How To Use: Boss HM-2
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- Опубликовано: 8 фев 2025
- The infamous Boss HM-2 defined the sound of Swedish Death Metal earning itself the nickname 'The Swedish Chainsaw'
Find out how to use this weapon of tonal carnage to produce one of the nastiest guitar tones the world has ever known.
For more on the history and mythology of this pedal watch the appendix video here: • Appendix | How To Use:...
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Seriously, you all need to check out Rotten Sound, they are responsible for the awesome t-shirt in this video.
Listen to their punishing Grindcore music here: rottensound.bandcamp.com/
CSGuitars rotten sound is amazing!
I ♡ Rotten Sound
I approve of this.
Getting that top
NAILS!
It's so compressed i feel like I'm watching the Hydraulic Press Channel
stefan markov thats the idea!! It sounds like a THROTTLED chainsaw.
*IT KOD ATAKKAT ANY TIME!*
*SO WI MAS DEEL VI VIT!*
*left hand path intensifies*
Raúl Pérez beat me to it
HAHAHAHAHAHAH
Considering your icon is a the skull-faced Sith lord Darth Nilius, and he is indeed holding his lightsaber in his left hand. This is fitting.
Shut up
After 6 years, I finally understand this reference. Yay!
It sounds like if you forgot to turn off your wah and it's set at somewhere in the middle.
V'yell Gohl
Ikr, just more uncomfortable
V'yell Gohl as with all boss distortion fx
SiREN2173 that's why I've never been a fan of any distortion Boss had released
MrDirtBaggins yeah, and it it really was a wah, you could start playing with it
Smurfman256 you nailed it. Low mids out, high mids in, its those mids that cause the grinding churning chainsaw sound. It makes the guitar Huge and obvious in a mix.
Is that a lute in the background?
You should put a piezo in it and run it through the HM-2, for science.
Man it actually sounds pretty usable with the high knob set to 1pm, not only for the Swedish chainsaw. I liked the tone
Lowering the high gets you great doom/sludge tones.
I always boosted the low end and cut the high end. I usually did the trick where ya have the knobs face eachother. I usually used it with bass at 1 or 2 and high and 10 or 11
It's really not bad,
It just need more gain...
And less mids...
I mean Meds
But remember, if you cut your meds too much you might not be haired in the mecks
vidEOkid12345
That depends on what kinda peck-ups yar usein
the Eiger Advocate remember, you just need to be haired.
The only whey to get haired
Meths
A lot of people - myself included - run this with the gain turned right down into a tube amp. Even with the gain down, into a high gain amp, it will definitely start distorting. I know it should sound nasty, but it's ever so slightly less "noisy" when you run it this way, and with the EQ fully boosted it still sounds like an HM2 rather than the "normal" gain from your amp. So I use it essentially as an EQ & boost rather than a distortion pedal. Still sounds beastly, but gives you a little more control of the gain whilst keeping the HM2 sound.
I use it like that in front of my Orange Dark Terror. Probably the best tone I've ever gotten from that amp. The colors match too!
I sometimes stack my Behringer HM300 with a Metal Zone. The HM300 boosts the Zone (set to max gain with some mids on)... that's the Slaughter of the Soul tone, well, that and a Peavey Supreme amp. Max level, 0 distortion, and Flat EQ on the HM-2/HM300.
i use it the same way. makes the palm mutes a bit tidier, but still sounds raspy as fuck
James Lennon the key to the hm2's tone is the eq abd level, the actual frequencies, not the clipping. Thats why it works, best way to use the hm2 is gain at zero, dime everything else, into a high gain channel with the gain a little less than you would think, and the tonal qualities just get overtaken by hm2. Gold!
Yup, That's why I said exactly that.
This pedal makes my ears bleed, especially when tremolo picking, I want 10
One of these was the first effect pedal I ever had. I found out you could plug headphones into the output and use it as a portable amp.
Boss should reissue this and discontinue the Metal Zone.
Your wish has been granted!
big facts
@@allthingsclassicrock Wait, the Metal Zone is discontinued?
Giovanni Di Marco oops. I thought the heavy metal had been reissued it was the metal zone that had
Mate I would have agreed with you but put the Metal Zone MT2 through the effects return of your amp and see what you think then!!
My first Pedal back around '88 . was doing Swedish death metal at the time .
Sorry typo Wasn't doing Swedish Death Metal at the time ...lol
Damn it sounds like ass. Awesome.
😆 🤣 😂 😹
I LOVE this pedal. Ran it through a mesa at various Vallenfyre shows over the years, always the best mix, sounds awesome!
now stack this with a metal zone.
ALL THE GAIN!!
He already did
Wait, how much gain?
Laugh all you want, but the metal zone and the hm-2 were used for At the Gates "Slaughter of the Soul" guitar tone.
That's actually how at the gates got the Slaughter of the Soul tone
raybbaby all of it
A pedal where I set everything to 10 and its encouraged? Looks like I have to buy this.
I want a cute little heart on my comment too.
LOL Thanks Dude. Ur Awesome.
I really can't understand why Boss haven't discontinued the metalzone and reintroduced this, at least the HM-2 has a use... unlike the metalzone
The metalzone is actually quite popular as a boost/tightening pedal. It works well with Rectifiers in particular.
Yup... Cannibal Corpse did this for years. Now they prefer a Maxon overdrive that's based on the Ibanez Turbo Tube Screamer.
I place a metal zone into a rat proco and it sounds like the best scuzz garbage ever
at the gates uses a mt2 and a hm2 at the same time
Alex Ramos you are wrong the Ibanez Tube Screamer is actually based off the Maxon OD808
Ahhhhh that old 80s death/thrash metal sound just centers me. Miss it, Love it!
I was lucky enough to be at the right age when the Swedish sound evolved and have just got back into playing again after a bad band break up years ago. I bought a MIT pedal the other week and am loving the maxed out sound once more. Even better is the discovery of Rotten Sound. Thanks for the recommendation. :)
How to use Korg Miku Pedal
At the front of your signal path. For example, Korg Miku -> MXR M234 Chorus -> Boss HM-2 Distortion -> Clean channel
At the front of your signal path. For example, Korg Miku -> MXR Chorus -> HM-2 Distortion -> Clean channel
Not bad, but I would put an EQD Rainbow Machine between the chorus and the HM-2, and a DOD Gonkulator after the HM-2. That's what I would consider an ideal signal chain.
Have three miku pedals on at the same time and then a sitar pedal into a 30 dollar practice amp on max
Emmett Problem is that the only one that you could hear would be the one last in the chain since it's only a preset sound.
Hey Collin. A cool “how to use” would be for a Big Muff. I’m tempted to get one because they’re decently affordable. In videos though people seem to get a whole spectrum of sounds. Specifically looking for a doomy sound out of it. 👍🏼
This sounds utterly repulsive and disgusting.... I fucking love it and want one.
guitar19971 they're getting hard to come across, I have a left hand wrath and that's an awesome version.The dod boneshaker can get a similar sound for less money, it isn't exact but its pretty close.
I own a Boss HM-2 and a Behringer HM300, and they sound nearly identical; the Behringer is only about $25. The HM-2 is ever-so-slightly better.
I own 2 and they're NOT for sale at ANY PRICE.
I have 5 HM2s; 2 Arion Metal Masters; 2 Rocktek Metal Workers; a DOD Super American Metal and a Behringer HM300, so you could say I quite like the sound it makes!
Awesome vid! id like to add Entombed I believe had 2 HM-2 tracks panned left/right and had a DS-1 down the middle for leads.
At the gates had a combo of the metalzone into the HM-2 (or vice verse) into the peavey.
Who would've thought cheap boss pedals would influence the sound of heavy metal for generations?
PS. Rotten Sound RULES.
Rotten Sound is awesome. I saw them in the basement of a veterans hall building here about 7 years ago. Didn’t even really believe it was a real gig when I heard about it but they showed up and melted the handful of faces there. Legends.
Ahhh ...my first ever Boss pedal back in 1986...Had a fender copy strat with single coils going through my turntable stereo speakers...:-P great memories...
when I bought it back in late 80s, I could not also afford an amp, so I plug into the HI-FI in the living room. The result was amazing! Friends told me this is the best distorted sound they ever heard!!! Many started doing the same, and eventually some burned our speakers...
A friend's dad passed away a few years ago, and I'm pretty much the only musician the family knew so I inherited a lot of his old music stuff. This was in there, and I never use it. Didn't know how valuable it was...!
playingforbritain its not klon levels of money, but people will scoop it up for sure. I can imagine with all the clones that came out in the last 5 years (i own a left hand wrath deluxe myself) alot of people may turn to the clones and might make the price go down for hm2s since the demand will also not be as high. Ive played an hm2 myself, the left hand wrath i use is better suited for death metal (but is not a 1:1 clone nor is it trying to be). Its less noisy and has the mid and high decoupled from the "high knob" on the hm2 so you can tweak the peramiters indicidually. The hm2 increases the 2 simultaneously. Also my left hand wrath has an added presence knob and a SUB MID knob. Once the mids is dimed (which is the key to the chainsaw sound) it activated the SUB MID and allows you to raise the high frequency of an extended mid frequency. Also it has a blend knob which works magic. People will scoop up the Hm2 for its novelty and nostalgia, but clones are coming out that improve upon what boss did.
Fair enough... so cash in while the novelty still holds? ;)
Infamous but I can't keep myself from loving it! The Behringer HM300 is a cheap and acceptable alternative
It's also a nice pink colour, because why the fuck not! :D
Yes! I put a big label "Girly Death Metal" on mine :D
LOL
The dude at lone Wolf audio would be so mad. He thinks his pedals are the only ones that matter.
i got myself the hm300 after xmass and i only made it sound good until a couple day ago, the everything on 10 setting combined with the dimebucker on my v was so bad it was bad, i really had to thinker with the settings on that pedal and i'm finally happy with it thanks to the at the gates method, have dist on the pedal on nothing or little and boost it with an od, i ended up runing a hotone golden touch with level maxed and gain on 7 in front of the hm300 and now it sounds great, swedish chainsaw but clearer and no cocked wah sound :)
it hurts my ears
but man it looks awesome
I really Iike the Iook but man it Sounds Iike 💩💩
Amon Amarth should record an album with this pedal in Sunlight Studios... it would be amazing.
Why down right nasty? When I bought mine in the early 1980's, it came with a brass plaque stating it was the 3 millionth unit. It also came with a booklet demonstrating how to get the sound of various rock guitarists, such as EVH for example. I love my pedal, it was the only pedal I had at the time and on one gig, Phil Campbell (out of Motorhead) actually asked how I got my sound. Couldn't have sounded that bad then. I think it's just that it suited the amps of the time better than now.
This was the first pedal I ever owned back in the early 2000s. I think I got it at a pawn shop in Bellingham, WA. I couldn't play worth a shit then, but even I knew this thing sounded shockingly horrible no matter what settings you used. I was using it through a tiny Crate and a Peavey Backstage, and the built-in distortion channels on both sounded 100 times better. I wish I'd kept it now; that tone is just so absolutely atrocious that it's ironically iconic.
Received TC Electronic‘s Eyemaster today and it nails the HM-2 sound much better than I expected after watching their official product video. Great pedal, and I really like its simplified approach with the fixed EQ settings. Just played the Hollowman lead guitar melody through it and felt like a teenager again.
Great content as usual!
I bought this pedal used over 10 years ago to play with a guitar I had borrowed, had to return the guitar shortly after and only recently bought my own guitar.. Glad I kept the pedal all these years! :)
I love the sound of this pedal, and I like it all the way to 10 like the classics, but putting the gain on zero, and using it to boost a gainy amp is so damn rad.
A HM-2 was my first pedal of any sort and I still love it. It's been used and abused and probably looks in worse condition than this one, it only occasionally works if there's a battery, and a little bit more reliable when using a mains adapter. The LED mostly doesn't work. Always loved the sound when the 9 volt battery was starting to die too. Definitely the MOST fun distortion pedal ever.
just picked up one in great condition for 80 bucks. serial dates to april 84!!! it sounds so sick, and i'm using a tele! LOL!
guardians of ASGAAAAARRRRRRDDDDDDD
TheLukster100 yasss. I'd be surprised if Amon Amarth actually used/uses the pedal. Their tone is much less ear-vomit-inducing as this lol
Stephen Avery more melodic, definently
@@StephenAvery93 They don't. Just guitar and amp (Kemper), that's it, according to Johan Söderberg.
@@wulfila99 I figured they used Fractal or Kemper live. Great live sound as well
I own TWO of these pedals.
One needs to go to the shop.
The other works JUST FINE.
I had NO IDEA about the pedigree of these Gems until
recently seeing a slew of videos regarding them.
WOW.
just WOW.
I acquired these at different times.
My first one I acquired around 1995.
I used it until around 2010.
It is the one that needs the shop.
I think I paid $45.00 maybe less for it.
The other one was GIVEN to me about 3 years ago.
I will never lose these two, even though I have seen
these going for around $250.00 and UP.
I have a few "OTHER" pedals that I found out are highly collectable as well.
But I'LL NEVER SELL ANY OF THEM.
They do what I want them to do and SOUND FANTASTIC.
I use them on Bass as that's what I play.
I also "LUCKED INTO" a BNX-3 Digitech Bass Station.
This thing is AMAZING.
Three words: Big. Muff. Pi.
Hop to it!
That tone legit makes me happy, feels homely and comfortable. Also I need that top
A pretty affordable alternative to the HM2 is the DOD Super American Metal. I managed to find one for about £20 so I can't really complain, it also seems to be slightly more flexible compared to the HM2 although the distortion is a bit more scrambled.
Nathan Howard the DOD death metal FX86 is their answer to the HM2... Sounds sooo brutal
Behringer hm300 also works good too.
This also sounds like the Dismember album pieces. Great EP, I miss that band.
This plus a chorus pedal an a delay ran through a Mesa Boogie into a Fender Champ = 80s Gilmour tone. So not as shite and one trick as made out to be.
Also, TC Electronics Fangs is a more versatile option with a Mid Cut/Boost switch.
The reason why it has that characteristic sound when the high control is turned all the way up is because the op amp that provides the eq amplification is actually clipping. A less well-known, cheaper pedal that is almost identical is the DOD FX-56, which only has the high control knob and the bass is permanently set at max. I also personally think that Boss should reissue this pedal in the future.
How can people NOT like this pedal wtf.
For those of you who can't afford a nice Japanese HM-2 the Behringer HM300 is a great alternative, sounds a little ballsier in my opinion and costs about 60 dollars less
You've convinced me to finally buy one of these! Just bought a Japan version on Reverb for $120 \m/
Dude, your HM2 looks BADASS!
I used to have one of these back in the nineties and loved it this is what i learnt to play on lol
I used to have one and loved it. I used to turn the low eq up and the hi eq down and it sounded awesome. Regretfully swapped it with a Dod classic tube, when I got into grunge.
I got my first guitar in 1992. However, the little solid-state amp that my parents bought me had nothing but a perfectly clean channel which couldn't even be pushed into crunch territory. When I asked the guy at the guitar shop how to get the dirty sounds I was hearing on Metallica and Megadeth records, he directed me to the HM-2 they had in the shop. I had the pedal for two or three years, then sold it when I bought an amp that had an overdrive channel. So yeah, I had this pedal once upon a time, then sold it because I didn't know any better (I'd never even heard of Swedish death metal back then). >.
If there was no hm 2 there would be no Mayhem
Euronymous used a hm 2 together with an sd 1 into a plexi
I’ve got an early Japanese made one that hasn’t worked properly in ages. Might have to pull it apart and see if anything’s come loose cos I want it back working to try out again!
Nice! My local pawn shop has one for $50! I think I might have to try it!
LOL - glad you're still using it, mate. I don't miss that pedal at all "works perfectly" I thought it was broken when I sent it to you! I still think it sounds broken.
+JDODify there was one point it started to glitch and fart worse than normal and I thought it was properly dead.
I honestly can't thank you enough for this pedal, it is so much fun and a lovely piece in my collection.
CSGuitars no worries, mate. You've made it more useful that I ever would have.
I'm still have this pedal since 90' and i think i don't need that pedal again if i have tshirt like you :)
Other than the chainsaw, it's also great for other music. Gilmour used one in the 80s. If you're a Godflesh fan, the HM-2 was the primary tone in the early albums, usually running through a clean JCM 800.
Alex Ramos Can you give a exemple of Gilmour using it?
I was thinking the same. David Gilmore used it. Surely he needed a name check. The hm2 has some similarities to the big muff, which David is also a fan of. I have an hm2 somewhere, I really should find it. Haven't used it in 20 years, when I knew a lot less.
@@nothing_face intro to sorrow in a momentary lapse of reason.
Gilmour used a digital metalizer into a big muff
They look similar
thanks! i found the year my pedals whrere produced, good data!
What is better than one HM2 ? Two HM2s.. Sounds way huge.. I don't keep them both on the pedal board cause I'm scared I might split the earth in two.
Man I can't think of any pedal as worshipped as this one. Maybe the ProCo RAT comes close in the doom/drone sphere ?
bloxie the tube screamer, definitely.
Zac M true but it doesn't really achieve a particular sound as much as it enhances a pre-existing one. Still a legendary pedal though !
True. It's not like it defines an entire genres sound, it's used everywhere.
Bloxie, i am a doom/drone guy. I hear people comparing fulltone OCD's to rats, especially with the gain up high on the OCD. Does my OCD serve up the sludge at least almost as well as the rat? never had a chance to try one myself.
The tone with the highs rolled off sounded really good for something like doom or sludge. I'm a fan.
I usually turn down the level (at around 2 o'clock), highs (also at around 2 o'clock) and gain (at around 9 o'clock) and run it into a slightly overdriven amp. Makes for a crunchy stoner/doom tone, better than the typical everything maxed setting for me :). Boosting the mids some more on the amp also helps!
3:19 boosting it into much more gain and sustain!! It's like a Scottish metal poem 🤘🏻
please a big muff guide, that pedal is insanely hard to dial for a good tone :/ (expecially for bass)
and also give us some explanation of what happens if you use a big muff + buffer, thanks :D
Craig Nichols from The Vines uses this pedal through a clean Plexi usually with a Strat, and I’ve always liked the sound.
you mentioned looking up the mfr date from the serial #, so I looked mine up: Jan 1986 was when it was manufactured.
Please review the HM 300 by Behringer
What about the HM-300 as another clone option, it's really cheap and gets pretty close to that chainsaw sound when you max the levels
Gerard Krakowski oh yes definitely. I use one to get their sound and it is perfect
It's really ugly, but the sound is 98-99% identical. I use one as well. The only downsides are that it can break in any moment if you step on it too hard and that it's pink... pink.
@@maat8249 Pink is the most heavy metal colour that there is \m/ and it is a perfect match for a pink Hello Kitty Strat. You can get some awesome sounds out of that combination!
The HM2: where all of the rules of how not to dial in a metal sound go out the window.
I have a Taiwanese HM-2, not sure exactly what year. There are a few shootouts on youtube that show the differences between it and the Japanese model pretty well that are easy to find.
The gist of the difference (to my ears, anyway) is that the Japanese HM-2 has more mid-range punch/presence, while the Taiwanese model has a "broader," fuzzier, slightly less focused tone.
Even then, the difference between the MIJ and MIT models is slight enough that you can't really go wrong with either for the classic chainsaw tone. If you played through a random HM-2 without knowing its country of origin, I don't think most people would be able to tell which model it is.
P.S. The best use of the HM-2 to me is to blend it in a mix with a more standard distorted tone (and a good bass tone, of course). Carnage did this on Dark Recollections and it sounds absolutely massive.
When I was starting to play, if you wanted something heavier than the DS-1 or 2, you went for the "Heavy Metal Pedal" as we called it.
I got my first one from a pawn shop, plugged it in, dropped down to D, and played "Outshined" for a very long time 🤣🤘🏼
sounds really cool. people just dont play with unique guitar tones anymore these days
Love your vids man, always informative. Keep it up!
Now this puts an end to the "analog is better than digital" discussion... never heard any digital distortion that bad...
It was my very first pedal i bought when i was sixteen in 1983, in my my band crucifixion..Great memories..;)
I’m happy of having 5 pedals of HM2 (used to have 8) and 1 Left Hand Wrath
Awesome, I bought mine new and then put it away. Might has to go dig it out.
From what I have read, At the gates used an HM-2 boosting a Metalzone to get the tone on Slaughter of the Soul. Would be really cool to see you try this out.
+Buy My Shirts I already did: ruclips.net/video/t_irnk6bemQ/видео.html
According to Tomas Skosberg, they had a HM-2 on one guitar and a Metalzone on the other. He's the producer so I guess he'd accurate, but I've read enough different comments about that record to know that he's said slightly different things at different times! Anyway, definitely both pedals made their way onto that record.
I recently purchased a MIJ 1985 boss hm2 :)
This baby and some reverb and you've got the brutal sound of the end of the universe. Love it. It's like 1991 all over again. :-)
Colin, I hear lots of amp nerds talking about "gain structure" when talking about how their amps sound. Quite simply, I don't know what they're talking about, or how gain structure is important, or how to to hear it in an amp. Could you do a video on it? I'm sure other people must be at a loss, too.
Thank you. I have an HM-2 pedal and wasn't quite sure how to "dial" in the proper tone.
I´ve seen the "that Pedal Show" review of the HM-2 and these 2 guys really made it sound great...so did Ola Englund...so there seem tp be more secrets..
I would like to know how to use marshall's mini amp. ms stack or something. (btw. they are really loud if you plug them to real cab.)
Do a video on how to use a booster. MXR Micro-amp or the MXR Mini-Booster and the like. You're the man!
I just ordered one of these badboys yesterday to use with my bass. My band plays in standard tuning so when I decide I want to melt faces I'll have my little mystery switch at the ready.
I bought the Behringer HM300 clone. I love the nasty tone it develops in it's alchemy with the crunch channel of my little Laney HC25r combo solid state. The boost too the low end makes the 10" speaker sound much bigger than it is. I need to try it through the cheap MG412 cab I have sometime.
My HM300 is a tad microphonic, but it hasn't caused an issue for me. I mostly wanted to see if I would like the HM2 tone and for about $25 USD the HM300 gets pretty close. Although keep in mind Behringer isn't always the best with quality control.
Mine is in seriously better condition than that one. Bought in the early 80's, I still have the box and manual. Mine is a Japanese model, however, the serial number inside the unit has long since faded beyond recognition. However, it did come with the Boss Brass Plaque stating it was the 3 millionth unit ever made.
This was an awesome video.
I would love to see more videos like this. Could you do one on noise gates/supressors?
It actually sounds decent around 4:49, kind of a Kyuss/early Queens of the Stone Age vibe.
Walrus Audio has the Red distortion and Wren and Cuff also have a HM-2 clone also.
I still have mine and love it
If I saw one of these at a second-hand store, I would keep shopping.
Thanks Brother they have some on reverb. been wanting one for some time now, xmas is coming maybe if i drop some hints, santa will bring one.
I'm not a metal guy, but paired with a Jaguar/Jazzmaster, I could see this being great for Post-rock noise stuff.
you know i went to the toilet this morning and managed a sounds just like the HM-2 .... uncanny really!
This sound reminds me of my 9v mini novelty fender amplifier, when cranked. Maybe with a distortion pedal in front of it.