Zoom TM-01 Tri Metal

3-band eq, mid cut frecuency, gain & volume. Not a big deal

I would give it a 10 just because the amount of gain, great sound and very low noise. This is kind of tricky because i used it through clean channel of a Marshall avt150x (& Gibson Tobbaco Classic 2004), it sounds good by it self but not perfect, to unleash the beast, I put a turbo tube screamer after the trimetal and before the avt, DAMN!!!! I heard a distortion like never before!!!!! high gain and low noise combined with the valve envelope, incredible...
After that, I used trimetal alone with my JCM2000 (crunchy channel) and also was Great!!! conclusion: honestly, if you are just about to buy one, consider something else to blow up this beast

On stage, I use other pedals (RAT2, MT2, or Krank Distortus Maximus etc) only because versatility, I don't want to carry extra pedals, I like small pedalboards.
On studio, very simple, I don't record anything without my TRIMETAL

No idea.

I play all kind of music, I use trimetal obviously for metal, maybe it can be use to play oldies (Led zeppelin) with a very low gain.
eleven years playing guitar and i'll never get tired of it

Easy. Takes little experimenting since there's really one sound in this.

I bought this pedal after owning the great Power Drive and the also good Hyper Lead and after reading very good reviews about the Tri-Metal. But I was a bit disappointed with it.

The Tri-Metal is definitely a step ahead from the Boss Metal Zone and the Digitech Metal Master, in the sense that you will achieve the same amount of crazy gain, but without the halfway-to-a-preamp tone overshaping both of those put out. The semi-parametric EQ is pretty awesome, but don't let it fool you into thinking this can be versatile; it's metal all day and all night. There is a LOT of gain in this.

This can sound very ballsy if you already have an amp with a good character. It's fairly good through my Crate tube amp. But it will sound like **** through cleaner amps, a bit like the Hyper Lead, but worse, since the signal is a little less compressed. It's a much raw-er signal than most extreme dirt pedals, so it needs something to round out the tone. This is why it sounds better through quality amps than comparable products. It won't do that magic tone-shaping the Metal Zone does on 20-watt amps.

Although I love the shape of the sound this puts out, the bottom line is that the gain itself is fairly ordinary and the input response is like any other solid-state metal pedal. It doesn't chunk like a great tube distortion and it relies on overdone bass to achieve power. It can be a little muddy if you have dark pickups, though nowhere near as muddy as, say, Behringer distortion.

Not to mention, there are problems with the low-end response in this unit. The wrong guitar into the wrong amp will produce severe farting. It's very unpredictable.

The Hyper Lead does a better job at what it tries to do overall. This pedal is a step in the right direction for metal pedals, that is, when it comes to the shape of the sound it outputs. But it won't necessarily do justice to your guitar, and it won't cut through a heavy mix like the Hyper Lead can.

Acceptable.

This pedal is good, but not great. There are better distortions out there, even in solid-state devices. The Sansamps, for example, produce much more convincing and usable metal distortions in their preamp emulations, even if they are plagued by ****** cab sims. The Hyper Lead is also a better pedal overall (can you tell I like it better?).

I would buy this over a Metal Zone, a Metal Master, a Grunge, or a Fabtone any day (I own them all). But I don't think I'd buy neither those nor the Tri-Metal again (even if it wasn't discontinued).

Gain, Level and 3-band EQ with semiparametric mids. Bit more difficult to get used to for beginners who've never seen a parametric EQ before (which apparently applies to a few of the reviewers here, too).

If you know how to use the EQ properly, this pedal is incredibly easy to tweak to your requirements. Feels like active EQ, with relatively little interaction between the Treble and Bass knobs - very nice. The ranges on the knobs are also huge.

So, a bit harder to control than a DS-1 if you're a beginner, but for experienced users it's just so much more versatile than distortion pedals that only have a tone knob or just hi/low EQ knobs.

Gets a 10 here because there is no simpler way to put this much versatility into an EQ.

Running either a Yamaha Pacifica 812v with Shadow pickups (great budget tip, by the way... the SH681 I've got in the bridge now blows the Duncan JB it replaced right out of the water, and for about half the price) into a Danelectro Honeytone 1.5W battery amp (running with a power supply on 12V into a Harley Benton G112 cab right now). This is my home practice setup, and it sounds incredibly good (considerin I spent about 100 Euros on it, and I'm getting 500 Euro amp sounds... :)). Sounds a little like my Randall RG100SC actually (which is no surprise - I can pretty much replace my Randall's OD2 channel with this pedal if I just run it up front on the clean channel of said Randall).

Also sounds great on my Laney VH100R's clean channel, and cuts through the mix beautifully - anyone having trouble cutting through is probably just too lazy to learn how to use the EQ properly (or is simply using sounds that simply aren't usable in a band situation). I'll be using it in this setup for the heavier songs, along with a MIDI-controllable True Bypass Looper.

All in all, a very versatile pedal with more than enough gain (though not as over-the-top as other reviews have stated, IMO), and VERY flexible EQ. Imitating sounds isn't really my thing, but the first thing I thought when I turned it on was METALLICA!!! A few more hi-mids and voila - awesome metal sound.

As for noise - definitely less than most other distortion pedals - the modelled stomps in my GT-8 are also a lot noisier. You could almost use this thing without a noise gate at rehearsal volume, but adding an NS2 oder the GT-8's built in noise gate at a (very) low threshold results in perfect "fire and forget" noise control - no unwanted feedback, no buzzing or crackling, just perfect.

And last but not least, a special mention to palm muting, because a few reviewers mentioned that this pedal doesn't chug enough when you're muting. And to them I say - learn to palm mute! This thing absolutely rips when it comes to fast chugging or palm muted single note riffs - incredibly saturated, but still perfectly clear and without the mushy low end of the MT-2... Unlike the aforementioned Metal Zone, this thing actually throws your mistakes back at you instead of hiding them in an unrecognizable haze of noise.

As they say: **** in, **** out.

My HL-01 Hyper Lead lasted for ages, and never crapped out on me despite being kicked around the floor at practices and on stage quite a lot back when I didn't have enough effects to warrant a pedalboard. Since this thing has pretty much the same casing in a different color, I'm guessing it'll hold up just fine.

Had a few problems with a Zoom G7.1ut once (one of the little LED-buttons stopped working), but that's a whole different line of products.

Website is ok, manuals available etc.

Personal support is pretty much nonexistent though - sent a few e-mails and never got a reply.

Overall this thing gets my seal of approval - a very solid piece of gear that sounds good and provides long trouble-free service. Perfect for what I need it for (practicing at home, and making my Laney VH100R a bit more brutal for a few songs) - sounds incredibly good.

Having owned an MT2, I can definitely confirm, that this is a far more versatile pedal, with a lot more balls. Not to mention it doesn't have the MT2's annoying permanent nasal mid-honk...

Would definitely buy it again (or even a second one, if I could find one :P)...

Pretty easy to use although the extreme ends of the settings are unusable, so a small amount of tweaking has a big effect. It's certainly not one of those pedals where you can turn everything up and it'll sound great.

Sounds like a very good emulation of James Hetfield's sound. It does this very well but not much else. If you lower the midrange frequency and turn the midrange level up a bit you can get quite close to a Lamb Of God style sound. Its noise level is so low it's almost inaudible at bedroom volumes. Perhaps it has some sort of gate but not one you can hear working. It does tend to make all my guitars sound rather similar but considering the amount of gain and the fact that there isn't a valve in sight this isn't really surprising. Bear in mind it is called Tri METAL and it is just a pedal so for what it is and the price of it, it is really good. I use it with a Roland Spirit 50 tranny amp and it makes the amp sound quite good.

Made of heavy metal, about 2mm thick, I used to jump on it wearing Harley Davidson boots for the chorus of Toxicity by System Of A Down and although the paint is coming off it's only because i've abused it for years. I don't think it will ever die, it's like the guy from the Halloween movies.

You read the last bit? Don't think I'll ever need to contact them.

I don't need this pedal anymore because I have acquired a Diezel Einstein but for anyone with a weak amp this thing is perfect. Also if you have a good valve amp with insufficient gain this pedal will provide all the distortion you need. If it got stolen I'd miss it, I like to plug it in occasionally and might want to use it for more industrial sounds which my Einstein just won't do (because it's fantastic)

This thing is super easy to use and figure out. Throw all the knobs to max and twist the "range" knob for sweepy, grainy, gritty, resonating type fun. The EQ is nice for getting a grip on those unexpected "lean back from the speaker" type moments that happen every now and then. You know... roll off those "ear piercing" hi-end freqs that you get with some gear.

Quiet as mouse. It just sits there in the mix waiting for you to feed it something.

Solid as a rock.

I use it for a noize project in a performance capacity running various sound sources through it. Anything that generates sound is usable. Right now I'm using it exclusively with a Photo*Theremin (via Professor Television circa 2003) but I also use it with a Monotonic Labs Type-U73 synth, a Buddha Machine and a Bleep Labs Thingamagoop and they all get huge and nasty sounding. It can take the most subtle sound and make it crazy. I would definitely get another if this one went missing.

Like it's got all these knobs and you turn them and it sound all crazy dude.

Dudester you just gotta' sound like hammers of the gods when you wail through this thing.

But seriously it has a very tight distortion that doesn't sound overly boxey and just makes your guitar sound huge. I like the wall of sound it creates and the EQ is all kinds of awesome.

Does this thing sound like metal or what...? How the hell would I know? Metal heads are total idiots; they want to take something beautiful and feminine (MUSIC) and make it something masculine because they believe music with melody is for chicks and queers. Playing metal in 2007 is about as relevant as playing barber shop music in 1964. I'm sure you metal heads won't get that since for you music doesn't start untill Black Sabbath (the only true metal band). Doesn't playing metal with a pedal make you a joke to REAL metal players anyway. Think about it...Keep thinking....You know it's true.

This pedal is awesome, just don't use it for "metal" or you will be a sad stale cliche.

Dank pedal.

This unit is perhaps a little bit more complicated than it has to be. Although it does offer a wide range of sounds

Firstly, I am a conservative rater (I cant understand why everyone gives everything a 10?!) but I have had this thing a year now and I think its fair to say that it really is the best metal distortion pedal I have tried.

I play EMGs into a Marshall JCM800 so my sound is already very sharp. I basically use the pedal to boost/augment my amp distortion. This thing is a real beast, you can get super heavy ultra biteing sound (I guess I agree with the mesa reference to some extent) which is so refreshing.

Basically I have tried the MT2, the MD2 (dont bother with this!), the digitech death metal (not bad) and it pisses all over these pedals, especially the otherwise similar MT2 which I reckon is fuzzy and muddy and very over rated.

On the downside the compression is high so it will naturally reduce sustain a little bit and makes for a slight thining of lead sound.
The 2 really important good things are

1. You can use this thing to make your shitty amp sound good on the clean setting (I use this at practice with my little marshalll solid state and it rocks).
2. It is freakishly quiet, no hiss or feedback

solid

dont know

The key thing is that I reckon most people who arent super rich and just want to get a decent metal sound out of their solid state amp should not hesistate in buying this, I think its amazing.

However, if you do own a good valve amp and you like the natural amp distortion, you should probably look more towards overdrive pedals as this thing has a real character of its own and will suck the natural tone away. I do but i still love this pedal, its a keeper
:-)

honestly, i had trouble getting used to having such sensitive controls: barely move a knob and the sound CHANGES BIG-TIME. once you get the hang of that, this pedal's versatility will amaze.

i have owned this pedal for a few years, and still havent exhausted the amount of sounds and tones i can pull form it. If you've tried other metal pedals, you know that there is a certain point where you've tried all ther sound combonations for taht pedal, well this one have HUGE range.

I've beaten the crap out of this thing for years ; dropped it quite a few times, kicked it, lost a knob covering, and this thing is still kickin like i opened it new yesterday.

havent had to call so i dunno

I play a mixed heavy style (think Demon Hunter, mixed with pantera, mixed with Project 86) and the Tri-Metal delivers on every level i have thrown at it. Of course its made for scooping mids, and thick heavy mutings, and all out HEAVY, but still can get old-school mid laced sounds as well. Fantabulous.

Its very easy to use once you know how the mid and range knob interact with each other. Its one of those discontinued ANALOG line of pedal series by Zoom, I've bought it used in mint condition.. nearly new. WHAT A BARGAIN FOR THIS PRICE!!, the previous dude just bought one coz he thinks it looked cool when it was available.. just for the heck of it.so.. no manual but u can just go get it off at their website. Good manual, some basic example settings and a few extras.

I won't stress on what sound of artists I could get out of because I never tried to sound like anybody BUT with one thing on my mind for a distortion pedal is that its gotta have the heaviest, ballsiest, most brutal possible distortion and its gotta be able to cut thru in a band situation, whether in practice or live. I use a Schecter C-1 Classic with EMGs pickups(81 bridge + 85 neck)and I play thru many solidstate amps. GUITAR>DISTORTION>AMP(clean setting) and nothing else, I don't want any other effects degrading my distortion tone and I will always use the best guitar cables.

With all the knobs set at 12 o'clock, it already got a thick metal tone with loads of gain, just work your way from there.

U'll find that turning the gain and bass over 2-3 o'clock, it becomes useless for the conventional solidstate amps. IT WILL RUMBLE like crazy. Is that a good thing? well i guess its a good thing i think because you could probably rape a 100watt tube amp w/4x12 with it.

The range control knob is excellent, i could get sort of a Peavey 5150 stuff from it, but its true character is dark and boomy.. like that of a Mesa with more definition and very tight sound. The raves about it being a 5150 in box, Mesa in box.. blah blah, TRUE!! this is the sheeeeit.

I play alot of fast complex riffs and do alot of heavy palm muting, the Tri Metal gets that out heavy as hell, its clear and it cuts thru (back down the bass and use more on the mids+treble, mind you)doing really fast tremolo picking too. I don't do much soloing but whenever I need to, i'll just have the range control and mids cocked out and its got a powerful edge and push to it.. DOES NOT SOUND THIN.

Now, for the palm muting issue.. like some of the reviewers have said about not being able to get a good or tight PM from it, I agree and also disagree with this. First I'd like to point out if you use guitars with single coils or low-output humbuckers, u'd just get an average PM sound (but let alone, this will already give u a fairly good one). A fair guitar with hotter passive pickups will get u great metal tones. However, a good guitar with EMGs will sound PHENOMENAL with it, ITS HUGE, very thick.. very tight.. very..

'B R U T A L' HANDS DOWN!!

I'd like to stress about one thing though, THERE IS NO POSSIBLE WAY WAY THAT A STOCK BOSS MT-2 could get anything near this pedal!! Quite a load of ppl have said that the MT-2 was better, probably these ppl don't know anything or haven't tried the Tri Metal enough or are using crap gear. The Tri Metal is wayyy better, what do u get from it? A noticeable lower noise floor (VERY QUIET INDEED) where as the MT-2 needs a noise suppressor to shutup and its either too weak (just to dial out the gain to get rid of the noise) or gets messed up when u crank it, u should pray for ppl to hear what u are playing thru the MT-2 in a band situation and you must be tonedeaf if you think the MT-2 does a better job in palm muting. Only one way by Keeley modding the MT-2 will probably just get it on the same league.

This thing is a bomb shelter, its got a nice weight to it and it looks great. Thick metal casing, and all the knobs and on/off switch are metal too. I doubt anyone could break it under normal use. The on/off switch is big and its very sturdy, very smooth, no clicks or pops here.. nice one!!. However I would never ever gig without a backup in a chaotic situation where people are jumping on and flyin off the stage during a death metal gig, it already convinced me that I don't need a backup but sure there'll be one of those Boss MT-2 laying around there just in case.

Don't bother, its useless dealing with them about a discontinued product for several years.

I've been playing for almost 8 years now, I'am a metalhead, I play melodic death metal and all the way to brutal death metal, deathgrind, moshpit music.. watever u wanna call it. I don't own alot of gear, coz when I buy a better gear I'll always sell off the old one once in a while. The Tri Metal is truly a keeper, if you don't want to take your amp to gigs.. then this is just the perfect thing. Comparing this to Boss MT-2 is a joke, that thing is so fake and generic.. wfk was that !@$#$^&* riff you played? COMPLETE MUSH!! If I'm ever gonna be without the Tri Metal, the Boss MT-2 will be the last thing I'll have to use (provided that they are 'provided' at metal gigs here). I also had a Line6 Uber Metal before, THIS IS A REALLY GREAT PEDAL, u can get all sorts of metal tones with a fistfull of hi-gain and huge bottom end but its a noticeable 'processed' digital sound at gigging volumes.. so it had to go. I've tried out almost every possible distortion pedal out there.. be it from Boss, Rocktron, Line6, MXR, etc nothing compares to it and it is the next best thing before owning hi-gain tube amps like a Framus Cobra, Engl Powerball, Mesa Rectos, Marshall JCM2000, etc. I'm surely saving up for one of those but till then this is what i've been hoping for in one distortion pedal, its probably the sickest lethal analog distortion a pedal has to offer. Zoom is an A-HOLE of a company that decided to end such a great analog product and went all wizardly digital. Since this pedal is discontinued, I give u my best wishes finding one, GOOD LUCK! :)

Like others have said, put everything to 12 then dial in what you want

I'm not gonna crap on about what i use but this is the BOMB. this is the distortion pedal I hoped for with MT2 but got a lot lot more. Play everything from tool (low gain) to B tuned shredding and everything in between.

This is the holy grail of high gain distortion

Its solid steel, even the knobs are steel, melt it down and sell it to china for a killing, theres that much steel in it it wouldn't break if you ran over it

never dealt with

payed OZ$75 couldnt get a better deal i like METAL and this thing is for METAL. for all you who write i like blues and hard rock and this is too much - get a TUBESCREAMER or RAT. even i have one. THIS IS NOT A BLUES/ROCK/HARD ROCK pedal it is called TRI METAL for a reason. now i no longer need my tubescreamer and rat(used as a boost for clarity on MT2) THIS IS THE SHIZNUT