Boss Heavy Metal HM-2

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User Reviews of the Boss Heavy Metal HM-2

Submitted by Jimgrindcore from ufa (28 points) on Jan 10, 2014
This pedal has an interesting sound as I think. I use it to play grindcore / powerviolence and Im glad to use that. I use this in only one way - when all of regulaters are turned to maximum - so it screams very very interesting.
Good Points: Interesting sound effect / Perfect to play grindcore / powerviolence
Bad Points: Have to be used with cool preamps to lift uf the power of sound cause its not very powerful
Price Paid: US$70.00
Purchased At: eBay
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Submitted by Marcello from NiterÃ³i (36 points) on Nov 22, 2012
It was my very first pedal which I bought from a buddy who played Metal. The point is I am a pop/rock player so I needed a lighter distortion. My guitar was a Les Paul so it was very hard to get a soft drive from it.

Bandmates complained the pedal was too crunchy even with the Dist knob dialed around 9 oÂ´clock. But one day an acquaintace attend a practice of mine and he was interested on my pedal and he offered his Superfeedbacker in a trade. The latter was I was looking for.

I donÂ´t miss HM-2, but I always give it a good review. Not fitting my style is no excuse to say itÂ´s bad. For Metal itÂ´s a very good recommendation.
Good Points: Very good sound quality for the style it had been made for; Easy to use, if you play Metal; Boss construction; its color.
Bad Points: Excess of low end, so it is not recommended for any style but Metal, Punk and other noisy ones.
Price Paid: US$100.00
Purchased At: Bought from a friend
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Submitted by kk from Annandale On Hudson, NY (104 points) on Sep 4, 2009
this isn't my pedal, so that's why price paid is empty. my bandmate has one of these. it's a very crisp distortion, in that it does not generate much excessive noise. it's much tamer than a DOD Death Metal, for example, but it's got great tone nonetheless. that said, it's really just got one tone to it, so if you don't like it when you first turn it on, you're never going to like it. in short, it's a fun pedal, but there are better things for your money when it comes to contact mics and the like.
Good Points: - i like the tone of it - great for when you want heavy distortion with minimal excess noise
Bad Points: - the knobs hardly change the sound, it's really just one sound
Price Paid: US$0.00
Purchased At:
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Submitted by Bassie from Brugge (200 points) on May 28, 2009
I've used to use this one when I was still in a heavy metal band and I've used to get pretty cool sounds out of it. But if you use it wrong, you better don't use it !
Good Points: Construction Looks equalizing knobs
Bad Points: Boss
Price Paid: US$0.00
Purchased At:
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Submitted by Frenzied Destruction from Cold Spring, MN (136 points) on Apr 30, 2008
Dont use this for guitar based noise,for some reason it turns into a wuss when used like that..But its pretty decent with your usual noise setups.EQ isnt as responsive as some distortion pedals(I.e. you have to really crank them to notice a differance).Its not bad or useless, just not the Armageddon-inducing death monster that seems to be implied by most people.
Good Points: Its a distortion.You can never have enough distortion. Its great with a contact mic and in floops occasionally lets loose some vicious squeels.Awesome orange and black paint job.
Bad Points: Not worth what i payed for it.Kind of unimpressive.
Price Paid: US$35.00
Purchased At: pawn shop
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Submitted by JLK from Canada (4 points) on Jan 20, 2008
I'm not sure why this pedal works for me . . .I bought it new years ago and at first I just left it sit for years. Then I discovered what it can do when used to boost an overdriven tube amp. It's been a mainstay since. I haven't used this for a "Heavy Metal" sound, I find it better for adding to a nice warm sound.
Good Points: It gives you that single string buzz, only way I can explain it. It leaves you that knock without turning the attack into crap. I run mine with lots of bass very low highs on all 3 Strats (stock single coil) and it sounds great!
Bad Points: As a stand alone, it sounds like any real crappy heavy metal band. As an addition to shape sound it's great.
Price Paid: US$0.00
Purchased At:
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Submitted by gland from United Kingdom (48 points) on Mar 24, 2007
YES! I bought this off a friend for about 25 quid and its one of my wiser purchases. Massive response from all the tone pots (the hi will tear the skin from your body where the bass will bury it in mud and shit) sonic destruction with ease. LOUD too. Recommended
Good Points: Bass and Hi pots will kill and beat up any signal you'd care to feed through it. Also works well more subtley, keep the distortion low and the eq low and you can build both up from a lo fi drone into searing wall of chaos!!
Bad Points: sometimes the changes in tone can be a bit too radical with little adjustments but you learn to deal with it.
Price Paid: US$25.00
Purchased At: friend
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Submitted by Justin from Sunland, CA (2 points) on Feb 1, 2007
This is a very fun pedal. You can get a lot of raunchy noise and feedback, especially when used with other distortion pedals or even a wah. You can get a lot of different sounds just by messing with the color settings.
Good Points: Great for noise destruction and loads of fun to mess around with.
Bad Points: Not too good for actual heavy metal.
Price Paid: US$25.00
Purchased At: ebay
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Submitted by robert from Milwaukee, WI (2 points) on Dec 16, 2005
All these reviews are crazy, but appear to ensure that i will be able to cheaply purchase THE BEST bass distortion pedal for some time yet...absolutely crushing low end, and some absolutely insane high distortion to be had with only minimal tweaking. i have used this ALONE for well over 15 years now...an ESSENTIAL piece of equipment.
Good Points: best noise tones for bass i have found EVER. low end is your friend; SONIC power with very little effort (or knowledge) required.
Bad Points: i haven't found one yet...most essential effect i've ever owned.
Price Paid: US$0.00
Purchased At: damn near anywhere
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Submitted by sclr from Portland, OR (220 points) on Oct 5, 2005
nice boss pedal. one of the first pedals to have really good low end distortion. its not as heavy as some pedals i use but it still kicks @$$. definitely good pedal to add with others. dunno if its true or not but i have heard that the japanese made version is a little better because you can alter the power supply voltage to get variations in the distortion.
Good Points: heavy crusty distortion. not over the top but good to have in a chain.
Bad Points: isn't super loud like other pedals i have.
Price Paid: US$20.00
Purchased At: trade up
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Submitted by Marco from Brescia (138 points) on May 12, 2005
Very cheap distortion from 80's. Not a harsh distortion, but a great bass booster. The eq. section is very impressive: you can create many sounds only tweaking the highs knob. The dist knob is useless: it creates one level of distortion, no good variations of gain. It's cheap, but there are better dist at the same price...
Good Points: -nice eq: bass boost and high control -cheap -(evil look...)
Bad Points: -boring -not an high-gain pedal -you must turn the volume knob to 2 if you want ear the sound!!!
Price Paid: US$40.00
Purchased At: e-bay
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Submitted by Rob2 from United Kingdom (40 points) on May 15, 2004
Nice bass heavy distortion. Some scorching treble, works well in a feedback loop and general noise purposes. Not the best noise distortion ever (not as good as some DOD classics) but it works well and it's very cheap and reliable. I circuit bent mine and now it sounds much cooler. I get a harsh fuzz breakup and squealing feedback behind the original signal. With some simple modding it can be a great sound source of squealing high noise or churning low ossilation.
Good Points: Cheap. Nasty sounds Looks evil Works well for noise.
Bad Points: Not as good as a corrosion of grunge for noise.
Price Paid: US$0.00
Purchased At:
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Submitted by Torbjörn from Örebro (110 points) on Dec 29, 2003
I got this as I thought it would be as good as the MT-2, it wasn`t. I still fiddle with it at times but most times it is left out from my pedal chain of chaos. Playing guitar with it was no real fun either, it just feels wrong and there is no real punch to it.
Good Points: Black, looking a bit lite MT-2. Cool name.
Bad Points: Not as good as MT-2, not even close. Ugly orange knobs.
Price Paid: US$15.00
Purchased At: Ebay
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Submitted by Evgeni from Minsk (2 points) on Nov 4, 2003
Pretty harsh machine, i try first time on guitar and don't like this but than find that it sounds crashing on probably ANY synth/drum machine, and don't loose bass after.
Good Points: Bass sound, eq section, rather punchy distortion
Bad Points: Absolitely no highs
Price Paid: US$55.00
Purchased At: don't remember
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Submitted by D/A A/D from Halifax (410 points) on Sep 4, 2003
Yet again, another over rated boss distortion... I do not like this thing at all... No tone, not even enough high gain breakup... pure suck...
Good Points: N/A
Bad Points: Everything...
Price Paid: US$0.00
Purchased At:
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Submitted by Ben from United States (250 points) on Feb 28, 2003
Nice distortion that doesn't give your sound an obvious color like some other high-gain distortions I've used. Great EQ section, with well-rounded sound, and lots of control. Nice range, from gritty to fully-drenched distortion.
Good Points: See review
Bad Points: None.
Price Paid: US$32.00
Purchased At: harmony central
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Submitted by Rob from London (362 points) on Jul 4, 2002
Heavy Bass heavy distortion. Not quite as highly distorted as a DOD grunge for example but sounds OK. Good for vocals. Sounds weak as a sound source. I prefer a DOD grunge - it's Waaay smoother and more distorted. It's worth picking up because you can get it for cheap.
Good Points: Sounds OK. Cheap.
Bad Points: Bit boring - one sound only. Better noise pedals available.
Price Paid: US$0.00
Purchased At:
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Submitted by Harm from Mechanicsville, VA (86 points) on Jan 20, 2002
This pedal adds some really heavy bassy distortion. It's gotta be combined though with something weaker running into it. Like a DS-1 to add some crunch to the super bass it outputs. You definitely have to experiment with it.
Good Points: It will add a lot of bass to anything you run through it.
Bad Points: The highend aspect of it is really hard to make sound good. If you turn it all the way up it just sounds bad.
Price Paid: US$40.00
Purchased At: Ebay
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Submitted by K. from Sealy, TX (532 points) on Nov 19, 2001
I use this particular unit live following a Boss FZ-2 and DOD delay, usually processing other input signals from any number of items for noise. It offers a fair amount of distortion and in the present set up boosts the signal better than the 20 dB boost function on the FZ-2. The tone controls are very sensitive, just rolling off a bit of the high end produces a heavy bass sound, though the highs w/ the bass completely counterclockwise aren't that impressive. Satisfactory pedal for its current use, but as w/ any effect, its usefulness changes depending upon what else preceeds or follows it in the chain. Experimenting is the best advice.
Good Points: As used boosts signal level, good heavy bass.
Bad Points: About average distortion effect.
Price Paid: US$0.00
Purchased At: Pawn shop
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Submitted by josh from Las Vegas, NV (2 points) on Jul 22, 2001
this pedal is pretty decent. very cheap on ebay i picked it up for about . the first pedal i got. probably not the best distortion pedal there is but if you run feedback into itself through this pedal you can make some pretty crazy noises.very reliable and tough like most boss pedals ive seen.
Good Points: very good for a feedback generator. pretty solid and heavy distortion, cheap!
Bad Points: hm...ive seen better. if you can find it i really like the corrosion pedal, and the grunge pedal.
Price Paid: US$25.00
Purchased At: ebay
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