Hatsubai « Not quite as good as the HM2 »
Published on 11/29/11 at 14:04When the HM-2 was discontinued, Boss decided to try to recreate a similar pedal with the HM-3. It's like the bastard child between the HM-2 and the MT-2. It was the transitioning period, and as a result, it's not quite as good as either of the pedals. Then again, it's debatable as to whether the first two are good at all, so keep that with a grain of salt. The pedal features a level, contour high, contour low and distortion knob. It's actually very similar in layout to the infamous HM-2.
UTILIZATION
These pedals are built to withstand pretty much any abuse you can think off. They can be stepped on, thrown across the room, smack with who knows what and can even sometimes withstand the occasional beer spillage on stage. The housing has proven to be one of the most reliable housings out there, and it's had 40+ years of proven track records to back that up. The manual is clearly written, and there are also some example setting you can check out in case you don't know where to start with this pedal. The pedal uses the standard FET bypassing, just like almost all Boss style pedals out there. It's decent, but true bypass is better, in my opinion.
SOUND QUALITY
If you loved the HM-2 sound, you might be able to dig this. It's not quite the same, but it's in the same general ballpark. It's a brutal distortion pedal that can really drive an amp into insane overdrive. It's great for that old school style melodeath tone, but it doesn't seem to recreate the magic HM-2 sound. If you're an HM-2 purist, you'll probably not really like this pedal that much. If you like the MT-2, you'll probably hate this. It's a lot fuzzier than the MT-2. It's more like a crazy overdriven fuzz than a bright distortion pedal at times.
OVERALL OPINION
The best way to describe this pedal is average. It's somewhere between the HM-2 and the MT-2, and it doesn't do either of the sounds quite as well as it should. It can work for that melodeath sound in a pinch, but it won't be the exact same as the HM-2. It's not really as good as the MT-2 when it comes to slamming the amp with some extreme modern distortion, but it can get you some classic brutal distortion if you mess with the settings a bit.
UTILIZATION
These pedals are built to withstand pretty much any abuse you can think off. They can be stepped on, thrown across the room, smack with who knows what and can even sometimes withstand the occasional beer spillage on stage. The housing has proven to be one of the most reliable housings out there, and it's had 40+ years of proven track records to back that up. The manual is clearly written, and there are also some example setting you can check out in case you don't know where to start with this pedal. The pedal uses the standard FET bypassing, just like almost all Boss style pedals out there. It's decent, but true bypass is better, in my opinion.
SOUND QUALITY
If you loved the HM-2 sound, you might be able to dig this. It's not quite the same, but it's in the same general ballpark. It's a brutal distortion pedal that can really drive an amp into insane overdrive. It's great for that old school style melodeath tone, but it doesn't seem to recreate the magic HM-2 sound. If you're an HM-2 purist, you'll probably not really like this pedal that much. If you like the MT-2, you'll probably hate this. It's a lot fuzzier than the MT-2. It's more like a crazy overdriven fuzz than a bright distortion pedal at times.
OVERALL OPINION
The best way to describe this pedal is average. It's somewhere between the HM-2 and the MT-2, and it doesn't do either of the sounds quite as well as it should. It can work for that melodeath sound in a pinch, but it won't be the exact same as the HM-2. It's not really as good as the MT-2 when it comes to slamming the amp with some extreme modern distortion, but it can get you some classic brutal distortion if you mess with the settings a bit.