New Waza

[Willybomb]

Still trying to work out who wants a metal zone in the first place, let alone a Waza version.

[somnif]

The mt2 is like their 2nd best selling pedal. Mostly going to high schoolers thinking the name means instant metal godhood, presumably.

[somnif]

Funny enough, one of my favorite youtube guitarists put out a vid on the MT-2 (non-waza) just a few weeks ago. He gives the thing an attempt at a fair trial.

(Still sounds like every 15 year old metalhead rocking a 15W crate amp to me, but that EQ section is still a thing to be respected, if only from a technical standpoint)

[ahiddentableau]

The mt2 is like their 2nd best selling pedal. Mostly going to high schoolers thinking the name means instant metal godhood, presumably.

Hey, somnif, where'd you find a source on that?  I would like to look over a sales list for their line, see what people are really buying.

[Aentons]

Hey, somnif, where'd you find a source on that?  I would like to look over a sales list for their line, see what people are really buying.

It's in the Boss marketing verbage from the link at the beginning of the post. DS-1 is first. I wouldn't be surprised if the BD-2 is third.

"For over 25 years, the MT-2 Metal Zone has been one of the most popular and influential compact pedals in the BOSS lineup, with overall sales that are second only to the venerable DS-1 Distortion."

[ahiddentableau]

Hey, somnif, where'd you find a source on that?  I would like to look over a sales list for their line, see what people are really buying.

It's in the Boss marketing verbage from the link at the beginning of the post. DS-1 is first. I wouldn't be surprised if the BD-2 is third.

"For over 25 years, the MT-2 Metal Zone has been one of the most popular and influential compact pedals in the BOSS lineup, with overall sales that are second only to the venerable DS-1 Distortion."

Serves me right for not reading the marketing print.  Thank you.  Though I'd still love to see a full list of sales figures.

[somnif]

Serves me right for not reading the marketing print.  Thank you.  Though I'd still love to see a full list of sales figures.

Yeah It was mostly hearsay and marketing that I pulled the "2nd best seller" figure from. That and empirical data of how many I see in the used pile at my local shops.

It appears Boss doesn't actually publish sales figures though, annoyingly (though not surprisingly).

[ahiddentableau]

Serves me right for not reading the marketing print.  Thank you.  Though I'd still love to see a full list of sales figures.

Yeah It was mostly hearsay and marketing that I pulled the "2nd best seller" figure from. That and empirical data of how many I see in the used pile at my local shops.

It appears Boss doesn't actually publish sales figures though, annoyingly (though not surprisingly).

Yeah, those are exactly the lines on which I was thinking--I couldn't believe that Roland would give away trade information that was of obvious commercial value.  Frankly I'm still a bit surprised they revealed as much as they did.  If you had asked me which Boss pedals were the best sellers, I never would have picked the MT-2 in second place.  Aentons suggested the Blues Driver, and I think that would have been my guess, too.  Blues Driver or SD-1.

Does this suggest anything?  Is Roland just messing with us, or is there a huge untapped market out there for high gain distortion?  I think I'm still skeptical.

[somnif]

I really think it is a huge market of entry level players, same as the DS-1 (which will always be #1 because of its price).

The pedal has a marketable name, "curb appeal" to new players who want to "shred", its relatively cheap (compared to many pedals), and so on.

I knew 4 dudes with MT-2s in high school. 2 ibanez players, a BC rich player, and a Jackson player. All with cheapo under-20W solid state practice amps, who desperately wanted to play metal riffs without the need for practice or proper tools. The mindset is an effects pedal is all you need to replicate THAT tone.

Of course, it all sounded like crap, but if folks are having fun who cares. Boss certainly doesn't seem to mind the pedal has become a meme for lousy sound.

[ahiddentableau]

I really think it is a huge market of entry level players, same as the DS-1 (which will always be #1 because of its price).

The pedal has a marketable name, "curb appeal" to new players who want to "shred", its relatively cheap (compared to many pedals), and so on.

I knew 4 dudes with MT-2s in high school. 2 ibanez players, a BC rich player, and a Jackson player. All with cheapo under-20W solid state practice amps, who desperately wanted to play metal riffs without the need for practice or proper tools. The mindset is an effects pedal is all you need to replicate THAT tone.

Of course, it all sounded like crap, but if folks are having fun who cares. Boss certainly doesn't seem to mind the pedal has become a meme for lousy sound.

I agree with you about any market coming from entry level players, although I came to my conclusion a bit differently.  I thought about when I first picked up the instrument and how I felt and what I wanted.  Mainly I wanted distortion.  I think my (admittedly fuzzy 15 year-old) logic went something like this: in the music I was listening to all the guitar sounds were distorted, right?  How do they do that?  Oh, pedals?  That makes sense!  And I can get a pedal!  Awesome!  So, my birthday comes and I have a bit of money so off I go to the music store.  I sit haplessly in front of that demo board, baffled by my options.  So I just start stomping through the lot.  And of course I'm playing through some cheap 15W solid state amp with the volume on 1.5, so my impression of each pedal is incredibly misleading.  I distinctly remember thinking that the tube screamer was the worst pedal in the universe.  Blues driver?  Sounds like wimpy mush!  But the Metal Zone?  Hey!  That sounds like distortion!  It's so heavy!  So much gain!  And the EQ knobs actually offer some control! 

When I was 15 I bought an OS-2 this way, but I could just have easily picked the metal zone.  I think that's what sucks a lot of new players in.  Context matters, and a lot of the pedals that really do sound good only really sound good when they're used properly/at stage levels.  But on your crappy 15W crate, the metal zone probably has something going for it.