Boss HM2/Clone Chainsaw Megathread

[Dawn of the Shred]

I use a KMA Guardian of the Wurm and it’s awesome!! It so versatile but I use it for the chainsaw sound.

I blend together a Crate GX130C boosted with a Savage Drive or a SD-1 and a Crate GX900H with the Guardian of the Wurm. It’s became my tone and I love it!!

 

[NoodleFace]

Is that a BYOC clone of the original, or the HM-2w? Because I rather like my BYOC Swede. It's my 2nd favorite HM-2 on guitar thus far, second only to the Peper's Pedals HM-TMC, but they're both incredibly close. As much as I like my modified HM-2s for bass, it seems I really just want a modern 4 knob clone for guitar. Gotta get the HM-2w one of these days.

I actually meant "BYOC Swede"!

 

[DestroyMankind]

Got this yesterday. The clean blend is awesome.

 

[works0fheart]

Now that it's been out for a bit, what's everyone's thoughts on the Waza-craft?

 

[DestroyMankind]

I like the fuzzlord hm-6 better. The clean blend is great. I compared them side by side and the boss has more low end but I don't like the whole "all knobs on 10" so I don't run either that way. If boss would've done a clean blend I'm sure it would've been amazing.

 

[CanserDYI]

Does anyone know if the parameters in the Swedish Chainsaw model react similarly to the real pedal? I wanted to give the dimed knobs as noted above a try, and suprise suprise, it sounds like shit.

 

[Schweick]

I've been using a KMA Wurm as a de facto preamp pedal into an MXR 10 band eq and then into some IRs, and am really digging the tones I've been getting with this combination. Not going for the classic chainsaw thing, rather just looking for something sonically different. The KMA does this it surprisingly well on account of all those internal DIP switches. Also, the build quality is excellent on mine. Feels like it's built like a proverbial panzer/StuG.

 

[Gmork]

I recently got The Shivver distortion by a small 1 man run company call Unsound Circuitry out of finland i believe. It has the hm2 eq circuit or something like that. Eitherway when you crank things its unmistakably chainsawville from there. It has a tight control as well as a mid sweep control that has a 3 way toggle to control whether its low mids, balanced mids or high mids.
So i WAS given this to do a demo but i can honestly say its super rad and i know a lot of you would be really into it!
..... And ill have a video up in a week or so

 

[Necky379]

Does anyone know if the parameters in the Swedish Chainsaw model react similarly to the real pedal? I wanted to give the dimed knobs as noted above a try, and suprise suprise, it sounds like shit.

Some HM-2’s sound better with low or high or both backed off slightly, not every amp needs the level knob dimed to get there, sometimes backing off the distortion knob and adding in amp dirt is better too.

 

[works0fheart]

Still haven't picked one of these up (an HM-2 or an offshoot). I might order a Waza craft one in a few days. Not sure I've decided on one that I've liked the sound of over another yet. The videos out there covering this stuff aren't usually good enough comparisons that one sounds decidedly better than the other, either.

 

[Bearitone]

RAT with HM2 eq and a clean blend? Sign me tf up:

 

[BeyonThe7thSeal]

Just received one of those Doomsaws. Haven’t had a chance to play with it just yet but from what I’ve seen, it’s a dimed out clone but it sounds gnarly in the videos I’ve seen.

 

[kleinenenten]

RAT with HM2 eq and a clean blend? Sign me tf up:

Saw that a long time ago, but that was before my recent Rat collection began. May have to try it out if I ever start to get Rats for my guitar rigs. So far, I'm digging them as lower gain dirt pedals for my basses.

 

[kleinenenten]

Bought two more clones recently, the v3 of the LHW and the Bear Amps Heavier Metal. The TLDR; version is this - both are excellent HM-2s. They'll get you chainsawing in no time. But if you just want straight up chainsaw, they're both overkill. Since I just want standard, no nonsense chainsaw for my guitar tones, they're too much. But they are PHENOMENAL on bass!

Details for bass:

LHW: I found this one used at a local shop for a steal. I'd been debating getting a second one for a while, as my first run with the pedal was not as positive as I'd hoped, but I've learned a lot since then and changed my rig etc., so thought I should give it another go. Saw this at the store, and it looked different. Apparently, there's now a "v3", and it seemed to address one of my biggest concerns with my old pedal - the presence knob. So I gave it a shot. Glad I did! As I said, it's overkill for my guitar needs. But it instantly became a top bass HM-2. The presence knob is much more usable, so I can get a thick tone with HM-2 grit on top of my bass, but without the insane high end grit. It seems to very much compress and bring the bass to the forefront of the mix. The blend is useful for retaining enough natural bass tone. I also found that the clipping diodes have been changed, with a Schottky option. That's definitely my favorite. It's amazing so far. This one isn't going anywhere. It's in my top 3 bass HM-2s. It's pretty well known, so I won't go into more detail on this one.

Heavier Metal: This one is very similar in my guitar and bass experience to the LHW. Namely, overkill for straight guitar chainsaw, but amazing on bass. This one has a few new features, such as load and clip toggles (I prefer both on for the builder's tweaks). It's also got a "quench" control which seems to alter the amount of high end grit/presence. At higher settings, it drastically reduces volume, but there's plenty of travel on the volume knob to compensate. At those settings, it loses much of the chainsaw, so I'm not sure it's something many people would be interested in. What's most interesting is that the EQ on this is basically hardwired to chainsaw. The EQ knobs are set so that they only control the final 10% of the original Boss EQ knobs - so it's all about fine-tuning. It looks odd, but that means for my bass use, I have low maxed, mids at 9:00, and treble minimized. It would seem like it's nothing but bass, but in reality, that's basically everything nearly dimed on a traditional HM-2. It's an interesting concept, and lets you dial in all shades of HM-2 dirt. I'm amazed how flexible it can be for being such a focused circuit. There's also a loop feature, which I haven't used, as well as the ability to use only the EQ, which I also haven't used. The distortion knob, like most modern clones, works throughout the range of the knob unlike the original. Much like the LHW, it's got plenty of punch. In fact, this is the easiest to make stand out in the mix for bass. It's deceptive - at my original favorite settings, it sounds very aggressive solo, but in the mix just stands out and doesn't have much of the high end grit showing through. I tweaked it a bit, and am able to get that through the mix now, and really dig this thing.

All in all, these are now my top 2 bass HM-2s, with the Dunwich DIY HM-2 a close #3. So stoked that I have such great options now.

 

[CanserDYI]

Duuude never even thought about using an HM2 for bass.. hm...... think this will help "glue" the bass and guitar together?

 

[Seabeast2000]

Saw that a long time ago, but that was before my recent Rat collection began. May have to try it out if I ever start to get Rats for my guitar rigs. So far, I'm digging them as lower gain dirt pedals for my basses.

For whatever reason the Heavy Bat seems like an essential piece of gear to me. It has too much stuff.

 

[0rimus]

Duuude never even thought about using an HM2 for bass.. hm...... think this will help "glue" the bass and guitar together?

Idunno about that. You ever heard of the band Godflesh?

As much as I adore Tool and Karnivool for bass writing, when it comes to ultimate bass tone, unequivocally gotta be Godflesh.

And it's almost all HM-2.

 

[CanserDYI]

Idunno about that. You ever heard of the band Godflesh?

As much as I adore Tool and Karnivool for bass writing, when it comes to ultimate bass tone, unequivocally gotta be Godflesh.

And it's almost all HM-2.

I'll check them out! Thanks

Also, I meant I use an HM2 sound in my guitar work, I was wondering if using it on bass tandem would glue them together but now I think it might add too much buzzsaw.

 

[0rimus]

Actually, Godflesh uses HM-2 on both bass AND guitar now that I think about it lol. Jives together pretty well but admittedly the guitarist also does vocals and uses his guitar sometimes as more of a 'sound effect' ontop of the bass rhythm.

Also 90% they don't dime the settings on the HM-2's

 

[kleinenenten]

I'll check them out! Thanks

Also, I meant I use an HM2 sound in my guitar work, I was wondering if using it on bass tandem would glue them together but now I think it might add too much buzzsaw.

I think the standard "dime everything" would be too much chainsaw, unless you're going for some fancy clones on bass. Most straight HM-2 clones don't work as well on bass.

And if memory serves, Godflesh's bass tone has the HM-2's hi's drastically reduced. I know it's NOT everything dimed. But that's about all I know about Godflesh's tone, bass, guitar, or otherwise.