Harley Benton Extreme Metal

Bought this on a whim to explore some more extreme gain territory in a way I could switch on with my feet. Very usable tones in general if you're not too fussy, and a great way to get a satisfying metal "chug"! The boost switch is probably better left ignored - it seems to send the pedal into unusable territory, so it's probably best not to buy this with the intent to use that function as a boost for solos - it just ends up hissy. Slight issues with the construction of mine - very sturdy casing, but occasionally the connection fails and needs to be switched on and off again a few times to make it work again. Probably an easy fix, but I haven't been too bothered - I mostly use it at home anyway!

This pedal is really for the extremists out there. If you want to play Thrash Metal, Death Metal, Even Black Metal, you might want to give this a try. I play Black Metal mostly, ergo I crank up the treble a lot and along with good tube amp, this can take you far. If you're looking for atmosphere in your music, using dissonant chords, with heavy distortion, Harley Benton have not forgotten you. The Feedback level of this pedal whilst quite high at points adds to the already powerful sustain. The Bass knob whilst very good, is that of a distortion pedal, so in that sense do not expect too much out of it unless you have a good amp. The Treble and mids at low levels, will give you a healthy blues overdrive sound, whilst at higher levels, will enable you to achieve a grungier, Thrashier or a more extreme sound. It is a very versatile pedal, and for its price, it is definetely worth trying out. Best piece of advice I can offer with this pedal, is a noise gate pedal as well, as the feedback unless controlled through the Boost and Drive knobs, can get pretty dirty at points, so combatting it with a good noise gate, is the way to go.

For the money that this pedal costs it is quiet fine. The workmanship is perfect (better than of some 3times more expensive pedals). It has a wide range of distortion regulation with different sound variations. Separate deep and high regulations, an addition boost knob and regulator. This really enables the user to create different distortion sounds. However the sound is fine but still not on the edge of possibilities. So for standard use it is a real recommandation for stage use and people which are ready/able to spent much more money for a distoration pedal, there is a degree of comparison. Interesting is also the use of the pedal in combination with an overdrive pedal which rises the tone variations one more time.