The Electro-Harmonix EHX Hell Melter is a distortion pedal aimed at extreme metal tones. The maker classifies it as an "Advanced Metal Distortion" and describes it as its take on the cult-classic chainsaw distortion pedal, a circuit style known for a raw, aggressive, buzzsaw-like character at high gain. In the maker's words, "the EHX Hell Melter takes distortion to its extremes."1
What it does
The Hell Melter sits in the metal distortion corner of Electro-Harmonix's dirt range, alongside pedals like the Metal Muff with Top Boost, the Nano Metal Muff and the Pocket Metal Muff. Where those pedals shape their own take on high-gain distortion, the Hell Melter is built around the chainsaw lineage: a distortion voicing the maker describes as pushing "distortion to its extremes."1
For a player, that places it with the family of chainsaw-style pedals prized in extreme metal for their harsh, saturated character, rather than with the smoother overdrive and fuzz voicings elsewhere in the catalog, such as the CRAYON 69 Full Range Overdrive or the Big Muff family of fuzzes. It is listed on the site's Distortion Pedals type page1.
"With its take on the cult-classic, chainsaw distortion pedal, the EHX Hell Melter takes distortion to its extremes."
Videos
Sweetwater
EHX
Ola Englund
Sources (1)
- EHX Hell Melter, Electro-Harmonix
