Boss HM-2 Heavy Metal vs Universal Audio Uafx Anti 1992 High Gain Amp
The Boss HM-2 Heavy Metal and the Universal Audio Uafx Anti 1992 High Gain Amp are both pedals sharing bright, aggressive. The Boss HM-2 Heavy Metal leans full and scooped. The Universal Audio Uafx Anti 1992 High Gain Amp leans tight and compressed. Current prices: $100 vs $299.
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Blended from circuit-archetype lineage, dynamic feel, tone-signal overlap and tone-vector distance — the tone vector itself is derived from editorial description text, not a measured acoustic signal, so this reflects how similarly the catalog copy describes the two, not a lab measurement. Shown only within a gear class, and only where there's enough evidence to be meaningful.32% — somewhat different
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Genres both listings are associated with.- Rock
- Metal
- Death Metal
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Derived from overlapping tonal signals across both listings.- bright
- aggressive
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Citation/mention fame — how often this gear is cited across artist rigs and gear discussion.$100via Reverb
$299via Reverb
The Boss HM-2 Heavy Metal is a distortion pedal known for a scooped, sizzling, buzzsaw-like saturation that, with all four knobs maxed, became the defining chainsaw tone of Swedish death metal. Entombed's 1990 debut Left Hand Path popularized this dimed HM-2 sound, and producer Tomas Skogsberg championed it at Sunlight Studios in Stockholm, where it also shaped the guitar tone of Dismember, Carnage, and Grotesque. At more moderate settings it can deliver milder, more usable distortion for mainstream rock and even shoegaze, but its real character and cult reputation come from the aggressive, harmonically dense, buzzing wall of gain at full saturation. It suits death metal and extreme metal players chasing that specific, instantly recognizable Sunlight Studios buzzsaw sound.
The Universal Audio UAFX ANTI 1992 is a DSP amp-in-a-pedal emulation of the original block-letter Peavey 5150, the 120-watt tube amp that shaped three decades of thrash, death metal, grunge and black metal rhythm tone. Built on UAFX dual-engine processing, it reproduces the 5150's tight, saturated, aggressive high gain with a hard percussive attack, a compressed midrange and a firm low end that stays defined under fast palm-muted riffing. Rhythm, Crunch and Lead channel settings cover cleaner and crunchier voices as well as the amp's searing lead sustain, with Pre Gain, Resonance, Presence, Output and a three-band EQ shaping body and top-end bite. Onboard overdrives, a noise gate for silent gated chugging, and UK V30, CA V30 and White 75 cabinet emulations make it a complete high-gain rig, and it adds MIDI control with four onboard presets.
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Genres this gear is documented as being used in.- Hard Rock
- Shoegaze
- Grunge
- Black Metal
- full
- scooped
- tight
- compressed
- high gain
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Occasions this gear suits — judged per model, or derived from its wattage, connectivity and category.- Live
- Silent Recording
- Silent Stage