Metal music and distortion-generating
stompboxes can be odd bedfellows.
So much of what we think of as “metal
tone” is generated by big, high-gain amps
that pedals sometimes seem redundant. But
not all of us have the luxury of an expensive,
200-watt monster to generate the biggest
metal sounds, nor do most players have
either the inclination to regularly transport
such a beast
or the appropriate space in
which to unleash it. And even players who
do own those pricey high-gain amps and are
adventurous enough to want to add a distortion,
fuzz, or overdrive stompbox to the
equation find that many units on the market
are less than perfectly suited to the slicing,
mid-heavy environs of modern metal.
In sum, it’s hard to find a good all-in-one
metal distortion that will turn smaller amps
into raging animals and bigger amps into
more versatile behemoths. New Jersey-based
Metal Pedals is one company that’s unafraid of
the challenge, though. In fact, the HardCore
XXX—which has
massive amounts of gain—
meets the challenge quite admirably.
Feature Creature
With seven knobs arranged across its adult-themed
surface, the XXX looks way more
complex than your average fuzz or overdrive.
But it’s actually a fairly simple circuit.
Most of the controls are dedicated to the
super-flexible 5-band EQ that’s one of the
fundamental strengths of the pedal. Other
than the EQ, there are Gain and Volume
knobs and a 2-way switch that engages a
noise-reduction circuit.
The most interesting and unique aspect
of the XXX’s controls is the EQ’s midrange
section, which gives the pedal a tonal
expansiveness that helps emulate voicings
from the upper midrange of a Marshall
JCM800 to the signature low mids of a raging
Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier.
Strength Beyond Strength
Many of the pedals that cater to the metal
crowd are voiced on the brighter end of the
spectrum. But the HardCore XXX can be
quite dark if you need it to be. In fact, with
a Les Paul Custom and a Bogner Barcelona
40-watt combo, the XXX tended to sound
a little
too dark. Compensating with the
pedal’s Hi and Mid-Hi controls helped,
because both have tremendous range and
an incredibly powerful effect on the tone.
However, with the Les Paul and Bogner, at
least, they never seemed to totally transform
the XXX’s basically dark voice. It seems
that the XXX was designed with a brightly
voiced amp in mind. That was confirmed
when I plugged the pedal into a Fender
Twin Reverb reissue. While the Twin is
light years from a metal amp, the XXX’s
dark tone was a great match for the bright
Twin—highlighting the sustain and high-end
detail of my single-note leads.
In general, the XXX’s tone and feel
is very amp-like and responsive to pick
attack, which makes it a blast to imitate
various metal styles with. By tweaking
the L-Mid and Mid-Hi knobs, I was able
to approximate everything from classic
Motörhead to early Metallica and mid-
’90s Pantera. The XXX was especially
good at generating the cutting qualities
of thrash-type tones without sacrificing
dimension—no mean feat, given the high-mid
content that typifies the style. Given
the current trend toward thrashier distortions
with a razor-sharp high end, this was
a welcome surprise.
The only trouble I encountered with the
XXX was trying to find a sweet spot that was
perfect for both rhythm
and lead. When the
XXX was set for an inspiring, sustaining lead
tone that could rip the paint off the walls,
chugging riffs played with the same tone
seemed to have raspy, unrefined edges. Most
of the time I could cure this by decreasing
the gain, though that also stole away some of
the violin-like sustain I loved so much.
The XXX’s noise-reduction circuit is
pretty phenomenal. Instead of clamping
down on the end of notes like a steel trap,
it quickly rounds off the ends into silence.
It sounds exceptionally natural, so much
so that at times I forgot I even had it
turned on. Even so, I would have liked to
be able to alter the circuit’s settings—such
as the threshold. The manual recommended
that I keep the switch off when using
lower gain settings, and I could hear why:
The gate shut down a little too quickly
on the ends of notes, sending them crashing
to earth instead of shrieking into the
stratosphere. With the gate off, I was able
to summon some really smooth and purring
low-gain tones—provided the Hi control
wasn’t set too high.
The Verdict
Guitarists have been searching for years
for a one-stop pedal that can convincingly
cover everything from old-school metal to
stuff at the thrashier end of the headbanging
spectrum. If you’re on that quest, the
Metal Pedals HardCore XXX is definitely
worth a look. It’s versatile, flexible, easy
to use, and works really well with brightvoiced
tube amps. Some minor tweaking
is required to get a good balance of
rhythm and lead tones, but the powerful
EQ is up to the task. For those who have
spent countless hours and dollars trying to
achieve killer metal tones beyond those that
lurk in their amps, the search may well end
with the XXX.
Watch the video review:
Buy if...
you want to add a variety of tight, fluid metal tones to a brightly voiced amp.
Skip if...
you require a dual-channel pedal for contrasting lead and rhythm tones.
Rating...
