METAL PEDALS
HARDCORE XXX
BY JORDAN WAGNER
Metal music and distortion-generating stompboxes can be odd bedfellows.
So much of what we think of as “metal
tone” is generated by big, high-gain amps
that pedals sometimes seem redundant. But
not all of us have the luxury of an expensive,
200-watt monster to generate the biggest
metal sounds, nor do most players have
either the inclination to regularly transport
such a beast or the appropriate space in
which to unleash it. And even players who
do own those pricey high-gain amps and are
adventurous enough to want to add a distortion, fuzz, or overdrive stompbox to the
equation find that many units on the market are less than perfectly suited to the slicing, mid-heavy environs of modern metal.
In sum, it’s hard to find a good all-in-one
metal distortion that will turn smaller amps
into raging animals and bigger amps into
more versatile behemoths. New Jersey-based
Metal Pedals is one company that’s unafraid of
the challenge, though. In fact, the HardCore
XXX—which has massive amounts of gain—
meets the challenge quite admirably.
5-band EQ
Feature Creature
With seven knobs arranged across its adult-themed surface, the XXX looks way more
complex than your average fuzz or overdrive. But it’s actually a fairly simple circuit.
Most of the controls are dedicated to the
super-flexible 5-band EQ that’s one of the
fundamental strengths of the pedal. Other
than the EQ, there are Gain and Volume
knobs and a 2-way switch that engages a
noise-reduction circuit.
The most interesting and unique aspect
of the XXX’s controls is the EQ’s midrange
section, which gives the pedal a tonal
expansiveness that helps emulate voicings
from the upper midrange of a Marshall
JCM800 to the signature low mids of a raging Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier.
Strength Beyond Strength
Many of the pedals that cater to the metal
crowd are voiced on the brighter end of the
spectrum. But the HardCore XXX can be
quite dark if you need it to be. In fact, with
a Les Paul Custom and a Bogner Barcelona
40-watt combo, the XXX tended to sound
a little too dark. Compensating with the
pedal’s Hi and Mid-Hi controls helped,
because both have tremendous range and
an incredibly powerful effect on the tone.
However, with the Les Paul and Bogner, at
least, they never seemed to totally transform
the XXX’s basically dark voice. It seems
that the XXX was designed with a brightly
voiced amp in mind. That was confirmed
when I plugged the pedal into a Fender
Twin Reverb reissue. While the Twin is
light years from a metal amp, the XXX’s
dark tone was a great match for the bright
Twin—highlighting the sustain and high-end detail of my single-note leads.
In general, the XXX’s tone and feel
is very amp-like and responsive to pick
attack, which makes it a blast to imitate
various metal styles with. By tweaking
the L-Mid and Mid-Hi knobs, I was able
to approximate everything from classic
Motörhead to early Metallica and mid-
’90s Pantera. The XXX was especially
good at generating the cutting qualities
Noise-reduction
on/off switch
