Originally released in the 80's by Arion in Japan, this line of pedals was a cheap alternative to popular designs from Boss, Ibanez and other major brands at the time. There really are some gems in that line but I think what kept them from achieving a serious foothold in the market was the plastic enclosures, they were just so cheap and easy to break when dropped.
The Metal Master is an overlooked gem from the Arion line in my opinion. Meant to be a Boss HM-2 workalike, the metal master has it's own distinct EQ curve and distortion characteristics. The low end is the lowest and most crushing of any type of chainsaw pedal that I've come across, I like it so much I modelled the low end of the leviathan after it.
Of course the high end of the metal master is what gives it the unmistakable chainsaw snarl, what I find unique is that the high end can be dialled back quite a bit before you're out of the chainsaw tone range. Usually with an HM-2 it starts to lose its snarl around 4 o clock on the disto pot but with the MM you can get to almost 3 o clock before it's gone. It may seem like a minor difference but when put side by side it's quite a noticeable variance.
What I found strange was that no one has cloned this pedal yet, or at least no one that I'm aware of. Maybe because it's a clone itself other builders think it's a bit cliche to clone the metal master, personally I think this pedal needs to be done justice in this modern era of circuit tracers who clone everything and anything they get their hands on.
As for the second output on this circuit, I have decided to leave this out. Although I'm sure there's players out there that probably use the second output on their original metal master, I find you can get the exact same or even better result by using a splitter/blender pedal such as the boss LS-2.
Right now this board is only an unverified pipe dream, however in the month or so to come it should be a verified reality. It's had a positive reception in the DIY community so I plan to release this both as complete units or as DIY PCB's. This will be the first project I have released as a DIY which is pretty cool, to be honest I never intended to release DIY projects but bringing this gem back from the edge of obscurity is reason enough.