If you’re the proud owner of a Boss MT-2 Metal Zone, ask yourself the following question: do you ever wish it was even more distorted? Perhaps even a little bit more, for want of a better phrase, Metal Zone-ier?
Chances are, your answer will probably be “hell no”, but on the off-chance you’re now curious to find out what such a pedal would look and sound like, you’re in luck.
Because, thanks to 903 Effects, the most Metal Zone Metal Zone to ever have Metal Zone’d has arrived in all its glory – in the form of a triple-stacked MT-2 stompbox.
The unnamed pedal is, to put it plainly, a meme pedal of the highest order, but that’s not to say it can’t be used to conjure up some truly untethered high-gain tones. Indeed, rather than just looking the part, the stompbox comes loaded with three MT-2-inspired circuits, each of which are voiced slightly differently for a comprehensive Metal Zone playing experience.
A glance at the stompbox’s topography will reveal the lengths 903 Effects has gone to in order to deliver a faithful yet suitably augmented take on the MT-2. By splitting the original’s double-stacked frequency control knobs into four separate parameters, the Triple MT-2 offers six controls per section: High, Middle, Low, Mid Frequency, Level and Distortion.
That means there are a total of 18 control knobs and three footswitches to dial in as much MT-2 goodness as you could ever wish for.
According to 903 Effects’ Instagram page, the pedal was first conceived around nine weeks ago, when the pedal builder – whose real name is Seth Hoar – shared a tongue-in-cheek mock-up of an upcoming “versatile multi-effects” pedal.
The reveal was met with a fair amount of skepticism from MT-2 and meme fans, though Hoar made good on his word six weeks later when he issued a production update and shared a first-look at the pedal’s chassis.
Another week later, and the pedal was complete, with 903 Effects declaring it to be “perfect for those situations where you need just a little more gain”.
In a lengthy hands-on demo posted by Truck Driver Shawn, the Triple MT-2’s sonic potential can be heard. Of course, when one circuit its engaged, it’s a fairly standard MT-2 clone, but when the additional circuits are layered on top, things start to get a little bit more… interesting.
Alas, we don’t get to hear the pedal when all three circuits are completely maxed out, but to be honest we don’t blame Shawn for avoiding such a setup – who knows what devastation would have occurred if the Triple MT-2 was fully unleashed. (Although Rob Scallon and JHS Pedals head honcho Josh Scott's recent video exploits can give us a pretty good idea.)
For those looking to get their hands on one, Hoar responded to a potential customer by saying the Triple MT-2 was “far too much effort than it’s worth”, so we can’t imagine we’ll be seeing more examples of the mutant Metal Zone on the 903 Effects official Reverb store any time in the future.
Having said that, the obvious next step would be to recreate the project using the MT-2W Waza Craft Metal Zone design. If there’s one pedal that could potentially out-meme this one, that would be it.
Head over to the 903 Effects Instagram page to browse Seth Hoar's other, less Metal Zone-y builds.
