Ibanez MS10 Metal Charger

It's easy if you turn the eq knobs all the way up. Then you adjust gain and level. As the eq's are extremely effective there are many settings that are not so useful... But it's not too hard.

Okay, if your looking for metal try something else. This machine competes in the tube- scream league.

I play an Ibanez JS 6000 (mostly in single coil modes) through CryBaby--> MetalCharger --> Boss DS-2--> MXR phaser (from'82) ibanez DCF-10 --> Boss DD-2 --> small vintage Marshall combo.

I modded my MS 10 as well- following Jerome's advice taking out the diodes 3,4,5,6. But I didn't like that sound. It produced a harsh fuzz-type distortion , a little like a broken loudspeaker- membrane.
So I put back the diodes 5 and 6, and took out diodes 1 and 2 instead. That sounds much better. Indeed, there is much more volume than in the unmodded pedal, and there is practically no distortion at very low gain levels. This makes it sound very much like a TS- 9 to my ears. Great for boosting tube amps or adding edge before a distortion pedal. It really reacts to your volume pots and to your fingers!
I find the noise level is incredibly low!

I am not yet too happy with the sound at higher gain levels; it still is a little muddy, but for low gain settings this pedal is superb.

As I said, the eq's are incredibly effective. There is no other pedal or amp where I would turn all the knobs fully up, but with this pedal your best off doing this.
But you can create deftones-intro- sounds by turning the gain all the way up and the bass all the way down. Your amp will sound like a cheap radio until you disengage the metal screamer and switch on a really fat distortion pedal.
This pedal is really great!

No complaints so far- and I have the DCF-10 for much longer without any problems.

I never delt with Ibanez.

I wass looking for an overdrive which really reacts well to your fingers and plectrum. For the money that I got it I don't see the point in buying a tube screamer. It has 4 of the JRC 4558 chips that were used in the TS-808, so get it if you can.
I would certainly try and grab a new one if it got lost.

It takes time to realise the different colors you can get + the tone is realy difficult to adjust as there is no traditional bass treble settings. Attack Punch Edge interact together... Globaly I have the edge at around 12, Level at 12 too. Distorsion at 1 oclock minimum.
Attack and punch at high level....

The original sound is like a normal Fuzz, no metal at all, but with a lot more settings, you can get an overdrive sound too.
Sound is muddy when you push the distorsion. This is because there are 4 (four!) JRC4558D opamps + 3 pairs of distorsion diodes inside.

Thanks to Giancarlo in Italy for his tip of removing two pairs of diodes, these are D3 D4 D5 D6. This is the first basic mod to do.
Then it's a very good pedal overdrive till soft distorstion, but no metal. I did change the last pair of clipping diodes D1 & D2 for two small 3mm standard red leds. This gives more output power and a different tone (not at all more agressive, for me more subtil, I preffer). Then I did remove two OP JRC4558D IC3 & IC4, replace them by DIP8 sockets. Then I did try a lot of OPamps, there I have to say there is a risk of oscillation if you are not carefull in the choice... You can get till a realy powerfull hot metal sound with a pair modern chips like the BurrBrown OPA2134PA or OPA2604PA and still can use it as overdrive with dist at 1 oclock. Moded MS10 respects the original character of your guitars & pickups. The next mod for me would be change the good resistor to get more bottom end (I know where to do this on the TS10) I you know how, send me a mail !

Never had any problem with my Ibanez pedals.

I play rock & rythm & blues, since a few years, I have a Tubeworks tube driver (moded) A Marshall guvnor old model (moded) An Ibanez TS10 (moded) Another MS10 (not allready moded)

I am very very satisfied with the original MS10, the possibility to mod it easily. My "Metal Charger" is now a real one ! (+ an overdrive
tubescreamer like)

Just found one of these today. Used to have one over ten years ago when i was recording primitive funk rock nonsense on a four track. I bought it again for a specific reason, and having tried a few other pedals, this is the one i realised i wanted. basically it is in my set up IN FRONT of the wah wah for that soft pyschedelic 60's sound. the setting i use is: distortion almost all the way up, level all the way up, attack about 1/3 up, punch and edge ALL THE WAY DOWN. although the sound is really weak and weedy, the fuzz sustains enough for it to work really well.
well, just thought i would share that with you all, as i am very happy to have found one of these pedals again.

other pedals i am using at the moment are: jim dunlop cry baby, ibanez FL303 flanger, DOD FX50b distortion/overdrive, MXR phase 90, Maplin Echorder.
Anyone have any interesting suggestions for how to chain these together?
This site has been really useful when it comes to buying gear. You feel like you are going into transactions with your eyes opened to any possible glitches, and are able to make a decision on wether or not you are prepared to put with those glitches.
Hope that everyone continues to make valuable contributions to a very useful site.
Regards. x

This puppy's not as easy to use as other distortion pedals because of it's extra features. In addition to level and distortion, it has 'punch', 'attack' and 'edge'. These are eq controls but are unlike the typical low, mid, and high cotrols found on other pedals. It took about 15 minutes to find 'my setting' however you can't go wrong with all controls at 12 noon.

It's not as 'metal' as the name suggests. Unlike a Husquevarna chain saw, it has a warm, albeit aggresive sound. At extreme settings, low end is a bit soft for angry, dark, death metal. Regardless, there are A LOT inbetween setting which are very usable for hard rock.

To me, the best settings started with the distortion, 'edge' and 'punch' controls set to about noon and the level and 'attack' controls set at 2 o'clock. This gave a nice, 80's-metal / hard rock sound that works well for a lot of songs.

It works best when used with an overdrive pedal. With a Sobbat Drivebreaker 2, the results were brutal; a very crunchy, in-your-face, hard rock sound. It also worked well both a Tubescreamer and a Peavey Accelerator Overdrive (great pedal). Also, leave your heavy reverb / delay / modulation at home. Light amount are okay but beyond that, the signal becomes muddy.

I think this is a good pedal for for leads and metal-crunch hell - it's not perfect but it's pretty darn good. Turn down the gain and it classic rock heaven (or pretty close). HOWEVER, I'm only gonna' give it an 8 because it introduces a lot of color to your guitar's signal. Yes, this is almost certainly by-design and the color it adds is pretty cool. However, I feel that color could be a bit more defined, if that makes sence. Perhaps a little clearer with more definition...

My test gear was a heavily modified SF Fender Bassman and a 2x12" cab loaded with Vintage 30's. Guitar is a US Strat w/ Duncan's.

Plastic control shafts and knobs, plastic foot pedal, PC board-mounted jacks. Typical commercial quality. I'm pretty careful with pedals and was lucky enough to find an under-the-bed special so it will probably outlive me.

A very good hard-rock / "light metal" pedal. Look elsewhere if your into satanic, axe-weilding, kill-your-neighbor's-cat metal.

I give 8, because you have to spend a lot of time to find YOR sound by turning the 5 knobs ... but if you're patient then WOW !!!!!!!!!

Hey guys ... thank to give me an idea to remove those diodes !!! It's incredible, but now this little box is far superior to my TS-10 ( Made in japan !!!) which I considered as really very good ( even better then TS-9 ! ) It's not so noisy at all, but pushing disto to maxi have no sense ... best soft drive on 10 - 11 o'clock, lead drive set to 3 ...

had no problem ... ( I give 8 ... if you're 2m and 150 kg not so sure :-)

... never needed ...

By an easy modification you can have a cheap but GREAT "TS" sound !!!! But if you'll looking for a METAL effect, you'll certainly find better .... I give 10 for "TS-all numbers you want" with 5 knobs!

In use the Metal Charger takes a few minuets to set up. I like Distortion at 10. Level at 3. Attack at 1 1/2. Punch at 4.5. Edge at 4.

I use a Fender music master or Gibson Les paul. Into the MS10, ts9, ce-2, ns-2, ad-9, into a marshall JMP-100 watt lead into a 4x10 cabinet. The ms10 sounds great after I took out the extra diodes in the drive circuit. it has the added coolness of the attack punch and edge which are like equalization settings. The Metal Charger has 3 JRC4558d chips in it. These are magical get em while you can!

Haven't had a problem with the meatal charger. I usually have two distortion pedals with me at all times.

haven't dealt with Ibanez yet.

Cool little box. with the jrc4558d inside

I have just about every OD / distortion pedal Ibanez made SD -9, TS-10, MT-10, MS-10, MSL, SML, STL, SM-9, & FC-10. They all sound great & are quiet. You can plug multiple units into each other to get almost inifinite combinations

HAS 4 JRC 4558'S

GREAT

READ ALL THE REVIEWS; THEY ARE GREAT!

I HAVE THE ENTIRE COLLECTION FOR SALE. SAVE YEARS IN HUNTING. MAKE AN OFFER.

I get a good sound of it directly
You must have some nohow of pedals
I had no manual whit this pedal it takes some time to figure out this thing.

My guitars are strats//tele,s/ibanez/Sakai(old sg model verry soulfull guitar nothing comes close)/samick and more guitars i tested the metalcharger with. The noise is a happy noise and i cant get a bad sound out of it.
I,am using it with my fender super six reverb and seymour duncan convertible amp.
All sounds are there...thinking of buddy guy/ jeff beck/srv/hendrix/ even robben ford......

Well.... you must remember the settings...

I never dealt with the company

I play mostley Blues/ p-funk/fusion/ rockabilly... the metal charger is the pedal believe it or not. I play for over 23 years , i started when i was 9 years old. If the pedal is broken i would get a nother one. It,s one hell of a pedal folk,s the low feature is pretty cool.
I compared it with all tubescreamers but the metalcharger is the absolut winner also cool with delay

the problem with this pedal is that it makes a loud buzzing sound on the amp when not playing..i wouldn't use it at a gig or show for that reason.but other wise the pedal is easy to use and easy to set.

DEFINETLY GET THE "BOSS METAL ZONE" DISTORTION PEDAL..BEST PEDAL OUT THERE..!

easy to use

the edge knob make the diference, ms10 is fair superior than boss distortion pedal, you can play blues, rock, hard rock, and death metal with it, but if you use maximum distorion is noisy as hell, you won't play with such as noise

is the most perfect pedal that I ever had, only problem is noise, buy it and buy a noise supresor then you will have the best distortion in this world