Rocktron Metal Planet Distortion Pedal

The first thing you should know about me as a reviewer is that I've been playing guitar for 24 years and I'm pretty picky about my gear. Most of the effects pedals on my pedal board are boutique brand ones like Strymon, Eventide, Pigtronix, etc. I don't normally buy pedals that are under $100. It's just not in my nature. However, I needed a buffer for my pedal board and this pedal looked fun and quirky. I had very low expectations for it. In fact, to reinforce the notion that is was probably useless for anything other than a buffer, it arrived in a clear plastic clam-shell package, like a toy. Just out of curiosity, though, I turned it on to see what it sounds like.Now, I know that everyone's tone and amps are different, but with the EQ on this set with the Low all the way clockwise and the High and Mid/Mid Freq all the way counter-clockwise, it sounds GREAT with the Distortion turned all the way clockwise. Just set the Volume all the way counter-clockwise and turn it up as needed. Granted, as some people will point out, this isn't the most extremely high-gain pedal out there, but it definitely qualifies as high-gain. I ran this through my clean amp channel and it was plenty heavy enough to do thrash metal with. With a little boost or compression, I'm sure it would work great for death metal.I've owned a number of high-gain distortion pedals over the years, but this one is probably the smoothest and most musical, even with the Distortion turned all the way up. I've been using it for hours now and I've played more tonight than I have in a long time. It's completely silent with the Volume halfway up (I didn't need to turn it up any higher) and it plays very nicely with my Strymon Mobius and Strymon TimeLine. I even plugged a Squier Bullet with a single bridge humbucker into it and ran it into a 10-watt Crate solid-state amp and it sounds surprisingly good with virtually zero noise, which is unreal for a high-gain distortion pedal.I wouldn't trade this for any distortion pedal that Boss makes. That may not sound very impressive, but I see this pedal compared to Boss products a lot and as far as I'm concerned, they just don't stand up to this one. It's probably not going to win any awards and I have no idea how well it will hold up over time, but it appears to be well made and I think the price I paid for this was a steal. Rocktron products are definitely back on my radar.The bottom line is this - I'm confidant that this pedal would be right at home in practically any effects setup, if you're just willing to take a little time and tweak the controls on it. All in all, it's just a great distortion pedal.

Muddy junk, did research on youtube, Ola Englund, Tone King, sounds nothing like the one I got, that being said music is subjective so if your going for a muddy, low gain, fizzy, awful sound this is for you.Nothing bad to say about the sellers they got this paper weight to me fast, would buy from them anytime.

I originally bought this thinking I could replace my BOSS Metal Zone with it. It fell short of that mark for me. However, I still found some great tones on tap. One reviewer stated that he got a Boogie Mark II C+ tone out of it. I can agree with that. I also got some tones reminiscent of the early Marshall JCM 800 heads (pre-1982 model). Some further tweaking gave me tones that seemed like a modded BOSS DS-1. Lower gain sounds are great for using as a boost to a hot amp or pedal, or on their own.I can get a more aggressive tone out of the Metal Planet by using my Behringer Super Fuzz as a clean boost. Even with that, I still couldn't approach the amount of sustain that I can get from a Metal Zone by itself. Still, it remained clear and well defined. It does get noisy when boosting the gain, so I use a noise suppressor with this method.My verdict: I think the MP excels at hard rock and 80's metal tones. Use a clean boost (or overdrive pedal) for lead tones.I'd definitely use this pedal to boost a JCM 800 if I had one now. It'd be great for classic death metal tones in that mode, as the pedal does retain enough of a guitar's character, regardless of the amount of gain used. I can't say that much about the Metal Zone, as much as I like it.I've been looking for a pedal that can nail the classic hard rock and metal tones for some time now. As far as I'm concerned, this one does that search justice. It's a keeper for me.(10/4/2013) I ended up returning this later for a Modtone Extreme Metal.

I really did not know what to expect. I've had a few distortion pedals over the years, but nothing really blew my skirt up. I had one of the original Tom Sholtz Rockman's that when plugged into my 4 track recorder I had at the time gave me much of the sound I wanted. It cooked out eventually. I thought about buying a new one, but the ratings on the new version, by a different company are not a good sign. I never used it other than to record directly from it, so quality of head phones never mattered to me. But I did not want to take a chance.Anyway, this looked like something I might be looking for. It turned out to be exactly what I wanted. Even small adjustments can change your sound. So this is not just limited to those who like to play their guitar with a crow bar. You can go as heavy as you like, or to just enough distortion for a more bluesy sound.The thing that impressed me the most is that it is much more than a "noise box" that gives you that cheap sounding but loud distortion. This gives a full bodied sound and really makes playing guitar much more enjoyable. I really like this thing.

Great product, shipping and description, paid a great price I a very happy with all. I wanted a pedal like the Roland with separate bass, treble, and midrange control,this unit has it all. Great blue light display for when it is on. Solid metal casing & construction. Excellent sound quality.

All the options of another, more widely known, pedal but at just over half the cost.

This is a very versatile distortion box. The tiniest changes on the mid controls drastically alter the sound. I've learned to be careful with the treble control or it can get pretty fizzy. If you back off the distortion it sounds really nice. As far as cranking it goes, on its own it doesn't quite make it to modern death metal levels of distortion, but lately I've been running a compressor before it to give it a kick, and it reeeeeally rips. I wish there was a little more clarity when playing big chords, but for the price that might be asking too much. All in all a solid pedal.

Great sound true distorted quality product