Boss Heavy Metal-2, abbreviated as Boss HM-2, is a guitar

distortion pedal Distortion and overdrive are forms of audio signal processing used to alter the sound of amplified electric musical instruments, usually by increasing their gain (electronics), gain, producing a "fuzzy", "growling", or "gritty" tone. Distort ...

manufactured by

Boss Boss may refer to: Occupations * Supervisor, often referred to as boss * Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier * Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization * Fire boss, a p ...

between 1983 and 1991. Designed to emulate

Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia * Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Islands * Marshall Islands, an ...

stacks, it became associated with the

Swedish death metal Swedish death metal is a death metal music scene developed in Sweden. Many Swedish death metal bands are associated with the melodic death metal movement, thus giving Swedish death metal a different sound from other variations of death metal. ...

sound and gained a

cult following A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic ...

in the heavy metal scene.

Background and influence

Boss HM-2 was first issued in 1983. It was originally manufactured in Japan and then in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northe ...

. It was designed to emulate the

mid-range In statistics, the mid-range or mid-extreme is a measure of central tendency of a sample defined as the arithmetic mean of the maximum and minimum values of the data set: :M=\frac. The mid-range is closely related to the range, a measure of ...

response of the

stacks. According to Michael Astley-Brown of ''

Guitar World ''Guitar World'' is a monthly music magazine for guitarists – and fans of guitar-based music and trends – that has been published since July 1980. ''Guitar World'', the best-selling guitar magazine in the United States, contains original arti ...

'', compared to the other distortion pedals, the pedal offered "radically versatile low and high ‘Color Mix’ EQ controls with 20 dB of boost/cut." Despite achieving a moderate success in the

glam metal Glam metal (also known as hair metal or pop metal) is a subgenre of heavy metal that features pop-influenced hooks and guitar riffs, upbeat rock anthems, and slow power ballads. It borrows heavily from the fashion and image of 1970s glam ...

scene, the pedal was discontinued in 1991; it was succeeded by Boss HM-3 Hyper Metal and Boss MT-2 Metal Zone, latter of which became a commercial success. In the 1990s, the pedal attracted a

in the

underground Underground most commonly refers to: * Subterranea (geography), the regions beneath the surface of the Earth Underground may also refer to: Places * The Underground (Boston), a music club in the Allston neighborhood of Boston * The Underground ( ...

heavy metal scene due to its formative influence over the

sound. Entombed's 1990 album, '' Left Hand Path'', cemented its use in the scene; the pedal is often used with its settings set to maximum to achieve a "buzz saw" sound. It is often referred to as "Swedish Chainsaw" by its fanbase. Since its discontinuance, Boss HM-2 became one of the demanded pedals of the Boss back catalogue. Different manufacturers have produced custom pedal clones to emulate its sound. Guitarist and record producer

Kurt Ballou Kurt Ballou (born February 1, 1974) is an American musician and producer based in Massachusetts, best known as the guitarist for hardcore punk band Converge and for his prolific recording and production work at his own GodCity Studio. Early an ...

has been cited as an influence for the pedal's resurgence and bands such as Nails and

Rotten Sound Rotten Sound is a Finnish grindcore band from Vaasa, formed in 1993. The band comprises vocalist Keijo Niinimaa, guitarist Mika Aalto, bassist Kristian Toivainen, and drummer Sami Latva. The band has released eight studio albums and "earned a re ...

have also appropriated the pedal's sound for different

extreme metal Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. It has been defined as a "cluster of metal subgenres characterized by sonic, verbal, and visual tra ...

styles. In 2020, Boss Corporation president Yoshi Ikegami announced that the pedal would be reissued as a part of the Waza Craft pedal series under the name Boss HM-2w. For the reissue, the company also established a

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin ...

group to seek design feedback from the fanbase.

Notable users

Notable users of the pedal include: *

David Blomqvist David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

Justin Broadrick Justin Karl Michael Broadrick (born 15 August 1969) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. He is best known as the lead singer and a founding member of the band Godflesh, one of the first bands to combine elements of extreme metal and ...

The Chemical Brothers The Chemical Brothers are an English electronic music duo formed by Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons in Manchester in 1989. They were pioneers (along with the Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, the Crystal Method, and other acts) in bringing the big beat gen ...

(with a

Juno-106 The Roland Juno-106 is a synthesizer released by Roland Corporation in February 1984. Features The Juno-106 is a polyphonic synthesizer with six voices. It is an analog synthesizer but with digitally controlled oscillators and chorus effect ...

) * Uffe Cederlund * Leif “Leffe” Cuzner * David Gilmour * G. C. Green * Alex Hellid *

Todd Jones Todd Barton Jones (born April 24, 1968) is an American former professional baseball relief pitcher. He batted left-handed and threw right-handed. He was an effective middle reliever for several teams and also filled the role of closer, most not ...

Anders Nyström Anders Nyström (born 22 April 1975), also known as Blakkheim (or formerly Blackheim), is a Swedish musician. Biography Nyström founded the Swedish metal band Katatonia with singer Jonas Renkse in 1991. Nyström is involved in the songwriti ...

Dan Swanö Dan-Erland Swanö (born 10 March 1973), also known as Dan "The Man" Swanö, is a Swedish musician and record producer who is currently the vocalist, guitarist, ex-bassist and ex-drummer for the band Nightingale, lately vocalist, keyboardist and ...

Bilinda Butcher Bilinda Jayne Butcher (born 16 September 1961) is an English musician and singer-songwriter, best known as a vocalist and guitarist of the shoegaze band My Bloody Valentine. Early life Butcher was born and raised in London and later reloca ...

* James Sedwards

References

External links

* {{Roland Corporation Effects units Boss Corporation Japanese inventions Japanese musical instruments Musical instruments invented in the 1980s Death metal