Zoom TM-01 Tri Metal

This is an analog overdrive pedal that is relatively straightforward in nature (no midi, audio connections, ).

UTILIZATION

The sound editing is really simple with this pedal, which makes it ideal for someone like me who doesn't like his pedals too complicated! The setup is pretty straightforward. It has three knobs (level, presence, and drive) which are easy to use. Newer models have two settings, “Normal and Bluesberry”. Bluesberry is a less buzzy sound that is really pretty. It can run on a 9V battery or a standard power supply. The manual explains everything pretty clearly, though I confess I didn't even open it until I started writing this review (more because of the simplicity of the pedal than the quality of the manual).


SOUND QUALITY

I have only tried this pedal with my electric guitar ('67 Strat reissue). Arguably my favorite feature of this pedal is its ability to distort the guitar sound without polluting it. More specifically, it gives it a nice, thick distortion sound but doesn't obscure the melodic/harmonic content of what you are playing. Thus the dissonance that can sometimes unexpectedly occur when using fuzz boxes is reduced or omitted entirely. I think that every sound I've achieved with this pedal is pretty great. It's not the most versatile pedal out there but every tone is a winner in its own right.


OVERALL OPINION

This pedal is great for players who want a less distorted but still powerful sound. I personally use it with a Fender Strat and a Fender Twin Reverb and have no complaints. I get a great tone that is reminiscent of Clapton or Nels Cline of Wilco on his less experimental work. In fact, Nels is the first person to mention it that I knew of, and was the reason I checked it out in the first place. I've bought a few overdrive pedals over the years, and each one is different. I can't recommend one over the other but I will say that this pedal is great for what it does. It doesn't sound like lesser pedals which make it clear that they have flaws or defects, or color the sound a really awful way. The sound is so crisp and clean yet still powerful. I would definitely replace it if I had to.

The Zoom Tri Metal is (how surprisingly!) a heavy-rock-oriented analog distortion pedal. Regarding controls we have the usual Gain & Level knobs, plus the classic Treble-Middle-Bass trilogy with a (very efficient) Range control for the mid frequencies. The pedal's case seems sturdy (probably even more than a Boss, which says a lot), the (big) on/off switch looks a bit unusual but seems reliable too.
According to the manual this stompbox was designed to handle the low frequencies of 7-string guitars -- I don't own one to test though.
This model was manufactured in Japan.

UTILIZATION

Obviously it takes more time to find your sound than it would on a mere Level-Tone-Drive (classic) distortion box... but if you have at least a bit of experience with that kind of settings it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

As usual with distortions the manual provides mostly very basic informations, plus a few examples of settings here and there. Nothing to complain about.

SOUND QUALITY

I use this pedal with a (mexican) Fender Fat Strat equipped with a Seymour Duncan SH4JB humbucker, into a SansAmp GT2 in clean (Tweed) setting which goes direct into the board, sometimes with a Small Clone between the Tri-Metal and GT2.

As the name "Tri-Metal" indicates, this box simulates three stages of distortion at once (I'm not too much into tube-amps technical informations but I assume the three stages correspond to two preamp tubes stages distorting plus the traditional crunch provided by power tubes). I can hardly compare it with "the real deal" (hey, I never played on a metal-plated or snake-skinned tube-powered beast!), anyway it provides a thick, mean, heavy and rather dynamic sound. Even with the drive level set low don't expect a clean sound out of it. It definitely sounds WAY hotter and versatile than EHX's Metal Muff, and provides a more "modern", tight sound compared with the Mesa (California) or Marshall (British) simulations on Tech 21's SansAmp GT2. As long as you want a modern distortion sound it will do the job, not only for metal but also punk, grunge, power pop and most certainly several other styles -- well, at least, that's as long as you concentrate on rhythm sounds...

Indeed, Zoom came up with what could have been a brilliant idea but in the end proves itself a major source of disappointment: they included a sort of internal noise reducer, which indeed succeeds in providing a surprisingly noise-free and hiss-free sound (I don't even need to use my ISP Decimator when the TM-01 is on), BUT in the same time it tends to reduce dramatically the sustain... had the circuit been equipped with an on/off switch so as to control this factor this might have been the PERFECT pedal for huge distortion sounds, but unfortunately it seems to me that this pedal will hardly be useful for soloing, even with a compressor or booster/overdrive in front of it.

OVERALL OPINION

This stompbox was discontinued a few years ago, not sure exactly when though. I bought it used two months ago for 40€ (approximately 60$/30£), a very good price in my opinion.

At first I had a VERY bad image of Zoom for the disastrous quality of the digital guitar multi-effect units they once built (the 505&606 series), but I still gave this one a try and indeed, as far as analog distortions are concerned, Zoom rocks! Too bad they didn't provide a way to deactivate this sustain-killing "low noise" function, which would have been a tremendous add to this pedal's versatility, but as far as I'm concerned it's not that much of a problem since I mostly play power chord-based rhythms.

EQ pedals Complte this made for Metal.

UTILIZATION

Simple configuration
Manuel clearly
Y is find the sound we like

SOUND QUALITY

Big sound and prcis. The distortion can be able to do heavy like death. A real pleasure.
The other highlight of the pedals is that it does not make any noise when you play arrtez which is not the case for some pedals like the Metal Zone Warp or to Hughes and Kethner o l is Better rducteur noise.
Feedback from you will only gain if you turn back again and c may be because I RPET in a small room. The gain at 3 / 4 trs dj is good. That said you can rev well to gain back if you do not have silence between two chords.
If not for the serious, do not put them back because the sound becomes dgueulasse. At 3 / 4 is good.
I use the pedals with a JCM 900 (BC Rich guitar) and is the top. I tried also with a Valvestate 8080 and on the other hand is very poor in sound.
This is based largely PDAL made to the rhythm.

OVERALL OPINION

I use it for one week.
Most are sound and noise gate incorporated so to speak.
The seller advised me first of all the Warp had a good sound but when I whistled m'arrtais to play and are no longer on this qualisation pedals.
I wanted to try the TM-01 saw the score in this one on Harmony Central. 9.3/10 out of 60 reviews was as good as I am interested and frankly I do not t's and my group either.
I bought new 115 euros.
I put 9 because no pedals is perfect.

Analogue distortion pedals dstine to metal. Pots gain, level, bass, mid and Trebel.

UTILIZATION

The setup is intuitive trs, we obtain a distortion of quality, leaving all the pots in the middle. The PDAL is Fully in mtal and can collect small strokes without any problem (transport, scne, etc.)

SOUND QUALITY

The sound is prcis and powerful. This is when PDAL same versatile, it can play styles ranging from rock just pushed an extreme mtal through a big sound no. on the other hand, you must have on hand lgre pots! Dteriore the sound if you push the bottom pots, especially for low and Trebel.

OVERALL OPINION

I use the pedals for 2 years and I am satisfied with TRS! It allowed me to evolve in groups of DIFFERENT styles always bringing me disto adquate! The pedals can get a big sound approaching the mesa with a budget significantly infrieur! Friends mtalleux, acqurir absolutely!