Boss MT-2 Metal Zone

easy to use, seems to have a wde range of eq options.

yuck. sounds honky no matter how you set the eq on it. sounds very artificial.

reliable

i play rock music, 20 years. rock blues and heavy rock. i have Godin sdxt, ibanez rg 440, strat 62 reisuue

played it threw my peavey amp at home and also a marshal half stack in a reharsal studio. the other band members realy didnt like my sound with it, so did i.

get a different distortion, this one is just a bit above useless, i dont understand why would boss want to ruin their raputation with such crap. ive also revied a 2003 ds1 - also bad. im getting a tonebone trimode and donating these to the poor.

Although i spose you could consider this easy to use but not so easy to get a good sound since its quite sensitive and the controls are very interactive.

I didn't buy this, i borrowed it off a freind, who was actualy given it for free (and now i know why). Expect to see this on ebay soon.

I think this sounds awful no matter what setting you have IMO it sounds $%^&.

I'll be a bit more specific by saying that it is very harsh sounding, the tonal spectrum ranges from ear peircing to midless mush and white noise.

There is no point in rolling back the gain, it sounds exactly the same but just weaker and even more $%^& as it still sounds just as harsh and instead of giving you a lower gain sound it give you less attack. No matter how softly u hit the strings it will sound the same, when your pick hits the strings its almost as loud as fretted notes.

Notes do not standout with this and its hard to hear what you are playing as your riffs or solos are drowned out in white noise.

This would proably sound good to the uneducated ear, as i would proably see myself liking this pedal when i started out on guitar.

It seems sturdy enough

N/A

If you are searching for a high gain pedal with a good distortion sound for metal DONT BUY THIS, although some people like this, i know guitar tone is subjective but its just not very good at all. Also if you want your guitar to standout in the mix dont get this.

When trying to play metal on this its hard to actualy hear what you're playing, as you cant really hear the notes properly as there is this harsh trebly white noise that attacks your eardrums.

I can only think of one good use with this pedal, if you added some extreme corus, or maybe a flanger pedal and use it for noises and it will give you quite an interesting into/outro to a song so if you want something cheap that wil give u some noise (white noise can be used in cool ways ask tom morello) buy it.

Now i haven't used one but i'm sure the x series digitech metal master is far superior.

Also if you are after a good guitar sound stay away from the boss recording studios the amp modeling is awful.

It seems that some simpletons dont appreciate the difference between not understanding how to use the EQ controls and not LIKING the sound on any of the settings. The controls are easy enough to use and understand, its the basic sound of the of pedal thats at fault and that cant be salvaged in any way by 'tweaking'. If you think you can get a good sound out of this pedal then maybe its time to get your ears syringed.

I tried this with several guitars from Gibson, Jackson and ESP into Marshall and Hiwatt amps and its absolutely true that the MT2 makes 'em all sound the same. Anybody who says otherwise is lying or just plain stoopid. Dont believe all the garbage posted here about how 'This is the most brutal distortion ever'/ 'Its the only pedal you will ever need'/'Im always getting compliments on my sound' etc. etc. It doesnt add up when you actually hear the pedal in action.This has to be the worst, lamest excuse for a distortion pedal I ever heard (give or take some cheap Behringer units). Its thin, weak and fizzy at all possible setings and as far removed from a brutal, blistering metal sound as its possible to get. Bedroom players may disagree.

10/10 for Boss on that score.Sad to say, this pedal will never die. Except out of embarrasment if you stand it beside a Rocktron Rampage, DOD/Digitech Grunge or even a Line6 Ubermetal.

I dont own this pedal and wouldnt even consider it on the grounds of sound quality. If your some sheltered bedroom player who doesnt know any better, dont get upset and start telling lies because your belief system has been shattered by guys who know and recognize good sound. Just accept that there are better FX units out there and move on.

If you find a four band eq difficult to operate you do not have the skills required to get a decent sound from your amp.

I have played a number of guitars (Fender tele, Flying V, several customs) through this pedal into a 100w Marshall JCM 800, through 1 4x12 JCM800 cab.
Contrary to other reports on this page I find that even using the distortion all the way up the tonal characteristics of each guitar remain intact.
I use an old Boss ME5 for the excellent noise reduction without tonal loss (if youre going to use a lot of gain and distortion you need to pay attention to your sound and then take care of the background noise).
My sound is crunchy and super compressed metal- not strictly old or nu- elements of both.
I play downtuned to A (not some gay drop tuning, this is all six super fat strings).
I use the metal zone live and have recorded with it over the last 6-7 years and constantly recieve compliments on my sound.
I dont need to model amp/ cab setups but I find the controls help me escape the 'one Marshall sound' syndrome and allow me to find my own sound without getting bogged down with equipment or controls.
If you want to play Metal but want to keep your setup simple this box does it all with maximum crunch.

Boss stuff is indestructable. My only critisism here is that your sound cant be saved with these live controls which is a real pain when youre gigging or transporting your gear- hense the lower score here.

never used em

I have been playing for twenty years and have tried loads of different distortion pedals but found that the Metal Zone was like a new beginning for me.
I havent yet tried any of the hip new units that have taken over from the MZ but dont want to fix such a core part of my kit.
I would definately replace it if it were lost/ stolen.
One other thing about it that is a bit of a pain in the ass is having to use an external power supply/ batteries.
I've used this site many times when buying kit- its quality
Metal!

You have to be a spastic if you cant operate this thing..Bought mine second hand without a manual. In comparison to its rival the Digitech Metal Master, they both have there strong and weak points. I think the metal master suits hardcore more than anything and doesnt seem as versitile as a Boss Metal zone from my experience anyway.

Marshall AVT150 head thru a 4*12 cabinet - Rocktron Nitro - Boss Equilizer - Boss Metal zone - Crybaby waawaa - BC rich NJ warlock with EMG's and a Jackson Fusion pro.

I was able to get a meaty tone with this setup. The Rocktron Nitro is a vital part because im able to boost my tone for solo's live. But ide be dead without my metalzone. Perfect for the Death metal - Black metal even to punk. Its so versitle. I play mostly Death/black/doom with some Opeth there somewhere. The AVT150 head was an upgrade from a Marshall MG100h solidstate head which isnt as great in my opinion.

My main sound come from the Metalzone and Equilizer combined, for solo's I upgraded from a Behringer Pre-amp booster to a Rocktron Nitro and waawaa for Arch Enemy type solo's. I de-tune 1 step down for all my songs and it sounds so good. Even with my old MG100 head the metalzone sounds kickass for any genre. Truly one of the best. I do Believe At The Gates used a metal zone on the Slaughter Of The Soul album (swedish death metal).

Solid pedal... Nothing can squash this thing.

Never dealt with them.

I play from death metal - Doom metal. If you cant get a good sound out of this thing your retarded no doubt. Or you just own a $^%& amp or something like that. OR your just as spastic as DAN about 6 reviews down ... retard.. lol

Sounds awesome for low end riffing and high happy melody's and harmony's. For solo's i had to by a Booster for a better tone(didnt much like the metalzone for soloing that much ) None the less its a trustworthy little box full for the heaviest tones ever.

I can't understand why it's so hard for some people to operate with this pedal! Well 4 EQ kobs - whatever. For me it was a pleasure.

Jackson DK27 (dimarzio DP100) - Boss Mt-2 into a 10W marshall practice amp. with the boss PSA adaptor it's not noisy at all. The pedal is pretty much the best metal compact pedal. I used to own a marshall jackhammer and a zoom 707II - they didn't even came closer to the MetalZone. I can get any metallica sound with my setup although it isn't my favorite band :) It's Judas Priest and I can't get their sound because I don't own a 5000$ marshall valvestate amp ;) Well you can get pretty close... It's a 9

It's alive so far..

I asked for info about boss' pedal board once...never got it..

I play NWBHM (that's new wave of brittish heavy metal and it's not quite new by now ;), blues, jazz, AOR. I've been playing for a couple of years. For me the MT-2 is a must-have, I'd buy another one if it were stolen.

I'm a firm believer that you should be able to plug a pedal in, especially if it's distortion, and be able to get a good sound out. With this pedal, you can't do that. If I want to mess around with the EQ, I will use the equalizer on my amp, or an EQ pedal. I've had this pedal for about two years and everytime I decide to try it in my chain again, I always end up getting rid of it.

Not good. Maybe I have the wrong setup (Fender Powerhouse Strat, through a Fender amp). This might sound better if I had, say, an Ibanez through a Marshall stack. It could be my single coil pickups that are mucking the sound, but I just can't see the appeal for the people who like this pedal. It just sounds so tinny and thin, and destroys the bottom end of the signal no matter how high you set the low setting. I agree with a previous review when they said it would be the perfect pedal if all you're looking for is mean sounding power chords in drop-D. Bottom line, it just doesn't sound good to me.

It's Boss, so I know it's gonna be tough at the very least. I wouldn't gig with or without a backup because I would never gig with this pedal. I'll give it a 7 because it sucks batteries like no other.

OK I must admit that it is not a plug and play distortion, you'll have to spend some time to find the right sound. So if you are a bit lazy, this might not be the best distortion for you.

My setup is: Fender Statocaster american standard, Fender Twin Amp, Ibanez WD7 Wha, and a Boss ME-X looped with a Boss DS-1 a MT-2 Metalzone and an extra digital delay. The Pedal can be noisy at higher settings, but with the noisesurpressor set on one that is taken care of. It can sound great and even original, all you've got to do is find out how the equalizer works.

Like so many people said before, I still use my first pedal wich was also a Boss. I bought that pedal about 17 years ago. You could possibly drive a truck over it and brake the truck.

I play anything from soul and funk to Hendrix and Van Halen, it suits me just fine. It has got lots of drive and nice feedbacks and it can produce a fat rich sound(just make sure you don't take out all the mids).

easy to use i have no problem with the mid settings i don't even have the damn manual for it

this pedal only goes my wah...i use this pedal alone when i'm riffing or rhythm parts...i can pull of that lamb of god sound on a right setting....it is a bit noisy though i think it comes from the midrange...but weak point is when i do some solos it is a bit dry and dull so that is why i use my dunlop wah pedal to give color i use my pedal the way zakk wylde uses his

it is built like a tank i don't need a back up it doesn't fail

other that downloading the manual..i haven't dealt with them

i play purely metal which is a good match for this pedal...if this pedal were to be stolen i would get the same thing....i love the crunch and balls in this little box but i really don't like using it on my solos and i wouldn't use it on recording also

Not much to it, it's a distortion pedal. You twiddle the knobs until you get a sound you like and step on it.

Buzzzzzzzzzzzzz, fisssssssssssssss, buzzzzzzzzzz, squueeeel. I hate this pedal, fine at low volume if you want lots of saturated metal distortion, but usless if you turn up. This is the noisiest pedal i have ever used, it even makes a horrendous hissing noise when you turn the volume down to zero on the guitar.

I also find when using this pedal that it exagerates the sound of my pick hitting the strings until it's almost as loud as the note itself, which is pretty crap when doing fast alternate picked runs etc. this gets worse the louder it goes, and believe me, if you want to cut through the mix with this pedal you need to turn it up LOUD (i assume cos it scoops all the mids).

This pedal is probably fine if you wear your guitar round your knees and play 'chugga, chugga' type power chords in a new metal band or only play at bedroom volume. Otherwise I'd give it as wide a berth as possible.

It's a boss pedal, you could probably set fire to it and throw it off a tall building (and believe me it occurred to me) and it'd still work. It was very, very reliable and the batteries lasted well.

na

I play a bit of everything, but mostly hard rock - it certainly wasn't suitable for me. In the shop i liked the thick saturated distortion, it sounded great for playing solo's etc. but unfortunately it can't cut through the mix and the louder it goes, the worse it sounds. At gig volume it sounds lifeless, hisses constantly and produces difficult to control feedback.

I eventually sold this pedal enough on ebay and haven't regretted the discision. I've replaced it with a POD, which cost about #20 more, has many more effects, can plug direct to a PC for recording and can produce a similar sounding distortion without the inherent issues of the MT2.

Not allll too easy to use cuz it does have a parametric eq and other eq'ing options. Overall tho, well, its a 1-2 trick pony. Read Below.

I've been without an amp for a while but i felt like reviewing some of my old pedals. I had gotten this pedal very early when i started playing and.. well even then i wasnt its biggest fan. Through a marshal DSL combo with humbuckers it didnt sound bad: raging wall of fuzz for sure. Thing is there are only maybe 1-2 maybe 3 good sounding versions of this "raging wall of fuzz." As i remember it there was scooped mids, extra highs, and just all nobs at "11." It doesnt sound too bad but it has no depth, theres not more to it than what is advertised, you couldnt get some things out of this pedal that you could out of others.
For me at least this pedal was replaced by a sustain punch creamy dreamer. Now am i a hippocrite or what talkin about one trick ponies for a distortion pedal and using a straight up fuzz pedal?! Well here's the thing. The dreamer sounded better through the marshall and had alot of flexibility even tho you cant get anything quiet out of it. There's more out there than this pedal, and sure you dont havta lay down the money i did for an obvious boutique pedal, but i like the plain old boss DS-3 or the turbo distortion better than this one.

Psshh! It's a boss. Here's a scenario:
NUCLEAR WAR! BOOOOOOOM!!!!
Survivors:
1. cockroaches
2. fast food
3. boss pedals

never dealt with them.

At the time I played whatever was loud but this thing only really made me happy for a day. It made me happy to take it out and play with a friend of mine who like metal zones, he was so enthused he ripped into like 5 metallica solos in continuity. At any rate this thing is being sold shortly cuz i need the money and have been meaning to sell it for a while. It's good for well metal, but look at some classic metal heads. Zakk Wylde uses a super overdrive, Scott Ian uses a t.c. electronic boost/distortion, Dimebag... well what the hell did he use LOL. Bottom line if its your cup of tea cool, it just wasnt mine.

Definetly for metal. This pedal is sweet you can go from a Marshall jmc sound to a dual rectifier soud in seconds or plexi what ever you desire. The mid frequency is adjustable wich is what makes this pedal so sweet. Most guitar amps have a fixed mid frequency position wich is part of what gives each manufacturer their individual sounds. Usually set betwene 600, and 1600hz. With this pedal you can have total control over your tone. Try this set you apps mid control at 8 now cut the mids on the pedal now losten to the sound then do the reverse back and forth untill you make the pedal sound the same as the amp in the mid range. The setting on the padal is the same frequency your guitar amp has in the mid range.
Try this cut the mid range to 0 or -2 on your amp boost it to 8 on the pedal turn the frequency nob untill you find the sweetest sound. That mid range would be good for a blusey sound with the gain low.

Awesome tone, and flexibility. Also you can use the pedal to have less or more distortion in certian frequencies, and use it to blend with the band or stand out.

Like the energizer bunny and a timex, takes a licking and keeps on ticking, it just keeps going and going and going.

Boss is the best. They are always verry helpfull, and can abnswer any question.

This pedal is the best metal pedal there is for the money. It depends on the band and what is best for the music and the song.

Well there's not much to it really. Not hard to use. Just fiddle with the knobs and find a sound that you like. It's very delicate however, a slight move of anything can totally change the sound, thus the 9.

Many people seem to be unsatisfied with the sound the MT-2 produces, and I admit, it can produce some pretty dire sounds. I bought this pedal 3 years ago and just gave up on it within a week and it's been on a shelf until recently. When I got the pedal I had no idea of advanced tweaking of EQ. Since then I've become quite good at recording and production and have a good understanding of what produces what I would see as a good tone.

Many people who use this pedal seem to scoop the middle out almost completely. Being a metal pedal, the mid is already fairly low, so to get a nice sound just keep that up a little. And the mid frequency is very flexible, but the sounds of things you can get the mid frequency all the way from about 200Hz up to maybe 1.5KHz. Which gives you a lot of scope with tone that a standard amp distortion would not give you.

The MT-2 is renowned for its terrible sounds. However I just did a gig a few days ago, first time I've used the MT-2 at a gig. I was complemented on numerous occasions on my distortion sound. My band plays music similar to that of The Mars Volta, and the tones are anything but metal. However, I am very into metal and I know the pedal can produce amazing metal tones as well. I also play pop-rock from time to time, the soft distorted sounds are also brilliant.

Takes work to get this pedal to sound good, but it's definately worth it once you figure it out. It's like a distortion time machine (Future and present) in a pedal.

It's never gone wrong since I've been using it. And we all know how reliable Boss pedals are!

(Got a Boss delay from the 70's that I still use ALL the time)

I haven't had any experience with the customer support due to the reliability of Boss.

I play almost every style on music imaginable, from Latin american to death metal to east asian music to pop. And when ever I need distortion, I can always depend on the MT-2 to create the exact sound I want.

I play a PRS Custom 24 and the amp I play through varies, although I favour Fender amps.

I would definately buy another if it broke or was stolen. I have it insured and everything :-)

It's tough to get used to and take a fair bit of tweaking to get the "perfect" sound but it's well worth it when you find the sound you're looking for.

I've used amp distortion for a long time, a few Marshall models, Fender, Peavy and Laney. I've also used Roland VG-88 which I was VERY VERY disappointed with. This pedal tops any of the VG-88's weak and powerless distortion sounds.

If you don't care too much, the pedal is very easy to use. There are some pre sets in the manual that are ok, I would consider them a great starting point. At the time I bought the pedal, 1992, I was into Ministry, KMFDM, Slayer, and the like. This pedal works great for the rythm parts. Very thick and heavy. If you care a ton about tone and noise, I would not recommend this pedal. It has a hum that will not go away... And it toatlly robs all the tone out of any instrument you put through it. Basic ease of use? It's a Boss pedal... Just fidget with it until you like it.

My setup changes frequently, depending on what I'm doing... But the main parts are American Strat with noiseless, Ibanez 350DX, Yamaha semihollow body, or Alvarez Koa acoustic though the pedal loop mentioned below into either my pc (SoundBlaster X-fi Platinum) or a Roland JC-120.

Here's the main reason I'm writing this:

1. The pedal has a hum to it that will not go away regardless of the settings. If you use this pedal, you will have a big background noise issue. I have a string of Boss pedals I play through: noise suppressor with loop, supershifter, chorus, compressor/sustainer, metal zone, and outside loop a digital delay. If you use the pedal, the only way to get rid of the hum is to turn the noise suppression all the way up, which kills some of the notes and all of the sustain.

2. Through this pedal, all guitars sound equal. It robs all the tone from them instrument. A $1,000 Gibson SG will sound like a Cort, a Cort like a Les Paul, and a Les Paul like a flea-market special. I have a couple of guitars, they all sound identical though the pedal, regardless of single coil pickups on the strat, EMG's on the Ibanez, a Seymore Duncan Acoustic pickup on the Alvarez, they all sound exactly the same. I only have one amp, so I would guess the effect is the same on the amps. These guys on here talking about how the've got a $3,000 rig... Don't try to put a $100 pedal into it... That's just lazy. Your rig is only as strong as the weakest link.

3. And finally, it really isn't that bad depending on what you are trying to do. I only gave it a five for the inscessant humming.

Had it for close to 20 years, never had a problem.

I read on here a guy said "cheap plastic knobs that come off if you pull on them..." Well... Yeah. You know, if I paid a $100 for a pedal, the last thing I'm going to do is try to destroy it.

Never had to deal with them.

It's great across the board with the exception of the background humming. Honestly, I'd play live with it, but I'm not sure I would record with it. This was one if the first pedals I ever bought, I've been playing for over 15 years, and the pedal is basically the same as it was the day I bought it. I love the thick distortion with lots of high squeals, low grumbles, background harmonics... I hate the hum. If I could, I'd add in a selector switch for some saved presets and a noise gate. The hum isn't that bad you say?
This is how it goes...
Me: "Hey, everybody, you all wanna rock out?"
Everybody: "Well, we guess so... But it better be rockin'!"
Me: "Great! Let me just turn up my axe..."
Guitar: "BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ"
Guitar: "BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ"
Guitar: "BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ"

Just use patience and tweak. It has plenty of tweaking options.

Modified Schecter Classic (Duncan: Custom Custom & Alnico 5) -> MT2 -> Boss Flanger 2 -> Guyatone MD3 -> Roland Cube 30

Surprisingly, I can get a pretty fat sound with it. I usually add some reverb when I want a more overwhelming feeling. And it's quiet, as most digital distortions should be.

You can get quite a range of sounds out of this and it has a very tight feel to it and it can give you as open a sound as you need.

The problem with it, is that it has a lot of white noise when adding a decent amount of distortion. If you cut the midrange, you can reduce some of that, but you lose a some versatility as well.

On the same note, the distortion always has a sharp, metallic ring to it. There's absolutely no smoothness to this pedal. Its distortion sounds almost identical to a table saw and the more gain you push through it, the worse it is.

I used it non-stop for 2 years without a problem and it's been through practices, movings, being buried under other equipment and whatever else the poor thing had to suffer through. I wouldn't gig without a backup no matter what, though. So that's an unfair question of its reliability.

N/A

I mainly play fusion, metal and experimental with a wide variety of different genres that influence my playing. I've been playing for over 5 years.

And while the MT2 is a fun toy that gives cool thrash and industrial sounds, it's also quick to outgrow and find faults with. Once I realized what sound I was trying to achieve, I had to go shopping for a more useful pedal.

Takes a while to get a useable sound. The suggested settings are horrible.

After almost two weeks of constant tweaking, I tried it at a band practice and it sounded ok, but then I gigged with this pedal and it was a farce. It was the worst, fartiest sounding thing ever. It has since been replaced with a Rat, which is a real distortion pedal.

I use 5 other boss pedals so i see no problems here. batteries go down too quickly though.

at low volumes it sounded false, at high volumes it made people cry. I let my friend in another band use it, he hasn't spoken to me since.
I'd happily buy another boss pedal, just not a distortion, my rat and big muff cover everything i need there.

It's a friggin distortion pedal. The knobs are labeled. Doesn't get any easier than this.

It doesn't matter what amp or pickups your using. This is by far the crappiest distortion pedal EVER. I wouldn't cross the street to piss on this thing if it were on fire. Just let it burn. Yeah, I know alot of people who own one of these. They all have two things in common.
A: They are not professionals. Garage-band types who show up late for gigs and jam on busted up gear.
B: They sound like garage-band types. Forget parts and make up stuff on stage.

If you want a fuzz pedal with no balls, then step this way sir.

If want to experience the pits of hell and hear that which is dark and unholy, spend at least $500 dollars on your guitar HEAD and use its footswitch or spend about $100 on a Digitech X-series metal distortion. There are no other alternatives, period.

Constructively: This thing has alot of fuzz. You can dial in alot of lows but you can never get enough 2k mids to cut through. When people talk about distortion and balls, they're refering to about 800hz-3khz. This thing is all fuzz and no balls. Not worth your money or time.
Name a professional (famous) guitarist who uses one of these. Note that I said USE and not ENDORSE. Differnce being that alot of rockstars sell crappy gear they don't even play on.

Solid metal construction. Very reliable.

Never dealt cuz they are reliable

Play rock, alternative, metal, for about 8 years now. Been through alot of crappy gear in my time so trust me, I know crappy gear. This is definitely crappy gear. Using my Carvin V3 for lead and overdrive now. Run it through a 31-band EQ to perfect my tone. Metalzone doesn't touch it. It doesn't even come close. God, I'm so tired of hearing people play on or talk about one of these. They suck.

it's a distortion pedal. there are 4 bands of EQ, volume, distortion, foot switch, and in's and out's. no learning curve there. if you can't figure out how to operate that then maybe you shouldn't be playing music. ;) i will say it is easy to get many good sounds out of it if you know what you're doing. i don't have the "manual", but again it's a distortion pedal. not some intricate piece of software or anything...

i play an Ibanez RG guitar thru it and out into a tube amp. compliments my pickups well, and almost no noise compared to similar stomp boxes like the DOD FX86B "Death Metal" pedal. i play industrial-metal type stuff and i think this pedal will serve others well in that area. it can sound reminiscent of "Psalm 69" era Ministry if you know how to EQ it right and given you're using a guitar and amp that suit your needs. i also run synths thu it and the nice EQ feature really helped me shape my tone.i was looking for a pedal with plenty of low contrast between lows and highs, with plenty of mid-gain crunch, and so far this pedal has delivered the goods. really nice highs and squeals coming thru it and palm mutes and harmonics sound great as well. very sensitive in the highs.

it's tough and metal.

it's a Boss, mind you. they make the best pedals out there. i imagine if you chucked it at a concrete wall or threw it off a building, it might break. treat it well and it will serve you.

i would use it for a gig without a backup. just an adapter with a fresh battery. you never know.

never dealt with them.

for my needs, this pedal went all the way, mainly because it's EQ alloed me to get that distinct crunch that was lost thru other pedals. if it were lost or stolen i'd definitely replace it.

a lot of people that play jazz, blues, and funk type styles will say negative things about this unit, but again, it's called the "Metal Zone", so go figure. i think Boss has really met the needs of a lot of musicians with this one.

It is not hard at all to get a great sound with the MT-2. The manual explains very well everything this pedal does. Just hook it in between your guitar and amp, and you will be good to go.

I play a Gibson SG Special with a Tom Anderson H3 humbucker in the bridge. I strive for an open (not eq'ed) tone of a mahogany (dark/full) guitar. I use Monster Rock cables into a Boss MT-2 Metal Zone pedal. I basically use this pro-quality pedal as an overdrive not a distortion. Into a Randall 300w Titan head [dirt channel: Gain 8.5, Mid 4, Mid Freq 4, High 4, Bass 8] I have a BBE sonic maximizer in the effects loop of the amp. The Randall titan runs to a Mesa Boogie Standart 4x12 rectofier cabinet. The secret to the Boss MT-2 is how you set it. [Drive-10, Eq-Flat 12:00 on all, Distortion-0 (zero). I promise if you have a good amp, this thing (without dist knob turned up) will make a good amp, super. Crowbar all the way!!

No need for a backup, all Boss pedals are very dependable.

I have not had to deal with them. Been using Boss products for 15 years.

This thing is great for metal and that is why I bought it, but I know countless other musicians that use it too. This pedal shouldn't be called metal zone in my opinion, because it is pro-quality distortion that can be tweaked for any style of music.

Pretty straight forward, just don't get carried away with the eq settings...

I tried it at the store first with a solid state fender... sounded pretty good! So, I figured it would sound even better through my classic 30. Took a while, but now it does! I run a fender highway 1 fat strat through it, btw.

See, the key is to barely touch the eq. I like the classic 30's distortion to begin with, I just wanted more gain, more oomph, and a bit of a treble boost. So, I plugged the thing into the amp, tried it out with the dirt channel. DON'T DO THIS. This thing doesn't layer well at all. It just turns into a muddy mess... unless that's what you want...

I then tried it through the clean channel, and tried a few tips I got from some of the other reviews here. I decided that the eq works best to slightly alter your amps tone. In my case, I always thought the classic 30 sounded kind of "muffled", so I added a tiny bit of a treble boost, and a bit of a bass boost to keep things even, and voila! It sounded like I had taken the amp out of the invisible sytrafoam box it came in!

So, my settings are as followed:

Level: match volume
Treble: 1:00
Bass: 1:00
Mid: 12:00
Mid-freq: 12:00
Dist: 2-3:00

Then on the amp, I have the eq pretty much flat (everything maxed out), and reverb at about 11:00. The amp is nice and middy to begin with, which I like, so I have to have that maxed out on the amp, and left flat on the pedal. The amp is reasonably bassy with the low maxed out, but it needed a bit more to get into metal territory, so I compensated a bit with the pedal. The amp sounded kind of muffled even with the treble maxed, so I again compensated with the pedal.

This gets you a pretty smooth and polite, but still decidedly heavy distortion.

If you want to get into some pantera style stuff, just scoop the mids on the pedal, boost the bass and treble on the pedal... and ofcourse dime the distortion control ;)

Overall, this thing can sound very good... or very bad. If you have a half decent amp like I do, let it do most of the work, and use the pedal's eq to tweek it. I know I've said that several times already, but I can't stress it enough. If you use pedals eq any more than just to tweek it, you'll generally get mud, unless you've after a dimebag kinda tone. I generally play stuff like Dream Theater, Joe Satriani, bit of Zakk Wylde era Ozzy, Hammerfall, ZZ Top... yeah. You won't get a rectifier kind of tone out of this pedal unless you actually have a rectifier, but you can get close. I don't need the pedal for the classic rock though, as my drive channel is optimized for just that.

So, I'm giving this section an 8. It takes a lot of tweeking, but once you get the sound you're after, you'll know, and you'll be happy.

It's pretty heavy. I suppose that means it's durable.

...

This pedal is designed for metal, but it can do slightly less heavy stuff... think shred. It's more versatile than you'd expect as well, but don't expect to get mild distortion out of it... you won't. You can get a very tasteful but heavy distortion out of it, which is what I've been shooting for.

That said, this pedal is still no replacement for a 5000 dollar mesa boogie head and cab. You will most certainly get a better distortion out of something like that. This pedal will get you in the ballpark for much less $$, but don't even bother comparing the two. The metal-zone is great for what it's designed to do, but will obviously suck at things it isn't... go figure.

The Boss Metal Zone IS NOT a pedal for people who haven't got the patience to fiddle with tone knobs. The MT2 offers a large spectrum of tones, and can be used for bluesy sounds, to death metal. The manual is very helpful, and easy to understand, like all good manufacturers. I've had my unit for almost 2 years now. Oh, and the settings in the manual sound pretty shit.

Im using an Ibanez sz520, into the MT2, into an Ibanez 10 watt. However when I practice with my band I use our PA. I have an amazing crunch (to my ears) which keeps me playing my guitar over and over. Here it is:

LEVEL- 12'o'Clock (this doesn't matter though)
LOW- 12'o'clock
HIGH- MAX
MIDDLE FREQ- MAX
MIDDLE- MAX
DIST- 12'o'clock

Now it may be that im a treble freak, but this is great for ever-lasting sustain, and seems to make everything I play sound good!

-REMEMBER-
Every one has their own taste, you may all hate this setting, but I can't get enough of it!

-ALSO!-
This wont cut too well with a band live, the notes will be unclear, however it varies with different amps, to heal this simply turn the dist down, and also turn the treble to 3'o'clock, and the middle Freq down slightly, this is a clearer tone!

This pedal, along with all of BOSS's stompboxes, is built flawlessly, with a thick metal casing it would take continual beatings, and will have to be thrown many times at walls. I have only given this a 9 for two reasons:
- The knobs are quite easily broken and..
- I would only trust it in a gig if I was using an adapter, WITH a 9v inside it aswell.
The reason for that is so in the middle of a song the battery doesn't run out, and if our clumbsy bassist kicks the adapter cable out of the end of my pedal, I wont be chasing leads etc around just before a solo. But other wise its a 10.

Never dealt with yet, and probably never will.

I play from grunge, to punk rock(forced into it), also some metallica. This peal is great, and will never leave my pedalboard. I have been playing for about 4 years, however I am picky about tone, and I love this setting. It helps me write songs because I love the tone im getting and also stops me from putting my Axe's down!

Pretty easy to use. You've got to have somewhat of an understanding of EQ'ing before you go playing with this thing. Having all of the knobs turned up all the way will not give you a nice tone no matter how hard you try. Other than that, its basically 6 knobs- Level, High/Low, Mid/Mid Frequency, and Distortion level. Drop in a 9 volt battery, do some tweaking, and play....

I'm currently running an Ibanez Artcore and an ESP LTD-MH-201 through this pedal into a Classic 30. As you can tell by my setup, the sounds I get out of this thing are quite interesting at any given point at any given day. I have tried using this thing for a couple of live shows. The sad thing is, is this pedal just doesn't sound that great at loud levels. It sounds very harsh and cold, almost to the point of hurting your ears. However, at lower levels, this pedal sounds damned good. I've just found that even though theres 6 knobs, it's pretty hard to find a right sound for this pedal, especially since its called a Metal Zone - a pedal designed for playing higher gain metal stuff. In the end, I've had better luck using my Classic 30's on board dirty channel, then using the MT-2, with levels turned down, as a sort of booster/over drive for the dirty channel. I can achieve pretty good leads with this, and using the pedal alone I can get somewhat decent tone for rythym. The pedal certainly has enough gain, thats for sure. The pedal just happens to sound awefully fuzzy as well.

One thing about it, it's freaking reliable. How could it not be?

n/a

The pedal sounds good for bedroom use.
The pedal sucks for live playing, mine can't handle higher levels.
Despite everything, you can get a couple of different decent tones out of it, depending on your amp.

For the price, I don't think this is worth it. Maybe if Boss would have sold this for a somewhat more decent price, I could justify its value, but I just can't. I would have been better off with a Tube Screamer. All in all, just don't let the "Metal Zone" part fool you, you may want to try out something else before you buy this. And if you do buy this, don't be afraid to experiment with the EQ's, it will help your sound drastically.

pretty simple, the parametric eq took a little getting used to, it's my first pedal with one of those. The manual set me straight though

I've found this pedal a little hit or miss so far, the mids have to be dialed in just right or it sounds really digital, to like the eXtreme. It is a pretty insane distortion though so i guess transperenacy is low on the priority list. My favorite setting so far is dist. to max and High to max and the rest of the eq turned to min. It's treble/ white noise heaven! It's a little noisy on high gain, but it does have an insane amount of gain. I'm just playing super-modded strat into MT-2 into a peavy transtube solid state. I haven't used it with my amin setup yet. It's awesome for just metaling it up, I'm more of a mellow rock or Neil young style grunge guy. Contrary to what others are saying on here, you really can't get the distortion down to an overdrivish gain, even with the eqs. It's just got too much searing awesomeness. My Blues jr. and Blues driver can do mellow overdrive tbetter than this little guy, but that said, you can really back off the distortion a lot on this guy. It's a sweet pedal for doing crazy runs and stuff with, fun little box, no big complaints about the sound. says Metal in the name, you get metal in the sound. sweet. Can be digital sounding though.

it's a boss, I've never had a boss crap out on me yet, but be careful with the AC jack, they have a tendency to break off the board if you're not careful with them.

boss has always been nice to me and their website is a lot better than the likes of Electro Harmonix

It's sweet little pedal and I got it for a good deal from a friend. It's not a great match for what I play, but it's fun for a bit of metaling out. I wish it had a parametric eq for all the ranges, that would be wicked awesome. I play a bit of everything but I'm starting to down grade my gain these days, so I don't think this has a place in my setup. Pretty sweet to just jam with friends though and jump around ya know? sweet little pedal congratulations boss, I'm now short of beer.

Once you work out the parametric EQ, very easy to use.

I used to use this pedal before I bought my Mesa Dual Rectifier. This pedal doesn't actually sound as bad as some people complain. to my memory, this is the most popular effects pedal in history, (a good number of my friends own one) but I rarely come across anyone who has set their EQ correctly.

Yes, this pedal is digital and harsh and cold sounding but it can be a functional sound. When I usually hear people playing through it, they set it up to make 'scooped' sounds but this truly sounds awful on this pedal. The midrange needs to be accentuated or the pedal sounds like a piercing fizz sound (with strange low end).

So, my advice to anyone who's interested in this pedal would be... do you play death or 80s metal? if so, you may like this pedal. You could use this pedal for Rock etc but other musicians will be able to spot the harsh tone.

IF YOU ARE TRYING THIS PEDAL THEN SET THE CONTROLS AS FOLLOWS:
LEVEL - (set to bypass volume)
LOW - Around 1-3 o'clock
HIGH - Between 11-2 o'clock
MID FREQ - 10 o'clock
MIDDLE - 1-3 o'clock
DIST - Never more than 3 o'clock

The distortion control just creates extra noise beyond about 2-3 o'clock without much gain increase.

I gave a 6 in this category because it isn't amazing sounding but it does the job for metal.

My experience of Boss pedals is that it could be broken when you buy it. But other than that, they are strangely invincible. but always use an adapter with the exact current figure (it's a good idea to use a boss one but they're expensive) or you can get noise or incorrect functioning.

Apparently they aren't very good... but i haven't ever tried them.

I have long since departed with this pedal but I just wanted to defend it against the many MT-2 haters.

When played through the clean channel of a warm tube amp, it is a palatable sound.

Having said that, this pedal is pretty good for aggressive metal but NOTHING else.

Pretty simple, you just plug it in, and scoop away as you like. Its not hard at all, I don't see why people complain about complexities. 6 knobs. Wow, difficult.

It sounds wonderful - dependant on your amp's tone and settings, that is. I play at home with a 45 watt Squier amp, and it makes it sound like its a beast (with both gains turned almost all the way off on the squier and volume turned up). I also play it on a 120 watt Crate, and it sounds beast on a Crate under clean. I've had the chance to play it on a 175 watt Ibanez head, and it sounds weird. But its not the pedal's fault, the Ibanez head sounded weird without the pedal anyway. The pedal improves tone regardless of the amp though, you just have to dial in the proper settings on your amp and on the pedal, and some people are just too damn lazy to do that.
Layering distortions usually sounds too muddy.
This pedal probably won't sound too good if you have a beast amp turned on full distortion all the way up and you turn this pedal's distortion all the way up. Sorry to say that, but thats because you're an idiot. Play clean on the amp, use this distortion pedal by itsself, or use very slight distortion on your amp at least.

I would use it for everything I need distortion for.

Don't need it, it won't break, its in a metal casing. Bosses don't break anyway. If they do its a rare occasion.

I play groove metal, thrash metal, death metal, doom metal, blues, classical, and all the tones I want come from this pedal. I've been playing guitar for 13 years now and I've not yet found tone like this. I'm glad I bought it.
The tone is great if you're going more for a transistor style / solid state distortion (Dimebag Darrell like Vulgar Display of Power sound) However if you're wanting tube distortion you might be disappointed a little bit, but it can still drive pretty good on tube amps on clean. I preffer cold sounds rather than warm so thats just my personal opinion.

i think at first the EQ is a little mad, but then you find a settin you like and then you can just mess with it slighly for different sound.
its awesome, my freinds envy it so i dont know why people talk crap about it.

hear this pedal in action
i use it in my band
www.myspace.com\shottopiecesband

there you can hear it live and in recording :)

its great
crunchy as you like
pinch harmonics rip out of this thing
solos are clear and smooth
sustain is great
chords bite you back as they scream out of the amp, i love it :)

threw it at a chav as they walked past my house saying metal is shit
and he bled
still works
its strong enuff 2 last
light enought to carry
but heavy enought to be stable and to be used as a weapon

never had to
will not break

its great
perfect for metal and rock
and no im not danish, i bought it on holiday
screaaams metal
i love it
the only pedal i need live
other than a wah sometimes
not very noisy

and what the hell are half you guys talking about
have you try checking your other equipment before blaming the pedal???
it seems everyone with good experiance likes it
maybe the rest are n000bs!
i love it!

It's easy to use, but hard to dial in a decent setting.

Not a very noisy pedal by any means, it just sounds so cold and digital. Not much tone produced by this little stomp box. They say it's great for metal, I can't find any justification in that.

Well, we all know the reliability of Boss pedals. Nothing can break 'em.

Never needed it before. Probably never will.

This is a very compressed and cold sounding pedal. I'm sure this is somebody's "perfect" sound out there, but it is far from being mine. It's only use is for dirty/clean switching on my practice amp so I don't have to lug my other equipment around.

It is really hard to find a config that sounds right

I think it is the best distorsion for playing metal. It is a very common error to forget that it is only a pedal. The best distorsions have to be created with tube amps like 5150, etc. But if you want to obtain a cold distorsion (with the most distorsionated sounds) you will need it

Yes, it is a part of my sound, playing every kind of music. It only need to know how to use it.

I bought it in sales...

I play from blues to heavy metal, and y can alwais find a place for it sound (with differents configs...)

I love this pedal.
for the music i play this pedal does the trick.
If you want a dry, crunch sound, this is definately the pedal for you.
I never use the manuels so i dont know about them. It sounds even better when you run it with an EQ.
Alot of people give this pedal shit, but hey if your playing hendrix, DONT GET THIS PEDAL!!!!
This pedal would more likely appeal to those who listen to cannibal corpse or like 80's metal.

Jackson DK1, Ibanez RG7321> Boss TU2 tuner> Digitech Whammy> PH 3 Phase shifter> Boss MT2 Metal Zone> KFK 10 band eq> Crate 220 watt solid state head.
The pedal has a strong crunch especially with an EQ. For me it almost always sounds great. Im not sure how it sounds through a tubed head though. I think this distortion is very good.

Hey its a Boss.
those things are nearly indestructable.
Ive had mine for 5 years.

Hey its a boss.

I play Thrash/Death/Black metal so this pedal does it for me.
if it were stolen, lol id probably steal someone elses.. hahaha
but yeah id definately buy another one.
Like I said this pedal sounds good, But it sounds soooo much better with an eq.

Not the easiest one, but u can do it after 3 or 4 months angry with it. lolol..

I play with two amps.. One Marshall in the rehearsal studio and a Hughes & Kettner at home.. I'm considering switching them, 'cause the Marshall simply won't do... Though I turn and turn the knobs, it simply sounds like crap.. Back at home, with my Hughes, it sounds just amazing.. Can't explain that, it just does! Never understood Marshalls anyway!

Don't know, haven't start giging yet..

the problem with this pedal doesn't look to be the pedal itself, but with what are you playing it. Sometimes it sound great, other times U wish to throw it at your dealer's face... thing I wouldn't buy it again if I lost it, I'd prefer to have one more versatile, one I could play anywhere and maintain the same sound quality I get with my hughes..

Setting the mid eq seems to be a real chore for some people. Just leave them straight up is my advice.

With an old Les Paul Standard or Custom and an old Marshall Super Lead or Mark II this is my favorite pedal, for over 15 years, now for anything from Judas Priest to Megadeth.

I play live and loud and I never have had a problem "cutting through the mix".

Nu Metal players will not like the Metal Zone as much as say a Line 6 "Ubber" pedal which really cuts the mids but is horrible for solos.

Even at ear bleed levels I still have no problem at all with feedback or noise. Just don't turn the gain all the way up.

I've tried dozens of "metal" pedals over the last 20 years. This is still my favorite. It's tight as all hell and my solos are fast, tight and well defined.

15 years old and still sounds like new.

A perfect pedal is all the support I need.

I play 70's and 80's metal and if Boss made not this Metal Zone I would maybe use an old style Marshall ShredMaster pedal. The old Zoom TR-01 would be my 3rd choice.

I see a lot of people don't like the Metal Zone but decline to say what they use instead. Why is this?

People talk crap about God as well...

Go figure....

The MT-2 is very tweakable. I have tried many other distortion pedals and have not beeen able to scoop the midrange as easily as I have with the MT-2.

The MT-2 has thick,fat and smooth distortion. I use a Gibson ES-335 though a Roland Jazz Chorus 120 and it sounds spectacular. However, I must keep the volume "level" down on the pedal or I will geet some feedback. Others have commented on this problem and say that the MT-2 is not designed for playing live. I dissagree. If you mike your amp through a PA you will not have feedback or noise problems with the pedal. I do not try to emulate any guitar god. Mysound is my own.

I may use this pedal at a gig, depending on the accepted genres of the venue. The construction is solid enough.

N/A

I play Jazz, Rock, Blues, ect. I have been playing 27 years. If it were stolen i would replace it. I was going to get the Big Muff, But this pedal was better harmonically. Its great when I palm muffle my strings. The highs are clear and intence. I also use a Tube Screamer clone (Arion) for overdrive. With these two pedals I have all the bases covered.

Very straight forward, more knobs on it than some distortion/overdrive pedals i guess, but overall it's pretty intuitive

This is where I whole heartedly agree with a number of other reviewers. This pedal is the bees-knees at bedroom volume through a practice amp (which is the sort of setup i was using in the music shop when i tried it and brought it) but don't *ever* think you can use it live. This pedal will not cut through the mix at all unless you crank the volume to ludicrous levels, in which case it'll hiss uncontrollably, deliver ear-bleeding uncontrolable feedback and create an aweful percussive 'thudding' noise as you fret notes. I've not been able to get a tone from this thing that'll sound good *and* cut through the mix - and it seems other people have this problem too, utterly, utterly frustrating. If you never leave your bedroom and want a nice satisfying heavy metal distortion pedal then go for it. If you want to use this pedal live, with a band - just forget it!

Solid as a rock

Great for any 'bedroom eddies' out there, but utterly useless in a band situation - especially if you play lead and need to cut through the mix.

This beast is kind of hard to get the sound you want it within the first weeks of use. After you get the hang of the thing you can get virtually any kind of heavy metal sound with it.

I use Meteoro(Brasilian Brand) amps and Bc Rich guitars and the sound is simply awsome. Palm muting with this thing is simply jaw-dropping. The only problem this pedal has is that it CAN get noisy and produce a lot of feedback.

Jumped on it quite a few times, never broke. Even droped water on it once by accident nothing happened. Boss=Tank for real I guess.

I play mainly new metal and combining this pedal with my B.C.Rich 7-string Warlock it simply sounds awsome. Played live quite a few times and people simply gazed at the guitar and the awsome metal sounds I got from this pedal.

bloody difficult to get anything that sounds even remotely good-then you find something n go yeah thats cool..........but then u realsie what a big pile o shit it is

ok i use a peavey wolfgang->weeping Demon->peavey 5150 with an FX loop consisting of nobels preamp booster->boss Ns-2->EHX holy grail..............ok so ur probably thinking-why the hell has he bought a MT2 when he has a 5150???good Q really-i used to have a fender tiwn reverb and needed to expand it slightly-got rid of the twi but the pedal stayed in a drawer somewhere-recently got it out n thought-yeah ill give this a go-sounded piss poor ahahah

i remeber the day when i got rid of my twin and thought im never usin a fckin boss pedal again.....played a gig and before the gig i was pretty happy with the tone i had-it had balls and was pretty decent really-took me ages but i found the tone i liked out of it.....so we played this gig and my frined recorded iton his vid cam-the other guitarist in my band was using a JCM900 SL-X which i thought sounded shit at practice and thought my MT2 was the shiz....so we watched the vid back and as i thought one guitar sounded shit and one sounded freakin amazing...i started to take the piss outta te guitarist in my band n then a part came where i play somethin different and the amazing sounding rig played daves part and the mingin fuzz i could hear was actually my rig.......basically it sonds great for bedroom players but as soon as u et it into a gig the only thin that ppl can hear is some mingin trebly fuzzy overtone that sounds like u arent even changing notes.....and then for tapping.........pleh it reacts the same way to ur playing as ur clean would....pathetic-im gonna give it a 3 coz it sounded pretty good in my room and at practice-when turned up tho-OWCH p.s JCM900 SL-X cranked-holy crap-sounds terrible at ear friendly volumes-cranked its awesome-i prefer the 5150 tho

didnt break once-still isnt broke

N/A

i play in a metal/punk sorta band and i love my meta guitar tones.......but this.....well i personally am ashamed to say that the music i like can be associated with this p.o.s.i rate the boss MT2 along with a zoom 501 and hmmmm, i think possibly a behringer V-amp may possibly equal this in terms of tone...........hated it-live it sucks-i used to use it in prac but no more-i use a HK tube factor now for practice-the MT2 started to soun bad in practice too....once that frequency presents itself u continue to hear that and many more mingy fuzzy overtones and u realise that it sucks bigtime-dont buy this pedal if u wanna do gigs........seriously now u might aswell buy a zoom 501 coz they sound pretty much the same live-the only thing ur audience can hear is a proper nasty fuzz-its shocking-get a 5150 or infact just buy a fairly decent amp......then use a HK tube factor-and use ur EQ to give u the "heavy tone"...u will see wha i mea if u ever try one-its not obviouly over fuzzy and over distorted but instead ois clear-crunchy AND has plenty of sustain-its an extra 100quid but if ur gonna do gigs and cant yt afford a mesa/5150/TSL then go with the HK preamp...its awesome

3 coz its ok for bedroom guitarists who dont know any better

It's a very versatile effect, you can get a good range of sounds out of it, covers anything, maybe not perfectly but gets the job done. Maybe it takes some time for you to learn how every knob affects the sound but once u've got it, you can play with it and find your sound.
The manual has some nice settings, but i've never used it.

I usually take both mids to 9 o' clock, bass almost full and treble at 4, i play a lot of metal, specially TOOL and even if this will not give me the mesa distortion, sounds pretty well for me. But i also play punk, and soft rock and this little fucker has all covered.

When mixing it with other pedals.... + crybaby? U can get virtually the same sound of Kirk Hammet, let's say for example in Fuel. + flanger? a lot of crazy sounds, but don't expect to get the Adam Jones Sound just by mixing this 2 guys, it's pretty hard. + delay? the basic stuff, but if you have a DD-3 or any other with a Hold function you can create a "virtual" rythm guitar and start soloing.. amazing.

If it wasn't for the reliability...

Ok ok... everyone's like "yeah boss = tanks" etc etc but i disagree...well it lasted like 2.5 years, but now i'm getting a new one, because the input and output jacks are all screwed. I get this terrible fuzz and even a loss of signal if i move the cable. Even if it was by mistake, and just a little push, this shit can go mad. Last saturday, in a gig, happened. I couldn't take it anymore, so it's now dumped in my house. I opened it and checked the soldernig, they were so irregular, so i covered them well, but the problem persisted *and* the switch didn't work anymore... ok the switch problem's for me maybe, but the jacks are the same, i can't rely on this one anymore for live play.

Before this failure, and not that important, the switch wouldn't stay on or off when depressed. I think because of so much use. I just opened and sticked a piece of sponge so it would be pressed harder, and problem solved.


I bought it new, i took good care of it, always carrying in the box, using good cables, one or two falls, but i'm dissapointed this happened.

Anyways I have fuzz, delay, flanger and chorus, all BOSS and they don't have problems... yet... i hope they last more than this one.

I'm not from the u.s. so i can't get official support.

The time this one lasted, everything was perfect, was my core sound, cuz i cannot afford a nice amp like a mesa boogie or marshall.. (well i do have a 15 w. marshall :P) and i will replace it as soon as possible, i cannot live without it... (musically speaking), so i'll give it an 8 cuz the reliability. It fucked up the gig... the song... damn!

Generally Boss pedals are exceptionally easy to setup, but that's not quite the case with the Metal Zone. It takes a good chunk of time to find the best EQ settings available. After that there's a simple on/off switch. Bought my Metal Zone used, and without a manual. Doubt that a manual could help much with EQing though.

I ran this pedal through my Fender Blues Junior with a low-end Washburn upgraded with Duncan Designed pickups from a C-1 Classic. I've used it with other pedals, and by itself. Either way I could not get a great sound from this pedal.
I will admit, I haven't found a pedal better suited for palm-muting, but playing chords, even power chords, doesn't sound good.

Thin. Lifeless. Those seem to be words that best describe the sound. I thought this pedal would own, but it just bores me. Obviously, you can't quite expect a Mesa in a box, but this just wasn't great. Compared to the thickness of the Big Muff pi, this is weak.

If there's one thing Boss gets right, it's definitely reliability. I don't think that this pedal actually _could_ break. I've used it live many-a-times.

Never talked to Boss. Never needed to.

4 knobs, 2 are split into 2: level knob, Low and High EQ, Mid EQ and Mid Frequency, Distortion. It takes some fiddling to get the right sound but once you get the hang of it you'll be dailing them in no problem.

I use the following set up:
Epiphone Supernova>Loooper>Vox Brian May Special (Treble Booster)>Boss GT-3>EH Double Muff>Boss MT-2>EH Small Stone>Fender Twin Reverb 65 Reissue
Many people seem to hate this pedal but I can't understand why, I can only think they haven't spent enough time tweaking the sound and getting used to the quite sensitive EQ. With just the pedal on straight into my amp I can get some great distortions ideal for thrashing the guitar a bit. I usually only play rhythm but stick some reverb and delay on and there's a lot of potential for a meaty solo. When I use the Vox Brian May as a treble booster it changes the pedals sound completely, I have to compensate by altering the EQ but the growl I get is immense. Palm muting it will rattle all the windows in the immediate vicinity and make you want to chug along all day. It is a little noisy but nothing excessive for the type of pedal it is. Give this one a chance and it won't let you down. You do need a good amp though.

I've had it ages, it's built like a tank and I'd happily jump on it all day and be confident it would last me through a gig.

N/A

I play many styles, this is really only useful for getting BIG distortion, don't try to get a light crunch out of it. It needs a bit if patience and a good amp to makle it sound it's best but it's a very useful tool for any rock guitarist, the only pedal I'd replace it with is the Robert Keeley modded version (if only I had the cash!!)

its quite easy to use. if you can't figure it out... then my friend... you have a problem. the manual is good, as are all boss manuals, the sample settings are kind of hit or miss.

here is where i have mixed feelings. the sound quality... where do i begin? when i first got this pedal, i loved it. and part of me still does. for a small amp, or playing at low volumes, this pedal is amazing. it has a great distortion tone, and a great sustain. but when you play this at high volumes... then you run into problems. there is so much hiss, and high end... that its almost unbearible. also.. unless you almost max out the lows at high volumes... this thing has no guts at all. its rather a weak hissing machine. so if you are a bedroom, or basement hero... get this thing. you can get many great distortion tones, and you can emulate your heroes. but when you try and gig with it, or use it seroiusly... you get a weak, hissy tone.

its built like a tank.. like all boss pedals. but you do run into problems if you dont keep everything in check. if the inputs get loose or anything such as that.. .there is horrible noise. but take care of your gear and you wont run into that problem.

never had to deal with them. but i hear good things.

i play classic rock, jam rock, blues, Christian contemporary... ect.
this pedal... would work if it had guts at high volume. some really cool tones are created. ive been playing for almost 10 years now. i own many high end guitars (g&l, gibson) bottom line, if you are going to gig with it, look elsewhere...

Okay this pedal is slightly more complicated to use that others but it ain't rocket science. Ten minutes is all it should take for you to get used to the set up (unless you decided to go and dive straight into it without glancing at the manual).

Okay here's where people are going to have different opinions. Sound is subjective, ussually by comparison to what other things you've heard and used. Granted I've only been playing a year and don't have much money to spend but it does exactly what i want it to do for the price. METAL. Maiden to Metallica to Pantera it handles really well. I've read a lot of reviews by people playing for 15+ years saying its crap. Well thats because you have had time and money to buy all the end gear like Marshall DSL 100 stacks!!! A $100 pedal won't replace that.... OBVIOUSLY. But it wasn't designed to. This is not the best pedal ever meade but it is the most suited to metal in its price range. If you want a great Metallica sound and your on a budget... this is for you. However, if you can afford big ass valve stacks and $5000 guitars, buy them instead, I would.

It's damn near indestructable.

n/a

This thing is great FOR METAL. Now yes there are better ways to go about it.... but not for $100. If you've been playing for only a few years buy this.... if yoour a veteran... get the real expensive stuff.

First off, the controls are marginally complicated, and the manual is not all that helpful.

I'll give you some backround on my situation. I'm in a band that plays alot of Sabbath covers, but we can be anywhere from Neil Young to Zakk and I'm playing a Gibson SG through a Marshall 60W Combo. The built-in over drive on the amp is great, but it is more classic rock-ey, and I needed the Iommi tone, so I decided to pick up a distortion pedal. The guy at the store said he uses the Boss Metal Zone and with a bit of tweeking it can go anywhere from Zeppelin to Dimebag, and should have no problem getting Iommi like tones, AC/DC like crunch or Hendrix like fuzz. I tried it out and got some so-so tones, but he reminded me that it needs a lot of EQ tweeking to get the right sound. I bought it and messing with it for hours and coulden't get anything. The manual had some examples of tones like Metal, fuzz, hard rock, British Rock, Classic Rock, etc. but it only really gets two tones: a wayyyy to distorted metal plam-muteing rythem with and unbearable, ear splitting treble, or, when the distortion is redused on the hard rock and classic rock settings, a ball-less still ear splittingly trebaly noise that is to weak to even listen to. I have spent hours in the past week trying to find my own tones, but I'm still just getting these two in various forms. When the bass is turned up anywhere past 12 oclock the amp sound like an elephant taking a dump, and the cringe-indusing treble still sounds like fingernails on a chalk board. All in all this effect sounds nasty, tinny, and weak.

It's a Boss, you can run over with a semi and it would be fine. It gets a 6 because the folks at Boss decided to play it cheap and use crappy little brittle plastc tone knobs that you can literally pull right of because they didn't even bother to glue them on. If I were to gig with this (god forbid) I would gig without a backup and consider it a miracle if the thing fell apart.

Never had to deal with them.

Completely useless for anything other then cut-mid chugga-chugga nu metal. If you want an Hendrix, AC/DC, Zeppelin, Sabbath, Metallica, Megadeth, Maiden or Priest like tone, this will not help you at all. I have been messing with the controls for 6 months and gotten nothing listenable. No matter how much you mess with the mids they still sound completely cut. If you try to do tapping solos you may as well play unplugged, it has little to no sustain. If you use a wah, chorus, flanger, etc. forget it, any kind of wave changes through these effects will be completely lost. I recently gave up and sold this on ebay and bought a Musician Sound Design "Paranoid" Iommi Fuzz Box, which will be arriving shortly. I can already tell you that if you want a CLASSIC metal tone along the lines of Sabbath, Metallica, etc., the Paranoid will be better because nothing can be worse then the MetalZone. If it were stolen I would thank the person that took it and laugh at their frustration while trying to get a tone out of it. I may seem to be too harsh on this box, but I am merely telling the truth about my experience and trying to save you from my fate. This thing is a piece of crap, unless you want a nasty, thin, digital, tinny tone and a waste of good money.

Its simple... fiddle knobs and step on it :P

Obviously this is the section everyone cares about (and seems the bit with most disagreement)... so lets sort out some basics :

1. If you want an insane metal sound that rivals hammet or king... go by a Gibson, make sure it comes standard with EMG81/85's, run it into a $4000 mesa boogie recitifer or top end marshall and start smiling! - but dont start comparing that setup to a stompbox!

2. If you just wanna have fun in ur own bedroom or impress ur mates at a small gig with an otherwise weaker amp/guitar then this pedal is perfect...

I have recently stopped revolving my world around metal, sold my les paul and ibanez and picked up a fender stratocaster USA so i could get the most out of ripping off gilmore and knopfler.

but i still find myself recording a heavier type of music (not metal anymore though) and jamming along with my metallica and guns'n'roses cds and of course softer metal i can play without drop tuning my guitar... for this purpose i needed something to give the fenders single coil pickups more balls... and the pedal hasnt let me down

It does require a bit of tweeking to get a good sound and is very noisy unless i use 2 pickups at once (as is normal for SCP's) but it improves the sound quality at higher volumes a lot (my amp is the Roland Cube 30Watt).

I also cant play leads on this pedal as all the tone is lost in the process...

I have managed to get a decent sound for playing along with Opeth, In Flames, Metallica etc but ONLY rythym parts and I now think this pedal is better suited to hardrock sounds rather than metal...

So overall if you think u need the MT-2 pedal to improve the sound of a $10,000 rig maybe u need to accept its more a talent issue and thats why the MT-2 isnt doing what ud hoped!

BUT if you need to improve the power in a smaller solid state amp or give some balls to SCP's than buy this pedal!...its cheaper than a professional set up and perfect for what it was built to do!

those ppl who rated the sound of this "1" have probably tried to break it in a fit of rage... so im sure they'll agree tt this thing is built like a tank!

that said it eats up battery power quickly and got marked down... so make sure u unplug the input lead!!!

Never needed help

This pedal was built to improve the distortion of an amp or guitar that wasnt designed for metal... it wasnt built to be a substitute for the real tube amps nor for the talent of kirk hammet...(like some reviewers here tend to think)

so if u just need to boost the power of a guitar/amp or remove the static or oscillation from the distortion of a crappy amp than this pedal is perfect and should leave u impressed.

It is easy to get a decent sound out of it, thanks to their handy literature, however, to get a good or great sound requires a much more substantial investment of time, patience and endless knob-tweaking. It took me somewhere in the neighborhood of 90 minutes to get a sound I could live with, but then again, I was trying to use it to make a Crate GFX-212 sound like a Fender Roc Pro 1000, no easy task regardless of the equipment. I am getting closer, but expect another 9 or 10 solid hours of doing nothing but tweaking in order to get there. No idea about Editing patches or mods or firmware, but the manual is somewhat useful for a starting point. The only issue I have with the dials is that they turn too easily. I wish there was some way to lock them into position or that the pots turned with more resistance, like the DOD Ice Box, for instance.

This is with an Ibanez RG470XL and a Crate GFX-212 amp. The pedal is not particularly noisy, though it does send the amp into gales of feedback, which is kind of interesting. This pedal runs the gamut of sounding like complete thin needly crap to razor sharp tones, but I have found it sounds better with the distortion turned down to about 60% and a great deal of tinkering with the EQ knobs. I keep Level on about 75%, which seems to work out ok. I have to account for the slight modeling I am doing with the amp itself, because this stompbox will be the on and off switch for clean w/chorus+reverb to distortion and it also has to mask the chorus+reverb and somehow get it all to sound together similar to my Fender Roc Pro 1000, as this is my backup gear and I don't want to stray too far from the sound. So far, it is getting fairly close, but I still have a ways to go.

It is a Roland, which means that anything short of a nuke dropped directly on it will not harm it. I hope I never have to use it for a gig, but if I do, I know, just like the Crate, that I can rely on it.

Roland is not the easiest of companies to contact, but their equipment is usually so great that it doesn't matter. Their manuals and videotapes are usually very helpful, but when you start getting in-depth, the internet will be your best bet.

I play metal, blues, rock and punk and it takes an unreal amount of playing with those shifty EQ knobs to get a sound that works well for all of them, but I'm here to tell you that it can be done. Sure, in conjunction with the Crate GFX-212, it will never sound as good as the Fender Roc Pro 1000, but it is making a fair simulation and as a backup, that is all I ask for. This pedal sounds better than every other pedal out there, at least all the new ones and is the only thing that even got close to the GP-100, the sound of one of the settings of which I was trying to find. If it was lost or stolen, I would get another because I know it will be reliable and consistent and behave as I would expect it to behave. As I said, I hope never to need it, but if I do, I know I can count on it.

I find it pretty easy to get a good sound out of this pedal.
Sample sounds get you started so you can tweak from there.

I play a 1988 Les Paul Custom Shop Showcase Edition eith EMG 85's. I converted them to run on 18 volts for more headroom when I am playing clean.
It's pretty quite for a distortion pedal.
I use it with a Peavey Classic 30.
It is easy to dial in classic rock, older metal al Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, etc... wtih this one. Generally speaking i run the level to match the clean channel when I switch it off. Bass between 2-5 oclock, High about 12 oclock and both mids near 12 oclock. I run the drive between 7 and 9 oclock. The louder I am playing the more towards 7 I go. Anything over 11 or 12 oclock on the drive even at low volumes and it gets to buzzy for me.

Bullet proof. My brother has one of the originals and it is still going strong nearly 20 years later.
No back up.

Never had to deal with support.

I play rock, blues, surf, and oldies.
I have been playing 25 years.
I would replace it. For the money I have found no better.
If you are looking for a soft distortion that will even out uneven playing technique while articulating the notes look somewhere else, if you are looking for old school Marshallesque tones for the seventies and early eighties that force you to develop your playing dynamics and accuaracy, this is for you. If you look at the guitarist that are most admired for their tone they have higher actions, bigger strings and a cleaner signal. Until i can afford multiple plexi's and a place to play them cranked ala Angus Young I will stick with my MT-2.

Easy. For some reason mine didn't come with a manual, so it took me a while to figure out how to use the "MIDDLE" and "MID FREQ" knobs. But I downloaded the manual from their website... Turn bass, highs to taste, you don't really need to turn distortion past 12 o' clock. Turn level so your distorted volume matches your clean volume. Then step on it. That's it.

I love the big heavy rhythm sound I get from this pedal! I use this with a strat with EMG DG20 pickups. Bridge pickup, with SPC set all the way up, and EXG set all the way down. I get the best sound when I send the mt-2 directly into my amp's effects return. Understand one thing: this is a metal pedal. I wouldn't call it versatile. Some people say you can use it for blues and stuff, but I don't know, I only get one sound from it: metal rhythm. If you expect to get good lead tone suitable for different styles, don't get this pedal.

You know what everyone says - It's a Boss. Oh, by the way, DON'T expect to use batteries, it kills batteries quick. You need the Boss PSA power supply - and get the PCS20A power cable and the TU2, NS2 or LS2 pedal so you can power multiple (up to 7) pedals from one power supply.

don't know, but I like that you can download their manuals.

Great pedal! But again, it's not versatile: it's a metal pedal (duh). I also considered the Digitech DF7 Distortion Factory, but I impulsively just bought this one. My solid state 50w amp has really really bad distortion, so this definetely helps, BUT.. I'm still searching for the right lead/solo tone, and I'm wondering if you can actually achive good tone from pedals (v.s. a good/tube amp). Anyway, Enjoy!

easy to use just twising the nob's make a big difference to the sound so you know what yer working with.

great pedal i runned it through a marshall AVT 100 and it sounded like a full valve amp...ever better i still think the only bad thing about the pedal is it has so much gain it give's off alot of feedback, but a boss NS-2 should fix that i would think, other than that gr8 metal sound. i play (metallica, pantera, trivium, killswitch, machine head,....anything metal get my drift)

good soild pedal like all boss pedals

One great pedal never had much of bother with it except the feedback, give me the metal sound i wanted through a pre amp.

It's a little harder than most distortion pedals, with the parametric EQ knobs instead of the usual three. The suggested settings are good to start with, if you know what you're doing you start with everything at 12 and spin 'em back and forth.

I'm using primarily humbuckers, in parallel and split. I find humbuckers in series sound great clean, but muddy up when the distortion is applied. All Mesa Mark amps. I like speedy runs, and the Rectos are not for shredding. Sorry, kids.

I originally bought this trying to get a pedal setup for a small Mk II combo that would duplicate the searing lead tones I get from my Mk IV. The distortion channel on the Mk II just doesn't do it (although I think I can get it modded by Mesa to Mk IIc+ specs, just more cash). But it didn't work, just a cheap fizzy pedal that sounds better in the bedroom than at stage volume. So I tried using it as a dirty boost, dist down and volume up. It had some possibilites, still just a little too transistory for my amps. I had an SD-1 modded by Robert Keeley that really boosts well, only with a huge amount of tone suck in bypass, not Keeley's fault, just a shitty Boss buffer. It really helps tighten up some of the muddiness that Mesa's have, tho, so I figured I'd get it modded, knowing that the pedal sucks tone when off and leaks distortion when off, too, but it might have its' uses. Listen carefully, it really screws with your clean signal.

At the time, and still as far as I know, only Keeley and Indyguitarist mod the MT-2, so I downloaded all the sample soundfiles and played them back in loops, comparing and listening for what I might like. To me the Keeley clips sounded kind of nasally, of course the mids were scooped to appeal to most of the MT-2 buyers (can't play leads with the mids scooped) but the Indyguitarist mod seemed to have more girth to the sound, more fat in the midrange. Just what I was willing to take a risk on, so off it went to Indyguitarist, for the Bogner/Diezel MT-2 mod. Fast turnaround, same as Keeley, but when I got it back there were some unexpected benefits I couldn't believe. See my review under Indyguitarist for my review of the modded pedal.

Boss pedals have been around since the '60's, and the originals are still working. You might not like their sound, but they are bulletproof.

Never needed Boss factory support. With all the people modding these things out there, you can get it fixed by someone, and quick.

For what I wanted it for, this thing stock sucks. If you're on a tight budget and need something that approximates a metal tone, this is about the only thing available that'll get close. Even Rocktron admits their new pedal is a ripoff of the MT-2 circuit. Maybe the Line 6 UberMetal would be better, but I'm concerned about their reliability. I won't tell any of my stories, but I know I won't be buying anything Line 6.

But if you do have one, get it modded. Personally, the Indyguitarist mod exceeded my expectations by far. And one very favorable surprise.

Easy enough to use,there's no mysterious combination you can dial in that makes an important difference anyway.

I use a couple of Les Paul Customs one with EMG 81s the other with stock Gibson 'buckers and an old Jackson Soloist SL2H fitted with Seymours (JB/59) . My main amps are an Engl Powerball and a custom hot-rodded Marshall JCM 800 and I use them with a pair of VHT Fat Bottom 4x12s so I know only too well what "brutal" distortion means. I'm not going pretend that this pedal gets anywhere near that kind of brutality because it doesn't. It's nothing more than a badly voiced, cheesy-sounding stomper and may be ok for you if you only ever plan on wanking around in your bedroom like a lot of guys want to do but if you want to gig anytime soon your gonna be needing something that won't embarrass you when its time to step up to the plate. The thin sound seems to get praise mainly from very young guys who have no idea what a really heavy distortion sounds like and who think a line 6 Spider combo is the absolute bitch. Or much older guys who think its cool to exaggerate and mislead those younger guys (could be some of those older guys have hearing damage maybe?) Plug this pedal into a cheap solidstate practice amp and if your inexperienced enough you may be superficially impressed because you have nothing decent to compare it with. But plug it into a big powerful tube head like a JCM 800 or a Dual Rec and you'll quickly realize that its the quickest way to emasculate your sound. No real low end...bland, nasal mids... glassy, fake-sounding highs.... the best way I can describe it is that it sounds like what those Queer Eye For The Straight Guy advisors would reccomend you should buy i.e. tidy, polite, tame and minus your balls. And you can play around with the fancy EQ all day long in the vain hope that a good sound is only a tweak away but it never comes because it just aint in the pedals nature. Metallica sound my ass. I can fart a better Metallica sound than this pedal can manage. Sure enough, theres plenty of sustain on tap but no hint of preamp-style saturation as some people seem to imagine. I tried 3 of 'em in the store and they all sounded the same so it wasn't a faulty sample. I tried the metal zone in the store with Peavey, Mesa, Marshall and Crate amps and it just doesn't fly. They all sounded much better without it and even the guy in the store agreed . To me no pedal (at least no solidstate pedal) sounds anywhere near as good as tube amplifier distortion but I'm not totally against distortion pedals on the whole, only the bad ones and this has to be the worst I've ever heard though admittedly I haven't heard them all. I shudder to think what could sound worse. I only tried this thing out of curiosity on account of all the rave reviews its had on here. But they turned out to be wrong. Maybe you could find a limited use for it if you play in a cheesy 70s glam rock covers outfit but for heavy metal? Forget it. This pedal is wrongly named and you couldn't pay me enough to use one.I wont give it the lowest rating because I just thought of a worse sounding distortion unit namely the Danelectro Fabtone but the Metal Zone runs it a close second.

I use other Boss pedals and they've never let me down electronically or mechanically.

If you really need a distortion pedal for metal and your on a tight budget, do yourself a big favour and give this one a miss and get yourself a Digitech (formerly DOD) Grunge pedal. Don't be fooled by the name. Your Metallica/Pantera riffs will really kick out with this one. It's a lot cheaper and has a chunky, powerful, ballsy sound that cruelly exposes the Metal Zones weakness in this area. Of course that idea won't appeal to brainwashed Boss snobs with their sweeping "Boss is best" mantra. But if you have an open mind give it a try. You wont be disappointed. Even better still (much better!) if you can afford it buy a Tonebone Hot British and you wont look back, at least until you can afford a decent amp setup.

Es un pedal realmente f?cil de usar, debido a que trae los controles que se esperan para un pedal de ?sta categor?a.

Tiene un sonido muy bueno, si entiendes desde el comienzo que no debes llevar sus controles al m?ximo. Por ejemplo, el controlador de la distorsion, debe ser utilizado m?ximo en un 65% ? 70%, porque de all? en adelante lo que genera no es mayor saturaci?n sino un poco de ruido adicional. El pedal ?no genera ruidos desagradables. Tal vez no es el sonido devastador que esperar?as en una distorsi?n, pero es muy bueno si se sabe mezclar con los demas pedales. En mi caso, ayudo al sonido con un poquito de ganancia en mi amplificador de tubos, un buen compresor, y tal vez un delay a unos 20 milisegundos.

Puedes confiar en que es un pedal que no te deja solo, como casi todos los pedales de BOSS. La caja met?lica es buena, el switch de encendido no falla, y los conectores de pila y de alimentador de energ?a son buenos. Funciona muy bien en garajes, conciertos medianos y estadios llenos... Siempre y cuando no abuses de los niveles.

It's not at all difficult to get a ridiculous, saturated tone from this pedal. It's got a few more knobs than most other Boss pedals, but frankly the gain knob makes little difference, because 99% of the people I know who own this pedal just keep the gain all the way up anyway.

The name says it all. I run this through a Hot Rod Deluxe, which does not have the greatest drive channel by any stretch, and I am instant Metallica with this pedal. I play a Strat Plus and an Epiphone Les Paul Extreme through this, and I get CRAZY distortion and sustain with either of them. Personally I generally just turn up all the controls, then roll off the treble 1/4 turn and scoop off the mids about half to 2/3 and I've got perfect metal tone. Switching on and off is flawless, no click or pop whatsoever, and mine is almost 15 years old. To me, Metallica/Megadeth/Slayer, their tone, while slightly varied, let's face it, they all sound pretty much the same. A quick turn of the mid control one way or the other and you've got any one of them.

Built like Fort Knox. A sledgehammer couldn't dent this thing.

One of Boss's more expensive pedals, but if you're a metalhead/shredder, worth every cent. I've since grown out of the whole metal thing, every now and then I'll get together with the old hardcore band and keep the whole neighborhood up, but as far as that goes this is the only pedal you'll ever need if you're into that kind of thing. Without question the easiest to use, best-sounding metal distortion you can buy. Don't waste your money on trendy DOD pedals, this is the only one you need. It can match AND surpass any of the "Death Metal," "Grunge," "Pro-Rat," "Big Muff," or any other "metal" pedal available. An ungodly amount of gain can be achieved with this pedal alone, but you can REALLY super-saturate your tone by placing behind a compressor, and then cascading the MT-2 into a booster pedal like a Blackjack. And yet the MT-2 will NEVER cause you to lose signal. It stops on a dime, Helmet-style. Even though I don't really play metal anymore, I would likely STILL buy another one if anything happened to it, just to have one around, it's THAT GOOD.