View other reviews for this product:
King Loudness « Good for metal tones on a budget. »
Published on 05/01/11 at 08:31The Boss Metal Zone was designed to basically offer the tones of a very high gain amplifier stack like a Peavey 5150 or Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier, but in their classic and compact stompbox format. It features level and gain controls, as well as two dual mode equalization controls, one controlling lows and highs, the other controlling midrange and midrange frequencies. It is housed in Boss' standard compact pedal enclosure, with 4 knobs (the two EQ controls feature concentric pots). It runs on either a 9 volt battery or on Boss' standard PSA adapter.
UTILIZATION
Setting up tones with this pedal is very simple. It's designed to be a very extreme sounding distortion right from the get-go, so you know right away the type of tone you are going to get out of this pedal for the most part.
The level knob controls the overall output level you are hearing (turn it up for more, or down for less, very simple), the first EQ knob controls your low end (bass) frequencies as well as your high end (treble) frequencies. The second EQ knob controls your midrange amount as well as the frequency it sits in (more of a scooped sound or more of a boosted sound).
SOUND QUALITY
I've tried many different versions of this pedal through the years. They're very nice for a young musician who wants a metal tone on a budget. At the time that I owned/used these I was looking for a very classic metal sound like that of Metallica or other thrash metal bands. This pedal works well for that type of high octane tone, though it doesn't come even close to the sound of a good high gain tube amp like the 5150 or Recto. I preferred to boost the mids slightly so that I could be heard within the mix of a band, but still get enough cutting chunky tones out of it as well.
It tended to sound better when I was using higher output pickups like EMGs or Seymour Duncan Invaders. However, since I don't play that sort of metal music any more, those pickups are not something I use. As a result I don't think the MT2 would work for the type of gain tone I go for nowadays, which is more of a classic hard rock vibe.
OVERALL OPINION
All in all I feel that the Boss MT2 is a good pedal for someone on a budget who is looking for a classic metal sound. It's not recommended for someone who knows great tube amp tone, because it will almost certainly fall short, but for a sub $100 pedal it does an okay job at capturing a slice of molten metal tone.
UTILIZATION
Setting up tones with this pedal is very simple. It's designed to be a very extreme sounding distortion right from the get-go, so you know right away the type of tone you are going to get out of this pedal for the most part.
The level knob controls the overall output level you are hearing (turn it up for more, or down for less, very simple), the first EQ knob controls your low end (bass) frequencies as well as your high end (treble) frequencies. The second EQ knob controls your midrange amount as well as the frequency it sits in (more of a scooped sound or more of a boosted sound).
SOUND QUALITY
I've tried many different versions of this pedal through the years. They're very nice for a young musician who wants a metal tone on a budget. At the time that I owned/used these I was looking for a very classic metal sound like that of Metallica or other thrash metal bands. This pedal works well for that type of high octane tone, though it doesn't come even close to the sound of a good high gain tube amp like the 5150 or Recto. I preferred to boost the mids slightly so that I could be heard within the mix of a band, but still get enough cutting chunky tones out of it as well.
It tended to sound better when I was using higher output pickups like EMGs or Seymour Duncan Invaders. However, since I don't play that sort of metal music any more, those pickups are not something I use. As a result I don't think the MT2 would work for the type of gain tone I go for nowadays, which is more of a classic hard rock vibe.
OVERALL OPINION
All in all I feel that the Boss MT2 is a good pedal for someone on a budget who is looking for a classic metal sound. It's not recommended for someone who knows great tube amp tone, because it will almost certainly fall short, but for a sub $100 pedal it does an okay job at capturing a slice of molten metal tone.