# Metal Pedals - What to Get?



## Eric1623 (May 20, 2009)

Good Day,

I am looking for a good heavy metal pedal. I have a Gibson SG Supreme with a Boogie Express Amp (525 10”). I also have a POD XT but I don’t find it works well with my amp (I have tried putting it on the effects loop and in front of the guitar but it seems to buzz a lot and sound like crap). I was looking at the Boss Metal Core (ML-2) or the Boss Metal Zone (MT-2). Are there any others that I should look at? What has a better sound the ML-2 or the MT-2?

I am also thinking of getting EMG pickups but I have a real nice guitar and I am not sure I want to do any mods.on it yet.

Thanks,

Eric


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Well what do you currently find "missing" in your tone or setup?


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## Guest (Jul 14, 2009)

I'm going to say: look at an EQ. Preferrably a parametric EQ pedal. You'll be amazed at what you can dial in and out of your existing sounds with an EQ.


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## Eric1623 (May 20, 2009)

mhammer said:


> Well what do you currently find "missing" in your tone or setup?


I am missing a nice heavy sound. I live in a condo so I can not crank my amp up so I lose some of the gain on the heavy burn channel. thats why I want to pick up a petal. 

I know the EMG pickups would also help create the sound I am looking for but I am going to hold off on modding my guitar for now maybe next year.

Thanks for the feedback,

Eric


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## Eric1623 (May 20, 2009)

iaresee said:


> I'm going to say: look at an EQ. Preferrably a parametric EQ pedal. You'll be amazed at what you can dial in and out of your existing sounds with an EQ.



I was thinking of picking up one of those too, Is the Boss GE-7 a good one?

Thanks for the feedback,

Eric


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Many of the "metal"-oriented pedals from DOD are geared at doing that. That is, in addition to providing distortion they also goose the bottom end and the upper mids, yielding a big scoop. That is certainly possible to do by running a distortion into an EQ of some kind and scooping out the mids, but the DOD pedals accompliah both within the one pedal.


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## Alien8 (Jan 8, 2009)

First things first: Go buy an epiphone for the EMG pick-ups, it's a waste of a SG supreme to convert to them - seriously.

Second: You don't seem to mind spending money on decent gear, and you have a tone of sounds at your disposal. I suggest before you go buy anything, you really spend some time with your rig.

Here is what I did when I was in an apartment with a similar set-up:

First isolate your amp from all of the surroundings. You can do this by using a chair, and some pillows - essentially moving the amp away from any walls or floors, then isolating key reflection points of sound. Face the amp towards the center of your apartment, even if your are in a bedroom. This will allow you to turn the volume up a little bit more.

Next, start our by understanding your amp and it's abilities. The reason I say this is because when Mark asked if you knew what was missing from the tone, you essentially said no. I know for a fact that there are heavy tones both in the POD and the Boogie, you just need to learn how to bring them out. Spending a little time to listen to how the treble, mid and bass affect your tone will provide you with your solution, but also with inspiration.

I do agree however that the POD may not sound good on that amp, but it will sound Ok on headphones, and can really assist you in understanding what is missing.

So, try this. Set your amp to the 5 watt mode. Set up both channels using these settings: (for clarity sake I mean where the little hand is on a clock when it is 9).

- Turn your master up to about 9 o'clock if your can . 
- Turn your gain up to about 2 o'clock; 
- Treble at about 1 or 2 o'clock; 
- Mid at 7 or 8 o'clock; 
- Bass at about 12 o'clock. 

Set channel 1 to crunch, and channel 2 to burn.

For now turn off your contour controls.

Play for a bit, like 10 minutes, switching from channel to channel occasionally to compare the difference.

Now add the contour control to one of the channels, and adjust it until you like the sound. If you can't find something you like, turn off that control and try the other channel.

Now, play. For a bit. Then walk away for a break of at least 1/2 hour to an hour or longer, leaving your amp set exactly the way you had it.

Come back to it, turn it on, don't adjust anything, just play for a bit. 

Now what is missing from your sound? Does it need more bite? Does it need more bottom end? Is it too muddy? Is it missing impact? 

Remembering where your setting are, adjust one thing at a time, starting with the Mid. Don't make small adjustments, turn the knob at least two hours forward, first, then set it where you want it. Now play. Notice the difference in the dynamics, the tone, the crunch. Adjust it again if you like.

Do this with each of the tone controls, treble, mid and bass to try to find what you want. If you can't find it, be sure to know what your set-up is missing, and we should be able to get you there easily. 

If you have read this far and just want a purchasable solution, go buy a ParaEQ from Empress FX, but it will not get you any closer if you don't know how to do all of this tone exploration already - and neither will a Metal Zone for that matter. It may satisfy you for a few weeks for months, but you will hate it eventually. At least with a ParaEQ you will have no reason to sell it because it is very useful. You can use the boost in front of your amp to make the amp have more gain, if that is what you seek... But I suspect you are just seeking tone, as you will soon learn, gain does not mean heavy.


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## soldierscry (Jan 20, 2008)

I would but an OD pedael (ie. boss SD-1 / Tubesreamer) and use it with the burn channel to get the extra gain needed, as well a noise suppressor might help out to tighting things up


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## Eric1623 (May 20, 2009)

mhammer said:


> Many of the "metal"-oriented pedals from DOD are geared at doing that. That is, in addition to providing distortion they also goose the bottom end and the upper mids, yielding a big scoop. That is certainly possible to do by running a distortion into an EQ of some kind and scooping out the mids, but the DOD pedals accompliah both within the one pedal.


I never heard of DOD, I will check them out. Thanks!


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## Eric1623 (May 20, 2009)

Alien8 said:


> First things first: Go buy an epiphone for the EMG pick-ups, it's a waste of a SG supreme to convert to them - seriously.
> .


I agree with you on this, but the tech at L&M told me he can change the pickups with out any mods to the giutar. And I can put the old one's back with no problems and you can not tell after it is done.

I will paly with my amp tonight and see what I get out of it (I will try your settings out). I have played with it a lot of the last few months. The problem is that I can not crank it up to the levels needed for great sound. I know that when I got it but I had to have it so I will have to live with it.

I find the POD sounds great on headphones and that is what I used for months untill I picked up the amp. I bring it to my friends and it sounds a lot better on his Fender Blues JR then my amp. I have no plans of getting another amp or getting rid of mine so I was thinking of trying some petals and keeping the POD for headphones and playing around.

I never heard of ParaEQ from Empress FX, Is there any problems with a Boss EQ? I always thought that they were one of the best guitar effect makers?

Thanks for all your feedback,

Eric


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## Eric1623 (May 20, 2009)

soldierscry said:


> I would but an OD pedael (ie. boss SD-1 / Tubesreamer) and use it with the burn channel to get the extra gain needed, as well a noise suppressor might help out to tighting things up


I am going to rent a few next month and this is another I wanted to try. I am not sure about a noise suppressor. Does the Boss NS-2 work well?


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## forum_crawler (Sep 25, 2008)

If you are going to get something like a tube screamer to push your amp consider some of the following choices:

Visual Sound Route 808
Danelectro Cool Cat Transparent Overdrive
Digitech Hardwire CM-2

As for EQs, there are many choices, but the Empress and MXR 10 Band EQ will more than likely meet all your needs. My choice would be the MXR because of price/features.

For heavy tones:
Wampler Pedals Triple Recstortion (Coming this August)
Emma PisdiYAUwot (whenever it comes to market)
ToneCzar Openhaus
Blackstar HT-DISTx


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## Eric1623 (May 20, 2009)

How about Tonebone pedals? do they make anything heavy?


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## infinitemonkey (Jan 20, 2008)

In the Tonebone range, the Hot British or the dual channel plexitube would be what you're looking for. They get good reviews and there's lots of clips on Youtube. And they're made in Canada.:smilie_flagge17:

I would also recommend you check out another Canadian made pedal, the GoudieFX OTP. There's a ton of gain there. It doesn't do much else, though, hence the name.:smile:


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## Bevo (Nov 24, 2006)

I wonder if its more the speaker than the amp, I did play around with one and it was super thin. I told the L&M guy that and he plugged it into a 1-12 closed back and it was night and day. I suspect the open back 10.
Same thing happened with the new Mesa Mark5 combo..meh through its open back 1-12, brutal through the 4-12.

If your multi FX sounds good throught the phones then it should sound pretty close through the amp. My Line6 X3 Live sounds good through tube amps to SS combos, hell it even sounds good through my home stereo.

Good advice here but see if you can get what you got working better.

Bev


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## Alien8 (Jan 8, 2009)

RE: Pick-ups; I have always found EMG pickups to sound near identical regardless of the axe it is in, that's why I said don't bother changing out the ones you got. Live them and love them. Spend the extra $300-400 and buy an Epiphone with them in it, then you have one smoking axe, and one that does metal.

RE: POD; what tones do you like on the POD, and what are your settings? I'm very familiar with all of the settings available within the POD, I run the software for recording ideas and generally messing around in headphones at night.

RE: BOSS EQ; Boss is far from GOD in the FX world, but they are consistent, and offer a broad range of durable products. I say Empress simply because just by turning the thing on and using the boost to drive the amp harder it makes such great tones. The EQ section is extremely powerful as well. I have owned the BOSS for a number of years, and found to be tonally limited by it... but it was a good learning tool. I bought the MXR 10-band, and I do have to agree that it is awesome and alleviated the limitations of a graphic EQ somewhat - I use the empress up front and the 10-band in the fx loop, but both are still behind my drive pedal.

RE: Speaker; you will be limited by the open back design as Bevo stated, but that's fine in an apartment, since the bottom end is what you don't want. You will still be able to get a decent low volume tone with it, just not as powerful. And yes you are right to say that you need it loud for metal, part of the guitar expression is felt as much as heard. 

I'm excited for you, you're just starting the exploration of tone. You get to gas over this and that, try this and that, but ultimately you may find what you have does enough of what you need for now. You do have very capable gear.


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## theelectic (Mar 11, 2006)

I don't know how tolerant your neighbours are, but I'd be inclined to stick with the POD XT, and get the Metal Shop expansion pack and a good set of headphones. You can get a refund on the expansion pack within 30 days if it's not your cup of tea.


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## sproul07 (Jun 23, 2007)

Boss Metal Zone. Hands down the best sounding, most affordable and easiest to use pedal out there. Every metal sound you need is in that pedal. You can find them used online for like $50


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## Eric1623 (May 20, 2009)

infinitemonkey said:


> In the Tonebone range, the Hot British or the dual channel plexitube would be what you're looking for. They get good reviews and there's lots of clips on Youtube. And they're made in Canada.:smilie_flagge17:
> 
> I would also recommend you check out another Canadian made pedal, the GoudieFX OTP. There's a ton of gain there. It doesn't do much else, though, hence the name.:smile:


Is the Hot British heavyer then the Plexitube?


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## Eric1623 (May 20, 2009)

Bevo said:


> I wonder if its more the speaker than the amp, I did play around with one and it was super thin. I told the L&M guy that and he plugged it into a 1-12 closed back and it was night and day. I suspect the open back 10.
> Same thing happened with the new Mesa Mark5 combo..meh through its open back 1-12, brutal through the 4-12.
> 
> If your multi FX sounds good throught the phones then it should sound pretty close through the amp. My Line6 X3 Live sounds good through tube amps to SS combos, hell it even sounds good through my home stereo.
> ...


They amp sounds a lot better when it is cranked up.

The Pod sounds good on computer speakers but not that good on amps. My friend had the same POD as me and finds the same thing.


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## Eric1623 (May 20, 2009)

Alien8 said:


> RE: Pick-ups; I have always found EMG pickups to sound near identical regardless of the axe it is in, that's why I said don't bother changing out the ones you got. Live them and love them. Spend the extra $300-400 and buy an Epiphone with them in it, then you have one smoking axe, and one that does metal.QUOTE]
> 
> 
> I don’t have any EMG pickups yet. I just have the stock pickups on my SG I also have a older Fender Tele that I might be able to install EMG pickups one if I want. I don’t really want to buys any more guitars.
> ...


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## Eric1623 (May 20, 2009)

theelectic said:


> I don't know how tolerant your neighbours are, but I'd be inclined to stick with the POD XT, and get the Metal Shop expansion pack and a good set of headphones. You can get a refund on the expansion pack within 30 days if it's not your cup of tea.


I picked up all the amp add-ins for my POD. I got a sale from line 6 and got all of the for $60.


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## Eric1623 (May 20, 2009)

sproul07 said:


> Boss Metal Zone. Hands down the best sounding, most affordable and easiest to use pedal out there. Every metal sound you need is in that pedal. You can find them used online for like $50


I might rent one of these next week and see how it works with my amp.


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## sadowsky13 (Feb 26, 2007)

Personally I would stay away from the metal zone and other "metal" laballed pedals. The ones I have tried have way too much gain and thin out your sound. The boogie express has some good tone. As others have said I would look more at an overdrive. I have a mxr wylde overdrive and have the gain set relatively low and it really helps add heaviness to my amp when the volume is set really low. Ultimatley what you should do is try as many pedals as possible and see what you prefer with your amp.


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## sadowsky13 (Feb 26, 2007)

sproul07 said:


> Boss Metal Zone. Hands down the best sounding, most affordable and easiest to use pedal out there. Every metal sound you need is in that pedal. You can find them used online for like $50


Goes to show you how much we all have different ideas of what sound good. I absolutely hate the Metal Zone and consider it one of the worst boss pedals. So I guess to each his own.


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## Bevo (Nov 24, 2006)

I have a metal zone but my Line6 has better make that WAY better distortion tones...So does your POD XT.

Bev


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## theelectic (Mar 11, 2006)

Eric1623 said:


> They amp sounds a lot better when it is cranked up.


There's your problem right there. You need to crank up you amp to get it sounding good, but then you're probably going to be too loud.

Fighting volume with pedals is a losing battle IMO, which is why I think you're better off taking the time to tweak your POD XT. I can easily cop an authentic Dimebag tone with an EMG S loaded Strat using the Metal Shop pack.


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## david henman (Feb 3, 2006)

...radial tonebone hot british or plexitube.

-dh


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## infinitemonkey (Jan 20, 2008)

Eric1623 said:


> Is the Hot British heavyer then the Plexitube?


They're pretty much the same. The Plexitube is just a two-channel version of the Hot British, so you an set different rhythm and lead tones.


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## Peter (Mar 25, 2008)

Why not just get an attenuator so you can run your amp cranked?


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## subarudrew (Nov 15, 2008)

There are quite a few replies and I only browsed a few so I wouldn't repeat any, but I agree with Alien8. I would check out your system, tweak it and then look towards possibly some pedals.

For Distortion, there are a TON of options. Some are really expensive and some are cheap. I know a large majority of people despise the Boss MT-2 Metal Zone or the other version ML-Core? but the funny thing is, most people have owned one at one point in time or another.

IMO, the MT-2 has a great cookie cutter sound. You're not gonna hear huge differences running a single coil vs humbucker with this pedal. I have 3 completely different guitars and for the most part (and I mean generally) they all sound the same through the pedal. You get your differences going neck pick up to bridge etc. but ultimately it removes any characteristics of your guitar from the sound.


I really enjoy my MT-2 and you can get some killer sounds if you play around with all the knobs lots. I should take a few pics of settings and see if you like them - I'll try to remember and post them later. 

You're not going to get a Marshall sound from this pedal, but you will be able to match pretty damn close the distortion sounds used in songs like, "Machinehead, Alive, Everlong" and others. I've been able to closely match the recordings of those songs using only that pedal. 


If you want to move into more boutique like pedals, I found some top favorites on youtube.
Check out ProGuitarShop.com demos and check out all the distortion ones they show.

MI Audio Crunch
Emma ReezaFRATZitz
Pigtronix PolySaturator
Tortuga YETI

All of those are killer pedals, although I wasn't much a fan of the Reeza. 

Some people recommend "over-drive" pedals, but that is not what you want if your intention is to play some heavily scooped metal distortion. 

Fuzz, OverDrive and Distortion are completely different and have different applications. 


I would go into a few guitar shops, grab all their distortion pedals, go into the booth/room and test them out and just see which ones appeal to you - from there you'll get a much better idea of what you'd like for at home. The beauty about a distortion pedal is you can keep the high gain at low volume.

Keep in mind also though, *amps*/guitars sound the best LOUD. They were meant to be very loud and your settings you play with at low volume may not sound good at LOUD volume. Loud - being relative - enough to get over drums played by a heavy hitter. Overdrive pedals change their characteristics when being played at louder volumes. I found I don't care for overdrive because they don't have enough gain at the volume levels I'm comfortable playing at. Usually loud enough you could hear the guitar outside a house but not loud enough your neighbours will come over. 

In an apartment I had the same setup - computer, guitarport, headphones. I ran the MT-2 in the chain before the guitarport and would play there. You're not going to get the feedback and pitch harmonics that come much easier at louder volumes but you'll get some good crunchy bass at low volume with the headset on.

Just my 2cents, hope it was helpful.


Drew


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

I agree with Alien8. Having owned about 3 different guitars with active EMG's, mostly the zakkwylde and kirk hammett sets. I'm not overly impressed with them.
Rent a guitar with them in it, for a few days, and try it out, before dropping a dime on them. I doubt it will be the holy grail for you, but you can decide for yourself. They are an average pickup that sound the same in any guitar. I have passives that are hotter with better voicing.
I like the attenuator/hot plate idea, as well as messing with some high gain pedals, but not familiar enough with your mesa model to make any more detailed recommends.

And contrary to the post above, I think OD's are ideal for getting a metal sound out of a high gain tube amp, although less so with a solid state amp. dist pedals into a tube amp usually sounds too harsh and unmusical to my ears.


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## subarudrew (Nov 15, 2008)

Diablo, 

I should clarify - yes, I agree OD pedals will sound good in tube amps that are meant for hi-gain. A buddy of mine has a HiWatt Custom 50, an ENGL Steve Morse SE and a JVM 410H Marshall. 

I recently purchased the Catalinbread Dirty Little Secret, known for being a very high gain pedal, when run through the HiWatt (a mostly clean amp), I didn't care for the gain until the amp was turned up obnoxiously loud. The same pedal (DLS) through the Marshall sounded amazing. I never specified "Hi-gain" vs. "Clean" tube amp. 

In general though, if you want high amounts of distortion, the MT-2 will get it, you just have to balance the treble frequencies off so it doesn't sound thin and "unmusical". 

If he's using this stuff in an apartment, the key is to get high gain at low volumes, which I think that pedal can do quite easily. Eventually people move on from them but they are a good cheap investment when finding what "tone" you're looking for.


*Edit, my buddy read the posts and had a ton of corrections for technicalities regarding his gear ... someone shoot me now lol


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## Bevo (Nov 24, 2006)

Just a thought, maybe you should look at the Blackheart Killer Ant which is 1 watt or less. A MT-2 in front of that would be great especialy though a closed back 1-12.

It would be pretty cheap too..

Bev


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

You have a POD XT?

Then you dont need a new pedal, at all. don't even pretend, you dont. What you do need to do is make sure you have it plugged into your amp properly (cab sims off), and you need to spend some serious time making a metal rhythm patch. It won't come easily, the mesa's clean channel will shape it, but that's the most cost-effective way to achieve a metal sound with your setup.

Most of the time, metal is a boosted high gain head (without the gain set too high ) into a 412, with a guitar made of alder or mahogany w/ maple cap, or basswood, that is loaded with medium or high output pickups.

You have everything you need for a good metal tone already, now you just need to tweak.


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## Eric1623 (May 20, 2009)

Thanks for all the reply's. I went to L&M today and rented a few petals. I like the Boss Supper Overrive on my amps burn channel over the Metal Zone on a clean channel. I looked around but I could not find a attenuator. I am going to check out a few other stores to see if I can pick a cheep one.


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## david henman (Feb 3, 2006)

Eric1623 said:


> Thanks for all the reply's. I went to L&M today and rented a few petals. I like the Boss Supper Overrive on my amps burn channel over the Metal Zone on a clean channel. I looked around but I could not find a attenuator. I am going to check out a few other stores to see if I can pick a cheep one.


...although i have never tried one, i have a feeling that an attentuator, ESPECIALLY a cheap one, is not going to get you there. my sense is that they tend to choke your tone rather than kick it up.

-dh


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## soldierscry (Jan 20, 2008)

I had a chance yesterday to sitdown with the Boss ML-2, I must say that I was more impressed with it then the MT-2. It almost seemed like it had a built in noise gate. I will be picking one up shortly as I need something for heavier sounds. You may be better off with the OD on the burn channel, but for me since I use a 5e3, if I want a metal sound it has to come from a pedal.


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## NB_Terry (Feb 2, 2006)

I have a Zvex Box of Metal for sale.

Pm me if you're interested.


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