HardWire TL-2 Metal Distortion Pedal

The TL2 Metal Distortion pedal gives your amp the sound of a high-gain stack -- with three-band EQ and a tight/loose switch for fine-tuning your low end.

Overall User Ratings (based on 11 ratings)
  • Overall:
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Sound:
    4.5 out of 5 stars
  • Features:
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Ease of Use:
    4.5 out of 5 stars
  • Quality:
    4.5 out of 5 stars
  • Value:
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Manufacturer Support:
    4.5 out of 5 stars
  • The Wow Factor:
    4.5 out of 5 stars
Overall: 5 out of 5 stars
(11) (see rating details)
Submitted June 7, 2012 by William Stoner

"HardWire TL2 Metal Distortion Pedal"

Overall: 5 out of 5 stars
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Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
I bought this pedal after I bought and heard the Hardwire Tube Overdrive pedal. I was very impressed with the purity and clarity of the tone. It sounded like I was playing thru an overdriven tube amp. I had a Boss metal zone at the time. But after checking out the Hardwire TL2 metal Distortion, I was blone away! I gave the MT2 to my brother and went and got the Hardwire Chorus, the Hardwire Phaser, and a Hardwire tuner. These pedals are built really well, they're true bypass so my tone stays mine, they all sound amazing, especially the HardWire TL2 Metal Distortion Pedal. I'm totally able to get that deep, stalking, shredding, punchy kinda riff! And playing thru my Gibson les Paul and my Marshall half stack, it's totally the sound I've been chasing! You all know what I'm talking about. LOL, I may go ahead and buy two. I love this pedal! The Hardwire pedals have most the other brands shaking in there box's!

Musical Background:

been playing guitar for approximately 15 yrs. self taught I play with my bro's, buds, and family every chance I get.

Musical Style:

I play mostly blues, with classic rock and metal throne in here and there.
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Submitted January 20, 2012 by Paul A in Mckinney, TX

"What a fun high gain monster"

Overall: 5 out of 5 stars
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What a powerful distortion, a extreme range of high and low end. If you know how do dial in a good sound on the Metal Zone stacked EQ you will love this puppy. What a fun pedal to play. Everyone had to love a killer gain like this once in a while. Really is pure metal, deep low end, loose and tight switch, super high end if you like that sort of thing, much more low end range than a Boss. True Bypass, and 15v internal step up.

Musical Background:

decades, no longer live gigging

Musical Style:

heavy fusion variant
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Submitted October 20, 2008 by a customer from yahoo.com

"Destined to become a classic"

Overall: 5 out of 5 stars
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This review has been selected by our experts as particularly helpful.
The Hardwire line of effects are some of the most exiting products to come out in the last fifteen years.I may have to buy two of each of them just so I can always have a backup incase one is ever lost or stolen.
Sound
Whenever I purchase a new stomp box,I determine whether I'm keeping it or sending it back buy giving it the ultimate sound test.I use two different guitars;a chambered ash telecaster with S.Duncan vintage output STR and STL single coil pickups,and a solid mohogany bodied Les Paul style guitar with S.Duncan D.Mustaine high output active humbucking pickups.The amps that I use are a 67 Fender Deluxe Reverb and a Mercury Magnetics modded Epiphone Valve Jr.Because both of these amps are so incredibley dynamic sounding when played clean,any pedal that I plug into either of them is going shine through for what it really is;either great,just ok,or crap.After about two hours of experimenting with the nearly limitless variety of extremely hifi distortion sounds I was able to dial up,I came to the conclusion that the TL2 is easily among the best ditortion pedals ever produced,not just the build quality,but the fact that it has a very unique sound unlike the vast majority of pedals I've used in the past.I would even go as far as to say that it is within the top five best pedals I've ever used.I read a review where someone said that it sounded exactly like a Boss Metalzone.I've owned a Metalzone for about 15 years and I can say that The TL2 blows it away.This pedal is in a class all of it's own and I have now doubt that it will one day be considered to be one of the greatest distortion pedals ever made.Just remember that if your using it in front of some crappy eighty dollar 15 watt practice amp,you're not going to get the best results.An inferior amp is an inferior amp and no matter what kind of pedal you put in front of it,though it may improve the sound,It's not going magically transform it into a high end boutique tone machine.The quietness and transparency of this pedal is unbelievable.If it didn't have an LED to tell you when it's on you would think it was off.Whithin the first minute of turning it on,I got a sound that was eerily similar Tool-Aenema,then after a little more knob tweaks,I had a sound that reminded me of the last two Lamb of God recordings.After experimenting a little more I found myself in a realm of sound unlike any other distortion sound I've ever experienced from any other pedal.This is a top of the line pedal designed for high quality amps,but they will work very well with many budget amps as well.Getem while their hot...
Features
More tone shaping options than you can shake a stick at.Level,gain,two concentric pots control low,mid,high and freq.(similar to a presense control)and a small two position toggle switch for changing the waveform of the distortion from high to low.Position one:Tight-for standard tunings.Position two:for drop tunings.If this thing had anymore controls,it would have to be an amp.Included with the pedal are:One velcro strip cut perfectly to fit the bottom for a pedalboard set-up.One glow in the dark footswitch patch to see the pedal on dark stages,and the best thing of all:one stomplock cover(especially great for people who play Punk venues,where pedals always seem to "mysteriously" change their own settings every time you turn your back).But the greatest feature has to be the fact that it runs on high voltage,making it possible to use in your amps effects loop.What many people don't realize is that the reason you never see people using distortion pedals in their amp's effects loop is because they sound lousy and full of undesirable noise when used this way.The reason for this is because the effects loop runs on higher voltage than the guitar input on the front of the amp and when used through the front input,most of the noise from the components inside of the pedal are filtered through the preamp tubes which eliminates most of the noise.When you plug anything into the effects loop,it is incorporated into the amps signal path after the preamp tubes and before the power tubes which are much more sensitive to any noise that the pedal might put out.Because the TL-2 runs on high voltage,it closely matches the voltage of the effects loop which eliminates the noise,adding a whole new deminsion of sound possibilities.It's almost like running a high end effects prossessor through an all tube power amp.
Ease of Use
What can I say? It's a pedal not a recoding studio so you don't need a recording engineer to operate it.
Quality
Very high quality.It's as they always say,"built like a tank",minus the 50MM cannon.
Value
Excellent value for the money.Better than the Boss Legend Series and almost 40% cheaper.
Manufacturer Support
Digitech has always been known to have one of the best support teams in the business,period.They will even fix your old vintage DOD pedals if they break,but judging from the quality of this line of pedals,I highly doubt that I will ever need their sirvices.
The Wow Factor
One of the best looking pedals I have ever seen.If it were any sexier,I'd have to hide it from my wife.

Musical Background:

Active musician,twenty eight years.

Musical Style:

Punk,Metal,Thrash,Classic Rock and Blues Rock.
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Submitted November 4, 2015 by Larry LeFlore in Norman, OK

"This pedal is a good addition"

Overall: 5 out of 5 stars
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Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
I bought this pedal for a great sale price. I don't play metal and consider myself an acoustic player returning to my first love with the electric guitar. I had a modified Boss SD-1 which to me sounded buzzy. I'm playing thru a clean Twin Reverb so that was the best I was going to get. I got this metal pedal and it is a beast. I'm having so much fun with the myriad of sounds I can dial in. This is not just for metal. I get great sounding rock, old rock (Yardbirds & Satisfaction sound awesome). The tight/loose switch produces 2 totally different sounds. At first, I liked the loose with it's darker Purple Haze type sound. Then I liked the tight which is more articulate and punchy. I had to dial in more bass and mid for that not to sound too thin on my strat. The pedal is solid, well built and is somewhat larger than most pedals you see like Boss. If there's a downside, the led is too bright. Also, it's a quiet pedal. Oh, one more thing. This thing is hot. I can only put the level at the minimum positions or it gets insanely loud. I turn my Twin down to it's minimum of 2 or so and I could blow the roof off with the level at 10 o'clock. It seems Digitech is no longer making this as they seem hard to find. Don't understand that unless they think they have something better. The reviews on this are in the 5 star range going back to 2010 or so.

Musical Background:

Started at age 12, mainly acoustic. Currently learning electric as a hobby. I'm 63

Musical Style:

Christian folk style
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Submitted November 3, 2015 by volcan 007 in santa cruz, CA

"Best thirty-five dollar pedal ever!"

Overall: 5 out of 5 stars
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I would've never thought that a 35 dollar metal pedal would end up being one of the very best distortion pedals I've ever had - and I've tried a score of them. All I can say is WOW! If you're thinking about it, stop - just buy it. It will do any kind of distortion you're looking for from classic rock, blues to yes, metal!! Tons of gain with tons of tone. I love it.

Musical Background:

playing guitar for 15 years

Musical Style:

rock, blues, ambient, country
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Submitted November 18, 2013 by a customer from yahoo.com

"Hardwire TL2 Metal Distortion Pedal"

Overall: 4.5 out of 5 stars
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O.M.G man it is the pedal from hell. I bought an overdrive for the peavey Windsor 100 not good this thing has more than enough distortion bottom end its just a great pedal. I will keep my amp now. I hooked it up to my solid state amp as wel and inbelievable metalica kick and distortion with ease. I want to buy another one it scores 10 for everything 10 Plus

Musical Background:

Over 30 years (Guitar)

Musical Style:

Metal
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Submitted November 2, 2015 by a customer from yahoo.com in South Bend, IN

"Amazingly well made pedal"

Overall: 4 out of 5 stars
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It's not a pedal I use everyday, but it can provide a gnarly distortion that isn't a fuzz. The pedal is built like a tank.
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Submitted November 26, 2008 by a customer from yahoo.com

"The Best Distortion pedal Ever"

Overall: 5 out of 5 stars
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very good sound. The best in my opinion. it doesent change the sound of your amp, but still gives a killer tone
Sound
The sound of this pedal is amazing! You can get really versitile on this pedal, as well as getting many many different sounds. You can get Rectifier sounds, Heavy Metal sounds a lot of different band type sounds as well
Features
This pedal has a Bass controll, High controll AND a mid controll also with a mid frequence contoll as well as gain. It also comes with velcro, and a glow in the dark sticker for the pedal.
Ease of Use
Its very easy
Quality
overall the components are the best but i do perfer the metal switch's instead of the huge toogle,but its still ruged
Value
very good price
Manufacturer Support
Just send in the warrenty card that comes eith it
The Wow Factor
they were able to show what DISTORTION really looks like

Musical Background:

Active Metal Player

Musical Style:

Rock,Metal
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