Digitech metal master vs Boss DS1 and MD2

[1neeto]

I currently have a Metal Master but I'm not liking it as much anymore. I think it's because I hate the sound with the morph knob turned past 12 o'clock, it sounds too fake. I want something a bit less one dimensional so to speak, so I've been looking at some CL deals, one is selling a MD2 for $40 and another a DS1 for $20. Problem is that I haven't heard either or other than youtube videos. My guitar is a PS-4 with stock pickups and my amp is a sorry ass Ibanez 10 watt practice amp. I live in an apt building and 10 watts is loud enough to annoy the neighbors, plus I'm a noob only been playing for 6 months now.

I "play" metal of course, but I also like hard rock and been getting into other stuff that doesn't rely much on heavy distortion. I really like Opeth's Heritage tone but I don't think I can achieve that with a distortion pedal. What you guys recommend?

[Whoopu2]

My advice would be to save your $$$ and get a real amp. You will get a much heavier and true overdriven tone that you can't get out of any distortion pedal. If you look around, you can usually find used tube-driven combo Marshalls, Mesas, Peaveys, ENGLs, etc. for a decent price. Even if it's a small combo, it will be much louder than your current practice amp, but you should be able to get it to a reasonable volume. I've had many distortion pedals and this is really the only way to get a good "true" metal tone in my experience.

If that's out of the question, I would reccommend an effects processor. Especially given your experience, ZOOM makes some nice processors that handle everything and are very affordable, and you can usually plug some headphones directly into many of their units.

[jacksonkellyfreak]

Zoom, digitech, line6, boss, korg, even vox, they all make killer processors, and the technology has come on in leaps and bounds in the last 12-13 years. i have several of em and a marshall avt150 halfstack, which is pretty well known for being able to sound almost exactly like a jcm900, and i cant tell the difference in my marshall's natural tone and the jcm900 patch on my digitech.

[horns666]

start with a "good" amp...

I swear by Line 6 spider II..without all that preset muck. The effects on that is more than 'nuff you'll need. The 75 wt combos with 2 celestions and four channels from prestine clean to insane. CL should have those all day for $200 and under. My kid and I beat the shit outta his, for year and never a prob. If EVER did take a dump, I'd buy another one for 100 bucks.

If your doubting the metal tone capabilities..check out Jeff Loomis - Line 6..on youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8eDc0iE0A8

Trust me, you DONT need their III or iV series. I like the bare bones II best...the artist presets suck balls anyway.

[jacksonkellyfreak]

Yea Im with Bill. Line 6 and everybody else has really improved their technology in the last few years. the models sound great and theres no real lifeless sounding flat shit anymore. some suck, but most are very very good.

[1neeto]

I bought my son a spider IV this past Christmas. No bad at all for 100 bucks! But he doesn't live with me so I can't use it. Another amp I quite like is the Fender Mustang, it has more preset channels than the line 6 and the metal channel sounds pretty cool. The reason why I'm looking at pedals is because of how inexpensive they're on the used market. If I buy a new amp I'll most likely skip on the SS amp and buy a tube instead but that can be a pretty penny.

[Nightbat]

Imy amp is a sorry ass Ibanez 10 watt practice amp.

Either you throw in a nice FX-processor in front of it like JKF stated, with most you can also plug in a set of headphones, some even have a line in
for CD/DVD/iPod/iPad/iPud (courtesy of BillZ) -players (whatever new thing they go for nowadays) to play along, or get a whole different amp like the others stated


It may perhaps be possible to find a (single) pedal that can make ANY amp sound good, if you find it, give us a shout, because it's gonna take you a bucketload of $$$
to find it (and save us a pretty penny )

[chuckbat]

+1 for all the above. Orange has some decent sounding solid state combos that aren't too expensive as well.

[1neeto]

Either you throw in a nice FX-processor in front of it like JKF stated, with most you can also plug in a set of headphones, some even have a line in
for CD/DVD/iPod/iPad/iPud (courtesy of BillZ) -players (whatever new thing they go for nowadays) to play along, or get a whole different amp like the others stated


It may perhaps be possible to find a (single) pedal that can make ANY amp sound good, if you find it, give us a shout, because it's gonna take you a bucketload of $$$
to find it (and save us a pretty penny )

Lol it's not that bad of an amp for what it is. I guess I'll stick with my digitech until I buy me a better amp. Thanks everyone!

[VitaminG]

have you read the manual or tried the recommended settings for the Metal Master? http://www.digitech.com/en/products/metal-master
It doesn't sound like a bad pedal to me. I like the "Controlled feedback" settings on the demo. They have suggestions to replicate the Boss Metal Zone & DOD Death Metal pedals too.

I don't know how familiar you are with the X-Series, but the premise was to provide three distinct sounds in a single pedal which you could then "morph" between.

From the manual:

"Morphs between the three different metal distortion voicings. The
minimum position is a smooth high gain tone. The 12 o’clock position is
a scooped midrange sound. The maximum position is a punchy mid
range heavy metal sound that really cuts through the mix. Experiment
with the knob’s different positions to hear the wide variety of distortion
tones."

If the maximum position is designed to cut through a mix, it may not sound fantastic by itself. Play it with a band or over a backing track and you might like it better.

I have their Hot Rod Rock Distortion pedal. They offer suggested Pro Co Rat, DS1 & Fuzzface settings for it. Not a bad pedal at all, although it has been relegated to the Big Box of Stuff since I got my MI Audio Crunchbox.

If you're worried about the one-dimensionality of the MM, you're going to be sorely disappointed in the DS1. But $20, it might not hurt to try it out.

[1neeto]

I bought it used so it didn't come with the instruction booklet. Thanks forthe link I'm gonna check it out and experiment some. But like you said a $20 pedal is a minimal investment so it wouldn't hurt to have two pedals. The MM IMO sounds pretty good at 9 o clock. It kinda has that TOOL tone to it on drop D. But yeah thanks again for that link.

Oh yeah do all pedals go through batteries like this one does? gotta get me an AC adapter, otherwise I'll waste enough money on batteries to be able to afford a nice tube amp!

[VitaminG]

yea, the X-Series do chew through power. Fair bit of processing power there. I think they run at something like 165ma, so they'll decimate a 9volt in no time. Compare that to a more traditional distortion box which would draw less than 20ma

[lefty]

I currently have a Metal Master but I'm not liking it as much anymore. I think it's because I hate the sound with the morph knob turned past 12 o'clock, it sounds too fake. I want something a bit less one dimensional so to speak, so I've been looking at some CL deals, one is selling a MD2 for $40 and another a DS1 for $20. Problem is that I haven't heard either or other than youtube videos. My guitar is a PS-4 with stock pickups and my amp is a sorry ass Ibanez 10 watt practice amp. I live in an apt building and 10 watts is loud enough to annoy the neighbors, plus I'm a noob only been playing for 6 months now.

I "play" metal of course, but I also like hard rock and been getting into other stuff that doesn't rely much on heavy distortion. I really like Opeth's Heritage tone but I don't think I can achieve that with a distortion pedal. What you guys recommend?

How 'bout a Peavey Vyper? The smallest one is dirt cheap, not much more than a mid-level stompbox,
and has lots of cool amp models and FX. I use one for practice at home and it works great...

[1neeto]

Gonna buy me a DS1 this weekend and keep the MM. Maybe this is the start of my custom pedal board!

[1neeto]

So I ended up with the MD2. Someone let it go for 30 bucks and I couldn't pass it up. When put head to head with the MM, the MD2 pales when it comes to heavy metal sound. Even when you crank the distortion and gain, it just sounds too digitized. However, with high distortion and mid to low gain, you get a nice hard rock tone. With the distortion all the way down and about 9 o clock on the gain, it has a decent overdriven sound. This pedal has way more tonal range, the only thing it misses is the heavy metal chug chug of the MM. Having one or the other kinda sucks, but now that I have both I'm fairly happy.