boss metal-zone mt-2 pedal seek a soulmate

  • Thread starter Thread starter gaud2029
  • Start date Start date
G

gaud2029

New member
Hi

I am currently using a boss mt-2 pedal and I really like the raw sound it gives but at the same time I find the sound is really "dry".. it's hard to explain but i'm sure mt-2 user will understand what I mean.

so what I do to help the situation is having a very short delay on my marshall 15 watt amp (it has some effect on it).

Now that I have a valvestate 100w amp, I want to use the mt-2 on this amp.. as there is no effect on this amp I'm wondering if I should get a delay pedal or something that could enhance my tone.

I don't really like the flanger type of effect and I never tryed a chorus on top of distortion.

I also tried something , the metal zone into the line6 pocket pod without cabinet emulation, was not a good idea :)

what do you guys suggest for a good pedal that would fit well between a mt-2 and marshall valvestate amp ?

I though about the boss dd-7, what do you guys think ?

thanks for your help
 
gaud2029 said:
I can't believe nobody has an opinion on that...
Click to expand...


This is not opionion but fact. A Marshall Valvestate and a Boss MT-2 are like oil and water. They dont go together at all and will not get you a good sound.

Dude you bought a Marshall and want to put a digital distortion in front of it? It just wont work with your tube preamp in that amp and sound good. There is no other way to explain it. Some gear just doesnt match up. You can do it, but the sound is really bad. I know this from hands on experience with both item you have.

MT-2's work the best with solid state amps with lots of clean power, a very FLAT sounding clean channel at that, and no modleing. Peavey amps fit that description, tech 21's, ect... In this configuration the MT-2 will tear your head off and sound incredibly good with the right eqing.


Good Luck.
 
thanks for the answer

but marshall valvestate is a solid-state amp...
 
so basically, you are telling me I should stick with my 15 watt marshall MG serie if i'm using the mt-2.. ?
 
gaud2029 said:
so basically, you are telling me I should stick with my 15 watt marshall MG serie if i'm using the mt-2.. ?
Click to expand...

Im not saying that at all. But if you get a nice sound you like then that is up to you. Not sure if you are playing live or just jamming in your bedroom.

Yes your valvestate Marshall has a tube in the preamp and a solid state power amp.

If it works great with your MG, then use it.

If you want to keep using the MT-2 as the main part of your sound, then what I am suggesting is find a solid state amp with a a very flat sounding(meaning when you plug your guitar in with the EQs all at high noon not adding or taking anything away from it and it just sounds like a flat sounding electric guitar) clean channel and is very high powered meaning you can get good volume out of it with out it feeding back or distorting. The MT-2 is very high gain and has a very active EQ already in it. It needs an amp that will allow it to take over the sound and allow it to improve the sound on its own.

IF you choose an amp that is voiced to sound good right out of the box, or has modleing or is set up to distort at a certain volume point like alot of solid state amps now adays are made to sound "valvelike" or to work like a tube amp where the higher the volume the more it will "break up" or distort.

Not sure if that makes any sense.

Saying all that, there may be a tube amp out there that it may work with, but I really seriously doubt it.

Hope this helps
 
ok dude i am here to help you. i have been there and done that with the marshall and metal zone. ive gone through all kinds of amps and all kinds of distortion pedals.

im gonna start by saying that if you need help or have questions feel free to instant message me about it.

ok for starters... you said your metal zone sounds "dry" and thats because those boss distortion pedals (metal zone, metal core) are incredibly digital fake sounding pieces of crap. the dryness your hearing is lack of tube warmth, that would really give you a good metal tone.

second, im assuming your wanting a high gain tone and fact is your just not gonna get that with a solid state marshall, especially with a boss distortion pedal. the only way your gonna get a good high gain tone with a marshall is if you get a high end expensive all tube marshall.

also, never EVER use a metal zone with any pod or v-amp or any direct recording device like that. they dont work well with really wet high gain signals.

so here is my advice to you, sell the marshall amps and the metal zone pedal and get your self a new amp. if you cant afford a tube amp then i recommend crate amps (as long as you replace the crappy speakers with a celestion or something) and line 6 amps are alright too. for tube amps id say get a peavey or mesa/boogie.

again like i said if you have ANY questions just send me an IM. ive been in your same exact situation before and i know how frustrating it can get.
 
There is absolutely no reason why you can't or shouldn't use a pedal like that in front of pretty much any amp you want. Especially a Marshall Valvestate.
You might want to use just a little bit of the distortion through a dirty channel, or you may want to use a totally clean channel on the amp and crank the thing up. It'll work. It's not going to sound like a classic tube Marshall or a tube anything, but I assume you are well aware of that.

For a wetter sound I'd recommend a reverb or delay pedal in the effects loop.
 
ok, thank you guys for your help

in reality, what i'm searching for, is a distortion that sounds like Kalmah or Kataklysm (prevail album), some kind of death metal tone. I think Mesa would be a good choice for that.

my first idea was to keep the metal zone as I feel that this pedal is a good starting point in the chain.. there is probably also a bit of nostalgy, but i'm willing to trade the amp/line6 pocket pod/metal zone for a multi-effect device or another amp.

I've played through pocket pod, I find the sound more digital than the metal zone. I also played through the software "guitar rig" but being in front of a computer while practicing is just a source of distraction.. and it's not a solution at all for jamming with friends.

when we jam, we usually use headphone, I know it's not the same as big amp and everything, but at least we can play at the volume we want.. (our drummer has an electronic drum set hooked to a computer)

so basically.. what would be the best is something that can do the metal-zone type of sound without especially going through an amp, and something I can carry around. It was my main motivation when I got the pocket pod. The direct output to a PA or a computer is also a good thing.
Having a huge amp and a mic might give a better sound but it's more expensive and less practical.

I looked at the boss gt-10... expensive..
I'm afraid of Line-6 (the pocket pod quality didn't help)


sorry my post is a bit confusing but I'm lost in all those choice.
 
There are plenty of horrible recordings done courtesy of the boss metal zone but I can't believe that the majority is condemning your setup without even asking what kind of sound you are going for. It isn't going to sound like an awesome hi-gain amp but if you understand the limitations then it may be workable for you. I know right off hand that Death's sound of perseverance was done using a Valvestate and I am pretty sure that At the Gate's Slaughter of the soul was using that wonderful Metal Zone pedal lol.
I play in a few metal bands and for one of them we used a Marshall Valvestate in the studio on more than one album. We had a Mesa Dual Rec, Peavey 5150, Marshall Jcm 900, Framus Cobra and a Engl Blackmore available to us and the Valvestate was the amp that worked the best for our sound. We play a lot of busy riffs with lots of extended chord voicings. The Valvestate excels at staying focused. They aren't super gainy amps so the trick is to drive the front end just a little bit harder. We used a Maxon 808 (tube screamer copy) to add just a little more drive to the distortion channel. So what I would do is try setting the EQ on your Metal zone Flat and then just dialing in a little bit of distortion on top of the Marshall dist channel. The amp is very FOCUSED so I am guessing that might be what you are describing as dryness. If the amp doesn't have verb, you could always put a little in the effects loop.
At any rate, it isn't the most ideal setup but the valvestate set correctly should be usable.
 
You don't HAVE to have a tube amp to get a metal tone. It helps, but there's no reason that what you're already doing can't work. The Valvestate is a decent enough solidstate amp and there's nothing wrong with the metal zone either. Also, nearly every boss overdrive or distortion pedal is analog, not digital. Your POD IS digital.

The first place to start, both with the amp and the POD, is with a nice warm sound without the metal zone engaged. Get a nice fat clean tone or mildly overdriven tone that you like. Then engage your metal zone, tone set flat, and make any adjustments you feel necessary from there.

An analog delay (or digital one that sounds like an analog delay - basically rolls more top end off of each consecutive repeat) will help "wet" the sound while keeping it from sounding sterile.
 
ReInventor said:
You don't HAVE to have a tube amp to get a metal tone. It helps, but there's no reason that what you're already doing can't work. The Valvestate is a decent enough solidstate amp and there's nothing wrong with the metal zone either. Also, nearly every boss overdrive or distortion pedal is analog, not digital. Your POD IS digital.

The first place to start, both with the amp and the POD, is with a nice warm sound without the metal zone engaged. Get a nice fat clean tone or mildly overdriven tone that you like. Then engage your metal zone, tone set flat, and make any adjustments you feel necessary from there.

An analog delay (or digital one that sounds like an analog delay - basically rolls more top end off of each consecutive repeat) will help "wet" the sound while keeping it from sounding sterile.
Click to expand...

solid state marshall sucks.
boss distortion pedal sucks.

no im not a tone freak. i just know what WORKS. and that combo does not work.
 
another recommendation that i could give is (if your valvestate has a tube preamp and solid state power amp) get a tube screamer and just drive the piss out of your preamp tubes.

that might give you a kickin tone. but then again i dont recommend marshall for metal.
 
metalj said:
This is not opionion but fact. A Marshall Valvestate and a Boss MT-2 are like oil and water. They dont go together at all and will not get you a good sound.

Dude you bought a Marshall and want to put a digital distortion in front of it? It just wont work with your tube preamp in that amp and sound good. There is no other way to explain it. Some gear just doesnt match up. You can do it, but the sound is really bad. I know this from hands on experience with both item you have.

MT-2's work the best with solid state amps with lots of clean power, a very FLAT sounding clean channel at that, and no modleing. Peavey amps fit that description, tech 21's, ect... In this configuration the MT-2 will tear your head off and sound incredibly good with the right eqing.


Good Luck.
Click to expand...

I agree.

I have both. Never use em together. Awful.

Selling my valvestate actually, nothing seems to sound good to me.
 
basically.. if some of you are right, my equipment is a pile of crap.. :)
 
I'm not a huge fan of the Valvestate line - they're expensive relative to the MG's, yet that single preamp tube doesn't make enough of a difference for it to be worth the upcharge.

The Metal Zone... I used to own one. Probably still do, actually, next time I visit the 'rents I'll dig around.

My experience was that it's actualyl capable of making some pretty good sounds, provided you resist the urge to treat it like a "metal" pedal. The gain should pretty much never be up over halfway (it produces a LOT of saturation), and you need to be awfully careful about scooping the midrange. I generally left the bass and treble around 12 o'clock, maybe slightly less for the treble to take off a little of the edge, and then generally gave it a bit of an upper-mid boost rather than scooping the lower mids. I forget my exact settings, but try setting the mid frequency knobup around 2-3 o'clock and then the mid level up to taste...

Also, I was really surprised when I once tried running the thing through a small tube Fender at a blues jam - probably a Blues Jr or something, I forget. It added a lot of depth to the sound withotu muddying it up. Worth a try if you're not adverse to new gear...

But, long story short, most of the really shitty sounds people get from Metal Zones are the result of using WAY too much gain, and cutting all the mids/cranking the treble and bass. It's a surprisingly versatile pedal, I even had a fair amount of success using it as a boost in front of a driven tube Marshall. Hell, years later I heard Jerry Garcia used to use one like that, though I'm not sure if that's exactly an endorsement. :p

But anyway, what I suspect the conclusion you'll ultimately come to is, well, my sophomore year in college I sold that tube Marshall combo for a Mesa combo. Within 2 weeks, the Metal Zone was a paperweight.
 
valvestates are one of the more insulting offenses marshall has inflicted upon the musical community. that's not your fault.

maybe i totally missed it in the thread, but i saw nothing of the keeley mod.

http://www.robertkeeley.com/product.php?id=16

This is the single most sinister object in my house. Something this evil doesn't even care if I'm playing through a fender frontman. Keeley is a magician.
 
Kingofpain678 said:
ok dude i am here to help you. i have been there and done that with the marshall and metal zone. ive gone through all kinds of amps and all kinds of distortion pedals.

im gonna start by saying that if you need help or have questions feel free to instant message me about it.

ok for starters... you said your metal zone sounds "dry" and thats because those boss distortion pedals (metal zone, metal core) are incredibly digital fake sounding pieces of crap. the dryness your hearing is lack of tube warmth, that would really give you a good metal tone.

second, im assuming your wanting a high gain tone and fact is your just not gonna get that with a solid state marshall, especially with a boss distortion pedal. the only way your gonna get a good high gain tone with a marshall is if you get a high end expensive all tube marshall.

also, never EVER use a metal zone with any pod or v-amp or any direct recording device like that. they dont work well with really wet high gain signals.

so here is my advice to you, sell the marshall amps and the metal zone pedal and get your self a new amp. if you cant afford a tube amp then i recommend crate amps (as long as you replace the crappy speakers with a celestion or something) and line 6 amps are alright too. for tube amps id say get a peavey or mesa/boogie.

again like i said if you have ANY questions just send me an IM. ive been in your same exact situation before and i know how frustrating it can get.
Click to expand...

What? Sell the Marshall and get a Peavey? Dude nothing works as good for hard rock or metal than a Marshall. Nothing. Period. Millions of pros use them on tour and in the studio. Enough said on that.

Boss pedals are pretty good sounding pedals. I've used a lot of them. But the Metal Zone is not one of them.

As far as balls to the wall crunch goes solid state amps and this includes the AVT line have plenty of balls. I ran the gain on my AVT50 lower than what I had the gain set on my DSL50. The AVT's are very crunchy sounding.

Having said all this I will say however that tube amps give you the smoothest tone but be prepared to take out the credit card.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top