DigiTech X-Series Metal Master

this pedal has one main problem no mid control other than the morph knob which is only 50% effective as a change of distortion tone knob.

I found this pedal to have one ot two sweet spots but not much variety in fine tuning tone.mainlt for the processed distorion and the missing mid or mid frequencies knob(which make the distortion factory much better but not as good as the boss metal zone plus)the metal zone is fairly good for certain types of music but with very little tonal changiblity for fine tuning you sound.you can get in the ball park but not in your zone. a heavy pedal but lacks general eq funtioniblity sadly.

pretty well built pedal but i've heard some complains.

great foe heavy distorted nu-metal but if tone is important this one lack some important eq funtions no mids+/- control.but it's not a total peice but could be improved.a little processed sounding and bassy.

Four knobs, on-off... No gain knob; it's just cranked to 11.

When I first got this for Christmas a few years ago, I was like, "well this says Metal Master, so it better be darn monsterous!" I was mostly right. Tons upon tons upon tons of gain, and let's not forget gain. And a bit more gain? The EQ on this pedal is pretty cool but it's limited. Has a nice low end that thumps when you hit those detuned strings and do some palm mutes, but the treb is a bit shrill and the whole thing sounds pretty digital. It doesn't cut through the mix very well, so probably not a good pedal for recording although I was able to warm it up with a nice four-track recorder when I attempted it. The amp sim out is pretty unique, helps kill that nasty high end, I used it for solos sometimes because it's got a nice mid range kind of boxy (amplike) feel. I was kind of split down the middle about this pedal. Great bottom end, the most bone-crushing drop-A palm mutes I've ever heard come from my guitars. The gain kills the Metal Zone (at least in terms of the amount on tap), and it's nice and simple. The bad side is that damn trebble! It's just too digital sounding. The overall tone is pretty digital in fact.

It's heavy, even without the battery! It's wide and solid metal, very good tention on the pedal and you can really stomp this thing! I dropped it a few times and it's been thrown around, played catch with, etc. Not really, but it's a tank! Seriously for the price, you're paying 80% for the construction.
The battery life sucks though, it takes maybe four hours and you're replacing the battery! I once took off the cover and the battery was pretty warm, so this pedal really sucks up juice.

Never needed them.

This is a great beginners distortion pedal. It's fairly cheap, built well and has enough gain for any mega-chugger to be happy. I also owned a MetalZone at the time and this pedal beat the crap out of it in every aspect (Boss pretty much sucks since they've gone digital). I ended up selling both and buying a Guyatone Metal Monster and currently have a Digi Hardwire TL2 on the way as well as a Metal Muff (I love good gear). I'll post my luck with these as well when I've had time to test them out. I kinda wish i kept my MM though. It was a one-trick pony but heavy as hell.

Its very very easy to get started on dis piece of sound machine!!!

Its perfect!!! Im playing my Jackson RR3 with dis piece of gold and its satisfied me most than other distortion pedals! I can get sound frm Iron Maiden to Lam Of God genre,can u see how dis pedal works!!! I recommend dis pedal to those who are into Metal musics and you will be supprise!!! For those who rate dis pedal lower than 9,i think you got a hearing problems Or they are not a metallist musicians,sorry to sdaid dat!!! Go and do some homeworks on dis machine you guyzs!!!

Very very important stuff to me coz theres no point to have any other distortion pedals whereelse there are already 10 distorts in dis 1 piece of gold ****!!!

Ill state dat it was d best distortion pedal till now!

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