MXR FullBore Metal

127
£149
£215
DEDICATED DISTORTION PEDALS GROUP TEST
B
ack to sanity, then, with
the FullBore Metal: a
chunky little housebrick
at which you wouldn’t
look twice if it didn’t have those
three magic letters – ‘MXR’ –
on its chassis. The FX legend
is touting “ultimate riff power”
and “devastating contemporary
metal tones” this time, from a
stompbox that will “turbo-charge
your guitar with ultra high-gain”.
OK, so the FullBore is ‘just’ a
distortion pedal, but it’s done to
near-perfection. Fat and full at
low gain, pushing the dial makes
this pedal turn seriously nasty,
with a saturated, jaw-breaking
bark that punches holes in the
mix and makes its rivals seem
just a little polite by comparison.
Tonally, it’s your dream ticket
for modern metal, and that’s
consolidated by the brilliant
trimmings, with a scoop switch
that instantly trims the fat from
your tone, Metallica-style, and
an optional noise gate that kills
anything below a set volume
(although you’ll need to disable
it for more subtle play). It’s also
the only one with a three-band
EQ, and the most compact,
which matters on the road.
Conclusion: Read no further,
gigging metallers, for this is
your filth pedal. There’s enough
tweakability to hold your
interest and with bone-snapping
aggression, this is worthy of a
slot on anyone’s pedalboard. In
fact, the only sticking point here
is the price. With the street price
on the also-great Boss Metal
Zone coming in at around £70,
MXR might have misjudged the
depth of our pockets. The advice,
as ever, is to stomp it and see.
■฀‘Scoop’ button
Become James
Hetfield at the touch
of this button, which
scoops the mid
MXR FullBore Metal
The drive of your life
For: Compact, versatile, psychotic
Against: Pricey for ‘just’ a pedal
✮✮✮✮✮
SUMMARY
TG says: It’s a wild Bore
Roger Mayer Metalloid
R
oger Mayer is not happy.
“I’m bored of everyone
making Tube Screamer
copies,” he tells TG. The
solution, he says, is the Metalloid,
a dual-band parallel distortion
with individual control over your
axe’s high and low frequencies.
“In the studio, it’s common to
build a guitar tone with parallel
sounds,” he says. “I thought, ‘Let’s
bring that to the floor’.”
Why hasn’t anyone done this
before? The Metalloid is dead
simple in use, with dedicated
Gain and EQ for each band
allowing unprecedented fine-
tuning. Cut the Low Gain while
cranking the High and you’ve got
a tight, warm chug on the bass
strings, and a simultaneously
searing, gravelly bite for solos.
Reverse that for a fuzztastic
rhythm crunch, fused to
crystalline highs.
There are more aggressive
pedal tones out there, but the
Metalloid is pure old-school
quality – a characterful, complex,
valve-like distortion that sounds
like rock’s back pages.
Conclusion: Despite our
frothing, the Metalloid is not
for everyone. Players who just
want to get on with it will baulk
at the price tag, shrug at the
tone-splitting technology, and
pick up the MXR instead. But if
you’re a genuine tonehead, this
groundbreaking product should
already have pricked up your
ears. 40-odd years after his first
fuzz, the world is still playing
catch-up with Roger Mayer.
✮✮✮✮✮
For: Genius technology that works
Against: Expensive, not for everyone
SUMMARY
TG says: Return of the king
Chassis ■
Tough and compact,
the FullBore is a touring
rocker’s best friend
‘Mix’ dial ■
Once you’ve tailored
your tones, you
can decide which is
loudest in the mix
■฀Battery
Ditch the
screwdriver:
just replace
the battery by
sliding across
the front panel
“THE MXR FULLBORE METAL IS
‘JUST’ A DISTORTION PEDAL BUT
IT’S DONE TO NEARPERFECTION”
Gate ■
The noise gate is a great
feature for ironing out
squeals and scrapes
Main dials ■
The Metalloid gives
serious control over
the high and low end
of your tone
At a glance
TYPE: Distortion pedal
EFFECTS: Distortion
CONTROLS: Volume,
Frequency, Gain, Low, Mid,
High, Gate, Scoop
SOCKETS: Input, output,
power
POWER: 9V battery or 9V
DC connector
C O N TA C T: JHS 01132
865381
WEB: www.jimdunlop.com
At a glance
Roger Mayer Metalloid
TYPE: Dual-band
distortion pedal
EFFECTS: Distortion
CONTROLS: Drive/EQ
for Low/High bands, Mix,
Output
SOCKETS: Input, 3x
outputs, power
POWER: 9V battery or 9V
DC adaptor
C O N TA C T: Chris Bryant’s
0207 836 4723
WEB: www.roger-mayer.
co.uk
MXR FullBore Metal
Step on it!
TGR196.gear_test 127 4/11/09 12:59:0 pm