JHS Angry Charlie vs. Boss Metal Zone

It seems to me that JHS pedals are THE boutique pedal builder right now, and while I can't say for certain that is completely deserved, I will say that I'm really happy with the Angry Charlie.

I got lucky and picked one up, used, locally (#47 of V3) for a decent price, but buying one new would have run closer to $300 than $200 (taxes in of course).  That's a lot of money for a drive pedal, and while I'm really happy with it, I can't help but wonder...

Enter the recently acquired Metal Zone.

I intended to run a comparison and include the Zoom Hyper Lead for a laugh, but and evening of playing with my Les Paul Studio had me experimenting with the two pedals.  Could a pedal that everyone online seems to hate, and that cost me $30, compete with a pedal that is the toast of the online world and cost $180?

First off, I tried to EQ the Metal Zone as close to the sound of the Angry Charlie as possible. Messing with the Charlie's settings after that to get closer seemed to miss the point, which is that I wasn't trying to get them to sound identical, but rather trying to get the MT-2 to sound like my new favorite drive.

Second, I was using my iPhone to record, which isn't ideal, but I think the important factor here is consistency.  See the space between the two pedals in the picture above, between the ends of the white cable?  That's where the iPhone sat.

Last, the settings are detailed in the pictures to the right. Apologies for the lighting, but this was a kind of off the cuff, moment of inspiration kind of thing.  The JHS is set almost straight up, with an EQ set to where you'd expect to see it, though the treble is set there to compensate for a bright Maz 8.

The Metal Zone on the other hand has it's EQ set all over the place.  The bass is at 75%, with the highs at a shade over 50%, which is a slight boost to the highs.  The mid frequency is set somewhere around 350hz (almost bottomed out), and the mid level is set to boost about the same amount as the high is set.

The result is a MASSIVE output increase for the Metal Zone. Note the volume setting in order to achieve the same volume as the JHS.  The gain is also set a bit lower that 50%, but this is hardly surprising given how much gain is on tap with this pedal.

The results?  Listen for yourself.  No hints:

Example 1
Example 2

So, which is which? Let me know what you think in the comments.

I'm not going to let on until later.  I'm not saying there isn't a difference in person, but it isn't near as obvious as you'd think it is.

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