Throughout the years, I've discovered that the best intense distortion that does not impede playing fundamentals come from the amplifier. It makes sense because signals are processed at the amp end, not before. I started out with BOSS' Metal Zone which is still the standard to beat in terms of intensity & EQ manipulations. What puts me off when it comes to the Metal Zone is that it sounds nasal at higher volume settings. My distortion formula ever since had been to trust the amp's distortion. Currently my EVH 5150 III does the job, my Marshall JVM has that as well but with a more British flavour while the Blackstar HT Metal lets me hear something in between. The story with the pedals you see above:
- Digitech/DOD Death Metal: These pedals, to me, still tell a semi-tragic tale of an attempt which turned stale. There should be no more attempts to capture a genre defined distortion. You cannot package derivative tones into a single offering. It fails because the proponents of death metal formulate their tones through the use of several implements, not a single pedal per se. Most of the time it's a match between an amp & a drive/distortion pedal to get a slightly more embittered heavy tone; that crucial excess which defines the tone rather than bringing intensity into the next level. This pedal in its initial incarnation was strictly a niche appeal. The treble excess was excruciating & the amount of distortion on board was fixed, no less, no more, it's just there. The subsequent incarnation, the Digitech version, did not fare any better. The treble offerings were still much to be desired for but they kept it in check. In use, I had to basically turn it down to ZERO. The MID/LOW sweeps were more acute than the DOD version in that they actually let you hear the difference.
- EHX Metal Muff: I was in fuzz territory for a while & EHX had (they still do) what I was comfortable with; a fuzz tone that did not squash the low frequencies too much. Eric Johnson is arguably one of the very few guitar-inclined individuals who managed to make fuzzy bass notes very musical. When the MM was introduced, there were no official dealer/distributor here, but someone was bringing it in & was operating online as a small time enterprise. I just went with the pedal instinctively & it proved to be a worthy risk. The MM still offers the grizzly fuzz responses but with a a different EQ consideration which facilitated intensity. To me, this was a marked difference. The top end boost added some depth in terms of clarity when it comes to solos so to me the MM was it.
- Blackstar LT Metal: This pedal is much overlooked. At the time of its release, it's over-shadowed by its other, tube-driven sibling, the HT series. I tested the HT version but couldn't come to terms with how fuzzy & Marshall-esque everything sounded. The LT version, on the other hand, is focused on distortion intensity. It has no other details in trying to fulfil expectations (namely the tubeless technology) & it sounded good despite not having dedicated EQ knobs to oversee proceedings. The Blackstar name itself is formidable in the amplifier front so people look up to Blackstar for amps, not pedals. This one will remain insignificant until you hear it out in person
I have since stopped hunting for that elusive heavy metal pedal to out-amp an amp because they turned out to be second best in this aspect; the amp distortion is still superior in terms of voicing if intensity is factored in. In fact, pedals were there to emulate an amp's performance to begin with. However it's all down to preference- some of us prefer amps to handle our driven tones, some prefer pedals, some prefer both. Whatever it is, do not stop experimenting what works for you.
