera tones... it's great! The suggested settings in the manual are, in my view, a little too trebly... but fiddle around with this pedal - it's worth it!

I have two electrics. My main guitar is a triple single-coil Fender Strat, and my other guitar is a Samick copy of an Ibanez RG type of guitar - two singles and a humbucker with Floyd Rose. I don't use a lot of effects. I play through a Boss NS-2 Noise Gate, an OC-2 Octave, and a wahwah pedal I scratch built. My amp is a Fender 85W Deluxe with on board reverb. Yes, ok, you do get a lot of noise if you use a Strat with the gain cranked on this pedal. So what? Turn the gain down (but not too much!), adjust the pedal's settings by backing off on the treble and upping the bass and mids, and you get a great power chord sound and singing leads... especially using some of the middle pickup settings. On my Samick, well... this is when this pedal comes into its own... back off on the mids, set the treble at about 12 o'clock and turn the bass up three quarters. Fiddle with the parametric EQ setting on the pedal... and crank the gain to max... you can get all the harmonic squeals and incredible sustain and crunch you need. I really love this pedal - so much so I sold my Ibanez Tube Screamer for $20 (Aust.) to a friend. It sounded pathetic in comparison. I love hard rock and metal, especially Tool, Helmet, Fu Manchu, Soundgarden, Black Sabbath, Pantera... etc. This is a great pedal for metal. That said, I'm now looking for a fuzz pedal to play Soundgarden and Fu Manchu and Dinosaur Jr (Electro-Harmonix no longer sells in Australia!!!).

I used to play a lot of gigs but that was before I got the Metal Zone. I have, however, recorded with the Metal Zone and I must say that it sounds brilliant when correctly configured! It is a dependable pedal - bulletproof - but make sure you get a BOSS power supply. This thing eats batteries.

I've never dealt with Boss, so I can't comment.

This is a great metal pedal, but if you're also into grunge and blues (like I am), you'll have to get a fuzz pedal. The sound quality on this thing is excellent, can be readily tailored to suit and is most impressive. My friends drool over this pedal. For my metal playing (which is not 'nu-metal) this is easily the best pedal I've heard. Worth every cent. Get one!

Ease of use doesn't mean anything if the pedal is a piece of crap. Which it is.

Good for giving someone a headache. Sounds utterly terrible with my Stratocaster-- however using humbuckers might slightly improve that. Anyhow it still sounds like generic crap. Generates alot of noise, but nothing along the line of tone. As I said, it's only good for giving you a headache. Besides, no professional in his right mind would ever use one of these things to do a recording.

Don't know, don't care.

Don't know, don't care.

I've had this piece of junk now for a couple months and I still haven't found a suitable sound. But since I have a Strat it would probably be impossible with any distortion pedal, but this thing sure sounds generic. I can almost get a good Metallica-type sound, but that's only if I crank it to the max and cut out the mid. Wow, how original! NOT.

It's not easy to get the sound you're looking for, but becuase this pedal has many sets you'll get the right sounds. But it takes serveal hours...

I use an Ibanez RG and a Laney Amp. If your Level setting is high then it can be hard to keep your guitar quiet between the songs. Especially if you're standing near the amp. But the sound is great, i use the Iced Earth/Old Metallica type of dist.

I can always trust this pedal, but I always make sure to have a brand new battery to each gig. Or use the adaptor.

Never needed to ask them...

This pedal is awesome for the Thrash/Heavy Metal sound i use. I use this pedal and a BOSS DD-3 (Digital Delay) and they work perfect with each other.

I find it very easy to get a punk/metal sound out of this pedal, as punk and metal is all I play. The manual is crap however, but this pedal has gotten me through over 20 gigs and it sounds great.

I'm using a Fender Strat and a Princeton 65 amplifier with this pedal. I get no feedback at all without my noise gate. I can get all kinds or korn, pennywise and offspring type sunds out of it. All of my effect pedals (wah, flange, phase,delay,chorus,whammy and rotary) all sound great with this pedal.

Yes. I can depend on it. I would use it on ANY gig. Fall back is that it eats batteries like food.

Its boss :)

This is great for EVERYTHING I play. I wouldn't have it any other way.

If you have ever owned a pedal before you know what knobs do, everything here is clearly marked and easy to tweak. The variable mids allow for alot of sound possibilities,deep crunch,harsh buzzsaw tone,scouped chunk, all geard toward metal.

My rig is as follows, B.c. Rich Warlock-Metal Zone-Alesis Quadraverb Gt-Dod Super stereo chorus-Peavey Renown 112-Crate 150 Watt extension cab. Ive found the Metal zone has the distortion ive always wanted, I play grind and this pedal DOES grind, the sound of this pedal recorded is amazing, it has a very good heavily saturated slashing distortion, alone this pedal sounds a bit plain to me but through even my rig it sounds brutal. There is a bit of noise at max distortion settings but thats what you get with this much distortion, really isnt a prob, just crank the distortion back a bit and its unnoticable. It is clear Boss knew what they were doing with this pedal, it records brutal and sounds brutal, it is the pedal for metal even today.

I have heard of guys burning their pedals up by using certain adapters with them, use a Boss adapter like they say I guess, I use a 9v in mine. I doubt this thing would ever fail under normal conditions.

Never contacted them/had to.

I use this pedal for goregrind and it delivers, I dont know of any other pedal like this one, with the right amp this pedal would start to grow horns, sounds really good through my gear and records amazing.
If it were stolen im sure my pedal would immediately morph into a shark jawed sloth slug and eat the person who stole it, then promptly find its way back to me. I can see myself keeping this pedal forever, its a real metal pedal, not a pansy fag new g3ysh3t pedal.

If you are a buyer looking for Metal zone sounds I put a few here:
Http://www.geocities.com/metalzonemedia/

Overall a pedal with balls, sounds great.

easy to get the sound your looking for. that is only if you are looking for a metal tone

I use a Gibson Les Paul and a 50w Marshall. You can get a good metal sound with it. One reason I like this pedal is that you get four tones settings. Only problem is that no matter what setting its on you will get that metal sound.

Never had a problem with any of my boss pedals

I've been playing for eight years now and owned at least five distortion pedals. This is by far the best pedal I had for playing heavy songs.

I know it is not easy to get the sound you really want to hear with that stompbox. I took two months to get the sound I wished with my MT2. But if you are a real guitarrist, you won't worry about spending a lot of time trying to get a good sound from something. And if you do, you'll get GREAT sounds with this little shit. You just need patience and a humbucker.

As I said, you need a humbucker. Forget about your strat. I play it with my Les Paul Gothic, which has a very high output level, and it sounds great. and hey, I DON'T PLAY METAL!!!! I play punk/rock, but I like the sound of a heavy rhythm guitar on my band. I don't want to sound like anyone, I just want a nice distortion for my guitar. And that's the box for distortion. Feedback? Yes, a lot. And I love it, if you want to know.

I know it's a tank, but the input and output jacks had problems. It always do, with those pedals. I've already opened it, to see how it works, and can tell you that I'll stop living before it stops working.

never dealt with them

I don't know if it makes my guitar lose it's personality. What I know is that it sounds f*$#@ng good. And that's what really matters. If it were stolen or lost, I would buy two more, just to make sure I won't spend any other day of my life without it.

This thing is pretty easy to use. If you play with it for a few minutes you'll understand everything and be ready to go. Boss's manual offers some nice settings in the manual but you can easily find the sound you want with some tweaking.

I've been playing a little over two years and play an ESP EX-351 Explorer (awesome guitar) through a 535Q wah, SD-1, DS-1, and MT-2, into a Behringer Blue Devil. This pedal almost always sounds awesome. At high volumes it can be a little noisy and if you roll of the Dist knob you can quiet it with out losing any of your sound. The EQ on it is really nice to have and can really help shape the sound and get a wide variety of distortions. I play alot of Metallica, Megadeth, Pantera, BLS, Ozzy, pretty much anything heavy and this thing does the job something awesome.

It is a boss

Haven't really had to deal with them.

The Metal Zone is what I've been looking for. I've played through many 'metal' pedals but this one is the best I've heard. It's great for metal and hard rock, but can you can tweak the settings to get softer or heavier sounds as you please. If it were stolen or lost I'd buy a new one for sure. Once you find your settings, just plug it in and rip.

It's very hard to get the sound you're looking for. it's hard to get a good equalizing, it takes a few hours.. the manual is not very good.. the "fuzz" patch is the only one i like, but it's not a fuzz sound

I play Fender strat>Korg ax1g (sometimes..)>MT-2>Fender FrontmanReverb. the effect unit is noisy, i reccomend a noise filter like the carl martin noise filter, play a barre-chord: you can't hear anything but distortion, not the tones. this pedal is great if you like metallica, play a humbucking guitar and got a valve amp. single coils and the mt-2 is a totally wrong combination. the mt-2 was a birthday present, i haven't played one before I got this one. it's not really my sound, but i will keep this pedal. it isn;t great for rock solo's anyway.. maybe i'll try it with a carl martin contour n boost and an equalizer.. i haven't found my perfect sound yet, i won't give it up.

... it's Boss, ...

never dealt with boss

I play metal/rock, but this pedal is not my kind of metal.. i don't think yet i would buy it again if it were stolen. i love the look, i love boss, but this pedal is.. designed for limp bizkit i suppose! not the sound i like, but i haven't got a metal guitar (strat) cauz i my favourite artisit is still jimi hendrix and not wes borland.... this pedal only produces metal-distortion, not "a wide range of distortions is at my command" :( I think i'll buy a turbo-overdrive, i think that's the best for me.

I think you must play it before you buy it.. test it with a few other pedals.

I just wanted to be the 585th reviewer of this pedal. I've never seen so many responses. It's a stomp box with 5 knobs, the 5th being a mid-freq dialer. Not a problem.

I don't care about your setup, and I'm not going to waste time talking about mine. Except for the use of a noise suppressor. This thing will feedback like the devil without use of a suppressor in front. I find it necessary.

Sound quality. Eh, its pretty good for a very high-gain box. I especially like the mid-frequency dialer. Very wide range of distortion. People complain about this thing eating up your tone. Its almost an oxymoron. Its the purpose of this pedal. Don't waste your time trying to dial in smoothe warm overdrive, cause this one ain't gonna give it to you. You should only dial in killer metal sounds. And it CAN sound pretty good with proper tweaking of the EQ on the box, your amp, and better yet a multi-band EQ. I've seen some really good death metal bands use this pedal on stage, of course, not all by itself. I don't really know of another box that generates as much gain and allows this much mid-range tweaking.

I've had the box for about 8 years and I think the input/output jacks (sorry for the terminology, it seems there might be better terms) are getting pretty scratchy and sometimes my signal cuts out and I have to wiggle the cords around to get the signal back. I have a DM-2 that's much older and don't have any problems with it's jacks, though. Overall, I think thats a freak thing and might need some tightening up or some of that magic spray all the techs use. I'd gig with it, although I don't play in a metal band and its not in my usual setup.

I hope to never deal with these people. And if it broke, I wouldn't replace it, nor repair it, nor shed a tear.

I've said all I need to I think. Anything more would be wasting both our time.

Pretty easy, just a quick read through the manual thing and then experiment. Just a bit of playing around with the midrange needed to see what that does...

I use a variety of knackered guitars into a cheapish amp. I was looking for a big fuck-off meaty distortion, i tried the DS-1 and some others but they didn't have enough gain, this was the best thing i've heard. Turn up everything on this pedal and you've got a total headfuck. I'm technically a very shit guitarist, i'm more into throwing stuff around on stage and slagging off rival bands then soloing, but this pedal does the job i need, i.e. creating a very nasty noise.

I haven't owned it for long so nothing on this one yet..

I play sort of erm...noisecore and it does the job very well for that. Coupled with more distortion and delay this is great fun. And it has lots of gain...the only problem i've had is it doesn't create enough feedback. Fuck solos and technical profiency. Have fun. Screw peoples heads up. Heehee.

I just have to respond to the completely off base, close minded recent submission I just read on this pedal. My fellow guitarist in our band plays a Metal Zone, so I've had a chance to jam on it. I also own and play many Boss pedals, among them the famed DS-1, a recently aquired Blues Driver, and a SD-1 Overdrive. I have alot of other buzz machines too. Dist+, Big Mf, Expandora, RM Voodoo-1, Tube Driver, Real Tube, TC Booster/Line Driver, RAT(big box), Sans ampGT2, XXL, DOD250, Tube Screamer, Yamaha DG Stomp, Muff Fuzz, SHO, Groove Tubes Trio, Blue Box. I have old Fender amps, a Boogie, and a THD tweed Bassman knockoff. They all get used with various attenuators. Varieties of distortion are a fascinating thing for all of us and we all react to them differently. So I think it's pretty lame for someone to suggest that a mere tool among thousands could be so limiting in the face of human inspiration and will. Guitarists of all styles have done amazing things with the simplest, most generic instruments and gadgets. I beg to differ with this person's attitude that we all will sound alike if we play Boss pedals. Don't forget Bubba, tone is really in the hands and head. For just one minute Sir, be receptive to the notion that Keith Richards, Billy Gibbons, or Pat Metheny could all play through a Metal Zone into a Crate and sound like themselves. Keith would probably turn his Tele down since the Zone is so high gain, Billy would probably crank it and pour Tequila on it, and god knows what Pat would do but I'm sure it would be amazing. I really feel sorry for this guy(sounds like a guy) if he leaves a club because he SEES someone playing through a Metal Zone. I wonder if he can really HEAR what he hates so much. Seems like other issues are actually at work. If you're so miffed that alot of people love(or hate) the Zone and want to express thier take on it, however brilliant or banal, you don't have to read them. I once saw a gal band(yeah, that kind) and the lead guitarist was playing a Parker Fly getting this great Rock, not necessarily Metal tone. I went up there to say hello and find out what she was using and it was a Metal Zone into some can't even remember cheese amp set clean. She was awesome. Sorry Bud, you're missing out.

Sure, maybe you really don't like the particular noise this pedal makes, and maybe your ears are fabulous enough to be able to tell no matter who's playing it that yes, that is a Boss Metal Zone I am hearing and oh my god I better leave the room, but jeez Bubba, don't attempt to ruin it for the rest of us. Most of us can't tell and we're too busy grooving out to the chick band with the cool lead player and her rockin' guitar sound. You see there buddy, I myself have a particular aversion to Tube Screamers. I think I can actually tell when someone is using one, or one of it's many knockoffs. I've not been a big fan of the half clean, half distorto no low end sound they make and I hear many people getting that sound. I prefer more of a full on wail. But instead of running from the room and lambasting thier existence and anyone who uses one, I usually find myself hearing the player's personality and style transcend the tools he or she is using. Sometimes it might take alittle tolerance and patience, even compassion that they can't afford a better rig(ok I'm joking). I mean come on, just because I'm not a TS9 freak doesn't mean I can't enjoy Eric Johnson or SRV or Trey Anastasio? from Phish. Funny how those three guys alone sound completely different with such a common, arguably generic, over hyped, over modded, over reviewed pedal. I'll bet there are way more reviews on the many members of Tubescreamerville than the 500 or so(+1)MZ ones you're complaining about. Quit it.

Dude, get a real problem and leave us Metal Zoners alone.

Dude, it's a Boss. Don't knock it.

These reviews are one of the best places to learn about almost any stomp box out there. Especially for people who aren't able to purchase them right away or lack experience with what certain pedals do. I've certainly gathered alot of invaluable info from HC. Yes, some of it can be redundant and boring. But just as much is enlightening. Keep those reviews coming.

What, are we at 583 reviews of this thing now? Please, for the love of whatever you believe to be Holy, stop reviewing this pedal.

Everyone in the history of guitar playing knows what this pedal sounds like. It's a tone-homogenizer. It doesn't matter what you play in front or behind it, it sounds like a Metalzone. If you like losing your character and individuality (and if you play a Crate or a Peavey maybe that's a good thing), get a Metalzone.

If you're trying to find YOUR sound, this ain't it. In fact most Boss pedals ain't it. They are industry standards because that's what they do - make your tone into a standard. If you play in a cover band, or DO want to sound like everyone else - get thee to GC and grab a handful of Boss pedals.

If I see one more person post, "Like a tank" or "it's a Boss"...

Whatever.

Please, please, please stop reviewing this pedal. Hell, stop reviewing Boss pedals period.

There are some decent Boss pedals out there, but we know what they sound like - all of them. A blind man on a galloping horse knows what they look/sound/feel like. Sure tons of pros use them - hooray, but I can't think of a single pro with a tone I admire that uses Boss pedals. Not 1. Zero. And if I'm at a show with someone using a Metalzone, I'm the guy at the door trying to get his money back - I don't pay for a bad meal, and I don't pay for bad tone. Please stop. I'm begging.

I was suprised at the adjustablility of this pedal. When properly adjusted this pedal could produce basically the same sound as all the other distortion pedals and racks. It's amazing what you can do with six knobs. The sweepable mid adjustment can REALLY change the whole charactor of your sound. I believe having twice as many knobs as some other distortion pedals actually makes it easier to use than most, even though it looks more complicated. Boss really did their homework on the adjustments of this pedal.

I brought my guitar and amp to a local music store today in an effort to decide on a distortion box. After nearly two grueling hours of switching from one box to the other, I came home with the Boss MT-2. I tried everything they had, Rats, Tube Screamers, some old used stomp boxes, multi pedals, and even some rack stuff. I used my main guitar (Ibanez RG350DX) with a newly aquired set of DiMarzio Breeds. The amp used was my Crate (GFX212) Set to the "Clean" channel with the bass, mid a high all set in the middle. I really can't believe the flexability of this little box. I have always been happy with my other Boss pedals, but the sound of this thing really put a smile on my face. It is a little on the noisy side when compared to the rack stuff and multi effect pedals, but it also doesn't sound like it's been run through a main frame computer and spit out a USB port. As long as you keep the "level" under the 1:00 position the MT-2 is more than quiet enough. I would give this pedal an "11" regarding sound quality if it weren't for the noise. It gets a 9 here only because of the small amount of hum. Which by the way is no more hum than any other pedal I tried. I am currently running this pedal with a Boss DD-3 Digital Delay, CS-3 Compressor/Sustainer, GE-7 EQ and CE-5 Chorus.

My experience with Boss pedals has always been great. Over the last 13 years I have owned a little over a dozen Boss pedals and never had a single problem with any of them. (KNOCK ON WOOD) Given my experience with boss I would gig without a spare adn feel totally confident.

Never dealt with them. Don't know.

This pedal is perfect for my new progressive metal project. I can't wait to get these songs done and go giggin with it. I have been playing for about 15 years and I can't believe I waited so long to get this thing. If it were stolen I would track down and arrest the perp. But if my detective skills were unable to apprehend him/her I would go buy another a.s.a.p.
At the risk of sounding like a boss salesman, I would say to anyone that this pedal can do it all. From Stevie Ray bluesy sound to shredding type Pantera sound this pedal is a steal at three times the price.

It's got a 4 knob equalizer, distortion knob, and level knob... With a bit of tweaking you can get heaps of cool sounds.. But if your into like indie/modern rock, or classic, could be hard to get the tones you want. Though this thing handles Metal pretty cool. One things for sure though.... NEVER have the distortion up all the way... The pitch become almost monotonous, and way too distorted. It can be a good pedal, if you know exactly the sounds your after. I'd tend to steer clear of this if your after like a general purpose thing, not unless to spend heaps of time tweaking around with the knobs and external eq.

Metal, metal and more metal... But after hours of fiddling, maybe something else.

It's a BOSS!! fark yeah!...
Theres a pretty amusing story on my behalf. I bought this pedal as an emergency replacement after my good old DS1 got swiped (sigh). Anyways.. on the night after (our first gig).. I unfortunately submerged this thing into a huge puddle of water.. (accidently). I was devasted!!!.... I dried it under the hand drier in the loo, and guess what?.. It still didn't work... The LED kept buzzing faintly... Pissed off... I left it aside and did the gig with no distortion.. (far out, that was bad).... The next day I took it out... the LED seemed to work again... so I hooked it up... But obviously it still didn't work.. The sound was all crackly.. and the levels kept fluctuating.. So I took it apart.... I left it for days until it was completely dried, then put it together!!!... YEEESSS! to my suprise, it worked perfectly after that!.. I was so stoked... Bosses are built like tanks... they can take anything... and from my experience, even an underwater submergence!!!.. hahaha

I bought it used... I dunno....

It's alright.... Good for metal though.. But not my cup of tea... I probably wouldn't buy it again though, probably go for something like a DS2. I can get some decent tones... but a slip of a knob could render the tone into something that I don't really want

As with all the Boss pedals I've used, this pedal is easy to use. With 4 EQ knobs its really easy to adjust the sound too. The Insturction manual aslo gives some samples for the different settings you can can use for getting the sound your looking for.

Even though you can get several types of sounds out of this pedal, there is only one sound that you really should be looking for, and that's HEAVY METAL. Well, it's safe to say that this pedal delivers that really heavy sound straight to your amplifier, IT ROCKS. Although saying that, it does help to plug it into an Eq to further enhance the sound to your desire. I own a BC Rich Warlock equipped with Demarzio Super Distortion pickups which really boosts the quality. Also my Metal Zone is plugged into a Bozz GE-7 EQ pedal to add crunch and tone to the sound, and finally these two pedals are plugged directly into a Marshal JCM 900 amp.

Like any other Boss pedal, this is one tough mother to crack. It's as solid as a stone and haven't once had a problem with it. Also, the knobs on the pedal don't get adjusted when you stomp on it thus reducing any alterations in sound quality whilst playing.

Ain't had no problems yet.

This pedal gets a good rating from me because I love heavy metal and hard rock and the MT-2 Metal Zone delivers the sound I need. I reckomend plugging this beast into an equalizer though to give the sound a bit more crunch otherwise it can sound a bit fuzzy. But through an EQ pedal and a decent amp this pedal ROCKS. I play various music ranging from Metalica, Pantera and Marylin Manson.

You really have to tinker around with it to get a good sound, spend some time at it and eventually you can get it. NOT OFR THE IMPATIENT.

I use an esp guitar with it. There are two separate sounds for it, Real good or a blender with rocks in it sounds better. It has some cool settings in the book but it they are a little too trebly sound and sound thin. You have to tinker around

Extremely dependable

Never dealt with them...

I play metal(duh) and it gets the job done. Gives an awesome metallica tone but it isn't ballsy enough for pantera. If anyone knows any sweet setting for pantera on this email me...

Very easy to use but a lot of possibilities for setting it up. The manual is perfect there are a lot of settings for every style of music in it!

I can't understand this Suckers who are writing such bad Reviews.....
THIS ONE IS A KILLER!!!!!
I am using it with an Ibanez GRX40 thru an Marshall MG80RCD, push the Level and Distortion Knob only to "half", its enough, if you are going further it will buzz. I like Soulfly and this Soundtank "Bring it". I can't understand why some Suckaz are complaining: It has lows and sustain like a wall of Monster-Amps and the highs and mids which cut thru everything!!!!! I think this one will beat everything.

Hey, its Boss I think they are built to last and will survive an nuclear-War!

Heaven't dealt with Boss, but its very nice: 5 years Warranty on every Product.

With this Killah you'll get every Distortion-Sound you ever thought of. If you like very hard music (I mean VERY VERY VERY hard music) this is your Soundtank, but you can also go for Punk,Rock and other music which crunches. EXCITING, try it, its worth every buck !!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's very easy to use. 6 knobs give you everything what you want.

I'm using Ibanez RG with FRED ang PAFPRO hum.,and Marshall VS65R 112. Mt-2 always make sound great, powerful and clean. I can get Satriani's and Vai's, rock, metal and blues sound without any problems.

I bought it 6 mounth ago and I haven't had any problems so far. :)

You should buy Boss Adapter for this effect.

I play rock like Satch and Vai, and metal like Metallica and Megadeth. Mt-2 always do sound great.

You don't have to be a rocket engineer to figure out how to set the sound that you want... 6 knobs, playing around with them makes it really easy to get your dream sound. The manual has some presets (like heavy metal) which helped me getting started. Also shows everything you need to know on how to install it.

Right now I'm using a Crate Electra guitar and a 30 watt Fender Champion 30 amp. The sound is amazing even with my below-mediocre guitar.

I never had a technical problem with it so far... I've had it for about 5 months.

The guy who sold me the pedal told me it was the heaviest pedal they have in store and I was just looking for a heavy metal pedal and I am very satisfied with it... not to mention 120$ Can is very cheap for a top quality performance pedal.

Easy to use. Turn the knobs a bit and you'll find your settings pretty soon.
The manual is very brief, but everything you need to know is there.

I use a Ibanez S470 with stock pickups through a Marshall VS265.
When I just bought this pedal, I thought it sounded really great and I would have given it a 10. After a while, I added a equalizer and it sounded so much better, so good that I thought that the MT-2 without the equalizer sounded really dull and empty. There wasn't any power in it.
I upgraded my amp to a Marshall JCM 2000 TSL100 and I got rid of the MT-2, it sounded good through that amp, even without an equalizer, but when you play really fast your notes get lost in the fuzz.
This is a good pedal for a beginner and I think this is the closest you can get to a good metalsound without a tube amp, but I recommend adding an equalizer (BOSS GE-7).

Never had any problems with it, I used it for two years. It's very well-built.

never dealt with them.

Well, I play metal and as i said above, I think this is the closest you can get if you want a decent metalsound, but add an equalizer.
I was very pleased with this pedal until I bought my valve amp.

This pedal is pretty straightforward, the mid frequency vs. range is about the touchiest thing on here, and that gets quite annoying

I used this through some different amps at the store with an Ibanez RG something (an RG is an RG), through my friend's MG50 with a Washburn something, and through a Fender RocPro 1000 with an Ibanez something or other (yeah, I'm too lazy to look) I'm a tube distortion man, and this thing doesn't do tube distortion. Why? cause it's not a tube pedal - no surprise. WIth the gain cranked, you get fuzz. with the gain at 2, you get overdrive, but not warm overdrive. With the mids "scooped", bass at 8, treble at 6 (a very typical "metal" setup) the sound achieved was muddy unless the gain was placed at about 6, in which case, much of the distortion (fuzz?) was lost. Touchy touchy little thing when you mess aroudn with its mid freq/range. This pedal does make noise, so I would recommend either getting used to turning your amp off everytime you stop playing (which is very baaaaad) or getting a noise gate) I couldn't get the sound I wanted to emulate other bands, why? Because the guitars weren't they're guitars. give up folks, they have their tone because of the whole setup, and this little digital pedal isn't gonna do it.

Boss, Boss, Boss. Heavy duty, been dropped plenty o' times, still works (fuzzes!)

As a metalhead who just wants to crank the gain and make some noise, go right ahead. For the sound I want (tube tube tube...) it's not gonna cut it. I've been playing 3 years, started as a metalhead, but I've graduated to other styles, from jazz to funk to latin, and even if I wanted to add distortion to those styles (trust me, funk gets heavy) this wouldn't be my first choice. Smashing pumpkins saturation comes to mind with this, but this isn't a big muff, and imitations aren't my thing. Bottom line - you wanna make noise, and crank out the fuzzzzzzy riffs, go for it. If you want a lead tone that soars and sustains, or a crunch from a good ol' tube, this isn't it.

4 knobs, a drive and a volume.. not brain surgery

Absolute crap.. Everyone talks about sustain on this thing.. Me and my friend both have metal zones, both frequently cut out on the note, and it produces an annoying wavvy effect.. Not to mention the distortions are rather digital sounding. Wish i had put the extra 50 into a tube pedal

Its sound quality seems to vary from crap to I could make
better sound with my guitar plugged into a lawn mower.. However
it makes noise every time I turn it on.. Is that reliable? sure.
Yu can depend on it sounding like shit.

No clue.

Ill give it a three, occasionally I think i get a decent sorta
fuzzy sound sound out of it.. Otherwise.. dont get it.

The knobs are really touchy. You need to spend about 20mins to get a half decent sound out of it.

Don't laugh here..... I have a Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier, into a Rectifier 4x12. I say don't laugh because I thought I could get better distortion than 14 tubes could offer... hahahaha! I was very disappointed. The unit manages to screw up the sound of a great amp. I guess if you have a inferior amp, then you might use this as a band aid. If you own a 3x Rect. then don't waste your time. Even with the MT-2 set up on the clean channel of the Mesa, it sounds like garbage. I don't know who would use this pedal for distortion, unless you are playing on some solid state piece of crap...

Boss makes great pedals, this isn't one of them. I love their flanger!

5 year warranty, can't beat that!

Don't buy this pedal if you have a good amp! I made that mistake, and will be returning it to the store. Always buy from a store that has a good return policy. Don't buy this pedal off ebay or used, because you will end up with a pedal you wish you could return!

Very easy, xcept for the eq, might take you a while to get your sound.

Okay. Now all the people that hate the MT-2 just listen here. When I play the MT-2 solely, I really think that the sound is unprofessional and thin. What I do, is put the BOSS GE-7 EQ behind it, and crank the mids a little, just tweak it to your liking. Now you can get ANY metal sound you want. I'm not saying ANY distortion, 'cause thats not true. The combination MT-2 + GE-7 gives you a professional sounding distortion, with lots of capabilities to colour the sound. I recommend everyone that says the MT-2 is crap, to try it with the GE-7 behind it. You'll be amazed, trust me.

They should've used BOSS pedals as armor for the WTC

I play Metallica, Iron Maiden, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Napalm Death, Judas Priest, Joe Satriani, Motorhead, Hammerfall, etc.
This pedal is the one i need (maybe except for Led Zep and AC/DC, but then I use my JCM800's own sound).

Easy to use, getting a sound you want can be hard sometimes

Some people love this thing, others hate it. It really depends on what you wanna sound like. If your into new metal, industrial, or thrash metal its pretty good. But its very noisy. USE A NOISE GATE!! thats my best advice when you use this pedal. The high ends have a digital bite to them. Very rammstein sounding, in fact it sounds nearly 90% the same as rammstein's sehnsucht album when the highs are turned to max, maybe with a little less crunch put pretty damn close. Dosen't sound have the glassy crunch tone that limp bizkit has so you will be dissapointed there. Good megadeth sound also. Dosen't have the sound metallica has on the black album. That tone requires a lot of EQ'ing. Same with pantera, you have to do lots of EQ'ing with pre-amp's and band equilizers to get dimebags sound. The mids on this pedal don't have any crunch, very nasally so don't use the midrange. The mid freq. knob changes the sound from tight metal tones to fuzz tones. When turned all the way down it becomes very tight and biting, then it starts turning to a fuzz distortion when its at around 12'clock, turned all the way it becomes a kind of midrangey fuzz that isn't to great sounding. Turn the bass all the way up, this pedal needs more bass. If you could change it to a thicker bassy crunchy distotion then I'd give it a higher rating, but I can't get that sound from it. But to give you an idea on what it sounds like its has a very rammsteiny chugging type distortion

Built like a tank

Never called em.

I play all kinds of music. This pedal is good for a thrashy type of metal, not much else. If it were stolen I'd maybe look into something else. The best advice I could give on this pedal would be to use a noise gate, otherwise there will be too much static and noise, espesially when playing through a 4x12 cab or PA. Try it out at the store before you buy it..

Very easy.....just 6 knobs.......

Not bad for beginners.....but this thing compare to Mesa Rectifier is as thin as hell.......but if u don't have the money and love to have some high gain metal sound, this is not a bad choice..

Is a boss and tough like hell...

As I have said, it can give u tones of gain and a wide range of metal sound but is kinda thin and fuzzy.....

This pedal rocks! You can get any kind of distortion sound, if you are a metal guitarist, you should definately buy this pedal.

The sound quality is awesome, it sounds the best with an AC adapter, which everyone should own, it has an great distortion/metal effect, you can do a lot of stuff with this pedal.

If you take care of it and use it the right way, its very reliable.

I walked into Guitar Center, grabbed a BcRich plugged in a tested it, no problems what so ever, they were all helpful.

I give this pedal a 10. I've been playing for 2 years with a BcRich Supreme Warlock into a 120wat Crate amplifier, and it sounds great. I play metal,alternative related music (SlipKnoT, Soulfly, KoRn, System of a Down, orgy) Everyone should get this pedal!

any being with a logical mind can do it.

I use a strat> CS3> MT2> GE7> DD2> peavey bandit and it sounds good. An important box for my arsenal. I can control my MIDS with this one.
Distortion at max really bleeds.

Very dependable. Built like a TANK.

No problem so far.

I play Black Sabbath to Cannibal Corpse. I also do Satriani, Vai,Moore stuffs. I think this box could do the sustain and gain I need.I've been playing for about 10yrs now. Compared to other distortion peds, the dual gain circuitry helps a lot especially for my sustain and crunch. Also good for palm muting.

Well... it isn't hard to get a cool sound from this baby, but to get the absolute sound that you want is a little bit harder.

I use it with a Marshall valve stack and the sound is FU..ING great!!!!!!!!!
I havn't heard any heavier dist. than this one.
One minus for the noise thou...
Easy fixed with the Boss Noise Surpressor.

Like said in the past by many men... ...it's a BOSS!!!

See above... ...i have had my boss for 4 years now so i dunno...

What would i do without it??????

It's easy enough to use. 6 knobs. Level, Bass, High, Mid, Mid freq., and Gain.

Ok, i bought this pedal about three years ago.
And it doesn't seem like three years is all that long. But if you look at the way musicians evolve, it's quite awhile. Back then, i liked the midrange to be in the negative zone. If i played with an amp in a music store, before i even turned it on, i turned the mid all the way down, the bass, treble, and gain all the way up. That's just stupid. In my evolution as a musician, i've noticed that the longer people play, the closer to real tone they get. They grow closer to home so to speak. Their tone get's more earthy, gains more presence and definition. And that's the exact opposite of what a Metal Zone gives you. With a Metal Zone, you hide any hint of tone behind a wall of gain enduced static. A barr chord literally sounds like tearing paper amplified. And i admit, there are certain uses for a sound like that. Like... NIN. But i don't play NIN. And i'm not one of those vintage tone, classic rock assholes either. I just appreciate good sound when i hear it. And if i were playing through a wall of Mesa Triple Rectifiers and this pedal, this pedal would ruin it.

It's a Boss. And if you can break it, you must be superhuman.

No idea.

As i said before.
If you're one of those undershaved, blonde ponytail, skateboarding, godsmack loving punks... you'll love this pedal. Because if you're looking for obscene amounts of gain, with absolutely no presence, tone, or feel, you will love this. But if you're looking for something that's not going to sound like white noise when recorded, buy a Mesa Triple Rectifier. Or a Hughes & Kettner Triaxis. Or anything. Except this.
So if you'll excuse the review i wrote three years ago. I've grown since then.

Can 4 knobs really confuse anybody? Nice manual, useless guide on pre-setting the knobs. I suppose you can fiddle with it.

This thing SUCKS! I can't believe that I actually bought this piece of shit. I read every review here at Harmony-Central - some people dug it, some loathed it. Regardless, I found one for the low, low price of $70 - the price ALONE should have made realize that something was wrong with it. After much debating in my head I decided to purchase it. It was new, in perfect condition w/warrantee. And wouldn't you know, as soon as I got it home and plugged it in...it sounded like gurgled static! People, it IS as big of a piece of shit as the other reviewers say it is. If you find one, STEER CLEAR OF IT!!!!! DOD GRUNGE kick ass all over this noise box, and that should tell you all you need to know. Others have stated that you can get good sound out of it if you ALREADY have good gear. IF I HAD THE BEST GEAR, WHY THE **** WOULD I NEED A PEDAL, LET ALONE THIS USELESS PEDAL??? And even if I did have the best gear, I sure doubt this pedal would improve the tone. BUYER BEWARE!!

It's a BOSS - it should last for quite a while. Unless I take my shotgun and put the groaning thing out of it's misery like it needs to be...

I have never needed to contact them.

I play metal. Not with this pedal though! In closing, all I can say is that BOSS dropped the ball with this one. Leave it alone and get ANYTHING else. Learn from my mistake. But if you don't I will happily sell you mine for $70 (shipped).

This pedal is not a 1 trick pony. It can get a wide range of distortion sounds. So, it may take you a little bit to learn what makes up the distortion you like. But, once you know, you will definitely be able to dial it in with this pedal. This pedal has an exceptional range. I give it a 10 because even though it's tricky on day 1, it is very easy to get a wide range of sounds with once you are familiar with the controls.

KICKS ASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This pedal gets low end like no other pedal. The distortion is nice and creamy - not gagy like some other pedals. In the beginning, it's tempting to use a really scooped sound but with a band you'll want to also crank the mids to cut through. With this pedal, you'll no longer need a compressor for sustain because the sustain is great with this pedal. It simply sounds awesome. If you can't get a good sound with it than you just don't know what you're doing.

I have 2 of them and beat the hell out of them. They still work perfectly.

Boss is very good. You can call them directly and talk to a tech who knows what's going on. Also, most of your local electronic repair stores can work on them without an issue if you need it. I have 15 Boss pedals. The footswitch on a 15 year old compressor needed to be replaced. Otherwise, they've held up perfectly.

Buy this pedal for distortion - period. Buy a SD-1 or TS9 for overdrive.

Never had a manual, but knowledge of sweepable/parametric mid range eqs is a definate must.

I have recently switched rigs, but I have found that the amp and preamp you use with this pedal, as well as the pickups you use will determine your overall satisfaction with this pedal.

My previous setup consisted of the following: Vester Custom Shop (yeah...the one Yngwie used to play) with EMG-85's in both bridge and neck position -> Boss TU-2 Tuning Pedal -> Boss CS-3 Compression Sustainer -> Boss MT-2 -> a random assortment of tone coloring effects (or none at all) -> Crate TV-50 50 watt tube head -> Crate straight compact 4x12 cab (GX series).

With this setup the pedal was quite noisy at almost all levels, and at higher volumes, the clarity almost disappeared. The pedal became completely uncontrollable, almost grating to listen to when pushed. I would have to crank the bass up, sweep the mids back to a low-mid range frequency, and nearly dial out the highs. Even through a low saturation 6L6 (GT 4) the mids were lacking and the highs sounded somewhat brittle and had a digital bite to them when edged up. However, when the settings were in the rare sweet spot, the crunch was great and the rhythm tone was thick, and the compressor tightened up the sound overall.

I have since been blessed enough to move past this beginner's amp and get a completely new, more reliable (and respectable) setup: same guitar with EMG-85s -> Boss TU-2 -> Boss MT-2 -> the same random assortment of tone coloring effects -> Presonious Blue Tube mic/instrument preamp -> Mesa/Boogie 50/50 stereo tube amp -> Crate straight compact 4x12 cab (GX series).

After the first run through with testing this current setup, I completely fell in love with the Metal Zone again. Admittedly Mesa/Boogie and Presonious play a serious part in this revival, but in this setting, there seems to be nothing lacking. So far.... The Blue Tube pre adds the midrange warmth needed to make the MT-2 have a seriously competitive tone (warm and smooth, yet still crunchy and raw), and the Boogie 50/50 provides the solid warmth of 6L6 tubes to complete this KO punch. I have also noticed that even though the pedal gives off an ambient hum from the dual gain circuitry (as to be expected), it is nowhere near as obnoxious as before with the Crate. Could it be that a better amp will make this pedal perform extremely well?? *gasp* Perish the thought that the overall quality of your tone is limited by your crappiest piece of gear....

Which reminds me...I never realised that despite their questionable amp electronics, Crate can make a pretty good cabinet. This compact 4x12 absolutely growls now. Never saw that one coming....

I will also admit that since I have changed setups, I have used my preamp and presence controls on my amp to get the greatest variance of tones, but slight adjustments to the eq section of the pedal are still necessary. I could honestly get just about any tone necessary for blues to hardcore and metal out of this setup within moments. But again, it is much more than this stompbox making the tone.

I have a power adapter bay (5 spots), which unfortunately I forget the make and model of presently, but short of this power adapter blowing and me running out of 9 volt batteries, I would (and do) gig without a backup.

Fortunately I've never had to deal with their customer service, so I can't really rate it, but if the brutish construction of their boxes is any indication of the type of people they hire for the Boss factory, I wouldn't want to run into any of them in a dark alley - even the technical and customer support people....

So yeah...I've been playing guitar for 50 gazillion years now and I've toured all over Europe and even to the rings of Uranus, and what I've discovered is the Gospel for all to hail and live by. Jimi is God. No wait...Steve Vai is...no, umm...what about that Swedesh guy that designed my guitar and has no vowels in his first name? Crap, I can't forget Clapton...or that one guy that plays blues all the time....or...or...or....

No really...I've actually been playing guitar for a measley 6 years, and have toured locally for short while. I can't sweep pick and I've never really found the urge to either, which probably comes from working at Guitar Center and dealing with bedroom shredders all day - I hope you all win the lottery, because you keep food on my table and gas in my tank. God bless yas! :oP Seriously though...I mostly play a brand of hardcore and punk and my personal focus is mainly on rhythm (remnants of my days as a bassist) and intelligently designed progressions, rather than shredding and bodacious leads.

< Insert groans and immediate dismissal of review's validity based on poster's musical tastes and inability to play a lead to save his butt here. Heh...and you all thought I could shred. >

With that said, for those of you who don't read gear reviews on a constant basis and try to glean the smallest chunks of information from lines upon lines of braggadocio and praises of guitar icons, then these tiny nuggets of information are for you.

1 - When creating your tone, you need to consider every piece that is introduced to your system, from your picks and strings down to your choice of tubes (or lack thereof) and cabling.

2 - There is no perfect system for everyone. The Metal Zone is not meant to be your Buddy Guy porch beater, otherwise it would have a catchier name. This pedal is meant to be the hardest and meanest sonofabitch out there, and under the correct settings, it can be absolutely devastating.

3 - With that said and done, lets talk about pickups. I would not suggest running a single coil pickup through this pedal - which means, no Billy, your single coil $100 Squier will NEVER sound like Dimebag. If you do happen to use a non-humbucking pickup, then more than likely you will need something with some serious oompf to boost the mids and help solve the problem of this pedal sounding brittle. E.G. some serious EQ tweaking before or after the pedal, and probably a bit of processing here and there to add warmth. So my suggestion would be to get some active, humbucking pickups that are designed for getting a hot sound INTO the pedal before it begins to process the signal.

4 - Are other processors necessary to make this pedal sound great? NO. Processors are not necessary with a good preamp/amp setup. I run my pedal virtually dry into my preamp and amp and get a great tone, with minimal EQing on the pedal itself. Please do consider, however, that I am running this pedal through a very clean, very rich TUBE preamp (*sniffle* God bless the people at Presonious for making amazing tube gear) and into one of the harbingers of great tone, a TUBE driven Mesa/Boogie power amp, which brings us to my next and final point...

5 - Do I need a tube amp for this pedal? As far as I'm concerned, absolutely, but I am a die hard tube amp fan. Line 6 and Johnson amps frighten me, but I do admit that they do a great job of EMULATING a tube sound. Its just not the same though. I would be interested to see how this pedal fares being pushed through an Aphex 104 Aural Exciter or similar processor into a solid state amp - yes Billy, we may actually get that Bandit of yours sounding like Dimebag with this pedal after all....


I'll [finally] conclude by saying this pedal is NOT for everyone, which means that more than likely, it may not be for you. Do some soul searching and find out exactly what you want out of your tone before you get disappointed with a pedal that does one or two specific things frightening

Hard at first but you soon get used to it

There is no comparison. I use it through a Marshall and i get fucken ripper distortion. If you want a good sound for anything from rock metal or limp bizkit sort of shit i strongly advise you get one

i've had mine for years now and i kick it round and leave it out to rust but it still works beautilfully. Basically you won't have any trouble with reliability if you keep checking the battery.

I've never had any problems whatsoever with mine and have never had to deal with company

I play mainly rock and it matches this style perfectly. I've played for about 4 years and i use a wahburn axe with a marshall valvestate head with a quadbox. If it were stolen i would definately get another one cause i can't live without it. I love how you can get a really bassy distortion and there aint nothen i hate about it.

I bought this pedal off hear say without trying it out. It can be a little hard to use at first but the manuel gives you some good starting points. The pedal's is almost as important as you amps settings. Take some time with both & this pedal will be worth its weight in GOLD. I give it an 8 cause the controls are so sensitive.

I play it throught my Fender M-80 (solid state) w/4X12 cabnet. I have a B.C. Rich warlock tuned to B and a Ibanez RG520qs to drop Db. The sound you will get out of this pedal are Monsterous! I've used it trought other amps as well and the resoults are the same, KILLER! If you don't have the cash for the Mesa Boogie that the pros' use then this pedal will do you fine. I've read reviews here where people have said the pedal is crap and that the pros don't use distorion pedals, Bullshit! Dimebag used one early on. Steve Vai uses a Boss DS-1. The guy from Primus uses one. Curt Cobaine uses a DS-1. Munky of Korn use a DOD death metal pedal every now and then. So pedals can help you out. I used this pedal throught a Randal RG100 and it was awesome! Hence I bought a RG100. I used it throught a Crate Blue Voodoo and it was BadAss! The blue voodoo usely does not have any low end but this thing solved it. One thing if you play in a band you will want to put more mids in on our amp. Thats the trick for playing live as well. Put the mids in!

Its a Boss!

This pedal is awesome for anyone that plays any kind of Metal music. I can get the most saturated distortion from this box. From Metallica to Canibal Corpse. Last of all find a setting in the book and then start messing with you eq on your amp until you dial it in. Then use the knob on the pedal to fine tune it. Live on in a band add more mids in and you be living large.

I bought this pedal at the recommendation of a friend who knew I was looking for a new pedal. I went to Guitar Center and sat down with a Strat going through a Roland JC-77, and proceeded to play. I was not impressed at all. But I figured I should hold off on my opinion until I got it home and fired it up through my own stuff. If I didn't like it, I would just take it back. When I got it home and set it up and hit that first chord, it was amazing. I just started laughing because I didn't know you could get that great heavy tone from a little pedal. I really like this pedal in that it's got the on-board "EQ", so you can tweak the main spectrums to your liking. I can see it might take a little time to find the sound you want, but I believe what you get in return is worth a little experimenting!

I am using this pedal with a Fender Strat (EMG's- 89-SA-SA) and a Carvin 7 string through a Carvin Legacy 100-watt tube head into a Peavey straight faced 4x12 cabinet. Several other Boss effects are in there too...Dual Overdrive, Super Chorus, Digital Delay, Super Shifter, Digital Reverb, Tremolo, and a Cry Baby wah. I A-B'ed this with my Dual Overdrive, which I had been using for years, to see the difference, and it's like night and day. Don't get me wrong the OD-2 is a great pedal, very nice and warm, and great for blues or even fusion. But the MT-2 just is in another universe. This pedal just has balls for days. You don't even need to crank the gain all the way up to get a great tone. I found that even at 50%, it's stil got plenty of chunk. I play in an all original band (Filter, Deftones, Big Wreck type stuff), and I was looking for something new with a new sound, and boy did I find it. I think the problem here is that a lot of people who are reviewing this pedal are playing through amps which don't do this pedal justice. My Carvin makes this pedal sing. Just for fun I tried it through my Roland JC-120 at home, and it sounded like ass! :)
I found it to be a little hissy, but nothing a noise supressor or gate won't fix.

Well, i have only had it for a day, so no gig time with it yet, but that'll be fixed in a few days. It looks like it will be as reliable as all the Boss effects I have owned in the past. Never had a problem with any of them.

In all this time, i have never dealt with Boss/Roland customer support, so I can't answer.

I have been playing for about 13 years, and I have always been in love with Boss/Roland stuff. It's really good, reliable, and has NEVER let me down in a gig situation. Personally, I plan on lining the three distortion pedals that I own, the MT-2 the Dual Overdrive and the Ibanez Tube Screamer ( my only non-Boss pedal. Cut me some slack!) and lining 'em up so i am ready for any type of Overdrive that might be needed. I like to vary the sounds up a little bit.
I didn't really compare it with any other pedal because some of the other pedals from other manufacturers I have heard I didn't like, so I didn't bother. I knew what I wanted. I think the MT-2 has everything I need for total balls out punch. If I need something a little less, I'll back off the gain or use one of my other distortion pedals.

Again, I would just like to stress that before you write this pedal off, try it through a really nice amp or the amp that you will be using primarily. Don't go by what it sounds like at the store through an amp that you don't have. Give it a shot through your own stuff. If you are looking for hardcore punch and don't wanna spend $1500 for a Dual Rec, then plunk down $80 and get this pedal. I see now why this is Boss's #1 selling distortion box. Rock on!!

Very VERY hard to get a good sound out of it. I don't know why lots of people are raving about it. Requires lots of turning of the knobs

I use an ibanez rg with custom EMG 81's, my amps a peavy bandit. Even with the EMGs in my guitar this thing still sounds like crap. Its tinny, noisy, weak, trebbly, makes thumping sounds when palm muting. The distortion oscillates. When your playing through a PA with this thing you can't even hear the notes your playing. Theres no bass, the mids on the pedal are the worst I've ever heard. And when the mids are all the way down its just oscillating static. When playing live with this the people are not going to be able to hear the notes. TRUST ME ON THIS!! I've been playing for over 10 years

I have gigged with it and people told me they couldn't hear the notes i was playing. The only thing good is its metal casing

never dealt with them

I play metal like pantera, metallica, fear factory, sepultura, iron maiden, static x, and I tell you it does not sound like them. If you wanna sound good buy a line6 POD 2.0. Its the BEST thing you can buy for a electric guitar. I've have played through hundreds of pedals proccesors, amps and nothing comes close to the POD. So unless you can afford a mesa/boogie rectifier then buy a POD. If you take a look at alot of famous musicians setups you will rarely find a metal zone with them. I don't understand it. The MT-2 distortion sound sounds exactly the same as a zoom 505 distortion. If someone stole it I wouldn't really care. Even all korn and limp type bands (who I hate) don't use this pedal. They all nearly get their sound from their mesa preamps. And your not gonna get a rectified sound from this pedal. The closest thing your gonna get to a mesa retified sound is the POD. Sure its more expensive then the MT-2 but it sounds a million times better.

This rig takes some tweaking but EXTREMELY versatile for under $100.00US. Uhh Dudes...if you graduated from 8TH grade I think these 6 knobs are fairly doable. 4 EQ makes for ALOT of different sounds!!
And if you dont want to play around it is easy to get some muscle. Start at midnight and....TAKE SOME NOTES!!!

Route 101 CopyStrat - MT2 - Blues Jr. Very nice. This setup will take you from B. Guy to "Metal" and back with ease. I prefer the simplistic "Blues" approach and this pedal will Bite!! This is a practice setup only. Gets a bit noisy with the gain and the tubes...to be expected though. All in all no problem but I would filter for recording......of course!!

Just got it but seems strong. Better have a DC adapter or a pocket full of 9V batteries.

N/A

Seems like a nice unit for under $100.00US. I don't think any player would be going wrong with the MT-2. Very versatile and like I said : This thing will bite if you need it to. I didn't compare it to any other pedals because the sound of the MT-2 was the ONE right off the shelf.

Very easy to dial in a quality distortion, only 4 knobs with extra EQ power vs. most other distortion boxes out there.

Robert who submitted his review on 8/7/01 pretty much nailed what I would say about this pedal. BEST METAL DISTORTION PEDAL THERE IS. But first you need a good foundation to make any good pedal sound right. In my opinion a tube amp/cabinet setup is the best. I run a Marshall 1979 JMP 100 Watt Super Lead head with mods in a 1960A stock cabinet. Find a good powerful clean tone first and then you are ready to rock. Run this next to a Boss SD-1, which is a great pedal to get more of the classic rock sound, ala AC/DC, early Van Halen tones and you have versatility. To give an example of the sound of the MT-2, it nails the distortion part of 3 Doors Down - Kryptonite. Plus the EQ on this thing is great, has a huge range. BOSS makes quality stuff, period.

No problems yet

Been playing ten years now and I'm into just about anything that has loud screaming guitars in it. Great pedal played through a quality tube amp. I have been on a quest for tone for years now, just a little advise if you want good tone, FENDER, GIBSON, MARSHALL - Don't look anywhere else.

I got this used. Works really well. Four knobs for eq, one for drive, one for volume.

I aminly run feedback loops through it, and the eq provides a lot of sound options. Sounds great on guitar with the drive all the way down. (And if you want that perfect pure phase, no guitar sort-of-sound, put it before a phaser, and pump the drive all the way up.)

sometimes when I plug in the ac adaptor, it doesn't work. But I own it third or fourth hand... Still works everytime the batteries do.

???

I play in a band called The Atomic Missiles, that is noise/pop influenced rock. We're a bit on the experimental side, with a wide stylistic range. This pedal works great for that. I use it on guitar and keys. I'm also part of an area free improvisational group (called Everybody I Know Can Be Found Here) where I play mainly processed feedback loops, white noise, processed guitar/keyboards. This is the distortion pedal for noise, drone, etc...
If it disappeared I'd replace it immediately.
I wish it had a clean out...
Otherwise, it's the best...

once you work out the mid sweep and mid knobs its quite simple

I used this terrible stomp box for a six months with a valvestate head ,couldnt get a good sound. then upgraded to a jcm 800 for 2 years and got something of a good sound at low volumes but as soon as you try to mix it with bass and drums in a band situation it got lost.
I tried every thing . mixing it with an amps overdrive,eq's to get a bit more crunch. I eventually gave up hope in the quest for crunch when i sold all of the above for a peavey 5150. thats real crunch.

If i had to gig with it . And that that is if i realy had to, i would.In all the time i owned it it never missed a beat.

Never had to use it.

I play metal . i dont know about any one else but every metal band ive seen or heard has had tones that cut through . The boss metal zone just gets burried benieth an annoyong buzz. name on world class metal band that uses one of these pedals. canibal corpse used to . Even they have seen the light . ALL VALVE APLIFICATION!!!! they should sell these with practice amps ,cause that is when they sound their best. At low volumes.Dont bother with this .I waisted the good part of 2 years trying to get this thing to cut through live . If you must use a pedal , try using a hotcake in front of a marshall jmp 50w. Sounds vintage , but i assure you it will give you metal crunch not metal buzzz.

i combine this with boss equalizer GE-7, fender champion 110 and my PRS custom 24, sound damn good, can get the tone of creed, papa roach, linkin park, korn( tune to A D G F A D) and most of the punk bands, like green day, blink182 and mxpx.

you can depend on this thing but without a good amp, this thing is totally useless

it is really worth your money and every guitarist should have this thing.
keep punk rock alive!

it took me about a week of tweaking to get the exact sound out of this pedal that i was looking for. but when i did find it, it was well worth it. i've never looked at the manual for it. i'm sure it's nice. i've seen complaints about the number of controls on it, what gives? there's six! there's over 100 on a keyboard and you people seem to be doing pretty good, hell, six oughta be a breeze!

when it's all said and done, this thing kicks ass! i've had it for about 3 years now and it has never failed to give me the quality i expect from a BOSS pedal everytime i plug it up. i run it with an ibanez S7420 through a 300W line 6 flextone head and a marshall 1960A slant cabinet, and it sounds absolutely amazing. always crisp, clear distortion. hands down the best distortion box i've ever heard!

this thing has been tossed, thrown, kicked, stepped on 1000's of times over a course of 3 years and it still rocks. hell yea i'd use it at a gig without a backup.

i've never had to deal with boss. that's a good thing though.

for what i play this thing suits me to a tee. i've been playing since i was 13 and i've went through my different musical periods. this pedal will work best with metal obviously, hence the name "metal zone". it's very heavy, but also the clarity in the sound of this pedal is unsurpassed. if it were lost or stolen i would break my foot off in somebody's ass and then i'd go out and by another one. this pedal was constantly referred to me by fellow musicians and i went out and bought it and haven't even conceived the thought of a another distortion box yet. this thing is a vital part of my setup and i definitely think that the sound of my setup would suffer without it. go out and buy this pedal if you like heavy stuff, or any kind of metal in general. you won't be disappointed.

Damn easy, anyone can work an EQ can't they, and the other two knobs saying distortion and level are pretty obvious. Although finding your perfect sound might prove tricky.

I'm using this third in a line of distortion pedals, I usually use it on top of my RAT or on it's own, (never all three, that's just wrong). At first I thought this sounded really thin and artificial, but after fiddling around for a while, I got the sound I was after, lovely crunch. I've noticed that with all my boss pedals, for the first hour or so you curse the shop that sold it to you, but after a while you learn how to use them well and get a great sound from them. The main gripe with me is the noise when I don't play anything, all I can hear is bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, but I suppose with a name like Metal Zone, a little noise is to be expected. I use this mainly for solo notes, I prefer my Ibanez CM-5 for rythmn work, this sounds really thick and warm for solos.

It's second hand, there's one paint chip that the previous owner made. But then again it's a Boss. If 10 was a mountain, and 1 was cake then this pedal would be 9...

No idea. I hear Roland are quite bad though.

I play anything, but mostly sinister guitar rock, so this pedal is perfect for me. It fits nicely within my growing pedalboard, one of 4 Boss pedals amongst other things. If I lost it? I'd try very hard to find it again. I love the fact that this pedal kicks and it kicks hard. I hate the fact that it took me so long to get it. My favorite feature is the EQ, really handy. My distortions are a Proco Rat, and an Ibanez CM-5 classic metal, and this pedal is a welcome member of the family. I wish I had a few of these because there's so many different sounds I can get. If you like guitars, you'll like this.

You really have to tweek to get your sound.

Good for rythem work,but lead sounds thin,and sounds best with tube amps

very good

Ok as far as dis. pedals go,I have not heared a real good one yet!
not much crunch either,dod pedals have better crunch,has been a disappointment.

there are too many controls, a lot of which are useless, and make the sound worse. why are they even there?

the sound is only nice to me when it's either on the overdrive preset, or the metal preset. otherwise, through my squier strat and fender stage 112, 100-watt amp, it sounds very "flat" and it has no power and clarity to it.

this baby can take any abuse. you cannot break it.

i have never had to deal with boss, their stuff almost never breaks.

it's a good pedal if you are into heavy stuff, or if you don't get easy headaches. the overdrive effect is ok for blues-type stuff. remember, i play a squier strat, so this is trough my guitar. i ordered a DeArmond M-72 with Gold-Tone USA humbuckers, so that should make a huge difference. i may post another review in the future, based on that guitar.

my overall advice to you is, go to the store and try it out. it's definietly worth consideration. but if you are into nirvana and blink and things like that, get a DOD Grunge FX69B pedal, it gives me much more bite on my palm mutes and sounds fuller. thanks.

4 knobs, you can do it!

Wow, there sure is a lot of differences in opinions here. I've collected many pedals in my 23 years of playing and they most of them sound great. The Boss Super Overdrive does a great job in getting a big classic tone, from the blues to Aerosmith this pedal sings. The early 70s Big Muffs are incredible for anything but speed or death metal [they don't cachunk for anything]. The Boss Heavy Metal and the DS-1 Distortion pedals are ok but totally wane in comparision to the MT-2 so why bother owning them. The old Marshall ShreadMasters kick ass for classic heavy metal to death metal but I think the MT-2 is better then the Marhall pedal. First of all the MT-2 has twice the gain of any of these pedals that I have mentioned. This is the first dirt box where I don't have the gain set on 10. I usually have it on 6. I use it with a old Les Paul and an old 50 watt Marshall halfstack and the pedal is as quiet as one could hope for. Only in a studio might you want a noise gate. I'm wondering if some of the other users here failed to try turning the gain down a little before writing these pedals off as noisy and thin. This pedal definitely can be used to get the Pantera sound. It's perfect for speed and death metal. The bass is amazing. Tight, defined, thick, chachunk chachunk forever. The mids are easily scooped entirely away. The treble adjustment is without fault. However, I'd even feel comfortable using this pedal for classic rock [old Aerosmith] although don't expect the Aerosmith tone without a good old tube amp behind the pedal. It does a great "Train Kept A Rollin". Just turn the gain down boys. It's really a very versitile pedal. I proudly place it next to my 1977 Big Muff. They don't sound the same but they both sound amazing, just different. The MT-2, Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive and old Big Muffs [chip and transistor] are the best "distortion" boxes I have ever heard. But I need them all. Who can just listen to the same tone all the time? Sorry guys, I give this pedal a 10 without hesitation. I wonder if the people displeased with this pedal are happy with their sound when the pedal is turned off. You gotta get a great clean sound first before hoping to get a great distortion sound with any pedal!!!!!!!

Boss makes the most reliable pedals I've ever seen.

never needed them

I love this pedal, I wouldn't change a thing about it and they're cheap.

Too many knobs, too fiddly.

Sounds bad, very cold, no mids, sounds cheap and transistor-like. Real noisy too. Overall it sucks. For lame-ass amateurs only.

Too noisy.

Boss are bad at customer support.

This pedal is no good. It makes no good sounds, sounds like crap. Get something else.

The Metal Zone petal is awsome. If your looking for that same sound Mettallica uses BUY THIS PETAL!!! The manual supplies a wide variety of sounds you can create by using this petal.

The sound capabilities of this thing are awsome. Again if your looking for that clean distortion that metallica uses then this is it. The petal itself is not noisy (static). Make sure u get good cables otherwise you will end up with this static that gets annoying. Never use the cords that came with the guitar! One, they suck, and two if the guitar came with cords its probably not a good guitar and you will end up with static no matter what cord you use.

MAKE SURE YOU READ THE "IMPORTANT NOTES" IN THE MANUAL!!! By my mistake I didnt read the important notes until just recently. I moved to a different city and I left my petal in my car and now it doesnt work. Ive had the petal since 1997 and its lasted 4 years. Some how the heat got to the petal and something went wrong and it doesnt even work now. The one and only thing I dont like about it is that the knobs come off too easily, I lost one and it looks stupid without it.

I havent dealt with the company yet. Hopefully I can get a new petal since this one got damaged. Again its lasted me 4 years and I never had a problem with it till now

Overall the Metal Zone is an outstanding petal. I play heavy metal and this is the perfect match for heavy metal. As the name says, when your playing with this petal you really are in a metal zone. Ive been playing for 7 years. I own a Fender Super Reverb amp (the only one that was better than what I had) its a real vintage out of the 70's and its a tube amp. My guitar is a Gibson Explorer, all black with gold hardware. I am probably going to get another metal zone petal. You just cant get this sound out of effects petals. My favorite thing about this petal is the sound and how clean it is. The only thing I hate is the knobs come off too easily. My favorite feature is the heavy metal setting. I compared it with other effects petals and destortion petals in 1997 so I dont really know if there is a better one out there. Its been so long since Ive been to a guitar store.

This pedal is easy to use. They give you an EQ, a volume and a distortion level knobs. Easy.

For what I play this thing is awesome... I can see how this pedal wouldn't be very good in some other styles of music. I play some Metallica, Deftones, Tool, Pantera all that good stuff and I like it.

I've stomped in this thing to try and break it and it does nothing.

Never dealt with.

This thing was worth 90 bucks. But don't take my word for it go out and play one and see how you like it. If it was stolen I would be wicked pissed and I would go buy another one.

this thing takes a bit of fooling around with to get a decent sound but was pretty basic

ive had this pedal for a while now. and i always thought this sound good until i started playing along with my friend who gets his distortion from a jcm900 head. in comparison this pedal doesnt sound nearly as good. definitely get a good tube amp for a good distortion. i play a fender american tele and a epiphone les paul standard through the pedal then into a line6 flextone xl. even after hours of playing with this pedal and trying to get different sounds, the distortion it produces is very hollow and thin comparison to my friends tube amp. i actually stopped using the pedal and started using the on board line6 distortion which sounds much warmer than the metal zone. i play deftones, incubus, and perfect circle. nu metal type stuff. the pedal kinda gets the right sound but distortion from a tube amp definitely sounds better. if you have a crappy amp and you dont play with anyone with decent gear this is a decent pedal. but for me i gotta get a better distortion pedal. or a better amp.

this thing ran out of batteries and i was playing poorly so i kicked it across the room. damn thing put a dent in my wall. i put a new battery in it and it works just like it did before. id never use this in a gig. but if i did .. i could go without a backup

it matches my style ok.. but pales in comparison to the sound of a good amp. dont get this pedal unless youre poor. or youre the only guitarist and your bassist fills in all your midrange and low end, or maybe if you like the hollow thin sound?? (im sure someone does). if this were stolen, id go out and start hunting for a new/better pedal. im thinking a proco rat or a bigmuff.. people here seem to find rats a better pedal. oh.. this thing is good for something. if you want holes in the wall, give these boss pedals a good kick.

Very easy to use if you know how to EQ properly.

OK, First off, let me start by saying, dont get turned off by the name because ANYONE, in ANY type of music that requires even the slytist distortion get this pedal!! THis thing is a Beast!! You can get any type of distortion you want, whether you are into blues, soft, rock, Metal whatever the case may be. I myself am into Industrial and Metal stuff. I use an Epiphone Les Paul(Limited Edition) and I use a Line 6 Spider 112 but im getting a Marshall AVT150H(it rocks!!) and a Marshall 1960AX Cab. I get awesome bottom and singing highs and sustain with this pedal, it sounds incredible. All of my pedals are Boss, I have a setup of a OD-2 Overdrive, MT-2 Metal Zone, a GE-7 Equalizer, and a Morley Bad Horsie Wah. I love my setup. OH AND BY THE WAY!!! If you feel that you need to tweak your sound a little more, just get the GE-7 Equalizer pedal. HOLY S**T!! this makes my guitar sound even better with the distortion!!

I have had it for a year and I have not had any problems with any of my Boss pedals, nothing at all. I also use an SKB PS-15 Stomp 6 Pedal Board, which is wonderful, powers all my effects. Noone that I know has had problems with this pedal(Everyone has it).

Nope, never had to deal with anything.

Anyway, as I said before, I love this pedal, it is my favorite. Before i bought it, i wanted to try a different one, so i went with the Ibanez SM-7 Smash Box......AAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! THat Void Sucks!!! Whenever i turned it on it would cut my sustained noted in half, i was like "WHAT THE F**K!!!" I took it back 2 days later and bought the Metal Zone. I do a lot of recording in my studio and the pedal sounds great. GET ONE!!

Easy to use. Turn knobs, stomp until LED illuminates. Adjust sounds accordingly. Speaking of which...

To get a good sound out it? That's a hard one. This little guy is a fuzz master. If your amp has a remotely clean channel (think Fender), then you will be overwhelmed by fuzz. Now, before you get up in a fit about my saying this, read on. I only write reviews on equipment I LIKE A LOT.

Setup: Jackson Fusion PRO, s/s/h EMG 85 in bridge, stock singles in mid/neck, and an EMG-VMC variable midrange control (YOU GOTTA HAVE THIS ONE!!!). Going to metalzone MT-2, going into Fender Princeton Chorus (Non-DPS, Non-Tube) on input 1. This is where things get interesting....

Okay, this pedal sounds like CRAP by itself. Plug it into a set of headphones or a home stereo. Fuzz. Plug it into your amps clean channel... Fuzz. Plug it into your amp's GAIN channel, turn the gain to 1 or less, middle the EQ knobs, limiter 0, and presence +5 on the amp. On metalzone, middle the Treb/Bass, CRANK the volume/Dist, and suck out -20db at the 11o'clock (1850Hz). Then you have a god-like sound with TONE. Sounds like my mesa boogie Tripple recto solo stack (/w recto cab). You wouldn't believe me until you heard it. Wanna sound like an 80's guitar god on a budget? Get an EMG-85, an EMG-VMC (these two alone will make ANY amp sound at the VERY least GREAT), a Fender Princeton Chorus (non-dsp, non tube; Yeah. This amp sucks pretty bad for live playing. Hey, that's what my Boogie stack's for...), and lastly, but not leastly, the BOSS Metalzone MT-2. Set it up as I have for a screaming solo sound, or turn-off your reverb and chorus for a "Hell is coming fourth from sonic waveforms," rhythm sound. Don't believe me? TRY IT! Heck, tune down to C,A,C,F,A,D.

I play death/black metal. I do Yngwie/Satriani/Steve Vai STYLE (I NEVER copy) solos, mixed into my blazing rhythm section. Mozart meets Deicide. PERFECT for this stuff. Surely isn't my Boogie TRSolo, but sounds DAMN close, without the killer ear-bleeding trebble (think Yngwie), and with a bit of noise (brown noise to be exact), and not nearly as chest-thumping.

My favorite artists? Yngwie, Vai, Satriani, Deicide, Lord Belial, Opeth, Diabolical Masquerade, Hovehej, and a slew of other satanic metal band (Yngwie, Vai, and Satriani excluded) you people should never listen to, and YES I can get pretty damn close to replicating their "Million dollar, or lack thereof," sounds. Go out and buy this pedal! Quit reading right friggin' now and buy it.

I've thrown this pedal, and it damaged my brick wall more than the pedal. I've used it as a chock-block to keep my car from moving. I've used it to drive thumb-tacks into my door. Little brother beater. Bug smasher. General item I take all my hate out on. It still looks like new, minus a scratch from the brick wall, and some gore from all the bugs and spiders I've killed with it. Hey, this will make a wonderful home for a family of cockroaches, after we all die from a nuclear explosion. Unless I get creative and tear into it, it'll outlast all of us, similar to the way a brick of t-6 aluminum would.

Dunno them and they (hopefully) dunno me.

What's everyone raving about? It's fuzzy! But, man you wouldn't believe the sound and tone you can get out of it with a cheap amp's overdrive channel. Hopefully all you kids out there already knew this, though. I've got professional gear and stuff to play with now, so I don't have a lot of time for my Metalzone. But for a GREAT, and I mean FREAKIN' KILLER sound on a budget, BUY THIS DAMN THING! I've spent over $10,000 on expensive stuff to get a sound slightly better (and a helluva lot louder) than my "Prince with Metalzone Sceptre," could supply me with. Junk in the raw, but gold with the right setup! Trust me on this one; It's a great pedal in all repects. It's a little fuzzy, but hell so am I.

This was a new (2001 manufacture) pedal. Tried hard, but I was unable to get an acceptable sound from the Metal Zone. The manual is typical Boss, decent but not overly informative.

Tested it with several amps/guitars, including Gibson Les Paul Custom/Hamer Vector, Randall RG-80 112-SC solid state amp, Boogie Mark IV combo (I know, why would I want to use a dist. pedal through a MKIV??), an old but super-clean-sounding Univox ss amp.

Had a fair bit of noise, but nothing too bad. Sounded great in the store through their setup (basically a stereo with headphones). Main problem was the distortion itself once I plugged into a real amp and turned it up- it had this weird "hollow-tunnel" effect, with this thin, nasal buzz. I couldn't find a setting that brought up the midrange enough to make the sound decently full, and I tried every possible setting both on the pedal AND the amps/guitars. No "tube-type" warmth all, seemed very digital and harsh sounding to my ears. Would not cut through the mix... again, no midrange I could hear.

Boss stuff is pretty reliable, but I only had it a couple of days before it went back to the store, so no opinion.

Never dealt with Boss.

I play classic hard rock and old-school metal. I don't feel that this pedal fits in with those styles, regardless of the "metal" designation. Maybe techno or nu-metal players could find it useful, I don't know.

I've been playing steadily for the past two years, but before that, on and off for close to 30 years.

I wouldn't buy it again unless substantial design changes were made.

Alright, this pedal is easy to understand...but sometimes it is hard to make changes. A small adjustment can make a huge difference in the sound, and the knobs are miniscule!

This pedal does not suck total ass like all the Stevie Vai wannabes keep saying. It actually can produce some decent, dark metal sounds.
I am using it with a Gibson SG special and a Marshall half-stack. Sometimes it can be a little cold sounding, and sometimes it can be noisy. If you you turn the distortion on the MT-2 down, you can play the pedal on top of the gain on your amp to achieve a loud, dark crunch that has a lot of bite. I have gotten some really cool sounds out of this thing. My friend borrowed it for his bass, and he liked it. The MT-2 is good for bands like the deftones, but it muddies up intricate playing. However, if you want really good distortion and have the money, buy a really good amp with really good gain.

As long as it has power, it will work.

Never delt with BOSS

I think this is an alright pedal. It annoys me when people come here and rate it a one because it doesn't sound like their $300 pedal or their $2000 amplification equipment. This pedal is not the greatest on the market, but it is decent. I RARELY used it for gigs unless I had to cut through the wall of noise our bassist produced. If you like metal, this might not be a bad pedal for you. If you like the sound of a clean strat, don't fucking buy it, ok?

Easy enough to use I guess, if you spend some time with it. Be patient.

This is where the pedal is a problem. This pedal has only two sounds. A thumpy bassy 'chug' sound or a horrible screechy trebly sound. Very harsh. I don't wanna play the blues, I wanna play metal, but this pedal sounds bad. It sounds offensive. But not in a cool 'metal up yer ass' kinda way. Nope, it is offensive in a 'stop using that pedal or kill me' way. Or a 'this pedal is irritating our audience' kinda way. The guy who sold me this pedal is an eighties-rock reject and he loves it. He is about the only one. Even on harmony centrals own discussion board, it has been agreed this this pedal is awful. The people who give it ten out of ten across the board either work for BOSS or are just mindless sheep who don't know any better. I would NEVER use this pedal for lead playing. It is really shit. It ruins the tone of your guitar.

One of the knobs came off.

Boss? Customer support? Muahahahahahahahha.....

I wouldn't use this pedal for ANY style of music. Why? Because it has the worst tones of any pedal I have heard. That is shocking when you consider how much a brand new one costs. I'm just happy I bought it second hand. I would advise any kids out there to try a bunch of distortion pedals out before buying one, and I would advise staying away from the mt-2. Don't believe the (boss) hype.

This is crap... i swear.... my mesa boogie amp blows this battery killer away, and so will any other tube amp... i hate to admit it but nothin compares to a tube amp. all u people giving it 10s dont know what yuur talkin bout... i admit i am no guitar god but i gig around austin texas at places like La Zona Rosa and Antones. go out and buy yurself a good tube amp and u will be amazed at how much better yur distortion will sound. anyway the ease of use is kinda hard... you have to tweak yur clean channel to match the mt-2 and that gets annoying...

i have an esp> mt-2> line 6 distortion pedal> GT-3> marshall half stack with a mesa head. its noisy on high volume and gain...

GO OUT AND BUY A GOOD TUBE AMP... THE DIF WILL AMAZE YOU

don't even try the stupid manual settings..they sound pretty lame !!
i think the idea is to sit down, mess with the knobs and play til' you get the sound you want. it's a damn distortion pedal !!

i play the pedal through an ibanez rg570 with vai evolution pickups and a marshall mg80 combo. you know how many classmates i had to tutor in math to afford the amp?! my dad was kind enough to get me the rg and the evolution pickup.it's great for harmonics and it's better than the DOD distortion pedals.you could get a great thrash metal sound.great for practicing in your room but not during rehearsals or gigs.i normally just play through my amp when i'm playing live and switch it back on when i need that zakk wylde harmonic sound.it works great with the bad horsie wah too!

it's pretty reliable.
this pedal is my backup.

never dealt with the company

i'm in 8th grade and i play real metal like TestamenT, Grip inc. , slayer, bit of pantera, kill 'em all to black album metallica, sepultura, overkill..iron maiden..get the picture? unlike the stupid so called "bands" in school..i don't play sell-out metal !!! this pedal would do wonders in your room but not in a band situation.

The reason why anyone can say the MT-2 sucks is because they didn't take the time to use the pedal, because, no, it really isn't a plug n' play deal. The eq is really hard to tune in, but it is definently possible to get a good sound out of it...if your sound is metal

This was my second distortion pedal (first was a DF-2) and it was a fresh change from the overly alternative sound of the DF-2. The MT-2 braught out that good ole 80 hair band rock that my digitch gsp5 did, but with a more powerful effect. This pedal sounds great through every amp i own, the Crate 15 watt, a peavey minx110 (bass amp) and my 70's 400 watt musicman (tubes!). This pedal sounds great in my little chain...No name (foxxe) guitar>vox wah>MT-2>TS-9>GSP5>musicman amp (with spring reverb and tremelo. The Vox doesn't sound very good with it at all. The MT-2 really is a great hardcore pedal that really beats out alot of other pedals. My one big complaint with it is that it is a little too powerful sometimes, but when it really goes it sings and never becomes jading like the gsp-5 distortions can. It does feedback alot when used wrong but a little tinkering goes a long way, and whoever says the pedal is a little tinny must have never been taught about the basics of eq.

can anyone say BOSS?

I play ska/punk/funk/jazz/metal/techno (ambience stuff mostly and some acid metal riffs guitarwise)/poop/country/loser music This pedal is great for the punk and metal..the punk must be accordingly. With funk it's sometimes great as metal funk. Bands i can think of with this pedal are...ADD, Reel Big Fish (when distorted), ozzy (shit it's great withcrazy train and iron man) Op Ivy (with single coiul and in conjunction with a TS-9) Cradle of filth, other trashy bands. This pedal is great if you ask me, and peaople saying it's not dunamic enough need to realize two things. 1. it's called a METAL zone and 2. it's a distortion pedal. If you want diversity get multiple pedals. The metalzone is amzingif you can get a octavizer to go one octave lower...i use and HR-2 (to bad it's my friends HR-2) and even cooler if you can do the same with two octavizers. If i lost it, i'd probably buy another one, although whenever i go to buy a pedal i try any and every other pedal and there's i chance i'd fall deeply in love with some other pedal when going to buy this one again, because i am not truly in love with this pedal but it is a wonderful pedal. The last thing i have come to find is that as far as recording with the pedal, i have never been able to mic the distortion, but it sounds amazingly real when going straight from the output to the channel strip on the recorder or the sound card.

its not easy to use this pedal and not hard at all. just keep the volume and distortion at 12 o'clock or 1 o'clock, Just to prevent feedbacks and the hum/noise you get from it when turning the volume and distortion max. keep both distortion and volume less then 2:30 oclock all the time.

Fool around with the Mid/Mid Freq/Low/High until you know you get the sound you are looking for.

i use an Epiphone LesPaul standard and a marshall valvestate half stack(solidstate) and i love the sound i get from it. You can get a great sound out of the Metal Zone, but If you add an EQ (GE-7) after the Metal Zone, it will make you sound like playing through a tube amp.

This is my set up:
Epiphone LesPaul --> BOSS Metal Zone MT-2 --> BOSS EQ GE-7 Pedal --> BOSS Chorus CE-2 --> Peavey Effects processor pedal --> amp.

Always use a boss Adapter with because you can power up to 7 pedals if you get the extension cable and it helps that kill feed back and hum. its better then a battery and a no-name adapter.

i can depend on my Metal Zone and my EQ-pedal when i go to reherse or gig. if you find a good setting, then you are set to go and play real Metal with it.

Never dealt with BOSS and i dont think i will ever because BOSS means LIFE TIME.

The Pedal is good and could be better if connected to an EQ Pedal. get this pedal if you cant afford an amp with good distortion.

If you can't operate this pedal you must be a water baby. With very little tweeking you can get the tone you want quickly. everything from soft rock to metal can be had. This is a very good pedal for users who are on a budjet and need a pedal that offers a wide range of tones for different styles.

my setup is like this: Roland GR-33 guitar synth>>Cry Baby>>BOSS Slow Gear>>MT-2>>unknown chorus pedal>>DD-5>>Fender Twin Reverb.

The MT-2 is great on most setting, except for when you choose to turn up the level. After about 11o'clock you get a LOT of feedback, which can be irritating, but remedied if you uses a compressor/noise gate or a volume pedal instead of the pedals level. Now this unit cannot sound like a RAT or a Big Muff, but if you want that type of tone you should spend the extra bucks and pick one up. overall good sound quality.

I have never had any problems with it. it's a boss for christ's sake!!! it's built like a rock. I use it for gigging, but do bring a back up, not because I'm doubtful, but because you can never be too careful.

N/A

I play everything from Marilyn Manson and Tool to Radiohead, so this pedal is pretty versatile. I'm going to be picking up a Turbo RAT soon to replace this as my main source of distortion, but am sure I will keep it in my live rig to quickly get lighter tones. all in all a great pedal.

Well the metalzone is very easy to use. For newbies or dumbasses the EQ's can be hard to use but I'm very familiar to EQ settings. I never got the manual because i bought it used

I got it hooked up with a pro co rat, danlectro milkshake chorus, and a korg AX1g. I use an ibanez RG7421 guitar on several amps. I have a washburn sx65c for loudness (160watts) , crate GFX65 , and a cheap yamaha. It has everything you can want , other than a hot bitch or a great car. I love playing all the metal on it. I play in a band and i can change the distortion sounds easily. We play everything for metallica to slipknot and mushroomhead and i didnt have to go out and buy like 10 different shitty dist boxes for the diff bands and types.One thing to remember try to keep this effect close to the beginning of your effect chain because it will fuck up the other sounds if you use other effects along with it.

Hell ya I can depend on it. I bought this bitch used 4 years ago and it never screwed up on me. I wouldn't have any backups for this thing on a gig. Only extra batteries.

never dealt with them. the pedal is the shit!

Like i said i play all types of metal and this is a great match. 6 years of playing I've only heard better quality on my ex guitar teachers rig , studio and rich motherfuckin bands! The singer in my band tried to steal it from me one time. I was up in his room and found it. Only way i knew it was mine is that i evgraved my name in it. I beat the fuck out of him and trashed his equipment. Teaches him not to steal

Really awkward to use, to many nobs, and none of them help to get a good sound.

I use this with and old Ibanez and a marshall. This pedal sounds really bad, sounds so souless and cold. Horrible. Makes my toes curl. It's like hearing a car screeching to a halt.

It is reliably shit.

I told them this pedal was shit and to stop sending in fake reviews giving their pedal 10 out of ten. They ignored me. And then they have the nerve to send in a review dissing the Rat just because someone else said it was better than the metal zone.

Sounds awful, and that's all that matters to me. I wish i'd never bought it. Every now and then I try it out again, and it still sounds bad. This seems to be the opinion of most people 'in the know' that I have spoken too, ie guys who work in music stores and regular gigging musicians.

DO NOT BUY THIS PEDAL!!! Oh yeah, ease of use? I give it a 7. You will be tweaking the parametric eq forever just to get a tone that even resembles something tasteful.

Ok, I was suckered in to buying this pedal in '95 after I had been playing for about a year. Anyone who says this pedal deserves a 10 is as naive as I was 6 years ago. Simply put, it sounds like diarrhea sizzling on a hot parking lot. If you're forced to use a pedal for distortion, do yourself a huge favor and get a Rat or if you're way into Weezer or something, get a BigMuff. Nowadays I just use the good ol tubes in my mesa/boogie Mark IV. This thing truly sucks. It eats batteries like you would not believe. The tone is unbearably thin. Forget about using it for any other kind of music besides Poison or any other cock rock shit 80's bands. Don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against Boss, nor am I a tube "purist," but if you want an $80 doorstop or paperweight, this is the pedal for you! The only real application this thing may be useful for is playing bass through it. Sometimes a horribly thin digital sounding wad of shit sounds kinda cool through a bass amp, but for guitar, WORTHLESS. What is it with you people? Giving it 10's???? Jesus H! I guarantee in a year it will be in your basement collecting dust. Once you get a real amp you will never use it again (is it a coincidence i see alot of Crate amps used by the metal zone's reviewers?) The words HORRIBLE, STATIC, MUD, SHIT, and DYING COW come to mind when I think of the Boss Metal Zone. When you hear all that thin static, and you try to back off some of the gain, it just makes it sound so distant and muddy that you'd swear your amp was concealed somewhere up your ass.

Had a few problems with the footswitch jamming. If i were to ever start smoking crack and in a drug induced frenzy I decided to actually use this abomination of circuitry while playing a gig, well then I guess i wouldnt use a backup because silence from this thing sounds better than the horrible stream of excrement it shoots into your ears.

Havent dealt with em. The only other Boss pedal i've owned was the DD-5 delay, which was pretty good. (Get a Line 6 DL-4 instead, they're excellent)

if it were lost, or even if i knew where it was, i wouldn't even bother to get off my ass to go get it. In fact, its 3000 miles away at my friends house, where it has been for the past 5 years, i've been there numerous times since then but i don't feel like taking it on the plane with me. If it were stolen, i'd find it really funny and expect that the thief would call me up to complain.

I bought this pedal to play metal with. The eq is hard to set rigt, and always sounds a little brittle.

The only metal this reminds me of is tin. Very thin, like foil.

had it for 2 years. probably never die. boss stuff has never failed me.

na

If you want to play metal type palm mutes get a rat, marshall jack hammer, or something with a little more warmth to it. If you want a solo/boost try a muff, or a bluesdriver. This pedal just got ebayed.

The Metal Zone is a very easy to use, simple pedal. The manual doesn't exactly help you out, but with a volume, a distortion, and eq knobs, it's not that hard to figure out. However, it will take you a few minutes to zone in on *that* sound you are looking for.

I use this with a Gibson Les Paul Studio and a Line 6 Spider Amp.

As far as sound goes, this pedal will acommodate you. This is purely metal distortion, and maybe some punk distortion. But, take my advice, and run a noise suppresor before it. I got the boss NS-2 and it really cleaned up the sound. My one major complaint about this pedal is that the distortion overpowers your playing. You can't exactly hear what notes are being played. Notes don't really sing with clarity and accentuation. Because of this, I use the metal zone to boost a distortion signal from my amp. I turn the distortion low on the pedal, and I use moderate drive on the amp to beef up the sound. The MT-2 does this quite well.

If you get the boss noise gate and an adapter, then you can power all of your boss pedals without any batteries. As I remember, the Metal Zone would drain a whole battery overnight if the input plug was left in. I went through at least 3 batteries until I got the adapter. Just for that reason I give it a 7. Get a noise gate and an adapter. You will be a lot happier.

All boss pedals are built to last. I own 4 of them, and they are all in awesome shape after being stomped on numerous times.

N/A

I obviously play metal/hard rock, and the Metal Zone did pretty well. I do not believe this is the best distortion pedal on the market, but for around $100, it meets my expectations. I've been playing for nearly two years (I'm 14) and I own a fleet of other boss pedals, and a Line 6 Floorboard. If it were stolen or lost, I'd look at every other distortion pedal out there and figure out which one is the best for the money. I like the Metal Zone, but it's not perfect. By the way, if you happen to find a setting for this pedal that you think is awesome, I'd like to hear about it. Drop me a line at zerox4_sr@yahoo.com

This pedal is easy to use and to get the kind of sound you want out of it. The pedal is easy to press down so you won't miss the distortion in the middle of a song jam or gig.

THe sound quality of this pedal is bloody awsome. I am running it through one of the crappest amps you could get yet i still get an awsome sound out of it. The distortion is perfect for the sounds i make when i jam with my freinds.

This pedal is very reliable compared to other pedals i have used, on other pedals the distortion would not turn on sometimes and i would be left stamping until it came on , but with this the distortion comes on, on demand.

i play metal and this pedal is a perfect match for my music, I am mostly playing rhythm and it has an awsome crunching sound that works perfectly for how i play.I Love the heavy chunky sounds that i get out of this pedal and i love the range of distortion that i can get from it.the only problem is the battery has run out.

Very easy to use. The setting nobs are really easy, only
LEVEL, EQ, and Distortion amount.
This paddle is a single paddle, so no displays or fancy stuff.
Everything rockz, except the manual. the manual Sux!!
The suggested settings. SIIICK!

Well......I am using an Ibanez GRX70, and a Peavey Amp.
The DISTORTION i great with lots of Gain.
I can easily set the distotion of my faviorite artist, Like :
Dream Theater, Megadeth, Metallica, Joe Satriani, etc

u can also make a crunchy dsitroted sound like Limp Bizkit or Metallica.

I think this is the best single effect pedal of Boss, or any other.

the Metal Zone is very reliable, and i stomp on it every day since 6 months, and it still is in perfect amn good shape.

If i play on a gig, i would use this shit with no backup.It really doesn't need one, and it doesn't burn out batteries quicky.

NEVER DELT WITH THEM

I play basically MEtal Distorted type of music. So this Metal Zone MT2 is ideal for me, or any other metal players.

It really helps me make music with all the gain and distortion on.

U can creat wierd out of the world sounds with the distortion on using your pick and Floyd Rose tremolo

This pedal is very easy to use. Any one who says otherwise is either suffering from a shamefully bad I.Q. or a terrible lack of patience (spelling?) or the inability to recognize a good sound when they hear it. All you do is plug in the guitar cables, stomp on it to turn it on, and turn the knobs until you find a good sound. That's it! Don't try to make it more complicated because it is not. Oh yeah, the manual is O.K. but not really needed.

I am playing this pedal with a Jackson JS-1 (I want a new guitar badly) and with a Fender Mini-Twin (shameful amp. 1 watt!). I bought the Fender Mini-Twin so I would have enough money to buy the MT-2 Metal Zone. This was the smartest thing I have done. Now, my $30 amp has better distortion than my friends Line 6. Any way you don't care about the amp so I'll start talking about the pedal. Wow! This thing is amazing. It delivers more distortion than you will ever need (and as much as you'll ever want). It is not noisy at all either (at least not for me). Any way I listen to (and play) mostly Offspring (their old stuff like Smash and Ixnay on the Hombre) and Metallica. To me, getting good sounds for both of these styles of music (punk and metal) was important to me. The Metal Zone definately works for me. It is perfect for metallica (sounds just like them) and although it does not sound exactly like the Offspring's distortion it definately sounds good when playing their music. If you play lead or rhythm this pedal rules. Both my friend (who is a die-hard lead guitarist and a very good one at that) and I own a MT-2 and it works great when we jam together (he plays lead, and I play rhythm). The only small complaint I have against this pedal is it does sound kinda digital but unless you own a Mesa/Boogie amp there is not a better sounding distortion out there. Trust I looked. Any way here's how I have it set up.
Level: 10 o'clock
Bass (low): 3 o'clock
Treble (high): 5 o'clock (all the way up)
Mid Freq: 10 o'clock
Middle: 8 o'clock
Distortion: 3 o'clock
I love this setting and it is especially good for Metallica music.
This is the order of a SUPERIOR BEING: BUY IT. NOW!!!

"Like A Rock"
-Chevy (they'll be there).

They called me names.

(just kidding. I never dealt with them).

The best thing I own (and the only thing I own).

Awful, it's bad enough that this pedal sounds like a cheap toy on any setting, they give you loads of knobs to give you a headache.

Well it is noisy (hisses) , the mids are terrible, when you turn the bass up and try to palm mute, the sound should cut off but it doesn't, it sorta goes 'whoomph', like a piece of shit. The overall sound is frustrating.

It is solid, but what's the point when it sounds so shit? I might as well stick a brick in my effects chain.

Can't be bothered, faceless corperation, they make too much money to give a damn.

I play ALL styles of rock/alternative music, and I wouldn't use this pedal for any of them. I have too noticed that someone from BOSS always follows up a bad review with a fake review of their own for this little pile of shit. Don't believe the hype- THIS PEDAL IS AWFUL.

well when i first got it it was kinda hard to adjust the sound to where i want it but once i started playing ariund with it it sounded 100 times better than my stock distortion on my fender pro 185 amp. i auctioned it off so i didnt have a manual.it is now very easy to use since i have had it for like 4 months now..

dude this pedal kicks every other pedals ass...i luv the sound very sweet to very hard. i use a fender pro 185 amp(212) and since this amp is hella loud i have it below 1 most of the time.my settings for the metal zone is level at 1/2 , low 1/3, high1/2, mids 1/3 dist. 1/2 or higher if needed. this pedal is very loud if you want it to be and very quiet so it's up to how you want it. always sound great never weak..my cusion has a dano fab tone and boy whemn we battle it out i always end up on top because it the dano doesnt have the great lows and mids that the metal zone has.i am using a fender pro 185, didnt i already answer this? yeah i can get the sound of many artists like marylyn manson, the mopps, and many more.. i can not say anything bad about this effect.

this baby is built likt a rock!!!i have dropped it many of times and it still sounds sweet.. of course i would use it on a gig. i have on all my gigs.

never delt with.

I play alternitive/punk and this pedal rocks for it!! it is a perfect match good for the muting and solos. i have beemn playing for a year or so now and i also own a boss super chorus. if it were lost or stolen first i would track the dead beat down who stole it down and beat his ass..but i would replace it over and over..what i luv about this pedal is its mid sweeps low sweeps and high sweeps and how you can get pleanty of sounds.i dont hayt it at all!!! my fav feature is all. i compared it to many of my friends pedals such as the fab tone, the big muff, the zoom effects, digitech, and i still take the metal zone overall. i luv it the way it is!!it is what helps me make music, it never gets in the way. I luv this damm pedal i recomend it to any punk/metal player, it is a must!!

This thing is simple to use. All the knobs are pretty self-explanatory.

I'm running this pedal through a '59 Fender Bassman Reissue and playing through a 2001 American Richie Sambora Stratocaster. Between the mid-boost circuit on my guitar and the knobs on the pedal itself, there's quite a few differnect distortions that are attainable from this unit. I do have one serious complaint though. I play in a band and when we play out, we aren't miked (spelling?) usually. This means that I have to turn the level knob up fairly high on the pedal. Having the level knob past about a third of the way up (with my amp at least) produces A LOT of feedback problems. I mean to the point where I have to kick off the pedal in the middle of a song when I don't play anything. I know it can't be just my setup either because I'm not the only person who has mentioned this problem. Also, this feedback occurs when I have the distortion knob only half way up. I couldn't imagine playing with it at the highest setting at that volume. I suppose, if you don't play out, this wouldn't be a problem because you wouldn't have to turn it up that loud to play over every one else. But, if you do play shows, the feedback can be really annoying.

This pedal has never failed me once. I don't have a backup, so I have to gig without one.

I have never dealt with Boss so I have no opinion

The type I music I play is pretty heavy, so this pedal suits me fine. Other than the feedback problem, I have no real complaints

You fiddle until you find the sounds you want. The instructions could have specified a better order for knob turning (It does make a difference, saving 'back-tracking').

Yes it is noisy. Piped through an NS-2 it sounds just like the Overdrive on my Carvin SX200D. Bizaar--when I found this out the first day I played around with it, I stopped using the pedal. When I feel like tweaking my overdrive I just use my EQ-7 and my amp channel.

Looks sturdy enough--I'd be careful stomping on the thing through. Tweaking sound is hard enough without knocking some knobs off. Was it just me or did Boss pedals seem BIGGER in pictures and then when you first see them... 'Boss, little, different'

Haven't talked to them. Will get more use out of the EQ-7 than this or the NS-2 so if that busts I'll let them know. I didn't pay shipping so I paid $75 flat at American Music. It was my first transaction with them and it wen't very well.

The pedal requires a noise-gate. I'll stick to my amp's overdrive; it's actually quite good. I play rock, hard rock, and the blues. If you have overdrive on your amp that is decent, stick with it and get the EQ-7.

This pedal seemed difficult to use, until I realised it was a piece of shit with MAYBE one passable sound.

This pedal sounds terrible. NO warmth, just a characterless thump or a cold, harsh, transistor-ry sound. Utter shit.

Yeah I could depnd on it not to breal. I couldn't depend on it to sound good. The knobs aren't too sturdy, so be careful. I'm still giving it a one.

Boss? Support? Get the f**k outta here.

This pedal sounds awful. I reckon the only people that like it are kids, or people that only play in their bedrooms. It could sound ok in a chain of pedals, but what's the point. Also a note to BOSS. Stop sending in your fake-ass bullshit glowing "reviews" for this pedal just to get its overall rating to go up. It is shit. Do you employ people to check up on shit pedals and give them 10 out of 10 across the board? I think you do. I bet this review will be followed by one which give the MT-2 top marks. THE METAL ZONE SOUNDS AWFUL. Go buy a RAT instead.

Very easy to use, just mess with the knobs. What pedal is hard to use?

The best distortion ever period. It'll eat any other distortion pedal for breakfast.

As with any pedal if you treat it good then it'll treat you good.

Don't know.

I've been playing guitar for about 8 years. I've tried many a pedal, and this is by far the best for metal.

it's easy too get a decent sound

it's a fuking heavy pedal good and well dun dist

it's a boss

never delled whit them

it's a good heavy metal pedal i play metallica good fot that i think

Why should it be hard to use ?
Plug guitar into Input and the amp into output ...
Is that so hard ?
And just turn the knobs with feeling...
Then press Button, and off we go

Way to technical Distorsion. I can get some Overdrive though to boost my Overdrive channel on my Peavey. I usaually use it for Trash and Hard, so my sets are :
Level : 3 o'clock
High : 3-4 o'clock
Low : 2-3 o' clock
Middle: 7 o' clock
Mid : 10-11 o' clock
Dist : 3 o'clock

That's some nice cutted mids, a pretty full sound, but use Reverb. Though it sounds a little warm, it's Way to technical. This is why I give it a 7.5 (which i can't put)
U can also get some bluesy muddy tone...but as said...way to technical sound!

Well... who gives a damn?

Dunno

Well, the pedal is a must in every equipment, for real hard Distorsion, but i think it's Way to noisy and way too loud.
I give it a 7.

I think the ease of use for this pedal is ideal. It has neither too few or too many knobs. Pedals like the DS-1 don't offer many knobs for controlling the sound, while other pedals take it to the opposite extreme. The controls on this pedal are: Level, Low, High, Middle, Middle Frequency, and Distortion. Using the Equalizer knobs just about any tone can be attained. The Middle Frequency knob is particularly useful. The manual is simple and easy to understand. Also, it provides a few settings that can be adjusted to get a pretty cool sound.

Currently, I'm running this pedal through my Epiphone Les Paul Special II into my Marshall Valvestate 65. I usually run it through the Clean Channel, although sometimes I'll combine the pedal with the Distortion Channel to get a real hollow and tinny sound. I've tried running it through the FX Loop, but I wasn't very pleased and I don't have a whole lot of pedals so I usually go direct. If you're going for a sound with light distortion, then this is probably not the pedal for you. Like the name says, it's a "Metal" Zone and is basically intended for playing Metal, Punk, Hardcore, etc.

It's a Boss, so of course I can depend on it. I would use it on a gig without a backup even if I did have the money to buy a backup.

N/A

For punk, which is what I play in my band, this pedal is the perfect match. Blending it with the tone of my amp, I can always find the sound I'm looking for. The only thing limiting me is my imagination. I played off and on for quite a few years, but in the last year I've really gotten serious about it. I'm playing in a punk band, the Double Agents, and taking lessons at the Music Lab. I also have a really cheap Wah Pedal that is literally falling apart. I've yet to find a better distortion pedal for the money, so I would definitely buy this one again if something every happened to it. I love the deepness of this pedal, its ability to produce high pitches faithfully, and its amazing sustain. My favorite feature is the Mid Freq knob. It is very useful in opening up a whole new area of sounds. I compared this pedal to other Boss pedals like the DS-1 and the SD-1. These were great sounding pedals, but a little too simple. Even though this pedal was more expensive, I appreciate its complexity. For a Distortion pedal, there's nothing more I could want for it. It would be nice if the people from Boss gave you an adapter with it, but that will never happen. At least they put a battery in there. This pedal never gets in the way, it only helps me. I wouldn't use it if it got in the way. I think that's about it...oh...one of my common settings; High and Low on +15, Middle at about 11 o'clock, Mid Freq at 1 o'clock, and Distortion at 1 o'clock.

Takes a few minutes to get adjusted to but after the knobs are figured out, it gets easy to dial up the sound you want.

I use a BC Rich Platinum on a Fender Champion amp. The pedal started giving me weird headaches so I slapped on a BOSS Hyper Fuzz (using its gain circuit) and added some base tone to it and cut down on the screaming noise. Whadda ya know? I loved the new sound.

I've had very large and heavy speakers fall onto it.. still works. I would use it on a gig if I ever had any.

never needed it.

I'm a newbie guitarist but I found it easy to plug this in, find my desired sound, and start trying stuff out. I plan on playing metal and the BOSS MT-2 has been a great start. If my pedal was stolen, I would have to score a part-time job to afford a new one.

I went on a mad eBay shopping spree with my grad gift $$ and picked up a few Danelectro pedals so I'll be comparing it with the "Black Licorice" and possibly the Fab Tone if I decide I need it.

Ummm.....Not rocket science, but takes alot of fiddling to get a decent sound out of it. Presets in the manual are intresting, you know british over drive metal, fuzz metal. You can have any sound as long as it's metal. Good features really, mid eq is bloody useless though.

I use std Strat mainly, into a silver face twin. The amp rocks obviously. Now for this is out and out metal, usaual suspects, Metallica, Fear Factory etc. Yes you can get some great scooped crunch sounds, strat on the bridge pickup palm mutes sound good.

Honestly I have never been overlly happy with it, poor mans Mesa really. I have since checked out a great deal of overdrive/distortion pedals. Mesa V twin, tubeworks 901( This is the best thing I've heard I am getting one!), Big Muff etc I want to try a small stone to difficult to find in the UK.

The sound is good though, obviously if you pump it through a dual rec + 4x12 its going to sound good. My Twin's great so it's got good wieght behind it when put through it, even though I only use a normal Strat. You can do metal but not have to put up with naff humbucker clean tones, gibsons, esp's etc.

My big gripe is the distortion knob has like 2 situations, crap sound and completely over distorted sound, nothing in the middle. The pedal though is good for that sound it does do, there are alot variations on that theme you can do.

It's Boss, could run it over with a tank and all it will do is switch on.

Never spoke to them

If you want a metal pedal you can do a lot worse, to be honest though there are better pedals out there that are not that much more expensive.

Easy to use and to get a good metal sound, but you should know what is mid range, so, you can get a better sound...

Good sound, but noisy. I already did a review but it since 1998 so I'd like to say other things. If you have a good amp (head and bottom) please DON'T USE THIS!!! Now I know that you won't get THE sound you want. Of course it gives a good metal sound, but you will never get the crisp sound of a good amp. I you want a metal sound but a melodic sound too, buy a good amp instead.

I would give a gig with it anyway, too much heavy sounding.

Good, buy this ONLY if you have a small amp.

This is really easy to use, as long as you take some time to find your own perfect sound, and trust me you'll find it.
The manual is good I guess, you really didn't need it though.

Although I don't play metal at all it's great when you want that extra punch in the distortion. I use the pedal with my Epiphone Les paul and GT-3 with a EH-2 enhancer pedal last in the chain, also from Boss, and together they sound awsome. On the down side this thing can be quite noisy, from time to time, but only when you edit and never when you play it.
With this pedal i can get just about any distortion sound that I want, but I would definetaly recommend an Overdrive pedal to go along with it, cuz' there is no way that you'll be able to play full chords on this thing. The sound acctually reminds me of Metallica - black album and before.

This thing will probably survive a nuclear blast.
I've gigged several times with it, and although I always have a back-up, i'd do it, even without.

I've dealt with Roland, and they are very friendly and helpful.

It's the greatest distortion pedal ever made. If it were stolen i'd get a new in a heartbeat.