Boss HM-2W - Analysing the NEW Waza Chainsaw | Gain Appreciation

The cult classic reissued…

The Boss HM-2 has been discontinued since 1991, after 8 years of production and shifting its manufacture from Japan to Taiwan, Boss pulled the plug on an effect that didn’t prove particularly popular at market.
Not long after this, bands like Entombed and Dismember began using the effect to produce incredibly nasty distortion sounds for their brand of Death Metal. Setting all of the controls to ten created a grinding, chugging tone nicknamed the “Swedish Chainsaw” and the HM-2’s cult status was firmly cemented in music history.

While it seemed unlikely that Boss would ever revisit the effect, especially considering the phenomenal success of distortion pedals like the MT-2 Metal Zone which built on top of the HM-2 concept, a wave of public support and cries from the fans prompted to take the HM-2 back to the bench and make a modern version for their Waza Craft line of effects.

Like all Waza pedals, the Japanese team revisit the circuits, analyse the originals, and find ways to not only clean up and recreate the original sound with modern techniques and manufacturing, but also take a swing at designing a ‘Custom’ setting specifically for the Waza version; a reimagining of the sound for the modern age.

The HM-2W brings back the Chainsaw we all know and love with improved buffers, cleaner power, a reduced noise floor, and +3dB more output.

Custom mode offers a more modern take on the sound, introducing more gain to the distortion stage and an EQ section tailored for even more aggression.

In real terms this means that both Color Mix controls affect a wider frequency band. Low extends its influence further down the spectrum, covering everything from 90Hz right down to 60Hz. While Standard mode is centering its influence around the fundamental frequency of a low E string, Custom offers the same for guitars tuned much lower.

High also expands the frequencies within its influence, extending the upper mids to encapsulate the 2kHz region, only starting to dip again at around 3kHz.
These higher midrange frequencies offer a modern midrange response from the HM-2W compared to ‘Standard’ mode which had a narrower focus between 800Hz and 1.5kHz.

The HM-2W performs as expected with the controls set to maximum; a brutal, disgusting sound that will please any 90s Swedish Death Metal chuggers out there. The improved fidelity and clarity make it feel like a premium effect.

However these improvements, and the more modern EQ structure of Custom offer more than just ‘Chainsaw’ sounds. There is a wide range of interesting, almost fuzz like, distortion tones here that work well for sustaining leads in less aggressive genres of music.

At time of writing there is no release date for the HM-2W - the unit we received is a prototype of the effect, which will hopefully appease fans impatient to hear the sounds while Boss moves forward with the full scale manufacturing stage.