Metal guitar tone starts with a high-gain amp, but the right pedals transform a good rig into a great one. A tight distortion or boost can tighten the low-end response, a noise gate eliminates hum between riffs, and an EQ gives surgical control over the frequency response. These are the pedals metal players trust.
Last updated: June 2026
The NS-2 is the most important pedal in any metal guitarist's chain — eliminating the hum and hiss from high-gain rigs without affecting note decay. The effects loop lets you gate the noisy pedals directly.
Placed after your amp or high-gain pedal, a GE-7 lets you add the midrange presence that scooped metal tones often lack live, and boost the upper-mids so guitar cuts through bass and drums.
Metal players who find the Boss NS-2 clips their note tails prefer the ISP Decimator — its envelope-tracking algorithm follows the natural decay of each note before closing, giving a more transparent gate with high-gain settings.
Where the Boss GE-7 covers guitar-frequency EQ, the MXR 10-Band adds sub-bass and high-frequency air control that makes it more useful for live venue matching and full-spectrum tone shaping.
Yes — any high-gain rig will hum between notes and during pauses in your playing. A noise gate (Boss NS-2 or ISP Decimator) is not optional for metal. Without one, your amp's idle hiss becomes a distraction for the audience.
Both approaches work. A good high-gain amp (Mesa Rectifier, Peavey 6505+, EVH 5150III) may not need a distortion pedal at all — you are using the pedal to tighten or boost the amp's input rather than to provide the distortion itself. Stacking an Ibanez Tube Screamer before a high-gain amp (with the TS drive low and level high) is the classic metal tightening technique.