127th AES Convention Coverage (New York, NY Oct. 9-12)

Please direct all questions, comments, or feedback about User Reviews to reviews@harmony-central.com.
Home > Effects > Effects Reviews > Boss > MT-2 Metal Zone

Boss MT-2 Metal Zone

Summary
Price New Boss MT-2 Metal Zone @ Musician's Friend
Manufacturer URL http://www.bossus.com/
Ease of Use 8.3 (1083 responses)
Sound Quality 8.0 (1097 responses)
Reliability 9.5 (1029 responses)
Customer Support 8.0 (157 responses)
Overall Rating 8.3 (1034 responses)
Submit a review for this product!

Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ... 23 (Show 10 | 25 | 50 | 100 reviews per page) Showing 151 - 200 of 1122 reviews
Advertisement
Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: 85.69 (Canadian)
Submitted 08/08/2005 at 12:38am by Menza

Ease of Use : 9
It took some time to get the perfect level of distortion I wanted, but once you find it, its great. Its crazy how the littliest turn can make the slightest diffence in your sound, sometimes is for the best though.

Sound Quality : 10
It goes to a Squire Stratocaster from a Crate GT15 amp, it sounds great, The distortion has some great bite to it and if you get someone to move the mids back and forth you can make wah noises. Anyways, this pedal fucking rocks for Metal, I can basically get any kind of distortion I want.

Reliability : 10
I can rely on this pedal forever really. I can Open up beer bottles with it too. ahaha

I would use it for a gig and the only backups i would have would be back up batteries

Customer Support : 10
i have had no problems with it at all

Overall Rating : 10
I play Heavy Metal (Iron Maiden, Metallica, Megadeth, Pantera, Black Sabbath, and my original shit) This pedal suits me perfectly. I have been playing for about 3 or four year, and this being my first pedal I believe i will be sticking with it.
If my MT 2 was stolen i would make sure i buy another one or find the guy that stole it.
I used to play guitar through my friends Digitech Metal Masters, great pedal, but i decided eh its a Boss Metal Zone I will go try it out and it much better.
I wish this pedal came with a free case of beer hahaha.
This pedal helps with my music, i can get every tone I need out of this box.


Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: 389 (Aus)
Submitted 08/07/2005 at 04:36am by METALMAN

Ease of Use : 7
my sound was very fiddly i like fair bit of bass high enough trebles but not to high and some cut of the mids but still enough in there to define richness and warmth the manual like the other guy said tells you what the knobs do thats it nothing bout tweaking it or setting sound.

Sound Quality : 8
my setup is ESP/LTD kirk hammett signature to boss pw 10 wah ( a very good fucking pedal if i might add ) to metal zone to Marshall 175 watt valvestate amplifier and it sounds good coming through but ive always liked marshall not noisy its perfect effects sound good fisrt time every time but thats the magic of boss my sound is one simillar to james and kirk of metallica dave mustaine megadeth how ever i like the fact that with the turn of the mid and mid freq you can go from metallica to megadeth to slipknot to iced earth to rhcp

Reliability : 9
yes i can deffinately depend on it unless the battery goes dead
yes would use it on gig

Customer Support : No Opinion

Overall Rating : 9
i play metal and yes this pedal is a very good one i dont think i will change the only other distortion i will get would probably be a ibanez tube screamer fo solos been playing bout 3 years currently getting taught and progressing nicley yes i would buy another without hesitation i just love its overall functionabillity and sound most of all


Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: 50 (? sterling)
Submitted 08/03/2005 at 05:15pm by ed

Ease of Use : 9
Like all boss pedals, it has its instrucions, a bit fiddly at first but you get used to the settings and find your own style.

Sound Quality : 10
I use this along with a marshal and a fender stratocaster or telecaster and i play a variation of funk-rock.
It can give of a real nice sound for hitting of some guns n roses stuff or led zeppelin, the best though, is john frusciante (red hot chili peppers)if u have heard him do a solo live then this is usualy the pedal he uses, and in the solo for the recording of cant stop.
Very effective sound that makes a newbie sound awesome

Reliability : 8
solid metal, i had a small problem at first with the spring for the actual foot bit, but that was easily fixed in seconds

Customer Support : No Opinion

Overall Rating : 9
i love the way you can play anything and it will sound awesome on this pedal, i tried a big muff and then tried this, i wasnt sure what i was looking for until i found this one, its my favourite pedal


Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: US $90
Submitted 08/03/2005 at 08:14am by bob jones

Ease of Use : No Opinion
It is very hard to get a good sound out of it but this is good for it is versatile. It is worth it. The manual stinks.

Sound Quality : 9
I use a junky single coil pickups squire strat into a sweet fender deville. It is noisy but it is typical for a distortion pedal. you get a lot of sounds out of it. Old school metal, punk, very heavy metal, emo, or just good distortion. It can be moderate to heavy. Nothing bluesy. "METAL" zone. The lead is great to. I don't if you can get sounds of the bands a like for i have my own sound and i listen to everything from coldplay to underoath.

Reliability : 9
It is a pedal. it cannot really break.

Customer Support : No Opinion
no idea. make sure you use a boss power supply though.

Overall Rating : 10
i play hard emo mixed with synth type music and this is the pedal. It can play any type of hard rock. I have been playing 2 years but am in a band that has gigged a few times. I would buy it again. I only have this pedal. I love the lead and the rhythym. You can get a good thick rhythym sound and a long sustaining lead on the same setting. Great sustain and bottom end. It is a bit noisy but whatever. It has all you need for a metal distortion pedal. Crunchy punk to death metal. Just a thought. I admit i read one of the killswitch engage guitarists puts his mesa on heavy distortion and then outs a tube screamer on at its lowest gain. I do this now too, sort of. For a bit of lighter distortion sound put on a tube overdrive on a very low gain (like my deville) and then put on the metal zone. sounds great. This pedal gets a 1o.


Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: US $60 used
Submitted 07/30/2005 at 11:05am by Thrasher
Email: metallica_fer<at>hotmail dot com

Ease of Use : 9
LA REVIEW EN CASTELLANO. Luego de haber leido cientos y cientos de reviews en ingles decidi hacer una especie de resumen en castellano de en lo que la mayoria de la gente coincide y lo que no comparte. Con respecto a las caracteristicas, al primer contacto parece uno encontrarse con una distorcion comun y corriente. Pero no es tan asi. Ademas del clasico y necesario control de level (para poder equiparar el volumen de la guitarra cuanto se toca limpio o se activa el pedal) aparece el ahora no tan tipico (Fijense sino en algunos pedales digitech y dod) control de Gain. Aca es donde en mi caso encuentro mi primera insatisfaccion diria yo. El pedal parte de un suave overdrive hasta una ultrasaturada ganancia que, mas alla de los 3/4 se vuelve muy ruidosa y no agrega casi nada de ganancia, solo un minimo mas de sustain, que ya por empezar es muy bueno incluso a no tan altos valores de este control. Entonces, diria yo: Si el fuerte del pedal esta entre las 10/11 hs (o'clock para los que los leyeron en ingles -voy a tratar de seguir el mismo estilo de review) hasta las 3 o'clock, no veo la necesidad de aumentarle la cantidad de ganancia y mucho menos si toco a valores altos de volumen. Entonces creo que hubiera sido mas conveniente sacarle un poco de ganancia "extrema" por decirlo de una manera y correr esos valores en el control para lograr un poco menos de overdrive. No se si se entiende (yo si).
Luego por la parte de los controles tiene dos controles "grandes" (serian los comunes de cualquier pedal) con dos internos para darle un "barrido" de frecuencias diferentes al sonido final. Es realmente interesante y se pueden lograr muy buenos resultados finales, siempre y cuando se utilizen razonablemente y con cuidado, no a lo guaso porque vamos a lograr unicamente ruido.
En este sentido voy a lograr ser lo mas objetivo posible con los comentarios que haga acerca de este bichito, mas que nada por las cosas que escriben los demas, que por lo pronto veo que son demasiado puntuales y particulares, muy de gustos y cero de objetividad.

Sound Quality : 7
Con respecto al sonido en particular. Yo lo utilizo con una jackson JDR-94 japonesa con floyd rose (H-S-H) y un Fender Frontman II 25R (lindo ampli de practica, sobre todo por su canal limpio y su volumen). El sonido final general de este pedal es un estilo thrashero tipico de mediados/finales de los ochenta pero con un poco mas de brillo y una pizca mas de bajos. No es para nada raro si pensamos que este pedal es de principios de los 90 y LA onda era igualar los sonidos de metallica, el viejo sepultura, anthrax, pantera, slayer, etc que era el sinonimo de la vieja escuela del metal y que inspiro a muchas bandas de barrio a iniciarse en esto. Pero eso es otra historia.
Si vamos al meollo del asunto veremos que el fuerte del pedal se situa en uno valores altos de bajos y agudos (primer pote) y lo mismo pero opuesto con el otro pote (frecuencias medias). Si hacemos eso lograremos muy relativamente, una distorsion thrash tipica (si me preguntan, rapidamente diria que se asemeja a un Sepultura-beneath the remains, por decir uno) pero con un toque minimo de agresividad que lleva al sonido general a ser un poco mas gordo y asi poder exprimir un poco el fuerte del pedal en si.
si nos ponemos a jugar con los controles y con la ganancia podemos ver que el pedal permite abrirse un poco a otros estilos de metal o de rock, pero vamos a ver que en todos falta o sobra algo, ya sea ganancia, agudos, graves, etc. Por eso si alguien por decir algo, quiere tocar blues con este pedal, poder lo va a poder hacer, pero va a observar que otros pedales son mas apropiados para ese estilo y es asi donde la mayoria de la gente empieza a hablar mal cuando en realidad lo estan utilizando incorrectamente.
Sonido general?:Muy bueno, teniendo en cuenta sus caracteristicas (es un pedal, recuerdenlo), su precio, sus posibilidades y sus aplicaciones. Habia varios por ahi que decian que su sonido era muy chillon o sin vida, o flaco, etc. No es tan asi, puede llegar a ser chillon en algunos seteos, flaco en otros, sin vida? no se a lo que le llaman sin vida. Si vida se refiere a una distorcion valvular, y obviamente no va a tener vida, pero que se le va a hacer. Es un pedal y hay que acostumbrarse a eso. Estamos comparando una distorcion de 130 dolares (aca en argentina) contra 2500/3000 dolares que es lo que sale un dual rectifier o un peavey 5150 II (sin la caja).
Ruido?, muy poco. He oido ciento de distorciones de otros pedales y de multiefectos y esta esta entre las menos ruidosas. Digo de nuevo, puede llegar a ser ruidosa y se pone a tope la distorcion y se le agrega ciertas frecuencias de mas. Pero como ya he dicho, estan utilizando incorrectamente este aparatito.
Tengo conocidos que utilizan este pedal para tocar en vivo con su banda en lugares peque?os y realmente suena bien. Se puede "optimizar" su uso con un ecualizador como el ge-7 o un supresor de ruido o un compresor. De esta manera le podemos llegar a exprimir todo el jugo al metal zone

Reliability : 10
Realmente muy bien construido y confiable, aparenta ser solido como una roca y que nunca te va a dejar plantado.

Customer Support : No Opinion
No tengo forma de contactarme directamente con la gente de boss. Ademas de que vivo en un pais alejado de la civilizacion (Argentina), aca es muy probable que un pedal que compres haya pasado primero por varias personas antes. Asi que hace tiempo que expiro su garantia.

Overall Rating : 8
Para ir finalizando, un pedal recomendable para todo metalero que busca igualar el sonido thrash que siempre quiso. A quienes no le va a gustar? al que no busca puntualmente este estilo o bien es muy principiante y no tiene idea todavia que le va a gustar tocar, al que busca distorcion mas bien valvular (no se como puede haber gente que compro el pedal para terminar enchufandolo a un mesa triple rectifier y piensan que es una mierda porque no suena como su distorcion, por dios), al que busca un pedal EXTREMADAMENTE VERSATIL, (no es que no lo sea pero en ciertas ocaciones pierde rendimiento el pedal con ciertos seteos).
Que le faltaria? ser un poco mas parejo en determinados momentos en que uno necesita cambiar algun seteo rapido y se termina encontrando conque tiene que cambiarlos a todos. Muchas veces uno lo setea de manera espectacular para tocar ritmicas, pero cuando quiere hacer un solo suena muy mal. Entonces tiene que modificar valores para que termine siendo mas equilibrado los valores de rendimiento, sonido, y calidad final para poder tocar mejor lo que uno quiere. Ademas hubiera venido bien que el sonido final no hubiera sido tan comprimido y un toque metalico, ademas de que el fuerte de este pedal son las ritmicas y no los solos. Pero eso no afecta demasiado la valoracion final, obviamente si nos ponemos a compararlo con otros pedales de su categoria. Sin ir mas lejos DOD hace pedales muy rescatables y baratos. El DOD Death Metal es un muy buen pedal para distorcion extrema, pero al no tener control de ganancia (craso error) corremos el peligro de acoplar irremediablemente y las frecuencias altas suenan muy artificiales. Si DOD hubiera hecho un pedal similar al metal zone pero con el sonido del Death Metal, creo que hubiera sido un dolor de cabeza para la gente de Boss. Han hecho un muy buen trabajo con este pedal, ya que si nos ponemos a pensar que un pedal de alta ganancia va a generar ruido, comprimir la se?al en exceso, etc., creo que el resultado es mas que bueno.
Comparado con otros pedales, yo creo que los que mas se le pueden comparar a nivel general (no particular en el mismo estilo de sonido) serian el Marshall JH-1 Jackhammer, el DOD Death Metal y el DOD Fab Tone (por nombrar algunos). Estos ultimos quizas tengan otros puntos fuertes pero en general son buenas alternativas al Metal Zone en cuanto a Metal y Hard Rock.
Ahora si para terminar, un excelente pedal para principiantes y no tanto, gente que no puede acceder a equipamiento de alta gama y metaleros que priorizan el ruido antes que la calidad.
Conclusion final: Aprobado

PD: He observado que cierta gente (no aqui) ha modificado su metal zone. Si alguno tiene conocimiento de ello y lo quiere compartir solicito tenga a bien comunicarmelo asi lo hago y luego lo comento en esta seccion. Muchas Gracias


Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: 125 (CAD)
Submitted 07/26/2005 at 03:47pm by Omega
Email: igor_m<at>sympatico dot ca

Ease of Use : 9
It might be a bit difficult to get the sound you want using the EQ at first.. but other than that.. its pretty easy to use.. the thing with the EQ is that the ranges are so wide, the slightest turn affects your sound. Most of the time this is a good thing....

Sound Quality : 10
Never Ever ever use this pedal with single coils... the noise will kill your sound (besides.. one does not play metal with sigle coils). Contrary to what people say.. this pedal is SURPRISINGLY quiet for the very large gain available (when youre using a battery). The noise that people often hear is pickup noise from lights and AC wiring..(even humbuckers pick up a little)

I use this with an Ibanez (humbukers of course) you can get almost any hard rock or metal sound you want. ( if you cant.. that is because you are stupid and dont know how to set the knobs) I was able to get a good metal sound farly easy (not crappy nu-metal, i am talking about Metallica, AC/DC, Black sabbath..etc.)

i only use this with solid state amps and it sounds great.. i rarely use it with other effects, but it sounds good with reverb and delay (after the mt2 duh..! )

overall for the sound.. its awesome.. you can get a meaty chuggy sound or a smooth whole-note rythm with tons of sustain. oh.. and of course.. it sounds great with shredding too...cant forget that..:P

Reliability : 10
nothing to say here.. no backup needed.. this thing just wont break

Customer Support : No Opinion
never needed support

Overall Rating : 9
The final say.. If you read reviews that bash this pedal.. then those reviwes are written by very closed minded people. THIS IS A METAL PEDAL ONLY.. THATS IT. It works well with hard rock.. it WONT work for blues or most of classic rock.. its a METAL PEDAL.. thats all it should be used for..
theres simply nothing bad about this pedal its made excellent for what it is.
if something happened to this thing, i would definately replace it.
It definately helps make music.. It sounds great DI'd or mic'd

If you dont know what kind of music you are into, make sure this is not your first pedal..


Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: N/A
Submitted 07/24/2005 at 08:36pm by Thor

Ease of Use : 7
Takes some playing around with the EQ but there is a wide range of sounds to be had.

Sound Quality : 9
Now before I give my review, I would like to make a point, nice and clear for everyone who has read the previous reviews. If you want Classic Blues/Rock sounds then you are a FUCKWIT for giving a review on this Pedal. Did you not listen to it before you bought it? I mean seriously, it has METAL ZONE printed on it. Now that I've got that off my chest, here's the review;

This is pure & simply a Metal Pedal. And I must say one of the best. This is a rhythm player's dream. Lots of dirt and bottom end. A very wide range sounds to be had and great for muted chunk.

If you are a lead player and want cutting bright tones, then this is not really suited. It has plenty of sustain and overtones but if you use this for lead you are going to need an EQ to boost the mid ranges.

You can emulate just about any Heavy Metal band's sound with this from 80's Power Metal & Thrash to todays Black/Grindcore sounds.


Reliability : 10
Never had a BOSS break on me yet (touch wood).

Customer Support : No Opinion

Overall Rating : 8
This boasts one of the Fatest bottom end sounds of any Distortion pedal.

I have been playing around 18 years and I love most brands of Metal music, though I'm currently going through an 80's Power Metal revival phase! I have a Marshall JCM800 2203 head, & 1960a quad. I play a Gibson '67 reissue Flying V and a '96 USA Fender Strat with a Seymor Duncan Hotrail bridge pickup.

If you don't like Heavy Metal sounds then don't buy this baby!

The only reason I'm giving it an 8 is because it's not really ideal for soloists/vituosos/leadplayers.

If you want a BIG rhythm sound, GET ONE!


Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: N/A
Submitted 07/13/2005 at 06:31am by Steve

Ease of Use : 10
Its not a boss multi fx processor or anything! Its just a stompbox! All stompboxes are easy to tweek. Unless, youre a retard.

Sound Quality : 10
LoL,i cant believe the **** they say about this baby! Ofcourse you sound like ****! Cuz... You dont know how to tweek this thing out. You can get any and when i say any i mean ANY kind of distortion you want from this pedal. Any pedal that has an EQ is a good pedal.. always remember that!! Especially if you have a another EQ to stack with it. You can get that SOLID CRUNCH from this. You can get a rythm palm muting with this. You can even get softer tones like Clapton etc... And more importantly... You can get the classic black sabbath tone,led zep,ac/dc,etc. A GREAT pedal.. since i was a kid i loved it! True bypass! Just make sure to make your tone switch is at the right place.

Reliability : 10
Ofcourse!! My life depends on this! Well... i may need loads of 9v bateries.. so i think il rather buy a adaptor to make my life easier.

Customer Support : 10
never.. who the hell calls for these guys anyweys? retard

Overall Rating : 10
The Best Pedal I Have Ever Owned!! Well.. not really.. let me rephrase

The Best Distortion Pedal I Have Ever Owned!!

Yup.. thats right!!


Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: N/A
Submitted 07/07/2005 at 02:55pm by Robert Sztrikinacz
Email: mrcrowley<at>freemail dot hu

Ease of Use : 7
1 Level knob, 1 low/high knob, 1 middle/middle freq knob and 1 distortion knob.
The knobs are working obviously, but they react to nuances of change, so you'd better be careful when you're setting them.

Sound Quality : 9
I tried out some distortion units during my guitar-playing times, and I have to say, this one is my favourite.
There are countless sounds in that pedal, but the only problem that most of them are useless. It's hard to get a sound that fits well, but when you find it you wouldn't want to change that. The first 2-3 weeks were awful, til I found my sound ,then I played with it for 3 years.
The settings in the sheet are only good for being starting points, but you can mix good sounds, based on them. It can be sharp as a razorblade or flat as if it were played from behind 3 pillows. The range of the sounds is very wide, but you can easily get lost within them.
There's no really need to set the distortion amoun over 12'o clock, cause then it will be quite muddy and messy. I used it at about 9 'o clock, and that was hard enough.
It's a really characteristic sounding pedal, and I think if you have enough patience to experiment its sounds you'll get a characteristic sound for yourself too.
There's a little noise when the pedal is depressed, but which distortion pedal doesn't make a noise?
It doesn't really like chorus effects, maybe only a little bit. Reverb is great, but my Wah pedal was not the best for it(it was a Proel, maybe it sounded off because it's not a champion Wah pedal), cause it sounded very flat.

Reliability : 10
Thick as a brick.

Customer Support : No Opinion
I dunno, I never had any businesses with them, except when I bought it.

Overall Rating : 9
It's a great, and individual distortion unit. Don't listen to those people who say it's shit. They say it, because they couldn't find any decent sound from the hundreds, or chose the wrong pedal for the music they play.
That's why you must know that this pedal is a HEAVY METAL DISTORTION UNIT. You won't be able to play Hendrix, or Clapton with it. I basically play hard rock (Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Ozzy)and sometimes it was too hard for even hard rock (especially with Zep songs. I had to turn the distortion knob into minimum level), although Sabbath sounded great with it. If you play Judas Priest, Metallica or Maiden, this pedal will probably be one of the best choices.
I switched it to a DigiTech HotHead, cause I play some softer tones too, like Pink Floyd, and that's too hard for it. By the way, I think I'll buy one again, and keep the DigiTech for softer things, and use the MT2 for hard rock stuff, cause it really sounds great, and I literary miss that little thing :))).
The other thing is that it's highly dependant on your rig, especially the amp. Don't even try to play with a single-coiled guitar and a Metal Zone together, cause it will be a mess. I use a neck-through CG Winner guitar, armed with 2 humbuckers through a Dynacord DC90 combo, and it's great, so there's no need for Les Pauls and Marshalls, but a decent equipment is required. It's even better with a tube amp, so if you want to play hard music with an individual sound, and you have a decent rig, that's your distortion pedal.


Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: US $40
Submitted 06/27/2005 at 05:24am by CMM

Ease of Use : 8
It's easy... The thing I hate though is the equalizer... it's kinda hard to turn the bottom knobs...

Sound Quality : 6
This thing is so noisy, that's pretty much the only bad thing about it... and it's kinda hard to find your sound on it...

Reliability : 10
well, yeah it's a BOSS...

Customer Support : No Opinion

Overall Rating : 7
This was the first pedal I ever bought and I bought it for about $50 Australian bucks... At first I loved this pedal, but unfortunately my liking of this pedal has deteriorated because of all the other better sounding pedals I've got, and because it is noisy...
Now I use a Big Muff PI for distortion and I just love it...


Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: US $45 used
Submitted 06/25/2005 at 03:23pm by Brandon
Email: bskinner at byu<dot>net

Ease of Use : 9
Easy, like all boss pedals.

Sound Quality : 6
I don't like thew EQ section. It is always nasaly and scooped, no matter where you turn the knobs.

Reliability : 10

Customer Support : No Opinion

Overall Rating : 1
Don't like it anymore. When I bought it, I was into late 90's punk like NOFX, Guttermouth, Pennywise, etc. This pedal had that sound. It could probably be used for other, better things, but not by me. I think my humiliation at my past musical tastes is fueling my hatred for this pedal. It's become a kind of scapegoat, and so it must go.


Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: US $80.00
Submitted 06/17/2005 at 02:42pm by Baron Mobius
Email: therealmobius<at>hotmail dot com

Ease of Use : 9
typical Boss pedal, self explanitory.....

Sound Quality : 9
my set up is currently:
Ibanez Jem7V
Boss MT-2, Boss SD-1, Boss GE-7, Boss NS-2(all 3 pedals going thru NS loop), vox Wah(after in line gain for more 'wah')
Mesa Triaxis
TC G Major
BBE
Mesa 2:100 Rectifier Power Amp

before i had any boss pedals i was having a VERY hard time getting the sound i wanted out of the mesa rig, wich is a crunchy metal tone, not nu-metal, METAL. it always seemed way too middy or tinny and lacked gain. i tried the DS-1 and all it seemed to do was kill my mesa's tone. so i tried the MT-2, and although it does add a tad of mids, i get the gain and crunch i want from my amp now, without sacrificing its tone. i keep the pedal eq knobs at 12'O Clock(this is essential, the eq knobs are what WILL mess with your amp's orig tone, and kill the crunch) and i put my level at about 6(thats where the crunch is from) and distortion at maybe 2 at the HIGHEST(u dont want distortions mixing, just boosting the amp's orig gain) i do use it with an SD-1 and GE-7 but its still a BIG difference with just the MT-2. i've heard people say the triaxis doesnt like to be pushed with pedals, i found this to def not be true with the MT-2 and SD-1. as long as u dont use too much pedal gains.

Reliability : 10
its a Boss.....

Customer Support : No Opinion
never dealt with them

Overall Rating : 9
im gonna give it a 9, this thing saved my rig, i spent months trying to shape a good metal tone and although its still not EXACTLY where i want it, this pedal gave me the gain and sustains i wasnt getting from my mesa set up. the only reason i dont give it a 10 is cuz it does add a little mid tone to your amp, but certainly not enough to spoil the benefits of this pedal.

i play Thrash/Speed Metal, Surf, Blues. Metal is the hardest tone for me to be happy/satisfied with, and to get. this pedal provided everything i was missing. but as a booster, not as a main distortion.


Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: US $50 used
Submitted 06/15/2005 at 09:49am by preston

Ease of Use : No Opinion
pretty easy to use and simpele

Sound Quality : 6
Its hard to get a good sound out of this thing.Because the mids are so harsh sounding if you get loud at all it sounds like a train crashing.A hole bunch of mids in my ear basically..ouch.discribes it!

Reliability : No Opinion
havent really used much so dont know

Customer Support : No Opinion

Overall Rating : 6
I play metal for my band and this is the best metal pedal i have ever owned except for the my digitech rp7 (multi effects pedal) on grunge and if set right it sounds as heavey as all the top metal bands today.The only down side of my rp7 sound is the leads dont stick out enough.I was hoping with this i would get that and i did.But the heavey stings are to wimpy sounding.And i have all the right equitment.All tube amp with groove tubes 6l6's vintage 30 speakers its a beast.But i have sent this pedal in to get moded hopelly to get what i want this time.Check it out here www.robertkeeley.com/product.php?id=16


Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: N/A
Submitted 06/01/2005 at 02:57pm by Anonymous

Ease of Use : 8
I found it pretty easy to use.... I have to say that the settings in the manual sucked ass though.....

Sound Quality : 8
I do agree with the guy below me.... the quality of the gear you use with the mt-2 will have a direct effect on the sound quality you get... For example; i have a squire strat and a 60W fender princeton 65 dsp (not best gear in the world but what the heck.... can't quite afford a prs custom 24 and an engl powerball so it'll have to do) and the sound I get is pretty good... when I pluged it in my friend's mesa 50 caliber it sounds pretty awesome... as a matter of fact when my band and i practice together the other guitarist plugs his jackson reverse head loaded with an EMG 81 at the neck into the mt-2 and then into the 50 caliber and he gets a very tubey distortion. Granted that the mesa is a tube amp but the sound he gets from the metal zone is damn good for a digital pedal... I honestly think that it sounds almost tube.... I do have to say this though: THE MT-2 SOUNDS MUCH MUCH BETTER IF YOU COMBINE IT WITH AN OVERDRIVE PEDAL!!!! I hook a sd-1 next to my mt-2(on the right hand side otherwise it sounds like crap) and it tightens up the bottom end and just makes it sound nicer...

Without overdrive pedal I'd give it a 7
with the overdrive pedal I'd give it a 9
plugged into a tube amp I'd give it a 10 (depending on what guitar you use)

I'm really happy with this little box even though it would be nice to have a big fat tube amp and a kick ass guitar... but then again I have no use for a tube amp since I would never get to turn the volume up cuz of the neighbours.... grrrrrrrrr... booty bastards....

Reliability : 9
seriously... have you seen this things? Thor could hit it with his magic hammer for a week and it would still work perfectly =D

Customer Support : No Opinion
never dealt with the nice boss people but I hear their service is really good. I would like to try getting both my boss pedals modified by either analog Mike or maybe Indy guitarist but that has no relevance at this present time

Overall Rating : 8
This little pedal makes my princeton 65 scream so I have no complaints at all... Again if you're getting crappy sounds from your pedal give it a chance... keep on tweaking it and try to play it with different gear... You will hear the difference. Of course the metal zone won't replace your dual recto stack but let's be real now.... it's a freakin stomp box!! buy yourself a decent second hand tube amp (mesa 50 caliber is an awesome amp by the way and it's not that expensive) and the metal pedal will give you enough gain to play anything from punk to emo to metal and back (unless you're one of those black metal ppl that think that the 5150 has too little gain)... don't listen to the people that say that this pedal sucks... and also don't listen to the people that say that this pedal is perfect... try it out and see for yourself... as far as I'm concerned this pedal is bad ass. nuff' said


Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: N/A
Submitted 05/30/2005 at 05:59pm by Crash Stitches

Ease of Use : 10
Pie. Set the EQs at 12:00, dial in your gain and output, and stomp.

Sound Quality : 9
Ok, people. I can't believe all the crap I'm reading. Have some sense. If you play your $80 pawnshop Squier through your 5w Crate practice amp and have your settings all screwed up, of course the pedal will sound like ass. Garbage in, garbage out. This is hands-down the best pedal for ANY kind of metal you can think of, provided you have a decent guitar, amp, and cab. Without a doubt, the best settings I have found for any situation are to KEEP THE EQ FLAT. Set EVERYTHING at 12:00, save for the drive amount and the output level. This is where it shines if you have a good amp. I've run this pedal through a million amps, including Randall RH200, Crate Blue Voodoo 60w 212 combo, Marshall AVT50H, B-52 LG100A, Crate GFX 212, etc etc etc. It sounds damn insane through the Crate BV combo. The tight solid-state distortion coupled with the tube power just creates this tone that cannot be contained. The secret, once again, is to keep your EQ flat. 12:00. It lets the sound of your amp and guitar through and just adds a fat load of gain. Once you start twiddling the knobs, you get into mud zone, and it's easy to sound like shit.

12:00, people.

Reliability : 10
More dependable than God.

Customer Support : No Opinion
Who the hell needs it?

Overall Rating : 9
For a heavy music stompbox, it cannot be touched. I've used it for punk, hardcore, metal, hard rock, etc, and it never fails to disappoint. Keys: good gear. Use it, love it. STOP FUCKING WITH THE KNOBS!


Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: N/A
Submitted 05/30/2005 at 01:07pm by colin

Ease of Use : 6
Sound is sub-par.... a classic sound...for a dated sound.

Very teenage pedal on it's own....but could be used for alternate distortion.

Very high-end gain.....sounds very rookie.

Free with a guitar I bought.....great for getting wild feedback...other than that....look elsewhere.

6/10 - everyone probably had a sound like this when they were young and learning songs of the radio through a 10 watt amp. I you have a nice rig, and a means to be heard with distinction in a club, do not use this pedal.

Out.

Sound Quality : No Opinion

Reliability : No Opinion

Customer Support : No Opinion

Overall Rating : No Opinion


Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: US $100
Submitted 05/25/2005 at 04:22am by John Stryker

Ease of Use : 9
Boss stompbox. Easy peasy.

Sound Quality : 7
First people, let's look at the name of this black box: Metal Zone. Metal. Get it? If you want to try and coax blues / classic rock tones out of this you can forget it.

So we play metal. Now what?

I play my metal with Ibanez S-series going into MT2 into Laney TF200 (clean channel). MT2 settings: bass/treble at about 2 o'clock. High-mid all the way down. Low-mids at about 1 o'clock. Gain sort of 12-3 o'clock.

What do I get? A thumping, chuggy-chuggy, palm-muting metal tone with plenty of harmonics a la Zakk.

Only thing wrong... And the reason why I give it a 7... As a leadtone this setting sucks total ass. In fact, there aren't really any GOOD leadtones (for solos) to be had here at all.

So as a rhythm distortion for your metallic purposes I'd give it a 9/10 because it really makes even the tiniest amp chug like a big fire-breathing metal monster.

As a lead distortion... 5/10.

Altogether 7/10.

Reliability : 10
It's a Boss. Put a battery in it and don't worry about it.

Customer Support : No Opinion

Overall Rating : 8
Really fantastic metal rhythm tone. From power metal to thrash and death... If you think this hasn't got enough gain, you're off yer rocks.

Too bad the tone sucks for solos.

Which is okay if you complement it with another distortion box for leads. I have a Marshall Guv'nor which is great and also an MXR Dist+ which has great sustain and a more natural sound.


Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: 120 ish (canadian)
Submitted 05/17/2005 at 07:21pm by devon
Email: nirvana8 at hotmail<dot>com

Ease of Use : 9
Well for nu metal i found that its great and for only new metal alot of people say its good for blues, old metal and other stuff there wrong. this pedal is a piece of $%# for anything other than nu metal or any heavy heavy ^%$ like dimebag metallica and all that stuff.i got it cus i thought it would be good for everything but it isnt. the manual gives some sample settings but they sound nothing like the genre that it says they all sound super heavy nu metalish. its a nu metal pedal only. i had a bit of trouble at first when i was anewb knowing what each nob did

Sound Quality : 8
im using it with standard strat, and some loudass fender amp. its pretty loud. it sounds great for just new metal. u can get an accurate sound of any artist unless its nu metal.

Reliability : 9
its strong wont break its metal. id use it at gig with out back up. eat battaries pretty fats so might want a ac adapter

Customer Support : No Opinion
never

Overall Rating : 9
this pedal sucks for my style which is old classic metal and rock, I like sabbath, judas priest, iron maiden, led zeppelin, kiss, thin lizzy, def leppard, acdc


Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: US $60 used
Submitted 05/04/2005 at 07:18pm by ridge

Ease of Use : 8
ease of use
really ease to use, just twiddle the eq knobs to get a lot of different sounds, you can actually rip-off the smashing pumpkins' big muff sound with this tank. Or if you wnat industrial, twiddle the knobs a bit again...so on and so fort. a versatile distortion unit.

Sound Quality : 10
sounds very solid with the right settings, no preamp needed, just plug-in your guitar, step on it and kaboom...you can level the neighborhood(if you got the right settings).

Reliability : 10
it's been with me for almost a decade and hasn't given me problems...

Customer Support : No Opinion
it's kinda hard to find a certified repairman here in our country, but who needs one?

Overall Rating : 10
wanna kick ass? find something like this, the closest thing I could ever think of is another boss distortion pedal or the big muff, or anything from a high-end multi-effects processor.


Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: 65 (#)
Submitted 04/24/2005 at 10:45am by Simon McLean

Ease of Use : 10
Level - Volume adjust to match your clean channel
Distortion - Its got plenty
High, Low, Mid, Mid Freq - Well its perfectly easy to adjust only I dont really have any technical understanding of what the difference between mid and mid frequency is. But its perfectly simple.

There is a clear manuel with suggested settings, the 'Heavey Metal' setting is the best starting place.

Sound Quality : 10
I am running it through a Vox AD50VT, with a Jackson Kelly.
Not only is the distortion much better for heavy metal than anything on my Vox, but the tone is brilliant too (Saying that now makes me think it could be the Vox producing the brilliant tone, seeing as tone is Vox's selling point). None the less the tone is improved when using this pedal. Theres also plenty of gain, which is good for generating feedback when cracked to max or you can lower it a bit without any noticable different to gain, but you cut out the feedback. The EQ is very good. Within the metal genre its versitile at least - The EQ allows anything from Megadeth's 'Holy Wars' to Metallica's 'Sad But True'. It doesnt muffle the sound or the effects on my amp like the DS-1 did. All in all, it sounds brilliant.

Reliability : No Opinion
Well I havnt had it long enough to say but it seems very sturdy.

Customer Support : No Opinion

Overall Rating : 9
I play probably 70% metal and this is PERFECT for it (but nothing else). Great for rythem and lead. It kicks my DS-1 out the window (The DS-1 really didnt cut it for metal and it gave me a muffled distortion and it muffled my effects). You can only really play metal with it, but you can get all sorts of metal sounds out of it. As far as the 'wah sound' some people have commented on it having: yes I found if you have the mid and mid freq on a certain combination it can get that kinda sound, which really isnt a bad thing and like I said its only really on a specific EQ setting. Thats why I suggest you start on the 'Heavy Metal' setting which doesnt have the wah sound. If it were stolen I would get anyone with any hesitation! Or pummle the theif with it to death...Im sure it would survive the knocks.
The only reason it doesnt get a 10 is cos its only good for metal and nothings perfect but I think 10 would be a fair mark still.


Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: US $150.00
Submitted 04/18/2005 at 04:46pm by draugfean
Email: shmuck20 at aol<dot>com

Ease of Use : 5
Although this pedal is for beginners, it?s not just a simple stomp and play. You do have to spend some time adjusting the various controls to get good sound.

Sound Quality : 3
Let me put it like this? if you got stranded on a desert island with your fender squire and crate amp, and you believe you could spend the rest of your life playing korn, slipknot, and dimebag riffs? then this pedal is for you. If there are any little metalheads out there that are reading this that DO have an appreciation and place for classic rock or blues then read on?

Please indulge me and let me get on my soapbox for a minute and preach my testament for good guitar effects. There is a whole other world of guitar sound out there kids. A whole world of effects that you will never find at guitar center or sam ash. A world of guitar pedals where every single part (even the construction of the circuit boards) are meticulously made by hand. Don?t make the same mistake I did when I was searching for the perfect sound. Don?t settle for the mass produced soulless crapola that the monkeys at guitar center push on you. If you want to sound similar to the greats like Hendrix, Page, SRV, or Dimebag you have to research what they used and how they used it. And remember just because their name is on the pedal does NOT mean that they actually used it (dimebag effects, Hendrix wah wah, etc. etc., and also note that although the name may be the same for some of the effects that the great ones have used, the ones made nowadays are NOT of the same quality as the vintage stuff) If you truly are a musician at heart then get a job, save your pennies, and buy a decent guitar and amp (about $1,000.00 to $1,500.00) and then save for effects from hand made pedal makers like analog man, red witch, or black cat products. Buying characterless effects from sam ash or other corporate guitar stores will get you just one thing, a long hard lesson about ?getting what you pay for.? After playing for a year or two, I would wonder ?why don?t I sound even close to Hendrix yet? I have the fender strat look alike, crate amp, boss metal zone, and the Hendrix wah pedal (all the stuff the guys at guitar center said I would ever need). I probably need more practice.? After playing for 15 years I would wonder, ?gee? I have the real Fender tele, the Fender reverb deluxe amp, the boss metal zone pedal, and a hell of a lot of practice time? but I still dont sound right.? Still don?t believe me? Ok here is a challenge for you? search online for boss metal zone sound sample files, then try out a few other boss, dod, danelectro sound samples online. After that, look up analog man pedals, red witch, black cat products, chicago iron, and several other hand made analog effects. Usually they will have sound samples on their web sites. Then compare them to the guitar center/sam ash stuff.

Reliability : 7
ok, ok, boss DOES make reliable pedals. (even though they are not true bypass... if you dont know what that means then you need to do some homework)

Customer Support : No Opinion
never needed it

Overall Rating : 3
i think i said enough in the sound quality section.


Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: 195 (AU)
Submitted 04/11/2005 at 01:25am by kakho

Ease of Use : 7
For beginners, they would have thought something like "what the..?" when they first saw the knobs. but close your eyes and dial the whichever knob you found and wherever you want to turn the knob to and voila!! you got your sound in less than 30 minutes and you begin to understand what each knob does...

Sound Quality : 10
This is one versatile pedal!!! you can do an overdrive with it, fuzz.. thrash metal distortion.. 70's rock, 80's rock, whatever distorted sounf that you're looking for!! and yeah.. one drawback is that this pedal creates some kind of background noise.. use a noise suppressor and problem solved!! every guitarist with stomp boxes should own a some kind of noise suppressor anyways (my personal taste only). I used this pedal with a Fender American Strat with a Peavey 158 amp (now I use a Vox amp) and it made me forget about how disappointed i was with the Peavey...

Reliability : 10
Having this pedal made me think a lot better about Far Eastern made products, the Taiwanese are one hell of a pedal builder, but sucks at coating the paint on the pedals.

Customer Support : No Opinion
I can't find the word "Customer Service" on the Boss' Dictionary. I reckon this thing can outlive human kind

Overall Rating : 9
Well, if i knew earlier that ebay sell these kinds of pedals earlier, i would've bought it from there, but hey.. for 195 bucks, i'm satisfied, it's worth it and i can get any distorted sound i want to play every song that i want. Versatility is the word for MT-2


Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: #69 (UK Pounds)
Submitted 03/22/2005 at 05:06am by Dougy
Email: spidros_el_spidro2 at hotmail<dot>com

Ease of Use : 10
How easy is it to get a good sound out of it? - very. if you can't cope with level, distortion and EQ, you're an idiot.

How is the manual for it (if there is one)? - it's good. there's not much to the controls, but it does give quite a few suggested settings for various types of music

Do you know the firmware revision number? - eh?

Has your unit been upgraded? - can you upgrade a stompbox?

Sound Quality : 10
It sounds great with any guitar or amp I've used it with. Turn the distortion right the way down and you've got a bluesy overdrive. Turn the distortion up and 'scoop' the mid-range, you've got thrash metal. Set everything somewhere in the middle, you've got classic rock. There's so much gain lurking inside this pedal I've never needed to turn the distortion up higher than three quarters...

There was a guitarist in my band a few years ago, he played a Telecaster and had to plug into our shitty H/H pa amp, and the MetalZone still produced a sound that could shatter glass at 100 paces.

Reliability : 10
It's NEVER let me down. It even has a good battery life.

Customer Support : No Opinion
Never needed to deal with the company. Products that don't break due to shoddy manufacturing is the best customer support anyone could ask for.

Overall Rating : 10
I play Metal plus 'other stuff'. I basically set the pedal up for a thrash sound and turn the volume down on my guitar to get a milder overdrive, or use settings on my multi-FX, but the MetalZone is my main distortion sound.

I've been playing 12 years, I use 'SuperStrats', CryBaby wah, Korg AX30G multi-FX, 100watt Carlsbro amp and 15watt Fender practice amp.

If it was lost or stolen i would get another one, no question.

I love everything about it and hate nothing.

I chose this one because my friend had one and it sounded amazing. I compared it to just about every other distortion pedal i could find. The Ibanez pedals came quite close, but they have built-in noise gates which really pissed me off - how are you supposed to get sustain when it automatically cuts out? In the end this one just sounded the best, and it was significantly cheaper than many other, less versatile pedals.



Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: 238 (Brunei $)
Submitted 03/18/2005 at 02:00am by Glenn
Email: none

Ease of Use : 9
Hey, it's a stompox! Just pt in the battery, connect it to ur ampo anyway u like, stomp on it to switch it on & that's it!! Just be careful when setting the EQ though, u really need to pay attention to the frequencies of each knob to make them effective.

Sound Quality : 10
Really very good....it's got all the distortion u'll ever want as in a good tube amp; yes it does sound like one. Bout the noise problem stated by some reviewers below....don't pay attention, they're either deaf & hearing those wierd "eeeeeeeee" in their minds or just old geezers who can just not accept that the noise actually comes from their crappy amps (they may have GOOD amps, but it's just in the way they use it that counts....tone is in the fingers, my misguided friends. Anyways, yes, it's dead quite....not even any hum, even through a small Laney practice amp, which I tried through in the shop (I use an 80's Roland JC-120, so I can really assess the MT-2's potential, yes my amp is really that extra-clean. All I can hear when I crank the distortion knob is really cool feedback that goes on forever, that even adds sustain to a really out-of-sustain guitar like the RG-470 (my test guitar). And also really beautiful gain that ranges from thick overdrive to extreme distortion, but still doesn't sound as digital as Dimebag's in [I'm Broken]. It's just beautiful like a high-gain metal style amp.

Reliability : 10
Just pure beauty, way good if u need some tuby distortion w/o buying a real tube amp & then retubing it every now & then for cranking the preamp gain too much. Haven't used it in a gig yet, just bought it =P....but will be doing so, since I only have an insanely clean amp.

Customer Support : No Opinion
Never needed it....notlike some of u.

Overall Rating : 10
To tell the truth, it's works better than suggested by some of the other reviews....& IMO, will always win thru even when compared to those copycat metal distortion fx's from other companies like Digitech, DOD & Rocktron. Remember, those came out WAY some time after the MT-2 1st came out in the market. Only wished it worked like the MZ-1 though, but it'll do.


Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: US $100
Submitted 03/14/2005 at 08:02pm by Mr. Creosote

Ease of Use : 9
The Level, Bass/Treble and Distortion knobs are all straightforward and work like you'd expect. The midrange EQ knob, however, is not exactly what I would call a typical mid parametric EQ though (more on this later), but everything is still quite easy to use. Compared to most modeling effects units out there, this thing is a breeze.

Sound Quality : 7
I used this with an 1979 Ibanez Artist ES style guitar (Super 80 flying fingers pickups) with a variety of effects (Ibanez flange, ProCo Deucetone, Guyatone compressor, etc.), including an old Roland GP-100 modeling preamp/processor. My amp is a 1977 100-watt Hiwatt head running a Laney cab with 2-12" 75W speakers (very loud, but clean). The MT-2 is a pretty powerful distortion pedal. It has a very beefy low end that even at low volume levels makes my Hiwatt jump. I don't consider it muddy at all. However, the the mid parametric EQ strikes me as a type of wah-like effect rather than a traditional parametric EQ. Some here have mentioned it sounds like a wah pedal with the pedal fixed at some position. That pretty much describes the mid-EQ dual-knob control exactly. In fact, if you put the middle level (center knob) somewhere past 12 o'clock and then rotate the mid freq knob (outer knob), you have yourself a wah pedal. Like others have said, you can't defeat that wah-like sound no matter how you arrange the EQ settings. It's not necessarily a bad sound, and if you like it, you're all set. It lends itself to very powerful sounding metal chords, but for my own ears, it can be tiresome to play solos with that constant wah-like tinge (although Jimmy Page used that sound on the solo on Whole Lotta Love .. . he left his wah pedal on and in one fixed position for that solo). But do you want to sound like that all the time? If you play nothing but power chords and rhythm stuff this pedal is awesome, especially for metal. Very powerful low end (boost is +15dB) and tremendous thick rhythm sound. But for single-note soloing, other than on rare occasions (Whole Lotta Love anyone?), I would rather use an overdrive without that squawky midrange resonance peak there all the time. I plan on returning it for a refund, as I would rather have a pedal a bit more versatile for soloing as well as rhythm. However, I may look for a cheap used MT-2 (or a Line 6 DM-4 which models the MT-2 along with a whole lot of other pedals ) just to have it for occasion metal style power chord riffing. This pedal should suit metal players (well, it is called a Metal Zone after all) but I can't imagine using this all the time for playing straight rock solos or blues solos. No wonder so many have had problems using this pedal along with their wah pedal, you're essentially chaining two wah pedals together - you'll get one big massive midrange resonance peak. It'd be like ice picks in your ears. I'll give a 7 because the MT-2 sounds like it would suit certain players perfectly, but it's not for everyone.

Reliability : 9
It's a Boss pedal and built like a tank.

Customer Support : No Opinion
Never dealt with them

Overall Rating : 7
I've been playing about 25 years, but I usually play straight jazz and rock, but metal (more grunge than metal) on occasion. This pedal seems like it would be great for metal power chords with a lot of low end thump (heard endlessly on the radio these days) and that midrange peak, but if you're into older style rock (Hendrix, Page, Fripp, Gilmour, Beck, SRV) this probably isn't the pedal you're looking for. I tried the MT-2 mainly hoping for more control over the distortion's EQ, which unfortunately most dist pedals lack, but didn't expect its mid EQ to be so inflexible and more just a mid-range resonance peak controller, similar to a wah pedal. I own a Boss OS-2 overdrive/distortion which is certainly more versatile. With the OS-2 I can't get that incredible low end of the MT-2 and power chords aren't quite so powerful, but I also don't have to deal with that squawky wah-like sound either during solos. My Roland GP-100 actually gets a pretty good MT-2 sound when using the Metal Lead preamp model with lots of Bass and low EQ added. So if you've got a GP-100, the MT-2 sound can be had using the Metal Lead preamp setting with some EQ adjustments. I may try the Line 6 DM4 distortion modeler stompbox. It's a bit pricey, but can apparently do the MT-2 sound along with whole lot of other distortion stompbox sounds. It may be a good way to sample a lot of distortion stompboxes without dishing out $50-100 for every single one of them.


Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: 70 (UK sterlin)
Submitted 03/11/2005 at 02:58am by Anonymous

Ease of Use : 6
not for a beginer, but is fairly easy to use if u know what ure doin

Sound Quality : 4
i have to be honest, this pedal sounds terrible, ive been playing for quite a few years and have used many different distortion pedals and this is one of the worst, it sound muddy as hell, a thin tinny sound, its basicly just noise

Reliability : 8
well its a solid pedal,

Customer Support : No Opinion

Overall Rating : 2
wish i never bought htis pedal, waste of money, i play metal, using a jackson dinky and a jackson warrior and sometimes a gibson v, if ure looking for a bone crunching metal tone which doesnt sound like a cat being strangled this is not the pedal for you, if you want to throw away some csah for a crappy piece of junk, buy this pedal


Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: US $52.00 used
Submitted 03/08/2005 at 12:16pm by Mark

Ease of Use : 8
I use this mostly for a Santana type sustain/boost. It gives a good warm classic rock lead if you aren't afraid to adjust the EQ properly. Some musicians are afraid of turning a parameter all the way off/on to get good tone-they don't feel like the pedal is utilized correctly with at least a little treble or a bit of the mids boosted. It is o.k. to leave the settings in the middle on this pedal, at this position they do not affect your sound in any appreciable way. For some it may still be too hard but with some tweaking you can get very good warm and creamy sustain. I use this with a Les Paul 490R/498T's and it is very, very nice for what I play. I play in a female fronted band i.e., Natalie Merchant, Sheryl Crow style and it is very nice for getting the lead out there and yet stays warm. It did take me a long time to get it to this point though, out of the box it is a Metal Heads Dream Box!!

Sound Quality : 9
It is somewhat noisy if you don't use a gate but why wouldn't you use a gate of some kind? I knew it had potential when I first used it. You will need to take time to get a good tone. That is why it has a level, distortion and 4-band EQ. Use them.

Reliability : 10
Boss is as Boss does. You know the story here.

Customer Support : 9
No issues. Always had responded quickly when I had a question. May not have liked the answer but I got one.

Overall Rating : 10
It will serve you well, do not be afraid to experiment with your gear.


Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: US $40 (used)
Submitted 03/04/2005 at 08:11pm by Fellpe
Email: deabreu666<at>hotmail dot com

Ease of Use : 7
It takes time to lear how to use it properly, but the features are extremely smart and useful.

Sound Quality : 10
I was using a Yamaha AES620, which is a Les Paul type of guitar with a Duncan JB on the bridge through a '59 Bassman reissue, which is a plain clean amp. The Boss is powerful, and you can probably ANY Heavy Metal sound out of it. It does Pantera, Vintage Sepultura, Slayer, Metallica and any Death Metal band very, very well. If you only play Metal, the difference between this pedal's sound and a real high gain amp is small. The thing is, I've been playing less and less Metal nowadays and this pedal wasn't much useful anymore (for me) so I ended up selling it yesterday. Don't get me wrong: if you play only palm-muted riffs and power chords, this pedal is a killer, but it sounds too harsh and "quick" for open chords. So, for Metal application, I would rate it 10, if you can't afford a real high gain amp.

Reliability : 10
It's a Boss. They've been around for a while, so, yes, I would depend on it with no dout. I know these pedals last forever.

Customer Support : No Opinion
Never had to deal with them.

Overall Rating : 8
This pedal was not a good match for my playing styles, and does not have the dynamics I now expect from a distortion unit. I've been playing for 15 years now, own Metal suibable gear and now play with blues/pop/rock type of gear. I need a good distortion pedal that have more dynamics, that responds well to pick attack, cleans up well when the guitar's volume is backed off and also sounds good when palm-muting, which are qualities that the Metal Zone just doesn't have. It is a very good pedal, indeed, but a one-metal-trick-pony. In short: it's not versatile for other types of music, but it's great for Extreme Metal


Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: US $90
Submitted 02/25/2005 at 09:55pm by Jake Mayhem

Ease of Use : 8
I think it's fairly easy to get a good sound out of this pedal, as long as you keep all the knobs in reasonable positions (say, close to 12:00). The on-board E.Q. is a GREAT touch; it allows a range of sound that I've haven't heard in other distortion pedals. With such a wide range of options, however, I do think that newbies might be confused by this pedal and scoop out all their mids, thus ensuring their guitars will be lost in the mix. I use it to BOOST my mids. The only real problem with this is which mid frequency to alter; that involves some patience and knowledge on your part.

Sound Quality : 9
I am here to praise the Metal Zone, not to bury it. First things first: it's whisper quiet. There's GOT to be a built-in noise gate. Compare this to ANY other Boss distortion (particularly the horrendous Mega Distortion) and you'll hear pristine silence in between chords. Yet, it does a decent job getting harmonics.

I am using this with a Schecter C1+ (Duncan Distortion bridge, '59 neck) and an all-tube Crate VFX5112. I use this in a somewhat unconventional way: as a booster to my already dirty (and great sounding) drive channel. Other stuff in my chain: CE-5 (Chorus of the GODS), DD-3, and sometimes MXR Phase 100. My rig sounds good. I use the Metal Zone to add a little "bite" or "dirt" into my sound. It does that wonderfully. I used to use a Maxon SD-9 for this purpose. The Maxon was a little irritating. The Metal Zone has 10x the versatility due to the built-in semi-parametric E.Q. I compared this directly to the MD-2 Mega Distortion (yukk!) and the DS-1. The DS-1 was thin and watery, and there was some residual noise. Plus, you couldn't turn down the distortion enough. Yes, it was more transparent and full spectrum. That didn't stop me from hating it....

Reliability : No Opinion
Built
Outstanding
Stomp
Smugly

Customer Support : No Opinion
Uhm, yeah.

Overall Rating : 8
I play rock, some metal and every now and then, some punk. This is good for that. Bear in mind that this is NOT smooth and crunchy. It's a little harsh, and fairly cold. Some might even say it can sound a little thin. I LIKE thost qualities! I use this for tonal coloration, and for that, it's perfect. If I want smooth and creamy, I just leave my amp's dirty channel on by itself. If I want to add bite, I turn this on. It's very clear, very present if E.Q'd right. Bear in mind that I'm happy with my sounds otherwise; my guitar and amp sound great to me; this just helps me put a little edge into my tone. Obviously, if you're playing a cheap guitar into a cheap amp, this isn't going to help. It does, however, do a fairly decent rendition of a JCM-800 E.Q. wise, though it's NOT smooth, as I mentioned. I used to own a JCM-900 stack, and I sold it because the distortion was terrible. Dang transitors. Lost my faith in Marshall. Crate's high-end stuff is better sounding, to me.

Anyway, this pedal is inspiring, but it seems easy to abuse or misunderstand. You should always try out stuff before you buy it. I love this pedal, but then again, that's me. I have very specific reasons for using it. Your mileage may vary. I've been playing for 18 years. If this was lost, I'd replace it. But I'd have to replace my chorus first. This would get replaced second.


Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: US $55.00 used
Submitted 02/24/2005 at 09:23am by Anonymous
Email: samophlange2<at>yahoo dot com

Ease of Use : 10
i think a lot of us metal-heads can be a bit impatient at times. so relax, take a few minutes and do be in such a rush to crank everything up to 10. it's very easy to use if you take your time to experiment.

Sound Quality : 10
i play my good old beat up ibanez rg320 through my cheap but loud peavey studio pro 112 and this little box makes it sound sweet. i cant believe people are saying that the pedal is noisy. the only time its noisy is when you are not playing it through the clean channel of your amp. and to say it has a thin weak sound is an outrage. yeah, if you take out all the lows and mid then yes it has a weak sound. duh!! pour on the lows, don't be affraid of the mids, just gotta play with em a bit. and dont forget, you can always adjust the controls of your amp too. i think you guys may be just depending on the pedal for your whole sound. dont be affraid to adjust the tone and volume knobs on your guitar as well. turn the distortion up to about 8 and then play with the volume knobs on your guitar and you can even get a carlos santana type sound. this pedal is by no means a one trick pony, f@cko!!

Reliability : No Opinion

Customer Support : No Opinion

Overall Rating : 9
i play death metal, electric blues, classic rock, etc..... and this pedal, combined with your amp settings can pretty much get any of those type of tones. personnaly i think that everyone pays way too much attention trying to emulate other musicians sounds. how do you think Dime got his unique sound. definately a sound all his own. go for your own sound. the world is spilling over with carbon copy musicians. if you are more worried about sounding like Dime or Zakk or Angus or Tony then you are about finding your "true" sound , then join a cover band.


Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: N/A
Submitted 02/21/2005 at 02:42pm by Anonymous

Ease of Use : 7
This pedal is easy to use, hard to master. Fairly easy to get a good sound in a bedroom, but much more difficult in a band setting where the scooped mids make your amp inaudible. I recommend using an EQ, i have a cheap danelectro one and it works great.

Sound Quality : 7
Excellent sound quality, again in your bedroom. If you can get the sound to cut through in a band setting it sounds great there too. Can be noisy, especially with the highs up and the amp cranked. I use a Fender Princeton Chorus, Epiphone Les Paul. Works for most metal, though it doesn't necessarily imitate the sounds of Metallica, etc. More Megadethy.

Reliability : 10
Boss. Rock. Nuff said.

Customer Support : No Opinion

Overall Rating : 7
Great for metalheads with the patience to mess with the controls. Hopefully band members are patient as well when their 10-watt amps drown you out.


Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: US $90
Submitted 02/12/2005 at 02:35pm by Mike M.

Ease of Use : 10
You plug it in and step on it, it doesn't get any easier than that. The manual is actually pretty good; not that you need it. It does show a couple settings for getting certain sounds though, which is cool.

Sound Quality : 10
I have an Ibanez RG750, Floyd Rose Discovery DS-2 and a Fender Standard Fat Strat with Dimarzio Super Distortion. My amp is a Fender Princeton Chorus. The MT-2 is very cool - the various distortions you can get from it are great.

Reliability : 10
So far, so good. Yes, I'd gig on it without a backup, it's a Boss. Worst case if it did go bad, you'd have to play with less distortion, yuck!

Customer Support : No Opinion
Hadn't had to deal with them.

Overall Rating : 10
I play mostly hard rock: Megadeth, Dio, Dokken, Malmsteen, Satriani, etc. and this pedal is good for all of them and shredding and burning in general and the darn thing doesn't even seem to care if you can play well or not, it just adds distortion to your signal, fancy that! If it were lost or stolen, I'd buy another one in a skinny minute. I love the distortion it provides and that it seems rock solid. I've never used pedals before in my 24 years of playing but it is awesome. I compared it to the other Boss distortion pedals but this one had more of a range of distortion and stronger distortion than the other ones for my taste. I wish it had a hot chick that came with it, but what do you expect for $90?


Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: $200 (Canadian)
Submitted 01/29/2005 at 10:15am by frank

Ease of Use : 9
It's pretty easy to use, after I got the hang of it. The EQ is nice if you know what you are doing, I love how the sounds you can make can vary greatly.

Sound Quality : 9
I have (had) a fender strat with two Seymour Duncan SHR-1 hotrails (neck / bridge) and an Ibanez SA160. I currently use a Marshall JCM-600, 60 Watts, all-tube. My only effects pedal is the MT-2 right now. I think the sound quality is amazing, at least after playing it through the marshall (had an old Peavey that was really cheap). It took me a while to get the EQ figured out to get the sounds I wanted. I love it. I can get anything from Metallica to AC/DC, Van Halen and Iron Maiden (especially the old Maiden sound) The tone is great, and with the EQ can be changed to almost anything. I must admit however having a good amp makes a world of difference, and it is really the only effects pedal i've ever had. One thing I do not like is that it does not have the smooth warm crunch of an overdrive pedal (which i plan on buying). Even with the Distortion turned all the way down it's still fuzzy. Some settings give too much feedback. Overall I think it's great for the hard stuff and good for softer stuff if you have nothing else.

Reliability : 10
It's pretty tough, I don't think I could break it if I tried. It's called a "stomp box" for a reason!

Customer Support : No Opinion

Overall Rating : 10
I wish I hadn't paid so much. Worth every penny to me, but I still got ripped off (about $165 US.) I love 80s sort of rock/metal but this pedal fits in with just about everything. I like blues rock and newer stuff too. Been playing about 4 years. My other amp is not worth mentioning :P I'll be buying another Fender some time. I would definately buy another if I lost it, the sounds it makes are great. The only thing I don't like is trying to find new sounds. Sometimes with the EQ but once you get it figured it out it's worth the time. I love that it can play so many styles of, at least of rock/metal (like imitating a band's sound.) I would like to compare it to an OD-3, because again i want an overdrive that has a warmer smoother sound. The MT-2 is a bit too fuzzy for soft stuff to me.


Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: US $80
Submitted 01/28/2005 at 06:06pm by Lt. Columbo
Email: columbo at udaff<dot>com

Ease of Use : 9
A bit more difficult that other distortion pedals.

Sound Quality : 10
The only pedal (except Sansamp) that gives real sharp aggressive thrash-metal sound that is ideal for "industrial" drop-D palm-muted riffs, and it sounds a bit more meaty that Sansamp does. Very cool! Also this is only pedal with variable mids on EQ! Little change in mids will be great for your ears - try it! You can do hundreds of real heavy sounds from 80's hard rock to modern "compressed" over-the-top sound. The only flaw of this pedal is that it ABSOLUTELY can't be used for playing "in line" - you never hear such nasty cheap fuzz! But with gutiar amp it is great device.

Reliability : 10
BOSS pedals are invulnerable.

Customer Support : No Opinion
not needed

Overall Rating : 10
Really cool pedal for real metalheads and thrashers. Good for rock, punk, not suitable for alernative, nu-metal.


Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: 53 (pounds)
Submitted 01/18/2005 at 03:18am by Mike

Ease of Use : 10
Pedals are always a joy to use compared to multi effects, no annoying menu's to flip through! its just hands on, The Metal Zone has the bonus of an eq built in which is great!

Sound Quality : 9
Its always down to the musician to get a good sound, effects DON'T improve sound, they just add to it, you need a good guitar and amp to get a nice sound then u bring in the effects, people who say the Metal Zone is rubbish/muddy/too much treble must be using this wrong, YES, it can sound rubbish but thats down to fine tuning it. I have afew guitars which include a Fender USA Strat Plus and An Epiphone Les Paul Custom with Seymour Duncans, for an amp, I use a Laney TF-300 which I love! so for me, I have good tones to start with before bringing in the MT-2 or any other effects pedal

I Love the pedal, you can go from blues/rock/Metal, something I like to do is have a Boss BD-2 (blues driver) plugged into the metal Zone, between the two, you can get some real nice sounds, Ive got very close to that Classic Slash sound but my Les Paul has a big part to play in getting that sound, both pedals can sound rubbish connected together but its all down to how your using your equipment and being patient, sometimes u should ask yourself if you are unhappy with the metal zone? is it the pedal or what you are using it with? or how you are you using it? (cheap guitar leads can effect sound as well) apart from that, I love this Pedal

Reliability : 10
ive looked at pedals from different companys, Boss is my fav for build quailty, they seem to never die?

I even have a that old Boss BE-5 multi effects unit!! and that still works!


Customer Support : 10
they are helpful and respond quick

Overall Rating : 10
I like to mess around with different types of music, I love using a Boss BD-2 (blues driver) but I wanted something to work along side it that could give me more options! The Metal Zone is very useful if u want to have a range of sounds! Blues/rock/metal, I would say its a pedal that gives u abit of everything from the Boss Distortion/OD Range, if your a complete Metal Player, maybe a pedal thats more focused on metal would suit you? as I see this pedal as more of an all rounder type eventhough its called Metal Zone


Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: 0.00 (I swapped a Qwik Guitar tuner for this pedal :P) used
Submitted 01/14/2005 at 10:00am by Bryce
Email: bryce<at>hell dot co dot za

Ease of Use : 5
This pedal is not as straight forwards as, say, the DS-1 or DS-2, it takes some time and some experimentation.

Sound Quality : 9
At first I was very unhappy with this pedal. My sound was tinny and noisy and I was not getting that low-down crunch that I really wanted. This was my fault. After further experimentation with this pedal I finally managed to find my perfect sound - a 70s Rock/Grunge sound (E-mail me if you would like to know what settings I use). I have used this pedal on-stage and it sounds phenomenal (with the right settings of course). As some reviewers have already stated, you will most likely get shit sounds out of this pedal before you find what it is that you are looking for. The setting knobs are very sensitive, thus allowing for maximum diversity with regards to possible distortion settings. This pedal caters for literally ANY genre of music requiring some degree of distortion or overdrive.

Reliability : 10
I am the third person to own my current MT-2. Two of the kobs are slightly bent, but that does not affect the functioning of the pedal in any way. This pedal is most reliable and I would gig without a backup.

Customer Support : No Opinion
I have never dealt with the customer support.

Overall Rating : 9
An outstanding pedal. This pedal can do anything.


Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: US $15 used
Submitted 12/29/2004 at 12:06am by Anonymous

Ease of Use : 8
4 knobs and equalizer... not too bad

Sound Quality : 6
honestly, i found the sound kind of thin and tinny. i tried my pedal/guitar/amp at all different settings, and the best distortion i got sounded thin...the setting i got was AMAZING for Dimebag riffs(RIP). however any other metal probably couldnt be reached. obviously so many people couldnt be wrong, everyone says its an amazing pedal...it just didnt work out for me.

Reliability : 10
boss. no questions asked

Customer Support : No Opinion
dont know

Overall Rating : 5
ive been playing for 8 years, and i play metal. i REALLY hate to admit that i dont like one of my pedals....i try to love em all...but i just think that this pedal got WAY too hyped up to live up to its name. like i said before, i find the sound is tinny, loud(in a bad way) and thin. currently my primary distortion is a ds-2. it is SOOOO thick and chunky with amazing leads, but preferences are preferences.

the 3 band eq is very well done. you can dial in lows, mids, highs, and everything in between. personally i would spend 15 dollars on another one, anything more, i would save my cash.


Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: 31 (GBP) used
Submitted 12/20/2004 at 03:31am by Steven Chippendale

Ease of Use : 8
It didn't take me long to get a sound I was happy with. Used, so no manual. It sounds like a fat wasp (in a good way!).

Sound Quality : 9
I already have a ProCo Rat for 'normal' distortion, but wanted something for a beefy, chuggy, yet raspy thrash metal distortion for jamming along to my old Anthrax, Megadeth and Metallica CDs. This pedal is perfect for this. I was concerned this would be a little untameable, but even with everything on max (well, you've got to see what happens, haven't you?), it still didn't dissolve into a wall of noise like I expected. There's clearly a great deal more than distortion in there, certainly compression and I'm sure I can hear a little bit of Phase in there somewhere too. The EQ is very versatile.

Reliability : No Opinion
Only had it a few days, but Boss don't break.

Customer Support : No Opinion
Dunno

Overall Rating : 9
It's exactly what you want if you haven't got the cash (or space!) for the stack from hell, but want the sound. I'm sure, as many here have commented, it's not a patch on the real thing in the live environment. But I sure as hell can't tell the difference on my Marshall SS Practice Amp. When I win the lotto, I'll get the Dimebag (R.I.P.) setup and play with the volume at 10 til 4am in the morning in my Mansion in it's own grounds. Until then, my Metal Zone will do just fine.


Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: US FREE!!! used
Submitted 12/13/2004 at 02:33pm by Potato Head
Email: If_you_like_potatos_raise_your_hand<at>shut_up dot com

Ease of Use : 9
It's easy to use, there's only a volume knob, high, low, mid, mid frequency, and distortion. Each one is pretty straight forward for what they do, you should know, if you don't, then you are an idiot and you probably won't know how to use this pedal to get a good sound.

Sound Quality : 8
This thing can produce a massive distortion and just about no unwanted noise. It is actually a lot easier to get this pedal to sound bad than to find a good sound. You can get a good sound, but it won't be right away, you'll have to set the EQ on this pedal just right to get it to sound good. It usually is either gives off a nasaly distortion, or just too much middle. They really wanted to give guitarists the chance to get what they want from this pedal, but the mids are pretty bad, the mid should be at like 10-ish or 11-ish o'clock, and the mid freq. at around 6-8, and then you can have the high and low both at about 1 o'clock, and put the dist. wherever you want/need it. That is probably the best sound I could get out of the pedal, anything other than that just sounded crappy. I like the range of the gain, it can either be nice and light to really heavey. I don't use this pedal anymore, I had to sell it along with a lot of my other pedals to get better stuff. But, when I did use it, I didn't have the dist. all the way up, I used a DS-1 as a booster, to add some more gain and some volume. The DS-1 and the MT-2 is probably the best combination (one to boost the other) of distortion pedals I've ever used! If you think the MT-2 isn't enough for you, go out and buy a DS-1, you'll be so amazed, it's really that good, it took me a while to find a good combo of dist. pedals. Also, don't listen to what that other reviewer said, the dumb idea of "turn everything to max and use the mid frequency knob to find the sound you like," I actually tried that once, STUPID! If you do that, you can only get these sort of sounds from doing it, either a cheap, trebly and bassy but very muddied up distortion, or a nasaly distortion. It sounds soooooo bad, don't even waste your time trying that lame idea! Anyone who just turns everything to max has NO CLUE what they are doing!

Reliability : 10
It's a Boss pedal... I got my metal zone for free from a band I was in a while back, the guy who had it before me gave the pedal a BEATING! Kicked it around, dropped it I think he told me twice, and somehow burned it for like a minute or so, I don't know how it caught fire and how it still works perfectly??? There still are these wierd burn marks on it, but I cleaned it up nicely, and had to bend the high knob back to place after he dropped it. See, they can take a really bad beating and still work like new. And yes, I had it checked out to make sure nothing cosmetically was wrong with it, and nothing was amazingly!?!

Customer Support : No Opinion

Overall Rating : 8
I've said enough... Just don't do that IDIOT idea of turning everything to MAX and just turned the mid freq. knob around till you find a sound you like, it won't work, only IDIOTS turn everything to MAX!!! The MORON that said they should be beat over the head with his Metal Zone! If you want it to sound good, sit down with it for a few minutes to dial in the right sound you like, because it isn't as easy as most boss pedals, this thing can sound terrible more times than good.


Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: US $90.00
Submitted 12/12/2004 at 12:29am by Anonymous

Ease of Use : 7
This is a follow up to an earlier review I made, Ive had this pedal for a while now, and use it live once/twice a week. In my opinion, not the easiest to get a good sound out of, youll need to spend some time with it. I dont need/use the manual, its self explanatory. Im giving it a 7 for ease of use, because it is capable of some truly BAD sounds as well as GOOD sounds.

Sound Quality : 8
Again, this is a follow up, so Ill make it quick. Ive been using this pedal live for a few months now, and I actually really like it. I use Les Paul guitars through Fender tube amps, and also use a new Visual Sound Ultimate Overdrive pedal. Lately I have been playing distorted blues-style stuff like Gary Moore, and with my Les Pauls and some tweaking, I have gotten some very Gary Moore like tones with it. This pedal is hard to set up, I have spent hours tweaking the bass, treble, and mids to find the right balance with my guitars, but now Ive gotten it. This pedal WILL make TERRIBLE sounds, and can be like a mosquito, but if you PLAY WELL and spend some time tweaking it, it can work for you. Live, it cuts through very well, and sounds mean with the Les Pauls. This pedal has become my favorite. Yes, its mid-heavy, and can be very nasally, but Ive tweaked it and gotten nice aggressive, supercharged blues/rock tones out of it. I still love my Visual Sound Ultimate Overdrive, and my Proco Turbo Rat, but the Metal Zone gives me the saturation and heavy mids that I need for over the top tones.

Reliability : No Opinion

Customer Support : No Opinion

Overall Rating : 8
I have been playing for 10 years, and play 80's metal, blues, and rock. My primary influences are The Edge, Gary Moore, Jimmy Page, and Joe Satriani. Right now, Im playing a lot of really distorted blues/rock, similar to Gary Moore. I have been using the Metal Zone for this, among other things. I once saw an older guy playing in a coffee house one night, his tone and chops were incredible. After his band was done playing, I went over to check out his gear. I was shocked to find that he was using some "cheap" low quality distortion and overdrive pedals. I learned that its not so much WHAT you play, but HOW you play it. No pedal is perfect, and a lot of skill will more than make up for whatever your gear lacks. After a few months of experimenting, I have found that the Metal Zone is NOT perfect, but it works great for me.


Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: 150 (Canadian $)
Submitted 12/09/2004 at 04:33pm by Anonymous

Ease of Use : 8
It took me a little while to get used to the semi-parametric mid control but after a while i've developped a trick with this pedal that gives a lot of versatility i'll explain more in the next category.

Sound Quality : 10
I play an epiphone SG special to my MT-2 through a really old, third-hand all tube, 30 watt yamaha combo (i'll be getting a bigger amp soon though).

I dont find the pedal that noisy unless you have the dist on full all the time, then its only when i'm not playing that i get a sort of staticy fuzz but it isnt too loud and i usually have the dist on 12 o'clock or less. Also my guitars pickups (still got the stock epi ones in) are a little noisy so that might be part of it.

Now about my "magic" tone trick (I dunno if anyone's said this before because i really dont feel like reading over 900 reviews on the same pedal).set bass an treble on max and mid level at zero. Then just by turning the mid freq knob in either direction you can get a ton of different sounds because by doing this you're basically selecting which mid frequencies get a 15 db cut. Combined with the dist control you can get tons of different sounds from mid gain bluesy drive to full out, balls to the wall death metal crunch, nasaly highs to chest pounding lows.Like i said i usually keep the dist around 12 and the mid freq around 10:30~11. This setting gives me a nice full crunchy fuzz that makes pinch harmonics SCREAM with the bridge pickup on my guitar on. The only thing about this is that it works backwards. What i mean is instead of the normal operation where turning up the knob rasies the mid freq in the sound, turning up lowers the frequenies in the sound. So to get a big boomy fat sound you would turn the mid freq to "full" an to get a high nasaly tone you would turn it down to "zero".

Reliability : 10
Its a Boss so its built like a tank. i guess id have to use it live wihtout a backup since its my only pedal, but i love the sound and i know the pedal wont crap out on me.

Customer Support : No Opinion
never dealt with them.

Overall Rating : No Opinion
I've been playing guitar and bass for about 3 years now and out of all the other distortion pedals i've heard i liked this one the most. I play mostly punk and metal/hardcore/screamcore type stuff so it suits my style well. I would not recommend this to someone who only plays jazz and/or blues as even with the extensive tone control this pedal just has too much gain to have a real bluesy or jazzy drive tone, but if you play metal, punk or anything similiar and want to make all your guitarist friends have serious tone envy then this is the pedal for you IMHO ;). If this guy was ever lost or sotlen from me i'd track the bastard down and beat them with the pedal (this baby is heavy enough to knock someone out!) or save up and buy a new one.


Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: US $50
Submitted 12/01/2004 at 04:53pm by Anonymous

Ease of Use : 9
6 knobs.A level and distortion knob.The other 4 are Equalizer knobs.The EQ is perfect,but takes a little getting used to.

Sound Quality : 10
You will not need another overdrive or distortion pedal.This pedal is perfect.With the EQ you can get any sound from SRV to Slayer,Joe Walsh to Tom Petty.

Reliability : 10
You could run this over with your car and it would still run.BOSS pedals never quit.It is solid steel.It also has a very long battery life as long as you don't leave it plugged in when you're not using it.

Customer Support : No Opinion
Have not had to speak to them,probably never will.

Overall Rating : 10
This is the best distortion/overdrive pedal ever made.Get it cheap on e-bay and you won't buy another distortion pedal.


Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: 69 (GBP)
Submitted 11/15/2004 at 04:48am by Anonymous

Ease of Use : 10
It's easy to use, but then it would be - it has some knobs to twiddle and you step on it when you want distortion. The instructions include some useable sample settings to get you started.

Sound Quality : 6
I've used this with a variety of setups, mainly Peavey Wolfgang and Pacifica 821D guitars through a JCM-800, Peavey Classic 50 and Carlsboro GLX 150. The pedal is a bit of a one trick pony, it's fantastic distortion for metal shedding, but not much else in my opinion. Some of the settings you can use on the pedal are really harsh and sound awful. I've given it a 6 due to it's lack of versatility, but for certain applications i'd rate it much higher.

Reliability : 10
I've used it heavily as part of my setup for about 7 months now with no problems. A friend of mine has owned one for 9 years now and it's still going strong. These things are solid and dependable.

Customer Support : No Opinion
See above - I've never had to deal with them.

Overall Rating : 8
I play a variety of music; blues, funk, heavy metal, hard rock and I've been playing about 15 years. I like this pedal and brought it because I'd tried a friends and liked it. This pedal is great for self indulgent heavy metal shedding - and there's nothing wrong with that! However, I think for other applications you'd do well to look at other pedals.


Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: 98 (Euro)
Submitted 11/11/2004 at 01:54pm by Anonymous

Ease of Use : No Opinion
hey its a pedal where's the problem to use it?

Sound Quality : 10
i use a jackson usa kelly alder body maple neckthru. i own a marshall dsl 100 with a 1960 cabinet. first i plugged it into the input of my top but it sucked very thin and "electronic(techno)" sounding. then i tried it thru the fx loop without using the preamp of the marshall so i use the boss like a preamp and WOW thick heavy distorted monstersound it can go from acdc/sabbath to dime and cannibal corpse.

Reliability : 10
i only own it for a week but its a boss so its build like a tank no worries

Customer Support : No Opinion
never dealt with them

Overall Rating : 10
i play metal and if i say metal i mean METAL not that limp shitkit drinkin park pussy shit. everything from sabbath to cannibal and goregrind and it can do it all perfectly. i tried the dime distortion which sucked although im a HUGE dime fan but this thing sounds much more like dime and it can do a lot more. id give it a 666 ;)


Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: N/A
Submitted 11/04/2004 at 09:23pm by Anonymous

Ease of Use : 8
The EQ is extensive for a distortion pedal, so it makes it that much more complex, but if you mess with the dials and listen you'll quickly dravitate toward a sound you like. I got mine in under 10 minutes out of the box.

Sound Quality : 9
I'm using a Fender Prodigy II with EMG passive pickups, to my Ibanez WD7 then the MT2 and then my Marshall MG 30-watt. It's pretty quiet, but then my guitar is cavity sheilded and even the single coils are actually stacked 'buckers. The distortion is harsh and metallic; just the way I like it. Rakes and scrapes come through nicely, but at the same time it can really chug if your amp will handle it. I run it at about 1 o clock distortion into my dirty channel with just a little bit of gain, so my Marshall's OD handles the growl and my pedal handles the scream. It's a good combo.

Reliability : 10
This is a dumb question.

Customer Support : No Opinion
This is an equally dumb question.

Overall Rating : 10
I play metal, melodic metal, and my own kindof mixed up style. This pedal delivers wherever I choose to use it. I've been playing for a year, and own my Fender Prodigy II, an Epiphone Les Paul with an EM-81 in it, an Ibanez WD7 wah, and my Marshall MG30DFX. If it were lost, I'd kick myself in the groin for losing it, and if it were stolen, someone would have hell to pay. I compared it to some cheapo distortion pedals and some Digitechs, it made the sound I liked the most. Beautiful pedal.


Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: 69 (UK #)
Submitted 11/02/2004 at 10:56am by XcraigX

Ease of Use : 9
6 Knobs and a big switch to switch it on and off. It's pretty easy to use.

Sound Quality : 9
Sounds really good I play in a hardcore band and it suits my needs. I use a LTD Viper100FM-Korg DTR1000 Rack Tuner-Boss MT2 Metal Zone-Boss NS2 Noise Suppresor-Peavey XXL head-Peavey Triple XXX 4x12. I bought so my sound would cut through which it does. The other guitarist in our band uses a Mesa Dual Rectifier which just creates a wall of noise and the Ultra channel my amp just couldn't cut through.

Reliability : 10
It's a Boss plus it doesn't get stamped cos it's on all the time and is stuck to my pedalboard in the bottom of my rack case so it's well protected.

Customer Support : No Opinion
Never dealt with them

Overall Rating : 10
Great value and a great sound I love it. I've benn playing for 10 years and owned alot of gear but the Metal Zone is my favourite distortion.


Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: 125 + tax (Canadian Dollars)
Submitted 10/23/2004 at 09:45am by Luka
Email: luka_wolf at hotmail<dot>com

Ease of Use : 4
It is very hard to get a good sound out of this becaouse of a few problems. (1) i have found that when dialing up differnt amounts of highs and especially mids the volume re adjusts itself which is a pain. (2) No matter at what setting, there always seems to be a faint fuzz in the background that no amount of tweaking can fix except maybe flattening the treble know on my amp. (3) The sound is really rugged and harsh...makes me think of a "rocky sanpaper sound"
The maual is pretty helpfull and comes with a few setting that you can try out which are not bad, however the overdrive, fuzz and British rock serrings pretty much sound like crap. Overall i just hate how it takes a lot of tweaking to get a particular sound.

Sound Quality : 7
Okay ive used a bunch of setups with this, and i have tried it with various musical styles in mind since i've baught it about 4 years ago. Ive used Ibenez rg's fender strat copies, an evh wolfgang special, a godin, and some teles. My setup varies because i like many musical styles, using a crybaby, boss flanger bf-2, tubescreamer ts5, boss dd-3 delay, and the ocasional tremolo or chorus and in all sorts of combinations. I have played it from with everything from a rage 158 peavy practice amp, to a marshall transtube combo and an old fender tube amp. That being said, i do not find the pedal noisy when turned off but matchin its volume to the rest of the rig can be a challange witht eh distortion turned all the way. This effect is definatly not weak but quite harsh and prominent. I have found that this pedal is really only for the hardest of hard metal where lots of good palm muting response and harsh razor like tone. The closest it comes to emulating i think is panteras tone if you max your lows and highs and cut the mids on the amp. I think this pedal is too harsh to play metallica and things like that because it only really has its unique sound when the distortion is cranked, otherwise it starts to sound flat and flat. You can sometimes immitate a kind of old hendrix fuzz or that franz ferdinand sound but its still not close anough, and if your looking for a really good pedal for anything but really really hard harsh metal then look somewhere else. It seems to work well with flanger

Reliability : 10
It reliable, mine looks like its been to a nazi death camp cuz i dont take good care of my equipment and i bash them when i play. No problems yet. Yes i would use it without a backup but then again i probably would not use it for every song.

Customer Support : No Opinion
nope now dealt with them...did not have to, but i hear they are alright.

Overall Rating : 6
I play a wide variety of styles. When i just want to go crazy and shret like hell then this is a great distortion. It would probably bee usefull for beginners because with its high gain possibilities it can make an inexperianced guitarist sound a bit faster and make his teqnique seem better...(harsh distortion tends to hide mistakes.) I have been playing for 5 years, and this was my first distortion. When i got it i was thrilled and i loved it soo much, but as time went on and as i developed a guitar tone taste i have slowly started to steer away from it. If it were stolen i would be really pissed. I want to have this my whole life because it was my first after all. I just wish it didnt have so much of that harsh sound deep inside below the sound. I cant describe it, its like "within the sound". Im basically saying i would like it to respond more to playing and picking stle instead of covering all the mistakes and blending notes. It sounds a lot like DOD Grundge, or the new digitech Death Metal. Like i said its not bad but i would recommend The digiteck X-series metal master oer this as the stand-alone best metal only distortion. By the way if anyone has a chorus they would like to sell e mail me at luka_wolf@hotmail.com .. Thanx . I know i sounded harsh in teh review, but you have to be realistic. Dont trust the reviews on this site that say almost nothing bad about pedals. They are usually people who just baught it and have not warn it in enough to find its faults. C ya!!! :)


Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: N/A
Submitted 10/21/2004 at 02:44pm by Anonymous

Ease of Use : 9
It took me a few minutes to get a nice Metallicaish sound but once you get used to it (take ya no more than 10 minutes) it becomes second nature. -WARNING- the sound settings that they give you in the manual suck ass...

Sound Quality : 8
I play a strat with single coil pickups through a Fender Princeton 65 amp. The amp in itself is not exactly a dream come true in the distortion arena but it screams with this little miracle box. Of course the mt-2 won't replace your boogie stack but for the money you shell out it comes pretty close, especially is you play a guitar with humbuckers through a bigger better amp. Bottom line this little pedal rocks! Infinitely better than the digitech metal master and the digitech grunge... no comparison... mt-2 reigns supreme

Reliability : 10
this thing will live thourgh armaggedon...

Customer Support : No Opinion
right........

Overall Rating : 9
I play a bit of jazz, some metal, punk and surprise surprise in a church band... been pleying for about 4 years now and I'm really happy with this pedal. sounds even better if you add an overdrive pedal to the loop ( I use a sd-1 but the od-1 sounds a bit warmer) I'd gig with it without a backup and if it was stolen I'd probably buy another one... great pedal


Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: N/A
Submitted 09/26/2004 at 03:35pm by maestro

Ease of Use : 8
By the time you get here, you know there are one low one high and two mid eq twisties. and a level and a distortion.
pretty easy, if you like a fuzzbox to make, you know, fuzz.
but to find those really sweet "other-than-death-metal" sounds, youve got to work a bit.

Sound Quality : 7
a cheapo-caster and a behringer blue devil with this pedal. sounds ok,
but any noise in your system (VERY bad shielding on my guitar)will be amplified to the ridiculous and beyond.
i usually dont twist the distortion knob beyond 9o'clock, because im not the most-metal-maniac out there, under 1o'clock it still has some warmth though. It is named METAL-zone, so you know what it does, but it still wants to be used on low volumes, cause at high volumes the METAL sound gets too metal for me. sounds a bit weak. As a practice pedal i guess it is good, but i wouldnt play balls out loud with it. it gets too "skinny"

Reliability : 10
Its a boss. METAL zone could come from the construction. this thing will outlast your guitar, amp and probably yourself. Just make sure the battery wires dont get squeezed between the "pedal" and the "button" underneath.
Wouldnt gig with this pedal, but hypothetically, it shouldnt be a problem quality wise

Customer Support : No Opinion
Easy to use, brick like. boss can fire their phone-workers

Overall Rating : 7
I like a sweet rock sound, slightly distorted and just a bit overdriven. this is not the ideal pedal if you dont like to much fuzz, but with the distortion way down it sounds kinda good.
Been playing a while, and this is a good pedal for the bedroom "i want to sound like im playing loud when im not" type of thing. thats what i use it for anyway.
wish it had a complete bypass, so it would be completely un-noticable when not active, but hey, in a $100 pedal, you cant have anything.
try the 70's rock setting from the manual, twist the low end up a bit, the high end down, lower the distortion and up the level, and you can get some sweet sounds..
but it is a metal pedal, and it does what its supposed to do, with a good bang-for-buck


Product: Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Price Paid: 60 gbp (gbp)
Submitted 09/25/2004 at 01:22am by A.S.Lendon

Ease of Use : 8
The mt2 takes a bit of fiddling to get a great sound(especially the parametric mid) but apart from that its standard dist pedal fare.

Sound Quality : 9
On its own the mt2 sounds a tad fizzy to my ears especially when u push up the dist.The eq is unusual to say the least with the treble sounding pretty nasal.However, the sheer amount of bass on offer is awesome.I use mine after a boss ds1 with the mt2 dist at 9 0 clock and the ds1 dist at 0.This beefs up the sound massivly in the lo mids without having to use stupendous levels of distortion!!!
This sound is great for a crunchy gut heavy dist thats great for stuff like 'tallica,soundgarden etc.This goes from a BCR mockingbird with seymour dimebucker into a marshall jcm900 clean channel.

Reliability : 10
Its a boss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Customer Support : No Opinion

Overall Rating : 9
If u want anything from sabbath to pantera get one!! Like i said earlier though team it with the ds1 for a really great all round rock sound

Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ... 23 (Show 10 | 25 | 50 | 100 reviews per page) Showing 151 - 200 of 1122 reviews

Email: webmaster@harmony-central.com | © 1995-2009 Harmony Central, Inc. All rights reserved.