# Peavey 5150 + BOSS HM-2



## serch777 (Oct 9, 2013)

Hi guys,

I'm pretty sure most of you might guess what sound am I trying to achieve: the old school Swedish death metal tone (Entombed, Dismember, Edge of Sanity, etc.). 

I got a Japanese 1984 HM-2, which is in good condition, but for some reason I haven't found the correct settings for it on my 5150. I've heard that the bands who used it simply turned all the knobs to 10 on the HM-2, but that just creates a wall of unbearable feedback in my 5150 (even with a noise gate sucking up all my tone lol). 

Has any of you guys managed to recreated the Swedish tone using the HM-2 with the 5150? Any advice on the settings would be appreciated.

Cheers!


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## likegluelikecrew (Oct 9, 2013)

I found the best tone I got with a HM-2 was treble and bass at full, distortion around 8 or 9 o clock, so you can just start to hear it effect the sound and give it that extra grind, then level to taste, dependant on pickups. Obviously lower level and distortion amounts will mean less feedback. It's best to use the 5150's distortion and just use the HM-2 just to give it those grinding mids. 

I also found low output pickups worked best with it, when I used a guitar with an emg 81 I thought the sound was waaay too compressed, standard pickups in my Les Paul Custom sounded the best for it. Hope this helps!


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## serch777 (Oct 9, 2013)

likegluelikecrew said:


> I found the best tone I got with a HM-2 was treble and bass at full, distortion around 8 or 9 o clock, so you can just start to hear it effect the sound and give it that extra grind, then level to taste, dependant on pickups. Obviously lower level and distortion amounts will mean less feedback. It's best to use the 5150's distortion and just use the HM-2 just to give it those grinding mids.
> 
> I also found low output pickups worked best with it, when I used a guitar with an emg 81 I thought the sound was waaay too compressed, standard pickups in my Les Paul Custom sounded the best for it. Hope this helps!


Cheers man! So, would it be better to use the HM-2 as some sort of overdrive, with plenty of distortion and presence from the 5150?


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## likegluelikecrew (Oct 9, 2013)

Yeah pretty much! Use the amount of gain on the 5150 you'd normally use. The main character of the HM-2 is from the treble and bass being maxed out, you can run it with none of the pedals distortion at all if you wanted, it's like a way tamer version of the swedish death tone, but when you add a tiny bit of the pedals distortion it gives it that chainsaw grind. Then you just adjust your amps eq and presence to taste.

I've read using a tubescreamer or similar pedal in front of the HM-2 is good too, gives it that definition on palm mutes that it lacks, not tried it myself though, and now I have an OD808 I don't have a HM-2 to try it with any more haha


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## JD27 (Oct 9, 2013)

I use mine along with the distortion of my amp. I max everything and roll the level and distortion back on the HM-2 until I reach the "Left Hand Path". Also, I'm pretty sure that Entombed used a HM-2 along with a small Peavey Bandit (40 or 60 I think) on the first 2 albums.


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## Abaddon9112 (Oct 9, 2013)

I think the thing about maxing all the knobs on the HM-2 is a myth started by Daniel Ekeroth, who wrote a book about Swedish death metal. I use the Behringer HM300, which is a clone of the HM-2, and the best tones seem to come from using it like an overdrive as others have said.


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## serch777 (Oct 9, 2013)

Cheers guys! I remember the day it arrived, I immediately maxed out all the settings and put it in the clean channel on the high gain input of my 5150...........f*ckin hell, I seriously thought my speakers had blown!


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## glpg80 (Oct 9, 2013)

I thought Dan Swano was a big fan of 8100's for Crimson and Crimson II?


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## feraledge (Oct 9, 2013)

I usually put it on the clean channel and stick a DS1 in front and run both through an NS2 loop. Sounds good that way, but you have to EQ blind, you'll be doing some otherwise nonsensical turns.
On my 5153, I use channel 2 with the amp's gain way down.
HM2 is a beast, but it is hard to tame.


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## serch777 (Oct 9, 2013)

glpg80 said:


> I thought Dan Swano was a big fan of 8100's for Crimson and Crimson II?


I don't know what did he use in the Crimson albums, he definitely used the HM-2 for Pugatory Afterglow. The Bloodbath albums (at least Breeding Death, Resurrection Through Carnage, and Nightmares Made Flesh), have the HM-2 all over them too.


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## JD27 (Oct 9, 2013)

feraledge said:


> I usually put it on the clean channel and stick a DS1 in front and run both through an NS2 loop. Sounds good that way, but you have to EQ blind, you'll be doing some otherwise nonsensical turns.
> On my 5153, I use channel 2 with the amp's gain way down.
> HM2 is a beast, but it is hard to tame.



I'm pretty sure Blackbreath loops their HM-2 through a NS-2 as well. Probably the best way to go. Damn, now I want to dig mine out and try it with my Gibson RD and Phoenix-1000 w/Black Winters. Although I fear the latter combination may burn an inverted cross into my forehead.


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## serch777 (Oct 9, 2013)

JD27 said:


> I'm pretty sure Blackbreath loops their HM-2 through a NS-2 as well. Probably the best way to go. Damn, now I want to dig mine out and try it with my Gibson RD and Phoenix-1000 w/Black Winters. Although I fear the latter combination may burn an inverted cross into my forehead.



I have a Mayones Regius with a Black Winter set, and I've been fooling around with the HM-2............let me warn you: you might need an exorcist.


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## JD27 (Oct 9, 2013)

serch777 said:


> I have a Mayones Regius with a Black Winter set, and I've been fooling around with the HM-2............let me warn you: you might need an exorcist.



Nice combination. Black Winters brought that giant mahogony body on the Phoenix to life.


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## serch777 (Oct 9, 2013)

JD27 said:


> Nice combination. Black Winters brought that giant mahogony body on the Phoenix to life.



Exactly; the Black Winters really shine on mahogany bodies, they just create a perfect balance. And those lows are clear, tight, aggressive, and LOUD as hell.


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## Baelzebeard (Oct 9, 2013)

I use the hm2 with all the knobs maxed, (except the level control) in front of a clean amp and its sounds just like it should, (Dismember/Entombed). 

I have used it with three different amps, and I did have to fiddle with the eq a bit to get it just right with each one, but that tone is in that pedal.


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## pj666 (Jul 12, 2014)

Hi everyone. I've been working on that particular sound for weeks for a new band, just in my own studio for the moment.

For the pedals : for me the japanese model of the BOSS HM-2 is the best for that sound. But the BEHRINGER HM300 is a cheaper solution which sounds pretty much the same in a more "modern" way, with maybe more highs. It doesn't seem solid at all but for the price you can't ask for more.

Pedal seetings : everything on 10. 

The main solution to avoid the unevitable and uncontrolable feedback is to put the distorsion pedal in the BOSS NS-2's loop (like here : http://wisdomsguitar.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/ns2.png)

And it's just perfect like this !

5150 settings : rythm channel without the clean/crunch button activated. Be careful about the volume. I put 4 on pregain and 3 on post gain BUT the amp signal goes through a loadbox with direct out on -10 db and a line entry on -10 db too, so you have to adjust your own volume settings. These ones are pretty high.

The other settings are ordinary : bass on 7, mids on 5, high on 7, resonance on 4 and presence on 7.

I still play with an ESP with EMG 81 and it's ok. Maybe passive pickups would be better for that sound but it's good for me like this.

Hope this will help. And I'll update it for the live configuration but expect for the volume settings, it'll certainly be OK too.


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## wakjob (Jul 12, 2014)

Yep, a big stick of mahogany like a flying V or Explorer with the Gibson 500T in the bridge
really helps with getting that sound.

I did my best with it back in the day using a jCM 800 2203 half stack.


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## Emperor Guillotine (Jul 12, 2014)

In conjunction with the post above...^^^ 



Pretty much, a Gibson (or a solid chunk of mahogany...Schecter, LTD, etc.) into a Marshall 8100 and a Boss HM-2. Optionally add a little studio EQ or extra EQ with a peripheral rack EQ or pedal unit to your taste for the situation, and you should be golden.


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## MAJ Meadows SF (Jul 14, 2014)

Sounds like a good plan a couple posts up. It comes down to using the pedal like an OD for a clean mid boost and using the amp's distortion (which I prefer), or completely the other way as mentioned. I'd try both and see what you like.


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## machinica_band (Mar 18, 2016)

Not to revive a dead thread... but I found something cool with this.

I think the missing piece to this tone is the Peavey Supreme 160. I know a lot of the older death metal bands used these amps, as well as those old Crate amps.


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## dhgrind (Mar 18, 2016)

when i use an hm-2 or even the left hand wrath i crank all the knobs to 10 and for the amp i dial in the EQ how i like without the pedal and then turn the gain on the amp down and let the pedal be the gain stage.


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## metaljohn (Mar 19, 2016)

Buncha necromancers up in this bitch


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## Great Satan (Mar 19, 2016)

I always found it ironic when people complain about reviving older threads,
yet if someone wants to ask a question on an old topic, those people complain that they made a 'new' thread.

Well which is it?
Can't have it both ways, dick-butt.

IN REGARDS TO THE ORIGINAL TOPIC;

The HM-2 on full settings is not a complete fallacy, that basically works on a solid-state amps clean channel (peavey studios, bandits, supremes etc.),
But when it comes to tubes and/or overdrive channels you need to be a but more conservative with the actual gain on the pedal (& set volume to unity), otherwise it turns to mush pretty quick.
You want the grinding tone from the pedal using the 'high' knob, not necessarily the distortion.


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## Descent (Mar 20, 2016)

I think you need to be at a crunch sound from the tube amp, think of AC/DC "Back In Black", something along those lines, then you dial in some gain and hair from the distortion around it. That's how I do it with my AMT DT-2.


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## metaljohn (Mar 20, 2016)

Great Satan said:


> Can't have it both ways, dick-butt.



You underestimate the power of the dick butt.


But yeah, my HM-2 experience has varied from amp to amp. Some seem to take to the clean channel a lot better (Krank Rev+, Marshall JCM2000) while others seemed more at home on the distortion channel (Peavey 6505+ and VTM). Best bet is just to dick(butt) around with it until you hear satisfactory results.

edit: I can't believe I forgot this, but to my ears, the HM-2 always sounds much nicer with something in front of it to help shape it's odd eq a little more (TS style od, RAT, Metal Zone, etc.)


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## HollowmanPL (Mar 21, 2016)

clean channel and hm all the way up besides last knob (set to taste)


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## KailM (Mar 21, 2016)

^^On a 5150? That has never worked for me. It is wayyyyyyy too loose to be usable for anything but single string progressions and tremelo picking. Palm muting just becomes a complete mess.

On solid state amps, the HM-2 does seem to work with the infamous "all knobs at 10" method. But not on a 5150. It works much better when used to dial-in some extra grind on an already-overdriven channel.

I've posted this before -- but I actually use my HM-2 in an unorthodox way. I run it in the effects loop of my 6505+, and run the distortion on the pedal at ZERO. Level is set just to match the volume of wherever the lead channel of the amp is set, and hi and lo knobs are set to max, depending on the guitar and how down-tuned I am. I use the 6505's distortion to get most of the gain, while the HM-2 doesn't really add any more gain -- it adds that fuzzy, chainsaw grind over the top. It tracks just as tightly on palm mutes as the 6505 does without the pedal -- i.e. -- it's DAMN tight. Yet huge and grim sounding at the same time. Instant _Slaughter of the Soul_ tone, in other words.


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