The Boss HM-2 was my first pedal back in 1984. I used it for playing Chuck Berry songs through a horrible transistor practice amp. I thought it sounded great!
Thanks for including the Digitech programmable. It was programmable via little dip (shit) switches that were only accessible by taking it apart. I had a small solid state rack amp set up and the digicrap was my only pedal. Clean sounds, pedal off. Regular rock rhythm, channel 1. Programmable channel 2 gave me some quick delay, and “Marshall” lead sound. To this day I cannot understand how I was not kicked out of the band.
I love the HM-2 description. I was about to yell until you agreed that the artists who choose it do so intentionally to sound bad - and that's where I first heard it, when I caught on to L7's music in the 90s, and I believe Donita Sparks had chosen it to ensure that it was the darkest heaviest nastiest tone they could muster. Distortion to piss your parents off. And they succeeded.
After viewing this a second time, I'm convinced you could be successful in comedy writing. Be it stand up, sketch humor, whatever. You've got a natural gift for Humor. DON'T stop doing these, though! Over the years, I probably bought three or four pedals on your recommendation through these vids. You were always spot on.
I love the PDS 1550. There's some DIP switches and trim pots inside to "program" various parameters. The assignable full parametric EQ is the coolest thing I've seen in a distortion pedal. The only reason i don't use one anymore is that the blinking pilot light causes a distinct popping in the signal if you run it into any other dirt box. I would be stoked if they came up with an update that addresses that deal breaker.
If you think the Boss HM-2 sucks you should try an old cheap clone called the Rocktek Metal Worker. I love the dimed HM-2 sound but the metal worker can’t even do that right....
I use the fullbore metal as a boost in front of an already distorted amp for sludge tones and it sounds awesome. But I agree that it's *really* hard to find a useful tone if you use it like it's intended to be used. And anyone that says the metal zone sucks probably never even bothered to try to find a good setting or plug it into the effects return.
Hahaha! I had that Digitech monstrosity in the early 90's. It had dipswitches on the back for the "programibility". One of the switches added a bass bost, so it worked ok on bass, back when there were really limited bass distortion options. Probably should have just used a Big Muff.
Yep, I remember the Crossroads Distortion. I received one as a gift and when I played through it if front of the one who gave it to me (a non musician), they apologized. That was unexpected and I wasn’t even trying to elicit the apology. They wanted to hear how it sounded. They then offered to take it back to Guitar Denter and exchange it for something else for me. On a side note, I’ve known many players who have trashed the Boss DS over the years as harsh and unusable. The pedal actually has some great tones. The bad reviews are mostly due to “operator error”. The DS1 is not, let’s say, plug and play. It was designed when amps did not have much gain on tap (compared to today) and such needs to be taken into consideration when dialing in the tone.
I like mine so much that have two now. I got my first one as part of a package deal. I had heard they weren’t very good but I tried it out, and was not too impressed, and then I went online, found out it was considered by many to be total crap. I bit later I decided to try it again, and got some half decent sounds. I looked for some more videos of people using them, and found some that were getting very good tones with them, especially running into a tube amp on the edge of breakup, or stacked with another pedal. Once I knew there we’re actually good sounds to be found in there I was able to find them! I could still make it sound like a can of bees, but I don’t. It was very interesting to me how much my “preconceived ideas” that it would sound bad colored my original perception of it.
I have 2 of them also. First 1 I got at some guitar store opening for....$19. Thought can't go wrong with this. Hated it only used it to stretch out my guitar from my amp. In other words pedal and 2 20 ft cords to get to other side of room. Later found mods for it tried some, still didn't like it. So what makes me buy another. Well I found a double modded 1 on Ebay when I was going through a buy modded pedal phase. I will admit this 1 is the best fuzz pedal I own but it's a 1 trick pony and I don't use fuzz. But it was only $40 and it's a Boss pedal. Can't, won't and never will break this pedal cause it's a Boss pedal. Now these just make my wall of pedals like JHS has look more crowded. And if anyone ever says" You got a fuzz pedal"? I can say Yes. L O L
My first multi pedal was a Zoom505 and the hiss from it was unbearable and off putting altogether. It was a turd but had some kind of loopy delays that made weird and odd sense. There was some stuff that was slightly passable. Overall the noise was too much to deal with.
Lol then that's bad. Never take other people's opinions even if they're pretty much true LOL. I've heard people saying a particular guitar sucked then when I went and played it it blew my f****** mind. Don't be like the mass majority of humans. Monkey see monkey do. But I am with Robert I don't like any of these pedals.
I've always gone back and forth on my Metal Zone. It's cheesy and limited, but it does a few sounds well and it works really well in a mix even when it sounds like lukewarm turds on it's own. I've always loved my Crate GX10. I got rid of the speaker and cut it down into a head since I only ever use it as a preamp. I'm not sure if it's exactly the same as the Ampeg VH series, but sounds identical to my PLXfx Spirytus which is supposed to be a clone of the Ampeg circuit. Of course, the Spirytus was $150 and the Crate was $20.
The hm2. Is definitely a love or hate pedal I personally love it and use it like a boost in front of an already dirty amp so I set the hm2 volume cranked and gain barley on and love it , and I also actually really dig the metal muff aswell , and the fullbore metal is definitely not the best but if u turn the treble down it’s a descent pedal, but hey if we all liked the same thing the world would be a boring place . Also Please do more top ten worse gear vids aswell love the channel .
I think the nano metal muff sounds good when you go lighter on the gain, I turn it up for when im playing super heavy deathcore type riffs, has a similiar niche that the HM-2 has if you ask me
Rogue had a pretty terrible distortion in the 90s, but it was probably more of a price-point pedal for beginners anyway. I never thought DOD were well-built, so it was good to see one of those on the list.
Haha, knew that Yamaha would be on the list. Actually liked the HM-2 when they first came out, for a couple weeks anyway, then found an MXR distortion+
Thanks for the laugh and lesson. Never actually seen any of these except the Boss. Which I love but not a Metal or Distortion guy......Until I came across the Steel Panther PM. 🤘😉 The only distortion I use but mostly studio/jamming. I have an Overdrive with Empress EQ for my everyday rig.
That Digitech 1550 yellow programmable was my first distortion pedal. I’ve been tempted to re buy it because I’m so curious to find out if it still sounds bad.
Great video! Ola Englund has probably unsubscribed lol. I always liked the artist series digitech pedals. The weapon was a neat one to play around with and so was the black 13. Definitely dropped the ball on the crossroads
I’m a massive fuzz guy, but I also am one of the first to tell you that fuzz is one of those effects that will make everyone pissed off at you if you use it wrong or play too loud
First pedal i ever bought was the DOD Super American Metal. I got it because it was like 50% off and everyone else had either a Boss DS1 overdrive or a Metal Zone. I wanted to be different. I still have it and i still love it. In fact along with a black Russian Big Muff they are the only distortion pedals i own. Never needed any more than that with a compressor, chorus and EQ pedal. Now delay and reverb on the other hand i can't seem to have enough.
I recently got my first strat-style guitar, and after playing humbucker-only guitars for years, I found that certain pedals that I never liked sounded great with this guitar while others on my board just didn't work with it. The Blues Driver sounds great with it while the Super Overdrive - a mainstay of my board - sounds awful. And my Dunlop GCB-95 now sounds like a different wah pedal, giving me the essential 70's funk tones I couldn't get before (I'd thought I needed a better, more expensive wah pedal). Which is to say that a pedal's qualities are best evaluated with reference to how and with which other gear one uses it. I'm not disagreeing with anything in this video - just making that general observation...
Quite true that many pedals shine with lower gain pickups. Many pickups are just too hot to begin with. Back in the day every pickup had to be hot. Wrong.
The HM-2 is great...if you're playing Entombed 24/7. I liked the Metal Muff, but it took a lot of playing with the knobs to find a tone I liked--I hated the size. I'd like to try to nano. I had an Uber Metal about 18 years ago and I don't remember having it for very long because I was so thoroughly disappointed in it.
Your video reminded me of the first pedal I bought back in like 84. The tan Ross Distortion pedal. I was so disappointed with that thing. Weakest distortion ever. I just looked it up and see its selling for $150-200 on Reverb and Ebay. Unreal.
I too remember the digitech progammable distortion pedal. A friend of mine had one and used it through a tube amp and I have to admit he made that thing sound awesome... Although to be fair I was also around 14 and had only been playing guitar for a year, so maybe it was my young ears that thought at the time it sounded sweet. I thought about trying to find one that is in good working order and seeing if I could recreate the sound I heard all those years ago...
Just about every peddle on my peddle board is Strymon. I do have a MXR Phase 90 eVh, but it about it will be replaced by the Strymon Zelzah when it comes in this week. Back in the day when I started out I played with pretty much only Boss. Before the internet that was all you could get in most local guitar stores. I'm thankful that's no longer the case. Thinking about adding a JHS Morning glory to my board as a different flavor to the Sunset.
I'd like to see your opinion on the crayon distortion by electro-harmonix. It's like the opposite of a metal distortion, more like clapton or something... But I've been loving it. Very subtle but gives a good tone
I first started with a metal zone accompanied by a gorilla amp, lol. It's a wonder that I didn't quit. But yes Robert, you are correct Sir, all fuzz boxes should get hit with a solar flare. That is after the only person that could play a fuzz box has long been gone. R.I.P. JAMES MARSHALL HENDRICKS.
It is possible to combine and parallel layer all ten of those pedals by carving out unwanted frequencies, compressed and layered all together into a single guitar tone. While I only have two of those pedals, I have discovered killer guitar tones not heard before by combining only the best possible tones from even the worst pedals. Sometimes I also combine multiple pedals in each chain. I happen to love death metal and black metal. Actually I am surprised you hate the HM2 pedal as usually guitarist hate the DOD Death Metal pedal and the Digitech Death Metal pedal, but I absolutely love the few tones I can carve out from those two pedals to which needs the best serious noise gate such as Glen Fricker's Cockblocker plugin. I use Khole's Grindstein plugin for modern HM2 distortions. I do use both plugin amp sims and impulse responses along with analog pedalboards. I really wish there was a DOD Death Metal plugin version as I utilize it's most pleasing sounding and heaviest ever distortion from it.
What separates great distortion pedals from crappy distortion pedals is whether or not it does too much. When pedals exaggerate mids they create mud. Same with amps. Guitar should NOT compete with bass. Guitar is a midrange instrument and that's exactly where it should sit on the tone spectrum. A pedal that may sound fine for bedroom jamming to Iron Maiden's Piece of Mind in 1983 is not always going to work in a band mix. Exaggerating the mids with guitar will only push it into defacto bass territory. But there were, and still are, countless pedals that do just this. I remember a situation with a fairly popular amp in the 80s. The Laney AOR Pro Tube Lead. The problem with this amp wa the 20 decibel bass boost function. There was no happy medium. If you didn't have it engaged the amp could sound too thin. So what a lot of players did is get them modded. I played through modded AORs and they sounded totally killer. One of the best live guitar sounds I've ever heard was at The Country Club (now defunct) in Los Angeles way back in the late 80s. The guitarist for a band I can't remember the name of had an AOR 100 stack. It sounded absolutely killer. When they were done playing I asked him about his setup. He'd had his amp modded. If only the AORs came out of the box sounding that good. Eventually Laney got around this issue and by the time Paul Gilbert was endorsing them around '90 their amps sounded fantastic out of the box. But the mistake Laney made with the AOR series is making the amp do more than it should. It was just the wrong direction. Same problem with so many pedals. My favorite pedals at the moment are the Rat, MXR Distortion Plus, Boss Distortion and Super Overdrive and JHS AT V 2. The thing about the Rat is it matches very well with some amps, but not with others. It can be too flubby with some amps, but at least it has a pretty good organic crunch. The JHS AT V 2 (Andy Timmons version 2) is a perfect hybrid of a transparent Tube Screamer tone and a hotter MXR Distortion Plus with a lot of presence and no dark, flubby mids or loose low end.
I had a Rocktec distortion when I was teenaged. It was genuinely so bad I went back to using the onboard overdrive channel on my Peavey "rage" 158 practice amp. I even apologized to my parents for begging so hard to get it. It sucked.
(hey - my ears tend to put the Metal Muff, the HM-2, in the 'fuzz' bracket. Death fuzz. FX-56 I use for exactly that, great for Nirvana 'Bleach' stuff or very specific stoner-rock riffs on something harsh and biting like a Tele. Yep, madness I know, but, it's definitely one of the obscure tones in my palette)
I got a Digitech RP-10 in the early 90's and hated all the distortion sounds on it. Now that I've learned more on my board are 3 great classics. 1st is a Alchemy modded Blues driver. 1 of 4 Blues drivers I own. Keeley, Waza crrap and a stock 1 sit on the shelf. Next on board is a Meat and 3 modded Soul food that someone did themselves and I got for $83. Great price great pedal. Last is a Fromel modded bias knob modded older Tube driver. On this 1 I'm using a 12av7 tube and running at 18v for more headroom before too much fuzzy sound. All these have great tone alone and stack very well together. With little gain used on each I have very little noise unless I leave the Tube driver on and not play. This 1 does have a certain noise to it so 1st thing after playing is step on tuner and switch around pedals for next song. Good habit to be in no matter what pedals are on for each song. No clicking for audience to hear. Still have the RP-10, just don't ever use the distortion side of it but the fully programmable Whammy is awesome and a couple other sounds make it worth having on floor to keep 2 amps in play at all times
I know you said you didn't like fuzz pedals but you can get a great "Hammer O the Gods" effect by linking a Big Muff, Ibanez Tube Screamer and Boss DD 20 set to pan on the 700ms setting. Any axe with a good dive bomb whammy will add drama (I use my Burns B May). Think of Nita Strauss and her gunslinger solos when she is working for Cooper, the ones she opens up with the "When Doves Cry" lick. Not real usable overall but pure sonic mayhem!
Hey Robert cheers from NY! Your top 10 worst hit the bullseye 10 times. LMAO during the whole vid. Thanks for the vid and the laughs my man, much appreciated! :-)
I got burned with the Boss HM-2 circa 1986. I only had a 10 watt Crate G-10 practice amp at the time and I told the person behind the counter of a small guitar shop where I had gotten my first electric guitar and that practic3 amp that I wanted a "good distortion pedal for heavy metal" and the HM-2 is what they sold me. The Crate's overdrive channel sounded better and that's not saying much. It was the first guitar pedal I had ever purchased and it was the first guitar pedal I traded in towards other gear! I eventually purchased a 100 watt Carvin amp for playing in bands when I was in high school and that was my sole source for overdrive from the late 80's into the mid 90's but a 100 watt amp was too loud for apartment life and I wasn't playing in a band anymore, so I went back to a small practice amp and needed a "good" distortion pedal for metal. I went through a lot of misses (DOD Metal X was one that comes to mind, very artificial sounding), but I ended up using a Boss MT-2 for almost 20 years. It wasn't an easy pedal to dial in, but once you do get it to your liking, it's a great metal pedal. I actually gave it away 7 years ago and have been very disappointed with numerous high gain "boutique" distortion pedals I've tried over the past few years. I'm leaning towards buying a Boss Waza Craft edition Metal Zone!
The Metal Muff and the Fullbore ... I cannot agree more... even as a first pedal to practice these are horrible. As for the HM-2, anyone saying this pedal sounds good needs his ears checked, can you get a good tone for metal with it? ABSOLUTELY! But do not expect clean defined distortion out of it...it has it uses but sure as hell no Satanist pedal. I am a HM-2 fan, it can be used for other things than chainsaw sound and give a great tone, David Gilmour proved it, but it is definitely not the best option for defined good sounding distortion!
There is no clean channel in the effects loop. Running into the Return port of the effects loop bypasses ALL channels on the preamp section and goes straight to the power amp, hence the clean sound. It’s an improvement for the Fullbore Metal, but there’s nothing you can do to salvage any usable tone out of the Metal Muff.
The HM-2 has a lot of fans, but I agree with you - it's not good. This stuff is very subjective! But I like the Dirty Little Secret and the Pinnacle, personally.
lol I have a triple rectifier running with a marshall 1960a cab and I have found the mxr fullbore metal pedal at least usable with that setup. I have an old school nady steel case tube distortion pedal as well, and prefer both that and my original ts808 over the mxr, but I wouldn't call the mxr trash. You're right about the midrange though. It requires some tweaking on the amp head itself to keep the sound from being too muddy.
I actually really like the Digitech 1550, but i use it only sparingly for guitars. I love fiddling, so having all the internal switches and knobs are great for me. But yeah, most of what i run through it isn't guitars. It's great on vocals, though not nearly as good as the Boss DS1.
The only way I ever got any descent tone out of the Boss HM2 was to use it with a Boss graphic equalizer. Then one day I turned off the HM2 and never looked back. The DOD Death Metal is Muddy and shrill.
The MXR Fullbore is beyond horrible -I don't think there is any distortion pedal in existence that is worse. It is pretty much like a sonic cartoon version of distorted guitar tone. Absolutely detestable in every way.
Boosting that golden cello with a tubescreamer sounds killer. I actually use mine in a number of different ways. With overdrives and fuzzes. Not your taste, Robert \m/ cheers!
I strongly disagree about the Golden Cello, it is not an easy pedal to figure out; it is not an everything at 12 o'clock pedal, but once I did it is now my absolute favorite pedal for guitar solo leads. Also, pretty sure it's a fuzz.
It’s a shame the MM didn’t at least have a trim-pot of some kind to adjust the mid bump in that top boost because whenever it sounds amazing without it, that top boost ruins everything. Not a good lead boost at all. Also blows my mind that the HM-2 is at unity gain with volume on 10 😆
@@RobertWJackson Simple enough to put together. They don't have to be top-shelf distortions. They simply have to be good ones. Might offer a different flavor of stuff. Instead of metal, how about Grunge, 90s Alternative, or simply something that sounds good but doesn't fit in a tidy genre.
I like my hm2 but I don't use it for buzzsaw tone... I use it as a fuzz then shape it with another pedal. I agree it's not versatile... but it has to be better than the hm3
I have a metal muff in my chain, and I only use it for heavy rythem, the top boost completely blows ass. I have found that the metal muff is useful is some situation, but in no way a main distortion for me, more of a effect you use for a few application, then forget about it.... Lol
I find distortion pedals suck, in general. There are very few that I like. I probably have a hundred and my amps just sound better, cranked, than with a distortion pedal.
DOD FX56 American Metal (missed the 80's rock vibe target) and DOD FX86b Death Metal (a lot like Boss HM-2, possibly worse since moving the knobbies was in fact pointless-they did nothing) both failed to hit their target in my opinion. I had to try them since I'm a big DOD fan although I must admit they had a few duds and those two are standouts for their distortion flops.
@@JanXD Could be but I recall the instruction manual noting that there wasn't much you could do to change the base sound even with the knobbies. It was just hell bent for leather I suppose...designed that way.
@@RobertWJackson With that goofy name they really should have seen it coming. How about "Corroded Trombone" for yet another fuzz the world doesn't need?
![โรงเรียนตอนตี 2 โคตรหลอน..!! [โรงเรียนไดเม่]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/2MAEMwqVYh8/mqdefault.jpg)
The Boss HM-2 was my first pedal back in 1984. I used it for playing Chuck Berry songs through a horrible transistor practice amp. I thought it sounded great!
Thanks for including the Digitech programmable.
It was programmable via little dip (shit) switches that were only accessible by taking it apart.
I had a small solid state rack amp set up and the digicrap was my only pedal. Clean sounds, pedal off. Regular rock rhythm, channel 1. Programmable channel 2 gave me some quick delay, and “Marshall” lead sound.
To this day I cannot understand how I was not kicked out of the band.
"Pillowcase full of cats"... You win the internet today!
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
BWAHAHAHAHA!!! Oh my, that one got me as well! LMFAO!!!
Trash cans mating runs a close second!
@@traceyoungs1637 that one got me lol
@@traceyoungs1637 That one reminded me of Lars and took me out of the moment 😬
I love the HM-2 description. I was about to yell until you agreed that the artists who choose it do so intentionally to sound bad - and that's where I first heard it, when I caught on to L7's music in the 90s, and I believe Donita Sparks had chosen it to ensure that it was the darkest heaviest nastiest tone they could muster. Distortion to piss your parents off. And they succeeded.
I thought the red haired bass player was hot. 😀
David Gilmour used one in the '80s...
After viewing this a second time, I'm convinced you could be successful in comedy writing. Be it stand up, sketch humor, whatever. You've got a natural gift for Humor. DON'T stop doing these, though! Over the years, I probably bought three or four pedals on your recommendation through these vids. You were always spot on.
Again another classic. Your talent for describing these pedals is epic. Can’t wait till you put out the best of the worst series. Thanks Robert
I love the PDS 1550. There's some DIP switches and trim pots inside to "program" various parameters. The assignable full parametric EQ is the coolest thing I've seen in a distortion pedal. The only reason i don't use one anymore is that the blinking pilot light causes a distinct popping in the signal if you run it into any other dirt box. I would be stoked if they came up with an update that addresses that deal breaker.
If you think the Boss HM-2 sucks you should try an old cheap clone called the Rocktek Metal Worker. I love the dimed HM-2 sound but the metal worker can’t even do that right....
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I use the fullbore metal as a boost in front of an already distorted amp for sludge tones and it sounds awesome. But I agree that it's *really* hard to find a useful tone if you use it like it's intended to be used. And anyone that says the metal zone sucks probably never even bothered to try to find a good setting or plug it into the effects return.
the "sound-likes" analogies had me rollin' on the floor
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Hahaha! I had that Digitech monstrosity in the early 90's. It had dipswitches on the back for the "programibility". One of the switches added a bass bost, so it worked ok on bass, back when there were really limited bass distortion options. Probably should have just used a Big Muff.
I spit my coffee out......damnit......but you are not wrong @Robert Jackson. 100%!!!
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Yep, I remember the Crossroads Distortion. I received one as a gift and when I played through it if front of the one who gave it to me (a non musician), they apologized. That was unexpected and I wasn’t even trying to elicit the apology. They wanted to hear how it sounded. They then offered to take it back to Guitar Denter and exchange it for something else for me.
On a side note, I’ve known many players who have trashed the Boss DS over the years as harsh and unusable. The pedal actually has some great tones. The bad reviews are mostly due to “operator error”. The DS1 is not, let’s say, plug and play. It was designed when amps did not have much gain on tap (compared to today) and such needs to be taken into consideration when dialing in the tone.
I like mine so much that have two now. I got my first one as part of a package deal. I had heard they weren’t very good but I tried it out, and was not too impressed, and then I went online, found out it was considered by many to be total crap.
I bit later I decided to try it again, and got some half decent sounds. I looked for some more videos of people using them, and found some that were getting very good tones with them, especially running into a tube amp on the edge of breakup, or stacked with another pedal.
Once I knew there we’re actually good sounds to be found in there I was able to find them! I could still make it sound like a can of bees, but I don’t. It was very interesting to me how much my “preconceived ideas” that it would sound bad colored my original perception of it.
The DS Distortion also make a fantastic boost pedal to push your amp.
I have 2 of them also. First 1 I got at some guitar store opening for....$19. Thought can't go wrong with this. Hated it only used it to stretch out my guitar from my amp. In other words pedal and 2 20 ft cords to get to other side of room. Later found mods for it tried some, still didn't like it. So what makes me buy another. Well I found a double modded 1 on Ebay when I was going through a buy modded pedal phase. I will admit this 1 is the best fuzz pedal I own but it's a 1 trick pony and I don't use fuzz. But it was only $40 and it's a Boss pedal. Can't, won't and never will break this pedal cause it's a Boss pedal. Now these just make my wall of pedals like JHS has look more crowded. And if anyone ever says" You got a fuzz pedal"? I can say Yes. L O L
My first multi pedal was a Zoom505 and the hiss from it was unbearable and off putting altogether. It was a turd but had some kind of loopy delays that made weird and odd sense. There was some stuff that was slightly passable. Overall the noise was too much to deal with.
Oh yes, Zoom 505. Terrible sounding and a nightmare to use.
I bought a 505 years ago and fucked around with the settings on the a1 effect and it ruled
@@rockn3719 some of the noises it created were truly unique. Overall it was a hiss box though. The distortion was awesome minus the hiss.
I always loved my metal Zone. I never knew I was supposed to hate it until I read about it on the internet.
RIGHT???
Lol then that's bad. Never take other people's opinions even if they're pretty much true LOL. I've heard people saying a particular guitar sucked then when I went and played it it blew my f****** mind. Don't be like the mass majority of humans. Monkey see monkey do. But I am with Robert I don't like any of these pedals.
I've always gone back and forth on my Metal Zone. It's cheesy and limited, but it does a few sounds well and it works really well in a mix even when it sounds like lukewarm turds on it's own.
I've always loved my Crate GX10. I got rid of the speaker and cut it down into a head since I only ever use it as a preamp. I'm not sure if it's exactly the same as the Ampeg VH series, but sounds identical to my PLXfx Spirytus which is supposed to be a clone of the Ampeg circuit. Of course, the Spirytus was $150 and the Crate was $20.
@@skaldlouiscyphre2453 The best thing I learned about the MT2 was from Ola's video. Put it in the loop. It's a whole different beast when you do that.
@@beefnacos6258 Its the same with movies. I always like movies that people say sucked lol. Like Dune back in 84.
Love your honesty, it keeps me coming back 🎸
I'd pay money for you to demo the Clapton Crossroads pedal live.
The hm2. Is definitely a love or hate pedal I personally love it and use it like a boost in front of an already dirty amp so I set the hm2 volume cranked and gain barley on and love it , and I also actually really dig the metal muff aswell , and the fullbore metal is definitely not the best but if u turn the treble down it’s a descent pedal, but hey if we all liked the same thing the world would be a boring place . Also Please do more top ten worse gear vids aswell love the channel .
I come back to this video a lot, lol, a Great! Thanks Robert!
Glad you enjoyed it!
I think the nano metal muff sounds good when you go lighter on the gain, I turn it up for when im playing super heavy deathcore type riffs, has a similiar niche that the HM-2 has if you ask me
Rogue had a pretty terrible distortion in the 90s, but it was probably more of a price-point pedal for beginners anyway. I never thought DOD were well-built, so it was good to see one of those on the list.
Haha, knew that Yamaha would be on the list. Actually liked the HM-2 when they first came out, for a couple weeks anyway, then found an MXR distortion+
Love all of the descriptive analogies of crappy sounds
Thanks! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Thanks for the laugh and lesson. Never actually seen any of these except the Boss. Which I love but not a Metal or Distortion guy......Until I came across the Steel Panther PM. 🤘😉 The only distortion I use but mostly studio/jamming. I have an Overdrive with Empress EQ for my everyday rig.
Happy to see the HM2 here. Had one, gave it away. I don't miss it.
I for sure thought the mxr dime distortion would have been on this list that thing is horrid
I kind of like that pedal, actually. LOL
The Metal Muff sounds like how the Metal Zone is described to sound. Only difference is that you can make a Metal Zone sound great
That Digitech 1550 yellow programmable was my first distortion pedal. I’ve been tempted to re buy it because I’m so curious to find out if it still sounds bad.
The only good thing about my 1550 was the top loading battery compartment that was always hungry for more.
That pedal did eat batteries like crazy. LOL
Great video! Ola Englund has probably unsubscribed lol. I always liked the artist series digitech pedals. The weapon was a neat one to play around with and so was the black 13. Definitely dropped the ball on the crossroads
I’m a massive fuzz guy, but I also am one of the first to tell you that fuzz is one of those effects that will make everyone pissed off at you if you use it wrong or play too loud
One more time, You made my day Robert 😊 .... and, btw: best introduction EVER 😄
Love from 🇨🇭
The HM-2 has its niche and for that application it is fantastic but it can't do ANYTHING else besides Swedish DM.
First pedal i ever bought was the DOD Super American Metal. I got it because it was like 50% off and everyone else had either a Boss DS1 overdrive or a Metal Zone. I wanted to be different. I still have it and i still love it. In fact along with a black Russian Big Muff they are the only distortion pedals i own. Never needed any more than that with a compressor, chorus and EQ pedal. Now delay and reverb on the other hand i can't seem to have enough.
Hi--Larious and factual video. I tried most of these distortion pedals and couldn't agree more.😎🤟😎
Great video, will have to argue on the hm 2, I get good tones and David Gilmore used it alot on the momentary lapse of reason album.
I never understood why the Metal Zone is always ripped on. I love the thing and it works great for me 😎🎸
Been so wrapped up in action figures that it feels good to stop by and catch a guitar video .long time no see Robert ..hope all is well.
🤘🏼🤘🏼🤘🏼🤘🏼🤘🏼
I remember when the Crossroads came out, major disappointment. walked into GC with cash in hand, walked out with a pack of strings.
Oh dear god I have a Metal Muff. I literally forgot about it for about a decade at this point.....
I recently got my first strat-style guitar, and after playing humbucker-only guitars for years, I found that certain pedals that I never liked sounded great with this guitar while others on my board just didn't work with it. The Blues Driver sounds great with it while the Super Overdrive - a mainstay of my board - sounds awful. And my Dunlop GCB-95 now sounds like a different wah pedal, giving me the essential 70's funk tones I couldn't get before (I'd thought I needed a better, more expensive wah pedal). Which is to say that a pedal's qualities are best evaluated with reference to how and with which other gear one uses it.
I'm not disagreeing with anything in this video - just making that general observation...
Quite true that many pedals shine with lower gain pickups. Many pickups are just too hot to begin with. Back in the day every pickup had to be hot. Wrong.
Love the content man. Waiting for this channel to blow up
Not likely gonna happen anytime soon. I put out videos like this one and people get pissed off. LOL
much more easy to agree with your worst list than many other best list ive seen recently
The HM-2 is great...if you're playing Entombed 24/7. I liked the Metal Muff, but it took a lot of playing with the knobs to find a tone I liked--I hated the size. I'd like to try to nano. I had an Uber Metal about 18 years ago and I don't remember having it for very long because I was so thoroughly disappointed in it.
Love me some Entombed...but only when Entombed is playing it. RIP LG Petrov.
I used to own an MXR fullbore metal, loved it!
Your video reminded me of the first pedal I bought back in like 84. The tan Ross Distortion pedal. I was so disappointed with that thing. Weakest distortion ever. I just looked it up and see its selling for $150-200 on Reverb and Ebay. Unreal.
Shout out to the east river drive by EHX it’s a phenomenal tubescreamer, and I hate mid scooped pedals so this list hits home
Metal Zone as a preamp is vastly overlooked
I actually really like that pedal ... And I do use it for a pre amp
I too remember the digitech progammable distortion pedal. A friend of mine had one and used it through a tube amp and I have to admit he made that thing sound awesome...
Although to be fair I was also around 14 and had only been playing guitar for a year, so maybe it was my young ears that thought at the time it sounded sweet. I thought about trying to find one that is in good working order and seeing if I could recreate the sound I heard all those years ago...
I figured the DOD FX69 Grunge would be on here. It's widely hated, but I love mine.
"That weirdo crowd" 🤣 😂
😂 This video was great!! On point 👉 about all those pedals!!
Yeah!! The Metal Zone rules! Love that beast!
I like how the HM2 is also on your top 10 best list. 🤣
It belongs on both lists. LOL
Metal Zone is my go to distortion pedal ..Love mine
Just about every peddle on my peddle board is Strymon. I do have a MXR Phase 90 eVh, but it about it will be replaced by the Strymon Zelzah when it comes in this week. Back in the day when I started out I played with pretty much only Boss. Before the internet that was all you could get in most local guitar stores. I'm thankful that's no longer the case. Thinking about adding a JHS Morning glory to my board as a different flavor to the Sunset.
Lol that Yamaha MBD pedal was a signature part of my set-up for my noise project. Of course, it’s supposed to suck
I'd like to see your opinion on the crayon distortion by electro-harmonix. It's like the opposite of a metal distortion, more like clapton or something... But I've been loving it. Very subtle but gives a good tone
I first started with a metal zone accompanied by a gorilla amp, lol. It's a wonder that I didn't quit. But yes Robert, you are correct Sir, all fuzz boxes should get hit with a solar flare. That is after the only person that could play a fuzz box has long been gone. R.I.P.
JAMES MARSHALL HENDRICKS.
It is possible to combine and parallel layer all ten of those pedals by carving out unwanted frequencies, compressed and layered all together into a single guitar tone. While I only have two of those pedals, I have discovered killer guitar tones not heard before by combining only the best possible tones from even the worst pedals. Sometimes I also combine multiple pedals in each chain. I happen to love death metal and black metal. Actually I am surprised you hate the HM2 pedal as usually guitarist hate the DOD Death Metal pedal and the Digitech Death Metal pedal, but I absolutely love the few tones I can carve out from those two pedals to which needs the best serious noise gate such as Glen Fricker's Cockblocker plugin. I use Khole's Grindstein plugin for modern HM2 distortions. I do use both plugin amp sims and impulse responses along with analog pedalboards. I really wish there was a DOD Death Metal plugin version as I utilize it's most pleasing sounding and heaviest ever distortion from it.
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My Favorite is Eagletone OTD-100
Great list Robert they should have named the golden chello the golden shower gotta love it Robert great video.
What separates great distortion pedals from crappy distortion pedals is whether or not it does too much. When pedals exaggerate mids they create mud. Same with amps. Guitar should NOT compete with bass. Guitar is a midrange instrument and that's exactly where it should sit on the tone spectrum. A pedal that may sound fine for bedroom jamming to Iron Maiden's Piece of Mind in 1983 is not always going to work in a band mix. Exaggerating the mids with guitar will only push it into defacto bass territory. But there were, and still are, countless pedals that do just this. I remember a situation with a fairly popular amp in the 80s. The Laney AOR Pro Tube Lead. The problem with this amp wa the 20 decibel bass boost function. There was no happy medium. If you didn't have it engaged the amp could sound too thin. So what a lot of players did is get them modded. I played through modded AORs and they sounded totally killer. One of the best live guitar sounds I've ever heard was at The Country Club (now defunct) in Los Angeles way back in the late 80s. The guitarist for a band I can't remember the name of had an AOR 100 stack. It sounded absolutely killer. When they were done playing I asked him about his setup. He'd had his amp modded. If only the AORs came out of the box sounding that good. Eventually Laney got around this issue and by the time Paul Gilbert was endorsing them around '90 their amps sounded fantastic out of the box. But the mistake Laney made with the AOR series is making the amp do more than it should. It was just the wrong direction. Same problem with so many pedals. My favorite pedals at the moment are the Rat, MXR Distortion Plus, Boss Distortion and Super Overdrive and JHS AT V 2. The thing about the Rat is it matches very well with some amps, but not with others. It can be too flubby with some amps, but at least it has a pretty good organic crunch. The JHS AT V 2 (Andy Timmons version 2) is a perfect hybrid of a transparent Tube Screamer tone and a hotter MXR Distortion Plus with a lot of presence and no dark, flubby mids or loose low end.
I had a Rocktec distortion when I was teenaged. It was genuinely so bad I went back to using the onboard overdrive channel on my Peavey "rage" 158 practice amp. I even apologized to my parents for begging so hard to get it. It sucked.
hit the nail on the head with all those pedals. cheers.
If I disagree with anything, I won't subscribe.
But you ruled out the MT-2 right off the bat so I guess i love you.
New Subscriber! - from the UK
Awesome man! Welcome to the family! 🤘🏼🤘🏼🤘🏼
(hey - my ears tend to put the Metal Muff, the HM-2, in the 'fuzz' bracket. Death fuzz. FX-56 I use for exactly that, great for Nirvana 'Bleach' stuff or very specific stoner-rock riffs on something harsh and biting like a Tele. Yep, madness I know, but, it's definitely one of the obscure tones in my palette)
haha digitech... by 'progammable' they mean 'dip switches hidden away' hahaha ffs
I got a Digitech RP-10 in the early 90's and hated all the distortion sounds on it. Now that I've learned more on my board are 3 great classics. 1st is a Alchemy modded Blues driver. 1 of 4 Blues drivers I own. Keeley, Waza crrap and a stock 1 sit on the shelf. Next on board is a Meat and 3 modded Soul food that someone did themselves and I got for $83. Great price great pedal. Last is a Fromel modded bias knob modded older Tube driver. On this 1 I'm using a 12av7 tube and running at 18v for more headroom before too much fuzzy sound. All these have great tone alone and stack very well together. With little gain used on each I have very little noise unless I leave the Tube driver on and not play. This 1 does have a certain noise to it so 1st thing after playing is step on tuner and switch around pedals for next song. Good habit to be in no matter what pedals are on for each song. No clicking for audience to hear. Still have the RP-10, just don't ever use the distortion side of it but the fully programmable Whammy is awesome and a couple other sounds make it worth having on floor to keep 2 amps in play at all times
I know you said you didn't like fuzz pedals but you can get a great "Hammer O the Gods" effect by linking a Big Muff, Ibanez Tube Screamer and Boss DD 20 set to pan on the 700ms setting. Any axe with a good dive bomb whammy will add drama (I use my Burns B May). Think of Nita Strauss and her gunslinger solos when she is working for Cooper, the ones she opens up with the "When Doves Cry" lick. Not real usable overall but pure sonic mayhem!
I’ll give it a shot!
Thanks for the heads up!
Hey Robert cheers from NY! Your top 10 worst hit the bullseye 10 times. LMAO during the whole vid.
Thanks for the vid and the laughs my man, much appreciated! :-)
Thanks man! Glad you enjoyed it! 🤘🏼🤘🏼🤘🏼
I got burned with the Boss HM-2 circa 1986. I only had a 10 watt Crate G-10 practice amp at the time and I told the person behind the counter of a small guitar shop where I had gotten my first electric guitar and that practic3 amp that I wanted a "good distortion pedal for heavy metal" and the HM-2 is what they sold me. The Crate's overdrive channel sounded better and that's not saying much. It was the first guitar pedal I had ever purchased and it was the first guitar pedal I traded in towards other gear! I eventually purchased a 100 watt Carvin amp for playing in bands when I was in high school and that was my sole source for overdrive from the late 80's into the mid 90's but a 100 watt amp was too loud for apartment life and I wasn't playing in a band anymore, so I went back to a small practice amp and needed a "good" distortion pedal for metal. I went through a lot of misses (DOD Metal X was one that comes to mind, very artificial sounding), but I ended up using a Boss MT-2 for almost 20 years. It wasn't an easy pedal to dial in, but once you do get it to your liking, it's a great metal pedal. I actually gave it away 7 years ago and have been very disappointed with numerous high gain "boutique" distortion pedals I've tried over the past few years. I'm leaning towards buying a Boss Waza Craft edition Metal Zone!
The Metal Muff and the Fullbore ... I cannot agree more... even as a first pedal to practice these are horrible. As for the HM-2, anyone saying this pedal sounds good needs his ears checked, can you get a good tone for metal with it? ABSOLUTELY! But do not expect clean defined distortion out of it...it has it uses but sure as hell no Satanist pedal. I am a HM-2 fan, it can be used for other things than chainsaw sound and give a great tone, David Gilmour proved it, but it is definitely not the best option for defined good sounding distortion!
run them in the effects loop and use the clean channel, the pedal becomes a preamp. makes a night and day difference.
There is no clean channel in the effects loop. Running into the Return port of the effects loop bypasses ALL channels on the preamp section and goes straight to the power amp, hence the clean sound. It’s an improvement for the Fullbore Metal, but there’s nothing you can do to salvage any usable tone out of the Metal Muff.
The HM-2 has a lot of fans, but I agree with you - it's not good. This stuff is very subjective! But I like the Dirty Little Secret and the Pinnacle, personally.
Yeah its the guitar pedal that made the whole subgenre of Swedish Death Metal. Left Hand Path had the buzzsaw sound of the HM-2.
@@Highrollinhunter What was the genre of music that used basically Line 6 Treadplate? Or Line 6 something-or other... wasn't that a thing too?
lol I have a triple rectifier running with a marshall 1960a cab and I have found the mxr fullbore metal pedal at least usable with that setup. I have an old school nady steel case tube distortion pedal as well, and prefer both that and my original ts808 over the mxr, but I wouldn't call the mxr trash. You're right about the midrange though. It requires some tweaking on the amp head itself to keep the sound from being too muddy.
I actually really like the Digitech 1550, but i use it only sparingly for guitars. I love fiddling, so having all the internal switches and knobs are great for me. But yeah, most of what i run through it isn't guitars. It's great on vocals, though not nearly as good as the Boss DS1.
The only way I ever got any descent tone out of the Boss HM2 was to use it with a Boss graphic equalizer. Then one day I turned off the HM2 and never looked back. The DOD Death Metal is Muddy and shrill.
The MXR Fullbore is beyond horrible -I don't think there is any distortion pedal in existence that is worse. It is pretty much like a sonic cartoon version of distorted guitar tone. Absolutely detestable in every way.
For metal distortion pedals, the MXR Fullbore Metal is definitely in contention for worst pedal ever. LOL
Hey man, thanks for these uploads 🤙
I’m not a huge pedal junkie although I’m sure you’ve probably saved me a few bucks.
Thanks Robert.
lol @ Golden shower 🤣
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HM-2 for "Real Tone" bypass the pre-amp and run through your power amp. You're welcome (in advance)
I have the BBE, I’m able to get a pretty good distortion sound out of it with my rig. But it took a lot of tweaking.
Hay Robert can you follow up with a best of distortion pedal review..... ? Just saying... Btw I really love these videos...
I agree and sad that full bore didn’t sound good. I have seen other tubers try to demo it but never sounds good. And I play distortion mostly
Boosting that golden cello with a tubescreamer sounds killer. I actually use mine in a number of different ways. With overdrives and fuzzes. Not your taste, Robert \m/ cheers!
I strongly disagree about the Golden Cello, it is not an easy pedal to figure out; it is not an everything at 12 o'clock pedal, but once I did it is now my absolute favorite pedal for guitar solo leads. Also, pretty sure it's a fuzz.
k
It’s a shame the MM didn’t at least have a trim-pot of some kind to adjust the mid bump in that top boost because whenever it sounds amazing without it, that top boost ruins everything. Not a good lead boost at all.
Also blows my mind that the HM-2 is at unity gain with volume on 10 😆
The Digitech black 13 Scott Ian signature pedal from 2008ish sucks pretty bad
It can’t suck that bad. Those things are suddenly selling for STUPID money on the used market right now.
I think I could still dial a decent tone out of some of these.
3:16 now that's a bit harsh, innit
I can alrighty hear the HM2 comments buzzing away
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Out of curiosity, can you make a list of Distortion pedals that redeemed the brand after these debacles?
Why?
@@RobertWJackson Simple enough to put together. They don't have to be top-shelf distortions. They simply have to be good ones. Might offer a different flavor of stuff. Instead of metal, how about Grunge, 90s Alternative, or simply something that sounds good but doesn't fit in a tidy genre.
great intro great info great video.
I laughed my arse off and I can’t lie.
I'm crazy cause I like the hm2
I like my hm2 but I don't use it for buzzsaw tone... I use it as a fuzz then shape it with another pedal. I agree it's not versatile... but it has to be better than the hm3
Dishonorable mentions
Boss Metalizer
Moer Spark distortion
Lyon distortion
🔥🔥Kill it with fire🔥🔥
The Digital Metalizer is another one that sounds terrible, but I still have to love it just because it’s a Boss pedal. LOL
@@RobertWJackson I feel ya! Boss is so respected & built well it's hard to hate any of their stuff!
@Stay Curious I feel like Dave used everything at one point or time, doesn't necessarily make the gear good though
I have a metal muff in my chain, and I only use it for heavy rythem, the top boost completely blows ass. I have found that the metal muff is useful is some situation, but in no way a main distortion for me, more of a effect you use for a few application, then forget about it.... Lol
😂 la sincerità è importante. Sottoscrivo molti dei pareri su questi pedali...
Moist.
Great one!!!! Don't you consider that marshall pedals should appear in the list? Or either the suhr riot?
No, those are all great pedals. Especially the Suhr Riot.
Thanks Robert 👍.
I find distortion pedals suck, in general. There are very few that I like. I probably have a hundred and my amps just sound better, cranked, than with a distortion pedal.
DOD FX56 American Metal (missed the 80's rock vibe target) and DOD FX86b Death Metal (a lot like Boss HM-2, possibly worse since moving the knobbies was in fact pointless-they did nothing) both failed to hit their target in my opinion. I had to try them since I'm a big DOD fan although I must admit they had a few duds and those two are standouts for their distortion flops.
Sounds like your FX86 was broken
@@JanXD Could be but I recall the instruction manual noting that there wasn't much you could do to change the base sound even with the knobbies. It was just hell bent for leather I suppose...designed that way.
I was gonna include the American Metal, but I wanted to keep it to 10, so I decided to include the Golden Cello and piss off the trolls instead. LOL
@@RobertWJackson With that goofy name they really should have seen it coming. How about "Corroded Trombone" for yet another fuzz the world doesn't need?