Boss HM-2W Waza Craft Heavy Metal Distortion Pedal Reviews
Sweden is a land of beauty, replete with lush green forests, awe-inspiring bodies of water…and unrelenting, in-your-face death metal! For '90s Swedish death metal royalty like Entombed, Dismember, and At the Gates, the core of their sound came from a grossly underappreciated pedal: the BOSS HM-2. BOSS has taken this sleeper stompbox and gave it the full Waza Craft treatment, resulting in the HM-2W Waza Craft Heavy Metal distortion pedal. Taking cues from its older sibling, the HM-2W boasts onboard controls for Level, Low/High Color Mix, and Distortion. Don't let its simple layout fool you — this searing pedal pumps out walls of axe-grinding, gut-punching chainsaw sounds while cleanly cutting through mixes. The HM-2W works equally as well in clean and dirty channels, with a handy toggle for switching between modes for even greater versatility. Need to add a bit of girth and roundness to your barre chords and chugs? Switch on over to Custom mode for an instant injection of additional gain and more pronounced lows and mids. Sweetwater's many discerning metallers were amazed by the HM-2W's icepick-like attack while tremolo picking, and when it came time to test those classic death metal riffs, diming all the controls delivered instant Slaughter of the Soul–esque aggression. For death metal die-hards and anyone looking to conjure metal's Swedish origins, the BOSS HM-2W Waza Craft Heavy Metal distortion pedal is an instant classic.
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Highest Rated Reviews
Brings back memories
The very first guitar effects pedal I ever bought was a Boss HM-2. I sold it years later then as time went by I regretted it. Boss comes out with the HM-2W and I was curious, is this thing everything I remember. It seems that you either love the HM-2 or you hate it, I recall loving it. So, I pulled the trigger on one and I'm loving it again. The standard mode is not quite as I remembered, but as time goes by and you learn, well, you know how your tastes will change. I still love the sound of this pedal, I really love it in the custom mode, it is just "more". Lastly I would like to say that even better than the gear is Sweetwater's customer service. My sales rep is Alex Jasiak and he is top level. We arrived at my decision to purchase this pedal through his outstanding customer service, it's a fairly long story, I won't bore anyone with the details, but the bottom line is Sweetwater and Alex are awesome ! Thanks again Alex
Super mid-range crunch!
This pedal adds plenty of distortion and with the waza craft technology adds a ton of mid-frequency charge to the tone. Well worth the money that I paid!
You can see me demo it at YouTube
Delivers The Sound
…and a few more besides. Yep, dime the knobs and even my Strat can do the Swedish Grind. Sort of. I am an amp heretic—I think solid state amps are just as good as tubes and for high gain tones, they are better. This pedal into the (unjustly) hated Gorilla TC-80 and not only can I get Swedish Metal, I can get Fudge Tunnel, the Melvins, and Soundgarden. Chose this over the 30 dollar clone because of the lower noise floor. This pedal is shockingly quiet for a high gain distortion pedal. Every guitar player should try this pedal at least once. It's a classic like the DS1, the Rat, and the Big Muff. And over and above the Swedes, this once-ubiquitous pedal really is the sound of late 80s/early 90s garage metal. And that's a sound whose time is long overdue to be heard.
If you know, you know
You're probably shopping for this pedal because you have heard the legend of the HM-2. For you, you should only know this: yes, it is just as filthy as you think, and the Custom switch adds some extra tuning to adapt to modern metal. If that's your jam, you are getting a box of wonderfully-diverse high gain sounds and you'd be a fool to pass it up.
If you aren't familiar with the HM-2, late 80s and early 90s Swedish Death Metal discovered this terrible-sounding pedal and said "yeah, that's what we want." It didn't sound GOOD, but it was what the music needed. Boss discontinued the pedal and it has since fetched quite a tidy sum on Reverb and other sites. Boss reissued it in their Waza Craft line, improved some of the complaint, added a Custom switch that shifts some EQ and adds even more gain, and voila, a star is reborn. If you want heavy, gross, chainsaw, brutal gain, get the pedal. It hits hard. Put it on your board.
A Worthy Re-Issue With An Awesome Twist
Played the "Swedish Chainsaw" back in eighties, and quite did not understand the reason why, it was discontinued in 1991; all it takes is a bit of your time, and find the sweet spots that will serve you well in your live presentations, or at the studio, and by the way, ''I still have the original model, so as the Boss MZ2 Digital Metalizer.'' Both, the HM-2, and the MZ-2, were used by Mr. David Gilmour for the Delicate Sound Of Thunder and PULSE tours. The Boss HM-2W, retained the original Swedish Chainsaw's sound that made it popular back in the eighties, while adding more flavor when changing the MODE Switch position. I do really love this pedal, and 100% recommend it as well!
You can't kill the metal. The metal will live on.
I'm a total gain pedal junkie. From light gain, to super aggressive high gain, to fuzz, I love it. I confess I never owned the original HM pedal. I simply saw this was on sale and said I gotta have one and I'm so glad that's how I think. It's not just a "Swedish Chainsaw" pedal. To me it's a cross between a great distortion and a great fuzz. It's a beautiful sounding fun pedal. I love it with slow delay and a lot of gain. Oh and as loud as you can take it always helps. Get it and rock on.
A chainsaw dream come true
I have lusted after this pedal for near 20 years, when BOSS announced the WAZA CRAFT version I pre-ordered with Sweetwater immediately. I knew it'd take months, Sweetwater kept me updated to any manufacturer setbacks, it still arrived before FedEX said it would. Came well packaged and even had a battery in it from factory. I dimed the controls and plugged it into my Crate Shockwave solid state 350watt stack and yeah, this is early 90's Swedish Chainsaw FILTH. 10/10 would buy again.
Boss nailed it!
I've had a handful of HM-2s over the years, as well as a few clones. Every one of them had slight variations to the sound, as is the case with literally any given pedal, but all of them sounded like they should. This Waza HM-2 is, without a doubt, the best the HM-2 has ever sounded. If you dime everything it does "the sound" just like you would want, but with the added benefit of less background noise, a touch more output volume, and surprisingly enough some additional note clarity (it's odd to refer to this as a more "refined" HM-2 but here we are) while still being that chainsaw death metal tone some folks swear by.
I am not one of those folks, however, and have enjoyed the HM-2 more for its alternative and shoegaze history than anything. For those needs it's also a wild success and the new custom mode, which dials everything up to 11, is really going to be fun to dive into as I find my favorite settings, and I can only imagine the less traditionally minded metal heads will also really enjoy what the custom mode brings to the table for their needs as well.
In short, it's great to see Boss listen to some of their most ardent fans and bring a cult classic dirt box back into production, making it better than ever in the process. The HM-2 is not going to work with every single rig for every single application, but it does some unique things really well and this new Waza edition successfully brings the circuit back with aplomb. While some "true believers" will swear their old 80's HM-2s still sound better and turn up their noses at this reissue, the more reasonable pedal nerds among us will see this as the triumph it really is. It's the truly great return of the HM-2, nothing more, but certainly nothing less either. If you've never had an HM-2 before, I can't guarantee you'll love what it does, but for those of us who do love it, it's never been better than the HM-2w.
Revving up a brand new chainsaw \m/
I received my HM-2W right before band practice yesterday, which was perfect timing for testing this at loud volumes. I was using an OG 1983 Made in Japan HM-2 and have now retired it in place of the HM-2W.
Most of the changes to this are more the circuit than it is cosmetic. There are some slight cosmetic changes to the pedal, just a steel thumbscrew instead of black, the Waza Craft logo, and the addition Standard/Custom switch on the back of the pedal.
This circuit is much quieter compared to my OG HM-2, which is a great thing. This pedal also runs on a regular 9v power supply compared to the 12v that was needed for the original, so I was able to switch this back on my pedalboard power supply. As far as sound goes, Standard sounds like the HM-2 with some slight tweaks and the Custom switch added a little more to it. Personally, I like the Standard mode more, but I'd have to play around with the Custom switch a tad more to see if I can get a sound I like.
Overall, if you're a fan of the original HM-2, then I can't recommend this enough. It gives you everything you need for that Swedish chainsaw tone and you don't have to dime it out to get that tone (I know, blasphemy!).
Incredible Pedal!
What you have heard is true. The Waza version is what the original HM-2 was plus more. Yes, the chainsaw that many like is exactly what it was and or is. What's better is that it is not as noisy as the old one and the distortion knob isn't like a two way switch. This is a top notch pedal. Compared to my original MIJ 1985, HM-2 the Waza is just better. The only thing that I feel is a negative is the custom mode. Custom mode seems to only boost everything. Meh. Seems like a missed opportunity. Overall, it's a great pedal that does way more than the, imo, tiresome chainsaw.
Probably user error, but good nonetheless
I got the pedal hoping to get the Entombed - Left Hand Path/Wolverine Blues sound - but I think the issue might be with my basic LT25 amp. I can't really get the sound/tone I was hoping for but I think it's cause I don't know enough about amps (and settings) and I the one I have might not be the best fit for this pedal?
HM pedal
Had the original from back in 1983... Finally gave up the ghost years back... Great sound as I was rocking a Peavey Renound 400 at the time... Gives a great Metal sound... Will be investing again on this pricey pedal...
