MXR M116 Fullbore Metal Distortion Guitar Effects Pedal 

Comments about MXR M116 Fullbore Metal Distortion Guitar Effects Pedal:

I was rather disappointed with this pedal, but that is not to say it is an overall poor pedal. I disliked the fact that MXR insists on making their products difficult to use; both this and the Carbon Copy Delay have switches that are embedded behind the plated you have to screw off. Why do they do this? This one, compared to other MXR pedals, appears to be made of aluminum. It is lightweight, but an amplifier could crush this thing if it was under one. Also, if you use a daisy chain adaptor, you will get some sparks if you make contact with the casing. I was not too impressed with the sound wither, and was actually hoping for a Boss Metal Zone tone. Oh well, you may enjoy it, it just wasn't the one for me.

Comments about MXR M116 Fullbore Metal Distortion Guitar Effects Pedal:

I play bone crushing industrial metal in the vein of Ministry, Godflesh, Skrew, etc, and experimented for years using the Boss MT-2, DOD Death Metal, Ibanez Tube Screamer, ProCo RAT, etc, eventually losing faith in distortion pedals, preferring the overdriven sound of my Hughes & Kettner amp distortion until I found this. This pedal gives you that perfect amount of grit with a razor sharp precision that is crucial for extreme metal, and is now a permanent component of my rig. Its harsh sound may not for everyone, but if chainsaw guitar riffs are your thing, you can't go wrong with this.

Comments about MXR M116 Fullbore Metal Distortion Guitar Effects Pedal:

Okay so first let me warn you......I think this pedal is designed for tube amps. I used it on a solid state amp and I got a little bit of artificial noise from the noise gate being on. This is not too noticeable, it's something you have to look for. However, When using a tube amp, It does get any extra noise. I've found that John Pretucci tone that everyone one is looking for. This is an awesome pedal. I don't use the scoop portion of the pedal. That feature is more of a vintage or marshall sound. It kind of reminds me of the ISF switch on Blackstar amps, which is the kind of amps that I normally use except for when I'm teaching private lessons. Anyways, Solidstate or tube, This is a great pedal and I use it all the time.

Comments about MXR M116 Fullbore Metal Distortion Guitar Effects Pedal:

This thing will rip your head off if you ain't careful. I listened to all the pedals that said METAL on them and this was, by far, my favorite. The noise gate is a must. Gate is adjustable inside the pedal which is a hassle but not a deal breaker. The Scoop and Gate buttons are flimsy so be careful with them and they should last. Everything else is right on. This is not a one trick pony. You get many different tones and you can even use single coil pickups. Thunderous lows and blistering highs and nice scooped sounds. I set the Gain knob at 9 o'clock. That's plenty for rhythm. Set the gain higher for leads and kick in a good high output bridge pickup and get ready to scream. I recommend this over all other Metal pedals. This is the be all end all of metal pedals. None of the other metal pedals brought out the pick attack quite as good as this one. The others are a bit mushy on the attack. I wanted my tone to cut like a knife. This pedal does just that. Very quiet pedal too.

Comments about MXR M116 Fullbore Metal Distortion Guitar Effects Pedal:

I watched a few reviews of this pedal on Youtube and decided to buy it based on the sound that reviewers were able to get out of it. Plugged it in to my THD Flexi-50, and was a little disappointed. It certainly put out a metal-level distortion and EQ, but didn't have quite the character that I bought it for. However, when I plugged it in to my Gibson GA-5 (5-watt Class A amp with nothing but a volume control), I was blown away. I can't stop playing this pedal through that amp--it begs you to shred. Also, it absolutely sings with a wah pedal in front of it. The noise gate button works for some playing, but is limited obviously. If you're playing muted chords it works just fine, but for sustained notes it's not controllable enough to be useful.

Great pedal with the right amp.

Comments about MXR M116 Fullbore Metal Distortion Guitar Effects Pedal:

My son loves this pedal - good, clean sound

Comments about MXR M116 Fullbore Metal Distortion Guitar Effects Pedal:

I really wanted to like this pedal. I tried to turn down the gain and volume. I tried to scoop the mids and run unscooped mids. I just could not get the sound I was looking for. I ran this pedal in every position in my set up that I could. I have a Randall RH200SC on a half stack (not a randall cab. Two old celestions and two peavey 12s). Normally it is in the effects loop of my Boss NS-2 (noise suppressor), after a cry baby, before an MXR micro flange then an MXR phase 90, and then a Danelctro cool cat chorus (old 1996).
I power everything with a Furman power conditioner. I just could not get the sound I was looking for. Like in some of the other reviews, it sounds TOO digital, TOO glitchy. The noise gate feature is just a straight pain in the tail. I got to a point that I don't even use it. Having to open up the pedal to adjust the gate is not the brightest idea, I'm all about ease of adjustability. Sorry MXR, you dropped the ball on this one. As a WORKING CLASS musician, I don't have spare money for trial and error. Look elsewhere if you want warm distortion cause this pedal is just not it.

Comments about MXR M116 Fullbore Metal Distortion Guitar Effects Pedal:

I have this pedal for around a year and is a nice pedal for practice. I record professionally and this pedal will not cut well in the mix, it sound too digital even behind cab sims.

I use mainly use it for quiet practice, and for recording I use my 6505+ half stack mic with shure sm57 and Audix I5.

Comments about MXR M116 Fullbore Metal Distortion Guitar Effects Pedal:

First of all let me say that I love the sound that you will get from this pedal, and I prefer it to the boss metal zone which is the most apparent alternative, but I have to warn anybody considering this pedal that it has the absolute stupidest noise gate control ever known to man.

This pedal comes with a fairly robust noise gate. It would be a great feature, but if not adjusted right, the noise gate has the complete power to murder your notes way too early or even mute them before, awkwardly phasing them in a split second after you play them (which was how it seemed to be configured by default.) If you want to use the noise gate, and you will if you aren't a big fan of feedback and don't have an external alternative, you have to unscrew the back of the pedal, and the noise gate control is a tiny screw lodged down deep in a tiny little hole that you need a tiny flathead screwdriver to get to that I can guarantee you either A) don't have or B) will never use outside of this purpose.

If you're like me and constantly switch between guitars with active and passive pickups, I would really recommend either spending a bit more time looking for an alternative or buying a noise reduction pedal with this and turning the noise gate completely off because by the fifth or sixth time I had to unscrew this thing to tweak the noise gate I felt put off from using it.

That said, this is the best sounding pedal I could find for playing metal. If you're willing to deal with that or have an external noise gate already, you won't be disappointed with the sound.

Comments about MXR M116 Fullbore Metal Distortion Guitar Effects Pedal:

I have a Marshall combo amp that sounds terrible on overdrive so I needed a pedal that could really pack a punch when it came down to heavy metal. This pedal is definitely one of the best for speed and thrash metal which i play alot. Hair metal works very well with this too. However, I will say I play a little Slipknot and Marilyn Manson, and this pedal isnt good for that type ofthing. If you love screamin leads and heavy, chugging riffs from bands like Metallica and Testament, you will love this pedal