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HM-2 Heavy Metal

  • Features:
  • Sound Quality:
  • Reliability/Durability:
  • Ease of Use:
  • Customer Support:
  • Overall Rating:
  • Brand:
    Boss
  • Model:
    HM-2 Heavy Metal
Tags: brand#boss tax#aqb

Reviews

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The Metal Monster

Review By:
Smart Patrol
Smart Patrol on 10/5/10 8:33 AM
Reviewer Background:
Amateur with trained ears
Purchased From:
A Friend
Price:
$100.00 USD USED
Features:

The thing came with 4 knobs. The 2 in the middle were separate for BASS and TREBLE, the COLOR MIX section. It allowed more changes in tone, from mid-ranged metallic sound to something very gutural. The other Boss and competition pedals had usually 1 single knob for tone, so HM-2 could be tweaked in a way almost all the others couldn´t.

Sound Quality:

t sounded very agressive, a very pro effect, but it wasn't for me. The overhelming distortion was very good to play music from Iron Maiden, Metallica, Van Halen, Slayer and others. It was a product of its time, so the sound it produced, although high quality, sounded like something from the past.

However, it's still a great pedal, as long as you play it HEAVY.

Reliability/Durability:

The impression of it is the same I had from DF-2 Superfeedbacker (the one I got after it). That thing was a nearly Superman-invulnerable device. It could certainly resist to any kind of violence against it. No wonder it was usually the KING OF THE PEDALBOARD.

Ease of Use:

This was my very first pedal, so it had been a wrong choice for the kind of music I wanted to play. It was an opportunity.

In theory it could be very versatile, but it wasn't. I had a humbucker guitar and it was very hard to get a non-metal distortion from it. It wasn't the easiest pedal for me, but for my friends HM players, it was the one.

Customer Support:

Even if necessary, I didn´t stay with the pedal for a long time.

Overall Rating:

HM-2 was a pedal that sounded great. I was entering the guitar playing world, and a friend offered me Heavy Metal. Although impressive, the sound didn't satisfy me for the excess of low frequencies, so it was very difficult to use it to play pop or overdriven covers. The DF-2 was much better, much more flexible.

Of course, since it never fitted my style, I would never buy it again, but I would recommend HM-2 to every punk/heavy metal player I know. It's sound is very hard, energic. They will enjoy very much taking lots of noise out of it.

0 Comments Tags: brand#boss tax#aqb

HM-2 Heavy Metal

Review By:
Chris-Gipyo
Chris-Gipyo on 2/22/10 1:00 AM
Reviewer Background:
Purchased From:
eBay seller
Price:
$42.66 USD
Features:
Sound Quality:
I usually play my Fernandes Vertigo X through the pedal with all the dials turned to max. I run the pedal into the clean channel of my Peavey Valve King/Marshall MG412A setup. There is a bit of noise, even when the guitar's volume knob is all the way down, but it's just a "high-gain" hum, I guess; doesn't bother me. It gets a lot of feedback, which I happen to like in the music I play. This pedal is frequently employed in achieving the "buzzsaw" tone of bands like Entombed, Dismember, Trap Them, and many others. I'm giving it a 9 because, while I love the sound of this pedal and the noisiness it can create, some will not dig it as much.
Reliability/Durability:
It is very dependable and sturdy. I would use it at a gig without backup now, but I'd love to acquire another eventually, especially since these pedals are all getting older and rarer.
Ease of Use:
One can achieve a good sound out of this effect with just about any settings on the pedal, but it helps to have a decent amplifier/cabinet setup, as well as a guitar with humbuckers. When I purchased this pedal (on eBay) it did not come with a manual, but I found one on its Facebook fan page. It's very straightforward and informative. As far as I know my unit has not been upgraded or modified in any way; the only variation from a stock model is that the information sticker on the bottom has been removed.
Customer Support:
Overall Rating:
I play fast, heavy and loud hardcore/metal stuff, and this pedal works perfectly for that. I've been playing guitar a couple years. I also own a 15-watt Line 6 Spider III amp, a Squier Affinity Series Telecaster, and a lefty Fender Stratocaster that I've set up to play right-handed. If this pedal were stolen or lost I would replace it as soon as I possibly could. I love everything about it and hate nothing. My favorite feature (besides the overall awesome tone) is probably messing with the high and low balance knobs; they can be fun. This pedal flat out rules if you're into "hard" music at all. One can get a good tone for all sorts of heavier styles, even classic rock or gritty blues.
0 Comments Tags: brand#boss tax#aqb

HM-2 Heavy Metal

Review By:
2jakes
2jakes on 2/14/10 1:00 AM
Reviewer Background:
Purchased From:
rondo music union nj
Price:
Features:
Sound Quality:
i mainly use this pedal with my 70's fender twin reverb (got great cleans but no real gain to speak of) works best with tube amps & here's the trick....you gotta EQ after the pedal & use it last in the chain...also helps if you use a compressor as well to tone down the chain saw sound of it. I also add an old ibanez tube screamer just before this pedal to combine them both.again i don't need this pedal with my jcm 2ooo but with my old fenders that are clean sounding
Reliability/Durability:
very reliable ...all boss are built like tanks ...i own this pedal from the early 90's but it was shelved when i bought my marshall....like i said i started using my fender twin an an old bandmaster together (blackface from 64) so this pedal helped get me a three stage effect for distortion  ie   tube screamer-saturator by vox-then the heavy metal then an eq with reverse v pattern (boost mids cut down highs & lows....the pedal has adjustments for these
Ease of Use:
like stated before this pedal takes some tweaking before it yields great tone. i almost shit-canned it but sold too much eqipment & ALWAYS regretted it afterward. glad i held onto this once i figured out how to maximize its tone
Customer Support:
only had to deal with boss to get my digital recorder upgraded to a 40 gb. hardrive when my 20gb broke. they even called me back & helped me get set-up into two partitions!  good support
Overall Rating:
the sound of any gear is the end result of trial & error & endless tweaking. also read other musicians advise on how they use it or hook it up. i owned it for over 10 years before i got better tones from it al because of what one musician taught me about effects & proper placement & equalization & compression
0 Comments Tags: brand#boss tax#aqb

HM-2 Heavy Metal

Review By:
6810-nIzxZ
6810-nIzxZ on 12/3/09 1:00 AM
Reviewer Background:
Purchased From:
Yahoo Auction
Price:
$2,500.00 USD
Features:
Sound Quality:
The "sound" of this pedal is really open to interpretation and usage. The HM-2 is known as the Sunight Sound (Entombed's early albums, think buzzsaw/chainsaw crunch). It can get a sleazy, mud rich, mid rich sound and a pretty cool stack in a box type distortion as well. This thing sounds as dirty as it battle scarred (mine's at least 18 years old at the time of writing). But not dirty in a bad way. However, the reason I write is because of the magic the HM-2 performs on a bass running into a tube amp. I currently run a Schecter Studio 5-string into a Peavey VB-2 driving a 410 no-name cab. There are, in my opinion two sweet spots for bass on this pedal. The first is to use it as a low-mid rich dirty-up to sound overdriven a la Tubescreamer (but with less brilliance and more low end) into the amp at medium volume. Thick, audible but with buckets of bass (Level: Max - CL: 2 O'clock - CH: 2 O'clock - Dist: Min). This is a dirty overdrive signal with a hint of fuzz in the high mids. Good for filling the role of a rhythm guitarist in a three piece. The other sound is the Godflesh sound. Max out everything and pump all that hot noisy signal into an already sweating TUBE bass amp for total sonic destructive bliss. This sounds like the apocalypse being wrenched from the future, especially when run through a 215 cab. SO, it ain't clean, it ain't pretty and it sure ain't new. But it is what it says - pure, unadulterated Heavy Metal!
Reliability/Durability:
These things have been around a long time. The newest ones are at least seventeen years old. The circuit, if odd, is not particularly complicated, so if things did start to break down, components could be replaced. Hell, the circuit diagram is freely available on the internet so in theory you could just build one. Boss pedals are what they are. Solidly built with weak battery connectors but when used within reason or even just a little care they last. These things are old, so be warned, you might get worn pots, busted battery connectors and a failing switch. This is no fault of the manufacturer (whether Japanese or Taiwanese), it's just old age! I've heard of people gutting newer, unloved Boss pedals and swapping out the guts to house the HM-2!
Ease of Use:
It's a simple, single effect stomp box for distortion. Four controls: Level, Color (L), Color (H) and Distortion. Dialling in the right sound can be a little tricky given the way that the mids shift in relation to both low and high knobs. Plenty of sweet spots can be found with a bit of experimentation but be prepared to tinker and have a note pad handy (no, seriously!).
Customer Support:
If I called or emailed, would they even care about a looooooong discontinued niche market product? Then again, with all the circuit diagrams out there and professional modders this couldn't be too hard to fix. Thus, no opinion.
Overall Rating:
This pedal does what it says it does. And what does it say? Heavy metal. With an open mind, a bit of experimentation and a love of bass this pedal goes a long way. In my opinion, it works better with bass and a tube amp. That said, with guitar you can wrench some serious doom a la Eagle Twin (and you don't even need a baritne guitar) from a tube amp on the verge of pre-amp and power-amp collapse. It throbs and pulsates and causes total low end sonic mayhem that can only be felt/heard to be believed. So, used imaginatively for other than the original purpose (capturing the heavy metal sound of the 1980s) this pedal is a worthwhile addition for a doomster who likes to tweak, a bass player who wants a distinctive mid rich voice that isn't a TS-9 or if you just like even more obscenity in an already obscene signal path.
0 Comments Tags: brand#boss tax#aqb

HM-2 Heavy Metal

Review By:
Chris.J.
Chris.J. on 9/30/09 1:00 AM
Reviewer Background:
Purchased From:
ebay
Price:
$120.00 USD
Features:
Sound Quality:
I'm a bit of a gilmour freak, so I like to experiment with the pedals he used and try to replicate the sound he conjured up from various setups. I have a good ear for music (play by ear), and don't pretend to be a professional musician, so please see this from an amateurs point view. I have been using a Hi-Watt 50watt solid state amp with a black strat replica (ssl-5, ssl-1 pickups), sometimes with a behringer AC108 tube pre-amp amplifier.  Effects used include (in chain), boss CS-2 compressor, boss HM-2, Boss CE-3 chorus, stereo electric mistress and ibanez delay/echo, all trying to mimic his 1984 pedal board setup which consisted mostly of boss pedals. In this guise you can nail the sound from Gilmour's About Face album, plus McCarteny's "No more lonely nights" that gilmour feaatured on.  I was really suprised at how easy this distortion pedal was to live with, as far as I'm concered it's no heavy metal pedal, more like a great distortion for rock & maybe blues.  It is quiet and maybe more comparable to my proco rat2, probably a bit easier to use in fact. I got the settings for the colour mix from gilmourish, and they seem to be correct for the sound produced.  I have't played around with too many other settings re the clour, as the current settigns seem to give a glood blend of bass/mids & treble.    
Reliability/Durability:
Boss = reliability!  This is a reasonably old & discontinued pedal now, and probably looks and performs as good as the day it came out of the factory (I bought it second hand). 
Ease of Use:
As with most boss pedals, everything is well labelled and self explanatory - haven't actually got a manual with mine, and didn't need it anyway.
Customer Support:
Once again, bought second hand, no issues so far, hence no dealings with support.
Overall Rating:
If you are after the "About Face" era of Gilmours music, why not give this pedal a try, I reckon it sounds pretty cool as a good all round distortion - and I personally think sounds better than my Rat.  I will continue to tinker with various combos of gilmours pedals purely out of fun (yeah,I know people will say the sound is in his hands), and the HM-2 will gain a deserved spot on my pedal board.  If it were stolen I would most probably get another one - they are still floating around on ebay for reasonble prices.
0 Comments Tags: brand#boss tax#aqb
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