Boss HM-2 Heavy Metal (Japan)

Boss decided since the metal craze was going on they would put out this pedal to give the metal guys a distortion box. This thing was terrible. The originally made it in Japan and then later moved the production to Taiwan. This pedal is so bad that I find myself thinking why did I spend anytime with this pedal knowing full well ahead of time that this pedal is not going to sound good at all. Back when trying out the guitar for the first time it seems like a lot of beginners try out pedals like this. So I had number of friends who had metal type pedals to which every single one of them sounded horrible. This pedal is no exception. Running my fork across the plate sounds about what you get out of this pedal. It may even sound better. I know that Boss is tailoring to the metal market but come on this thing sound like garbage!!


UTILIZATION

Specifications

Controls: Level, Color Mix (L, H), Distortion
Connectors: Input, Output, AC Adaptor
Current Draw: 10 mA (DC 9V)
Weight: 400 g (14 oz.)
Input Impedance: 1 MOhm
Recommended AC Adaptor: ACA Series


SOUND QUALITY

They claim that the Japanese pedal from Boss always sound better than when they moved the farm to Taiwan. I would say that is false and they sound the same. Maybe if you A/B then together you might come across a different result but it is not worth any more money. There really isn't any way you can throw a guitar or amp in front or behind this thing to have any workable sound. Try using a Les Paul or a Super Strat and you won't sound like CC Deville. Try using a Marshall JCM 800 and Kerry King is not an option. You know what is an option....not buying this pedal.

This thing sounds thin and metallic to which sounds nothing like a tube amp at all. No active EMG pickups or Dean guitar will help you at this point.

OVERALL OPINION

This will have to be picked up on the used market. They stopped making the Japan ones back in 1988. They began building then in Taiwan at that point. These can be found on the used market all day long. They are cheap to buy and they sound cheap.

Labeled as a distortion but I think the HM2 is a cross between distortion and fuzz sounds. Standard boss enclosure with 1/4" ins and outs, 9v power jack, and knobs for level, gain, high, and low EQ

UTILIZATION

I bought this pedal used and did not get a manual but with only 4 knobs it's easy to figure out what you need to do. For me the set-up consisted of plugging in the ins and outs, hooking up some power, and setting all the knobs to ten. Metal.

SOUND QUALITY

Like with any Boss pedal you get the buffer which can be a love/hate kind of thing. Personally I don't see the problem with Boss buffers until you start hooking numerous Boss pedals together in series and then you get some noticeable tone sucking. I always like to have at least one buffer in my chain whether it be from a pedal or from a dedicated box and the Boss pedals always seemed to be fine for this use.

The EQ seems rather limited with only high and low adjustments but it actually cover a wide area of sound. You can get a decent distortion sound or a pretty traditional black metal sound out of it with minor tweaking. I used this pedal mainly to send my distortion over the top and it excelled at it. With all knobs on ten into your amp's distortion channel you get a sound similar to an amp about to explode which is just what I was looking for.

OVERALL OPINION

There are far better options out there for a main distortion box but at 40$ this is a great noise maker. I have done some mods to the pedal to try and get it more useable for a wider variety of sounds but always came back to the stock sound. It's an older unit from a time where high gain distortion just didn't have the balls you get with today's gear. At one point I had three of these but I've sold them all off but one because its nice to have around when you want that terrible old school black metal sound

The Boss HM-2 was a pedal that was well known in the 90s Swedish death metal scene. Bands such as At the Gates, In Flames, Dismember, Entombed, Bloodbath, etc. all used this pedal. It's almost like a mix between a distortion and a fuzz. The pedal will drive any amp into chaos and pretty much consume whatever natural voicing the amp may have.

UTILIZATION

This pedal actually has a crazy sensitive EQ. While the actual tone you get from this is somewhat limited, the adjustability of that tone is pretty dramatic. Despite it only have four knobs, it took a little bit to dial in to where I wanted it. There's a level, low, high and distortion knob. They're all fairly self-explanatory, but the most time will be spent figuring out exactly where you want to set the low and high voicing knobs. I never had a manual with this since I bought it used, so I can't comment on that. I also am not sure if the MIJ versions really do sound different, but mine was an MIJ version.

SOUND QUALITY

If you've heard any of the bands I mentioned above, you probably already know what this pedal sounds like. It's an extremely aggressive, abrasive sound that's almost fuzz like. There's no real calming this pedal down, and it doesn't work that great as an overdrive to boost the amp. The thing is a flat out distortion pedal that's cranked up as much as possible. I found my best results by running an EQ pedal with this to help shape the overall tone. Despite the low and high knobs being versatile, the lack of a midrange knob made it somewhat tricky to dial in a tone that I was looking for.

OVERALL OPINION

The price of these pedals varies quite a bit. I've seen them for as low as $20 and as much as $150. If you're a fan of that oldschool 90s Swedish metal tone and find one for under $50, I'd say it's worth at least checking it out. Even if you don't like it, you can probably sell it for quite a bit on eBay or something to someone overseas. The Scandinavians are always looking for these pedals for obvious reasons.

Of distortion pedal Boss ... mine has qq pets but it works nickel

on the other hand is an old Japanese 85 therefore the power supply sector, attention is 12V (you can make a mod to the circuit which accepts 9V though)

UTILIZATION

4 knobs: volume, bass, treble, gain ...

editing could not be simpler, but the knobs are a race that is as linear at all (except for the volume) the bass and treble are a very big bump limit, similar to the gain, as mentioned in other opinions at the beginning it changes a little, then 3/4 of the race ca remains almost identical, and limit there is a massive gain happens ... so it asks a little practice.

SOUND QUALITY

there is only one color .... so if you want the versatility that is not worth it. it can be used in rhythm or solo. the sound is not very compress and quite "grainy"

OVERALL OPINION

I have been using qq month on a mesa V-Twin pedal in clean. Its exactly what I was looking for so I am very satisfied .. for the death to the old. I served with an OD (2 HM2 track / 2 track lead channel OD +) .. it gives a very big sound dirty but not very well compressed, producing typical old school death.

i paid 35 euros mine, bought in Japan, it is a japanese .. I personally would not pay more (or 40 is the limit!) ... taiwan version is probably the same thing for my use and it does change little to the final