9 of the Best Large Format High Gain Metal Distortion Pedals

This is no doubt still the flagship of Amptweaker's Metal Pedals and justifiably so. It's clearly intended for use as a sort of PreAmp as it has no less than 3 different parallel expression loops. There are a plethora of controls too - knobs including Volume | Low | Mid | High | Gain | Tight, then also smaller Boost Volume and Boost Gain, and 5 switches - Mid Boost, Mid EQ / Thrash, Edge/Smooth, Gate/Chomp, Gain/High - and finally dual footswitches for On and Boost. It's no doubt a great pedal, but it's rather large, and I sort of prefer the most compact iteration - the JR version, albeit I would prefer that to have 3-Band EQ, which is its one weakness really - this gives you everything but with a significant footprint - if it's going to be your only metal distortion then probably worth it, I have 4 typically in my chain and this would take away some of the versatility I have with that setup!

Bogner fairly recently introduced Mini variants of its Red and Blue Ecstasy pedals (Compact really by my code) which drop the additional boost features, but largely retain everything else. If you prefer the mellower Blue variety - then the ideal format is the newer Mini version, while for the Red Ecstasy something is slightly lost in translation in the transfer and the Min Red sounds nowhere near as good as its larger predecessor. I'm actually quite the fan of Bogner Pedals and have a number of their Rupert Neve editions, and will likely add a few more before too long. The Ecstasy Red features switches for Variac, Mode, Pre EQ and Gain Structure, then 5 knobs - Volume | Treble | Middle | Bass | Gain, 2 further lit-up mini Boost knobs for Boost Volume and Boost Gain, and dual footswitches for Boost and On. Much like with the OKKO Dominator, there is a supposedly darker and gainier / metal extreme version in the Überschall, whose tones really don't appeal to me at all (too dark!) - I so much prefer the richer and more saturated tones of the Ecstasy Red - its Mids are just so much more magical. I considered getting the Red Mini, but it doesn't stack up well enough and the circuit is too different - so I will most certainly be adding the original Ecstasy Red at some stage, most probably followed by the Mini (Compact) version of the Ecstasy Blue!

I'm a sucker for the saturated mid-pushed tones of Diezel's killer amps - which are just way too unwieldy generally for domestic use - so the Diezel pedals were a godsend for us Diezel fans - albeit I would have preferred them somewhat smaller. While the VH4-2 is a sort of 2 Channel affair - the Herbert is more of a Distortion + Mid Boost (cut actually!) - with core controls being Normal Master | Gain | Treble | Middle | Bass | Presence | Deep - where the last mentioned is so key to the depth of the Diezel distortion. You then have two dials activated by the second Mids / Boost footswitch - Midcut Master and Midcut Intensity. I really like both the Diezel pedals but they really are too large to be accommodated in my current rig - which is something of a shame. Some will prefer the tones of the Herbert and some the VH4-2 - with each having its own followers and I actually really like both as mentioned, but only own the VH4-2 and its predecessor.

The original VH4 pedal was modelled on Channel 3 of Diezel's flagship VH4 amp - while the VH4-2 adds the 4th Channel into the mix courtesy of just 2 additional dials - Master 2 Output and Gain 2, the original has Master | Gain | Treble | Middle | Bass | Presence | Deep. I have both and used them in pretty solid succession for the best part of a couple of years before settling on more numerous smaller / more compact metal pedals. This can be a little fiddly with setup - while the Deep control is essential here and so key to the Diezel distortion - using some king of feedback loop to enhance lower frequency distortion. When tuned right this is just immensely rich, dense and satisfying. Not unlike the experience of dialling in the Boss Metal Zone though some people manage to mess up the setup on this and somehow not show it off to its proper potential. I would love for Diezel to deliver a smaller enclosure size version of this - surely the engineers can squeeze it into a 1590BB if they try really hard! As with many of the pedals here it makes more sense if you are intending to use this as your main high gain distortion / PreAmp - if you use lots of different flavours like I do, it makes a lot less sense. I still retain both VH4 pedals and the 2-Channel version gets an airing every now and again.

As mentioned in the intro, this is a really smart pedal - while it's essentially just a Higher and Lower gain dual channel version of the same BE-OD circuit as the compact pedal. The key difference here is that Dave Friedman has taken the feedback on the original BE-OD vs Dirty Shirley Pedal and updated the BE-OD control topology to follow the latter's - which means there are 2 banks of 5 regular knobs - Volume | Bass | Mid | Treble | Gain - with small dials for Presence, and toggle-switch for Tight. I really would have preferred this as a 1590BB variant - it's a little large in this format. And on balance what I really want here is an updated version of the original BE-OD pedal with the Mids control added in here in the same way, and the former Tight knob reduced to a toggle-switch. If I could have it entirely my own way - I would go more JHS Andy Timmons Plus and add in a boost switch also - to give me largely the same versatility as this big box but in a compact enclosure! I really like this - but will likely hold out for further iterations of the compact edition.

I actually spent quite some time on research before I settled on this as the 9th pedal in the selection - it's the only pedal here that doesn't fully utilise its larger enclosure size with dual footswitches, but makes up for that by featuring two different complementary circuits that you Mix together in parallel - and can switch one channel out of phase for even gnarlier distortion. The main circuit is an HM-2 evolution/derivative called Chainsaw, while the second circuit is Bottomshaker (which evens out the frequency profile) - besides the central Mix dial and +/- Phase switch, you have 8 knobs - Grind | High | Master | Treble | Bass | Gain | Boost | Midcut. In effect you have 3 EQ Bands for the Chainsaw and 2 EQ Bands for the Bottomshaker. You also have an effects loop where you can introduce any PreAmp to replace the Bottomshaker as the Mix for the Chainsaw. The original HM-2 can sound quite cutting at times, and this configuration certainly beefs up the distortion and gives it a little more density and depth. I was initially considering selecting one of the other larger size HM-2 clones - say Dunwich or LWA, but this one sort of appeals to me the most currently. The first batch sold out pretty quickly, but there will no doubt be more available again fairly soon. The graphics on this pedal are spot on too!

Of all of these this one certainly piques my interest the most - I have featured it before on the site and it's been on the wishlist for a while. If you're using this as your main Distortion pedal you can utilise the 3rd sort of always on Clean Mode (Tone + Level), while for me it would really by a 2-Channel sort of situation. Each of the dirt channels is voiced slightly differently - Rhythm and Lead - where you have the classic Gain | Bass | Middle | Treble | Level topology, but then each channel has 3 x 3-way Gain Structure Toggle Switches for Bright, Feel and Mode - so while the BE-OD Deluxe has 7 independent controls per Channel - this one takes the crown with 8! I really like the sound of this one - yes it's a large pedal, and it would not be my only High Gain distortion - and I don't see it replacing my current 4 mainstay high gain pedals in that role - but it would be subbed in on a supplementary basis when my chain was more geared towards the heavier side of things. The rig is typically focused in turn on Overdrives, Fuzzes or Distortions - and while there are a number of near enough permanent fixtures in the chain - there's a lot of rotation that goes on too. I feel that I might just swing for one of these some day, but it's not a current priority.

When I was looking to capture the Rectifier sound I always had this in high consideration, and it still remains on the wishlist. At the time I went for the Wampler Triple Wreck and the AMT R2 instead as my preferences for a variety of reasons - I always find there's something off about the mid frequencies in the demos I hear of this pedal - they seem somehow disjointed and not quite balanced with the overall frequency curve - you do get a number of pedals where the frequency clusters are deliberately separated - like the HM-2 with its famous twin peak signature - and this typically yields more strident and spiky tones which are not always to my liking - while the Triple Wreck and AMT R2 seem to do a better job of balancing the frequency profile. I still love the Mesa sound and the completist in me still sort of wants one of these - I'm kind of waiting to see if MESA does a V2 of this with somewhat more refined controls - I'm not really in any hurry to acquire one of these but could spring for one if the price was right. As I mention here before - setup does appear to be somewhat tricky - particularly when deploying the 5-Band EQ. But possibly it's just like the Metal Zone in that there are a lot of people who just don't know how to use this properly. In any case I have lots of alternatives to this in my collection currently - and am not in any pressing need to acquire more of that type.

I always think of the Palladium as being a sort of 'always the bridesmaid' pedal as it seems to get a lot of honourable mentions while players more typically go for one of the others featured here. The Palladium is a Distortion + Boost variety uniquely amongst this selection in featuring parametric mids - meaning you get - Bass | Mids Level | Mids Frequency | Treble | Presence | Level | Gain | Resonance | Boost. You also have a second Boost footswitch to go with the Boost Level control. It's actually a really versatile and capable pedal so I can't fully explain why others and I even don't necessarily gravitate towards this as its actually a really great pedal - somehow though I and those of a similar persuasion are just more drawn to different varieties. On related matters - Seymour Duncan has teased what looks like a Vertical Medium Enclosure high gain pedal under the title of 'Classic. Metal.' So probably we will get a more usable practical format / evolution of the above Palladium! I will feature that when released / announced on November 12th!