DigiTech X-Series Metal Master

This is a straight forward easy to use effect. Read the instruction manual,set the controls and have fun! Just remember to unplug your cords from it the minute you are done playing because it IS a battery eater. When you get to almost the last page of the instructions there is the DISCLAIMER! Todays batteries cannot keep up with the current draw from this effect so purchasing the optional AC adaptor is recommended. It has some proprietary plug in so I guess you have to buy theirs which I just did.I have over a dozen 9 volt adaptors and none of them work on this pedal so yet again I have to fork over another 20 plus dollars for the joys of using their products. See my review of the Jimi Hendrix Pedal

This effect actually sounds better with a guitar that has single coils than one with humbuckers and absolutely forget it with one that has active pickups (EMG's cause to much clipping)
Yes it is noisy but after all it is a high gain effect and you have to expect a little noise but it is not an unbearable amount of hiss.
I play it through a 66 Fender Bassman/66 Shomman cab with 2 JBL D-130 F's and as far as the rest of my effects chain, well that is privelidged info. Now through the Soldano SLO 100 I will get a little clipping so I just roll off the effects volume to almost zero
and the clipping goes away. I just wish it had a distortion control to help get rid of the clipping with humbuckers and actives.Yes, I do realize it is a distortion pedal but there is such a thing as waaaay too much distortion.
IMHO the best sounds in this thing start at 10 o'clock on the morph knob to about two o'clock. Remember,taste is subjective. Tone I hate may be the one you love.

I have owned it for over three months and use it every day.Outside of the battery issues it does exactly what I expected it to do. It is a very well built piece of equipment and have had no problems with it.

Have not had to deal with them so I reaaly don't know yet.

Been playing 40 years and I like almost all music as long as it is played tastefully and skillfully.
Just remember the sound is in your heart and hands so practice,practice,practice!
I will not compare this to other effects out there which often leads to bashing something another company produces because one day maybe Digitech will want to sponsor me or my band.
Like any new toy, you play with it a lot and it often helps you to adventure into a new territory. This toy did with me!
Would I buy another one if it were lost or stolen? Probably unless I heard one that was a lot better and as of right now this one fits the bill.

Simple pedal. Only difference with comparable units is Morph knob and cab sim output. Cab sim is useless and Morph is limited, but it's all pretty easy.

This pedal puts out an inredibly processed signal. It DOES produce a very chunky sought-after palm-muted metal sound (reminiscent of Pain), but that is probably its single redeeming quality.

It is so processed that it almost sounds like a full-fledged preamp to my ears. This is bad. I HAVE gotten this pedal to sound good by putting a boss GE-7 after, cutting the 3Khz, boosting the 6Khz, and running it into a very clean Ampeg bass amp (but playing guitar). This cuts harshness and actually gave me a nice live sound once.

However I have NEVER AGAIN found a another setup where I could get a good sound out of this pedal. It ruins toneful amps, and the harshness is excruciating through tube amps. Not to mention the built-in cab sim is terrible and useless. You need a preamp and a poweramp before you go to a cab sim, period. Totally useless for recording. Perhaps OK for practicing through headphones with the right adapter.

The 'Morph' feature is simply a combination of EQ-ing mids and playing around with an exciter/enhancer. I can get the exact same transitions by playing around with the exciter on my Rocktron mAxe preamp or by putting a Boss EH-2 and Boss GE-7 after any metal pedal. Nothing special at all; in fact, most settings on the Morph are unusable. Settings start getting usable at about 11:00, but I would never use it before 1:00 because the mids are voiced badly to the left.

I must say that the High and Low knobs are exceptionably well voiced on this unit, compared to its competitors. But it could use more volume and a gain knob (???). It does not react to guitar volume all that well.

Flimsier than a boss, but it's lasted me 6 years so far with no problems!!!

Overall, the only appeal this unit has is its palm mute characteristics. Other than that, the Metal Master is absolutely terrible. I've been trying to find a place for it for 6 years on and off (because the palm muted sound IS quite that good and I haven't found it anywhere else, except perhaps a Sansamp), and I've managed only once. Digital strikes again.

I find the Digitech Grunge in the new series is a lot better than this pedal in many ways, even though it's very far from perfect itself (its signal is less processed, although it cuts through even less than the MM). The Zoom Tri-Metal also sounds a LOT less processed than the Metal Master, but it does not achieve the same palm-muting sound. It is a little more unique and perhaps better than the Boss Metal Zone, but in the same ballpark.

I would not buy this again.

4 controls. simple to use. Manual is fine.

I use this with a number of amps big and small, sounds good with both, sounds good with a little reverb from my Digital Reverb. It isn't noisy at all (Be sure you use a good DC so you don't get hum). Morph knob is wonderful. The first few distortion settings are pretty weak (I'm sure one is that Arion MM) I'd like a mid knob... I think it sounds best with the level at 6 or 7, low at 5-7, hi 5-7 and the morph 5-8. Destroys the Boss Metal Zone. Doesn't sound good through a v-amp 2... but really no pedals do.

Pretty solid pedal... weighs about 3 times as much as most others, very reliable. I'd use this stomp box at a gig for sure.

Never had to.

I play Metal and some heavier rock on this, perfect for it. I've been playing 10-12 years or so. I own a grunge pedal, used to own a Boss metal zone before this one. I'd HAVE to replace this one if it were gone. I love everything but the lack of a mid knob. Choose this one because my friends all love it. The out 2 to mixer is pretty useless for me. Wish it were lower priced.

not gonna repeat this anymore. 4 knobs, very easy to use. Morph feature is amazing

I use this to play metal -obviously- through a marshall mode4 head, 4x12 V30 Marshall cab and a Jackson dk10 guitar. I compared the MM with boss MT-pedals, the Line6 uber-metal and other digitech pedals (death metal), but the MM was my favourite by far. It gets the trash metal sound I want, it sounds really great.

this is where I stop giving good grades. When I bought my first MM, it died on me after 2 weeks playing. At a certain moment it started making a really loud cracking sound, and then it just stopped workingh, while the LED stayed on. When I unplugged the cables, the LED turned off, but it still wouldn't work. after a couple of hours, I could turn it on again, but after five minutes of playing the same thing happened. I changed battery, amp, guitar, cables, but nothing worked.
Returned it to the store, got a new one. This one did the exact same thing after two days !!!
Returned it to the store again and said **** off, I don't want it anymore.
But after some time I really missed the sound of the MM and I ordered a new one online in germany. This one hasn't died on me after 6 months, so I think i just had bad luck getting two ****** up pedals from the same faulthy series. *knocks on wood

didn't deal with digitech, but the people at the shop were i bought the mallfunctioning pedals were nice and helpfull

I really love the sound of the MM. I wouldn't have tried it 3 times if I didn't like it :p
If you play metal of any kind, this is the pedal for you. Make sure you have a guarantee though ;)
10 for the sound, 2 for reliability, total = 8

Well, Its Pretty Easy to Work With 4 Knobs

It really Great, Even If You Use It For A Direct Recording, It Perfect for a Metal Sound

2 years, Works Fine

No Deal !

I Play Thrash/Heavy Metal I really Like It It Gives me A Powerful Metal Sound

very easy to use morph feature is cool as hell

has a great sound but i can not use my high output humbuckers(dimarzio ect.) or it clips and cuts out. level output is very mild compared to my Zoom Tri-Metal even cranked it's weak i orginally bought it to replace my tri metal what a waste

Crap, absoulute Crap it kills batterys real fast

Save your money i've had two that did the exact same thing.

4 KNOBS - **** EASY TO GET GOOD SOUNDS

I'm using a Mashall Mosfet amp. Most pedals sound like crap through this amp. This pedal gets any metal sound I want. I was very impressed.

Just got it but it weighs more than any pedal I have ever had...built like the proverbial tank

never used them

Did lots!!!!! of research. Made the right decision with this pedal. Would immediately replace if lost or stolen

First off,this pedal kicks ass,very easy to use.It has a level,low,high,and morph nob,pretty simple setup.

I love the morph on this thing.I play a lot of metal,from metallica to slayer and back and i can easily get all the diferent styles out of it.By it's self it doesnt sound perfect,(no distortion pedal does) but by adding a chorus,delay,etc it rocks.For example if i just want to ad a little extra tone and depth i run it through my (rocktek)chorus pedal,if i want to add multiple effects such as delay, flanger,etc i run it through my(zoom 505).On sound guality buy its self i give it an 8,but run it through a chorus and it gets a 10.

I've had the metal master for about two years now and have had no problems at all.The battery wont last to long so if playing a gig i would recomend pluging it in.

Never had to use the customer support but the digitech website is nice and has a lot of samples to listen to before you buy.

Overal the metal master kicks ass,Like i said before i like to play anything from mettalica to slayer and back and the digitech metal master is perfect for all metal styles.I've been playing since i was 16 and im pushing 30 now (damn were did the time go) Any way after useing the metal master i would never use any other distortion pedal.

having to use the MM for the first time makes it hard to find a decent sound.

i used to have my treble and bass almost all the way up, and it sounded like crap. only after 2 years did i discover another way to play with the settings.

once you get it right, man does it kick ass. it doesn't emulate a tube amp, it doesn't try to (it could have gotten a 10 if it did, but that's reserved for the DEMONIZER!!! 10!!!). it just gives kick-ass distortion. i think the morph knob acts as a center frequency for the mid-boost or cut or whatever. put the morph up at full, and watch out for the bass, put it on 12:00 at most as it may be too muddy and lose note separation, and add treble to taste. it gives a fully saturated sound (none of that tour from hell sh*t) that sounds very versatile, ideal for soloing because there's that high-mid boost that makes the guitar cut in the mix.

the morph fully counter-clockwise is hard to use, as there's a sort of "cut" in the treble. the morph at 12:00...hmmm i haven't experimented with that yet. but so far, morph at full clockwise sounds the most usable to me, as long as you watch the bass knob settings. ;)

2 years and not a problem. hell yeah!

nah haven't even tried. why fix somethin' that ain't broke, right?

compare this to the Uber Metal. I have both, and each of them have their respective duties. the Uber Metal is much more versatile, but to tell you honestly, i prefer to use this when it comes to soloing. just try it and you'll see why. fantastic value for money.

You can "morph" between 3 metal sounds: The first sound (morph knob all the way counter-clockwise) sounds weak & screechy like a transistor radio; the 2nd sound (12:00 on the morph knob)is a scooped, flat, lame sound with no nuts; the 3rd sound (morph knob all the way up) sounds very good with smooth punchy mids and thick distortion. It has sample settings in the manual which I haven't tried.

The first 2 sounds are useless. I run it with every knob maxed and send it straight to the PA (I don't have an amp) add a little reverb and I get a hot, thick metal sound that I like very much. I've gotten compliments on the sound also from band members. I bought the Metal Master because I needed a direct out and I got sick of messing around with the Boss Metal Zone trying to get a decent sound out of that piece of digitally simulated shit. I tried the x-series multi chorus and main squeeze compressor and they both sounded like crap. The MM however is a great pedal for metal even though it only has one sound.

Only had it a month. No problems yet. You'll need to buy a negative center, 9.6V 300ma adaptor.

Couldn't tell ya.

Made in the USA (cool), direct out works great, thick & well balanced metal sound, I love it. Everyone who owns a Boss MT-2 should toss it in the garbage where it belongs and get the MM.