Price watch (51)

Good Stuff (1): This is a good deal, IMO. Of course, these pics might not be that of the actual item but we can politely request for them. 

Good stuff (2): Rally's GL-300 is recommended for those of us with a tight budget but still mindful of quality. This one is less than $150. Wow.

Not quite (1): Price is too close to a brand new piece off the store shelf ($690). Plus, if you buy from the store, it comes with a warranty. 

Not quite (2): A brand new MT-2 is $128. This one is a modified item (which may / may not appease you) & in that condition, $150 is a very difficult asking price. 

Anniversary... out

As you can see, pretty much snapped up as soon as they were available. So what's the point of updating? To show that these made it here after all. 

Blackniversary

Anniversary pedals by BOSS, both in black - SD-1-4A (40th anniversary) / MT-2-3A (30th anniversary). No additional features or magical circuit components, just the commemorative colours. If you already owned one, chances are, you'd want another - it's the looks. Summer release, folks, don't go asking your dealers now.

Pic: delicious audio

Re-zoning

I used to own the non-Waza version of the Metal Zone (MT-2) during my early days of playing. It used to be my understanding of the most worthy metal type distortion out there. It delivers crushing riffs, heavy, doom-laden fills & searing solos- it was everything an angry guitar person would need without paying too much. In context, back then, the pedal market here offered very limited range of distortion pedal. BOSS & DOD were the staple, everything else was unheard of. Also, the amplifier market did not quite move beyond Peavey & Fender. Marshall was still in its Valvestate days & those were hits/ misses. 

Along the way, I began to incline towards the amp drive & pedal drive became a last resort. I can't stand how pedals turn distasteful once you bring the level up. It requires a setting recalibration of  other units in the chain as well. My pedal set up was bare minimum; a drive unit acting as a booster mostly & a tuner. That's it. The MT-2 was sold off to a friend (Zahid, are you reading this?) & it wasn't missed.

Come 2018, I'm pretty much still amp inclined but BOSS re-interpreted the MT-2 to become a Waza offering & it was worth checking out. The Waza treatment gave the pedal a modded voicing so players could choose between the traditional signals & the beefed up Waza mode. I do not wish to re-iterate how the MT-2 sounds like. It's a safe bet that many of us here have come across the MT-2 once & ended up as proud owners. The strength of the MT-2 in my opinion is its dual midrange control. Ironically, many players notch this down to zero for that mid-scooped voicing which always fail in a band setting, relegating the guitar tone to trace level signals, leaving the drummer in much limelight. The MT-2W offers a beefed up midrange, first & foremost. This means that players are more inclined to have midrange in their EQ considerations & not wiping it out entirely. There's a tad more poke here too so overall clarity is good, nothing muds out at higher level settings. Through my set up, I was more into making the treble end useful rather than messing with a tight/ loose bottom end & a useful midrange inclusion. 

The MT-2W is a keeper in the mean time. I'm using it in its Waza mode rather than the original circuitry but more importantly, it's not a reason for me to give up my amps. The pedal domain is still secondary to me, amps come first.

Return to the destruction zone

My BOSS re-visit continues. I told myself I would never go back to the MT-2 unless a re-interpretation takes place. Now that it really had taken place, I don't mind getting one. More details soon. I might have gotten the last piece because there's no more. 

Waza Zone

The Waza Craft version of any standard BOSS model is the manufacturer's take on going boutique. So the latest 2 pedals to be WAZA-ed this time are the Metal Zone & Dimension C. The DC-2, when it was still in active production, had quite a following for being rather futuristic. The MT-2 is the manufacturer's proverbial intense distortion unit which currently has a dichotomised following. Regardless of the situation, I'm keen to try them when they are available here. Soon. I hope.

The Red Zone

Brother Zach shared this pic the other day & I'm sure there's some interest here :-)

Bro- show us your pink pedal soon, ya?

Understanding distortion

Unlike the overdrive, the signals churned out by the typical distortion unit are already 'tampered', even before reaching the amplifier. This is the reason why, one cannot acquire clean tones even at the lower levels of distortion if one chooses to use it as a clean booster. The misconception with distortion units is that it's supposed to be a hard hitting device when in fact, it's rather restrained inherently, as typified by the pioneer of pedal distortion, the Pro Co Rat. The distortion is similarly used to boost an already driven/ distorted amplifier to increase its intensity

The most popular mild distortion in the market is arguably BOSS' DS-1 but chronologically, it's a later interpretation of the distortion tone.


In its leading era, MXR's Distortion + hold its own dynamics, it even precedes Ibanez's Tubescreamer in terms of debut application.

As it is today, the average distortion unit has evolved to manifest more intensity, a better understanding of this would be acquired after one hears the BOSS Metal Zone in action. The standard in distortion intensity has always been the chemistry of the amplifier's power/ pre-amp sections. Manufacturers capitalized on this application from the fact that not everyone can afford such amps & its power ratings would mean limited applications at home (& the inability to fully realize the amp's potential).

The distortion effect is still evolving, today it incorporates other features to address the niche demand for intensity & saturation. The pedal you see above is Seymour Duncan's Twin Tube Mayhem which has an in-built booster (more intensity to bring the roof down + split ear drums) & pre-amp tubes.

The first: Part 5

The first stomp box I bought was BOSS' Metal Zone. I was the very first few owners of this pedal which debuted at Davis GMC. The store was located at another smaller venue back then, which is now a t-shirt store, just adjacent to the eatery at the basement of Peninsular Hotel.

The pedal was my first real induction into heavy distortion with enough EQ options to vary tone. It proved to be very popular even with the non-metal dweebs, the shredder like the extra kick this pedal offers in terms of distortion.

Along the way, I managed to plug the MT-2 into other amps & it sounded good regardless of the amp types/ brand names. However, I was playing louder progressively & required the MT-2 to be turned up, that's when the I discovered the pedal's Achilles heel; it sounded muffled at louder settings.

I don't own the MT-2 any more simply because there are other pedals today that address my needs, some of which cost much lesser & contain better (subjective) features (eg: True bypass switching). However, I definitely prefer an amplifier's inherent drive/ distortion than pedals. After more than 15 years of playing, I hear better tones coming from direct guitar-amp interaction rather than having pedals in between.