Turning a Metal Zone to an Overdrive

A few years ago Brian Wampler made a few videos that demonstrated some mod ideas. Brian Wampler Might be my spirit animal because the first mod he posted to his YouTube channel was one that changed a BOSS MT-2 Metal Zone into an overdrive. Where are the monuments for this man? He is doing the lords work. However, I know that I'd never perform this mod because I'm not going pause and back up a video the thousand times I'd need to follow his instructions. So I went to transcribe it down.

All credit to Brian Wampler. Please Follow, Subscribe, Like, Comment and generally stalk him on all social medias

link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6aoE3wId3Y&t=627s

Converting MT-2 Metal Zone to overdrive mod:

Remove C35, C25,
Change C34 to .047mf
Remove D003, D004
Change R41 4.7k
Change C30 .047mf
Remove C17 Q007 C25 Q008

Replace C37 with 1n4148 diodes (two inline for asymmetrical or you can make a devils triangle for symmetrical) and cross those with a 100pf Cap

Refer to Brian's video in the link above for additional help/demo.ect.

The Ugly Truth About BOSS MT-2W WAZA Craft Metal Zone

BOSS decided to break the dang internet, or at least our tiny little corner of it, with the announcement of the BOSS MT-2W. It is regarded by some to be the most despised of all pedals and praised by others for its unique sound and features. Along with the Dimension-C, the Metal Zone has gotten the WAZA treatment. So what does that mean for this divisive pedal? Well, let's take a look at what the BOSS Waza Craft Metal Zone MT-2W has done

First, a little backstory. I think I've shared this before, so I'll keep it brief. I used to play in a metal band. In my search for great metal tone. I, for a time, used a Metal Zone running through a GE-7 into an amp set for the edge of break-up. I still remember that I set the gain all the way down. This pedal had enough gain at zero. The more you turned up the distortion knob, the more noise and hiss came through the pedal. I still think that a Metal Zone running through an EQ is a powerful combination and an easy way to enter metal tone nirvana. So what do I think of BOSS releasing a Waza Metal Zone?

It makes sense. If you really think about it. Waza is the "greatest hits" of BOSS. The first pedals in the line were some of their best sellers. The SD-1 and DS-1 have sold tons of units. Nearly everyone that has gotten into pedals at least knows of these pedals if not owns them. I've owned several of each. (Why? It's hard to say.) But Waza isn't just about BOSS' most popular, current production models. They have rereleased some of the most coveted vintage pedals from the past. The DM-2 has been a vintage favorite for those that crave analog delay tones. The CE-2 is another pedal that saw rerelease in the Waza line. Both of these pedals are often emulated, but it seems like there is still a draw for something backed by BOSS. So why the Metal Zone? It's not as common to see an MT-2 as it is an SD-1, the Metal Zone is still in production, so why then? I think it's the same reason the BD-2 got its custom setting. Modders.

One of the first pedals that I ever modded was a Metal Zone. I liked the pedal, but the noise was always bothersome. So when I stumbled across a mod that was supposed to help with that, I jumped on it. I also killed the first MT-2 I ever tried to mod. eBay loved me. I think this is the reason that BOSS has given the Waza treatment to the MT-2. I hate being too cynical (or maybe I don't. I don't know.), but it makes sense. BOSS doesn't see much money from the modding community. When I modded pedals, I didn't buy a new pedal. I jumped on eBay and bought the cheapest pedal I could in case I screwed up the mod. I'm many others do the same, so BOSS wants to cut out the middleman and sell us the modded pedal up front. It makes all the sense, but is it worth it?

Log story just a little bit longer: yes, it is worth it.

The End

Just Kidding! did you think I wasn't going to talk this point into the ground? Is this your first time here? So, you may have noticed that I haven't talked about what this pedal sounds like. (I mean, if you think about, reading about what a pedal sounds like is a little silly, but hasn't stopped me before) If you like the way the Metal Zone sounds then you'll like the Waza Zone. If you didn't, then you probably won't be blown away by this pedal. If you don't know if you like the Metal Zone or not, then what have you been doing? It's been around for over 20 years... To be honest, this is one of the Waza pedals that I'd be interested in. I don't have very many heavy distortion pedals, and the MT-2 hold a special place in my guitar playing history, so buying a premium/custom version from BOSS for 50% more isn't a stretch.

Ugly Guitar Truth: TC Electronic Eyemaster Metal Distortion

So, today TC Electronics let us see what they were teasing us about recently. They gave us a full frontal view of 8 new pedals they are releasing. For the most part, these are very interesting. There is a push button chorus, fuzz, tremolo, auto swell, and noise gate. I've checked out all the available information about these pedals and they seem much like the affordable pedal that they released a few months ago. Where TC has done a great job so far, there seems to be a rotten egg in the bunch. If you read the title of the post you already know what I'm going to say. Let's take a look at the Eyemaster Metal Distortion.

Just... Wow

Ok, if there is one thing that I've learned about the state of big pedal developers releasing their pedal via social media, it is that they have everything optimized before launch. They show us glamour shots on Instagram and they post well produced demo videos on YouTube. That is what TC Electronic did for each one of their new pedals. Each pedal had a video that did no less that convince me to buy every single one. I probably won't, but when I watch those videos, I absolute knew that I needed to buy whatever it was. The final video that I watched was for the Eyemaster. Why did I watch it last? Because that was the order that YouTube gave it to me. Ok?! Just like the other videos we have "Pedal Jesus" tell us just how great this pedal is, and we have an impressive guitarist giving us a demo. Only, I'm not really understanding what I'm hearing. Everything sounds awful. There is a chugging riff and some talk about brutal death-metal. I enjoy a nice chuggy metal riff, but do not dig the sounds on this video. I checked out the comment section to make sure I wasn't crazy. What had been a sea of praise for the other pedal release along side this one, was now a list of complaints.

Simpler Than-Thou

So, I copy-pasted that from the TC website. This pedal has two knobs. That is completely fine. However, the sounds that were coming out of this pedal is not fine. I know that TC can produce a video with great sounding metal riffs (just check out the Mimiq Doubler pedal they have). So it leads me to believe that this pedal just isn't holding up. It sounds like the intro of a song that uses a lofi filter before restoring the low end frequencies and becoming something worth listening to. The sounds aren't brutal. They are thin, scooped, and fizzy. They are a number of HM-2 comparisons being made, but to me it sounds more like a MXR Prime Distortion. Whatever the actually heritage of this pedal, the video does not do much to make me want the thing. After doing some digging, there is a "sound" that the pedal seems to go for, but it "sounds" like a MT-2 at a horrific setting to me.

Who's To Blame?

Here's the deal. Tore (I think that's the guy's name) is kind of an odd dude. Odd in this case refers to the fact that he doesn't agree with me all the time. I don't particularly like most of the distortion/overdrives from TC. So I think there might be some ideological differences between me and the people making decisions at TC. This is all totally fine, but I don't seem to be the only one finding the Eyemaster a little hard to handle. Why does this pedal sound like this? Seems like the TC guys have a thing for distortions with this particular palate. Or, It could be Behringer/Music Group to blame. Many people accuse TC of reboxing Behringer pedals. So maybe it's due to the designs being out of TC's control and not up to their standards. TC makes top notch pedal in nearly every category. There are even fans of the drive pedals... go figure. Or possibly, The amps they were using just didn't like working with that particular pedal. If Tore is to be believed, it may have been too metal for that poor Bugera amp. According to the videos in this series of demos, the amps used were Bugera. In the video is question, there was a close up of a Marshal Plexi, but that amp wasn't even turned on (note the unilluminated status light). This may indicate the use of the Bugera Plexi clone. 

Conclusion

Does this pedal dish out brutal and raw metal tones inspired by classic Swedish death metal? honestly, it might, I'm not up on my classic Swedish death metal. However, I can really recommend this pedal. Very few people have had a chance to play this pedal since it has only just been announced, but for what I can tell, this one is a swing and a miss. TC Electronics does such a great job on nearly everything it sets out to do, but issuing a two knob metal distortion just seems... limited. Here's hoping that this pedal has some internal controls to tweak.