Boss HM2 Heavy Metal (and PW2 Power Driver)

71Smallbox · Post by **71Smallbox** » Tue Jan 31, 2012 12:41 am

honeyiscool wrote:
dezb1 wrote:The price of these have climbed a fair bit on teh eBay I bought mine new for about Â£30
Back in the day and now they're selling for Â£45 to Â£80 odd secondhand... for a pedal very few people liked when it came out.
That's sort of why I bought a second one. The Japanese ones, especially, they're not cheap at all. When I bought my HM-2, I didn't know what was the difference between Made in Japan or Made in Taiwan or what. When I heard those are starting to get collectible, I figured it's a good time to get another one.

The Japanese ones do fetch more but I have compared them side by side on multiple occasions with 2 or 3 HM-2's and honestly they all sound the same, its just Made in Japan mojo. Back then at the end of the HM-2 production cycle before they discontinued them, they were made exactly the same as the Japanese counterparts, with the exact same op amps, and discontinued very shortly after moving production to Taiwan.

Post by **Mike** » Tue Jan 31, 2012 9:07 am

This was the first pedal I owned and I sold it, probably miss it a bit but I can't remember.

These have a cult following now because of the Swervedriver/MBV thing.

johnnyseven · Post by **johnnyseven** » Tue Jan 31, 2012 9:29 am

And the swedish death metal thing.

Jaded · Post by **Jaded** » Tue Jan 31, 2012 7:28 pm

Fran wrote:I love HM-2s, had quite a few. The other pedal that is like one is the discontinued PW-2 (Power Driver) which i have now. Same kind of vowel-like EQ and Sludge/Fuzz sounds.

My two favourite dirt pedals. The HM-2 is what i always wanted a big muff to be, that half way house between fuzz and distortion but with the ability to be heard live thanks to the mid-range control. The PW-2 just seems to be very similar but more on the distortion side of things... and they're CHEAP.

Does anyone know if there is any actual difference between the MIT and MIJ HM-2's other than the japanese supposedly being quieter?

71Smallbox · Post by **71Smallbox** » Tue Jan 31, 2012 7:34 pm

Jaded wrote:Does anyone know if there is any actual difference between the MIT and MIJ HM-2's other than the japanese supposedly being quieter?

Definately not true, they are the same.

Jaded · Post by **Jaded** » Tue Jan 31, 2012 7:45 pm

71Smallbox wrote:
Jaded wrote:Does anyone know if there is any actual difference between the MIT and MIJ HM-2's other than the japanese supposedly being quieter?
Definately not true, they are the same.

Thought as much.

71Smallbox · Post by **71Smallbox** » Tue Jan 31, 2012 7:52 pm

I used to supplement my income buying and selling pedals and I probably went through about 6 of these plus the one that I now use. Somewhere on my hard drive I have internal pics of all of them, basically the only real change that happened was the color of the circuit board, which is where all the TONEZ 4 DAYZ comes from as we all know.

dezb1 · Post by **dezb1** » Tue Jan 31, 2012 10:49 pm

I find it funny how people scoff at Boss pedals on a lot of forums. Theyâ€™ve made some crackin pedals over the years and chances are none of us would like fx pedals as much if we hadnâ€™t had them as a starting point... oh and Robert Smith swore by them when he was at the top of his game nuff said.

johnnyseven · Post by **johnnyseven** » Tue Jan 31, 2012 10:51 pm

After a long time away i've recently come to appreciate Boss again, I now have quite a few on my board and am very tempted to get the Power Stack and Combo Drive after trying them out the other day.

Fran · Post by **Fran** » Wed Feb 01, 2012 6:22 am

dezb1 wrote:I find it funny how people scoff at Boss pedals on a lot of forums. Theyâ€™ve made some crackin pedals over the years and chances are none of us would like fx pedals as much if we hadnâ€™t had them as a starting point...

True.
Mention Boss on some forums and a tumbleweed moves across your monitor. Makes me laugh, a lot of them folk are influenced by bands that had effects boards 75% full of Boss products.

JJLipton · Post by **JJLipton** » Wed Feb 01, 2012 6:45 am

is that pedal as metal as the name suggests?

Cvillethug · Post by **Cvillethug** » Wed Feb 01, 2012 7:15 am

Behringer's HM300 is supposed to be a copy I believe. Could be a decent alternative

dezb1 · Post by **dezb1** » Wed Feb 01, 2012 4:56 pm

JJLipton wrote:is that pedal as metal as the name suggests?

it has some metal tones in it, but it's a pretty versatile pedal MBV, Swervedriver, Pink floyd as well as the load of death metal used them.

johnnyseven · Post by **johnnyseven** » Wed Mar 07, 2012 7:45 pm

So I picked up a HM2 off ebay, and a Boss Power Driver (PW2), for 40 and 30 quid respectively. The HM2 even turned out to be a Made In Japan, although i'm told there is no difference to the sound. They both sound awesome, particularly the PW2 - it looks brand new, like it's hardly been touched. Don't know why they have such a bad rep as I think it sounds great, it has a really fat, chunky, almost fuzzy sounding higher gain overdrive - it sounds like Black Sabbath in a pedal! The HM2 is in really good nick too, they both even came with boxes.

71Smallbox · Post by **71Smallbox** » Wed Mar 07, 2012 7:48 pm

johnnyseven wrote:So I picked up a HM2 off ebay, and a Boss Power Driver (PW2), for 40 and 30 quid respectively. The HM2 even turned out to be a Made In Japan, although i'm told there is no difference to the sound. They both sound awesome, particularly the PW2 - it looks brand new, like it's hardly been touched. Don't know why they have such a bad rep as I think it sounds great, it has a really fat, chunky, almost fuzzy sounding higher gain overdrive - it sounds like Black Sabbath in a pedal! The HM2 is in really good nick too, they both even came with boxes.

Cool score, wasn't the PW-2 loosely based on the Big Muff circuit?

johnnyseven · Post by **johnnyseven** » Wed Mar 07, 2012 7:53 pm

71Smallbox wrote:
johnnyseven wrote:So I picked up a HM2 off ebay, and a Boss Power Driver (PW2), for 40 and 30 quid respectively. The HM2 even turned out to be a Made In Japan, although i'm told there is no difference to the sound. They both sound awesome, particularly the PW2 - it looks brand new, like it's hardly been touched. Don't know why they have such a bad rep as I think it sounds great, it has a really fat, chunky, almost fuzzy sounding higher gain overdrive - it sounds like Black Sabbath in a pedal! The HM2 is in really good nick too, they both even came with boxes.
Cool score, wasn't the PW-2 loosely based on the Big Muff circuit?

Not sure, maybe someone else can verify. It doesn't sound like a muff to me, although I have heard it referred to as 'the boss big muff'.