About the Dragonfly BM-1 Black Metal Concept Pedal

DRAGONFLY BM-1 BLACK METAL DISTORTION CONCEPT PEDAL

(No longer in production as of October 2009)

A stompbox tribute to classic Black Metal.

Only 666 hand numbered pedals will be made.

Special limited edition for collectors only.

A concept pedal / electronic art.

IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ: This very limited edition concept pedal was created by a very small company for only a very small group of die hard collectors. Over the years, companies have released things like the Death Metal, Heavy Metal, Metal Core, Thrash Metal pedal...but no company has ever cared enough to release a BLACK METAL PEDAL. We believe it's about time. While literally hundreds of thousands of the above mentioned pedals have been sold, only 666 hand numbered Dragonfly Black Metal BM-1 concept pedals are available Worldwide. The Black Metal Concept Pedal was created by Black Metal fans, for Black Metal fans. This pedal was a labor of love and It is our small tribute to the greatest music on Earth. We hope you'll enjoy it as much as we do.

It must be stressed that, with all due respect, The Black Metal pedal's sound is absolutely nothing like the Metal Zone, Death Metal, Metal Core, or any other "Metal" distortion pedal. The Dragonfly BM-1 Black Metal Pedal possesses characteristics unlike all of the aforementioned pedals. If you are looking for a modern, ultra-high gain, scooped midrange, "Nu Metal" tone, this pedal is not for you. However, if you are looking for a pedal than can create crushing, classic, "old school crunch" style Metal distortion, then the Dragonfly BM-1 is definitely worth checking out.

SOUND: While The Black Metal Pedal certainly employs a substantial amount of gain/distortion, the natural tone of your guitar is not processed through layers of filters, compression and equalization. While many distortion pedals are capable of delivering nothing more than a sloppy, unfocused, wall of static, The Black Metal Pedal allows your guitar's tone to "breathe" whilst at the same time, the sound produced is razor sharp, malicious and raw. Horrifying midrange and treble frequencies are emphasized without taking away from the BM-1's gutsy, low end presence. Achieve Hellish harmonics and murderous, percussive attack with the greatest of ease. The harder and faster you play with the BM-1, the better it sounds. Your guitar's tone retains definition during ultra high speed picking as well as during slower, arpeggiated passages. The Dragonfly BM-1 Black Metal Pedal cuts the gain/distortion off at just the right point before your tone turns into a noisy, indistinct, mess. Less is often more. Most "Metal pedals" have an overabundance of gain/distortion. This is because these pedals are trying to simulate guitar sounds that have already been recorded on studio albums, and that's usually many layers of overdubbed guitars. The BM-1's sound resembles a single guitar playing through a violently overdriven tube amp with little else. No memory cards, no USB cables...no bells and whistles. Straight to the point. The word "raw" can never be used enough when describing this pedal's sonic virtues. This pedal still thinks it's 1985 and that is what it's all about. Vicious, old school, Metal tone.

There are 4 simple control dials used to operate The Dragonfly BM-1 Black Metal Pedal. Their traditional, Christian names have been removed. They have been re-titled appropriately:

Control one: Volume = (Power)

Control two: Distortion = (Hatred)

Control three: Tone = (Attack)

Control four: Shape = (Chaos)

The unusual names for the controls are intended to give the user an instinctive way of operating the pedal. The names are designed to intuitively correspond with each control's actual function. These names represent elements and emotions that go hand-in-hand with genuine Black Metal music. They are the essence of the pedal's concept.

When using this pedal with a clean amp channel, we recommend that the HATRED/Distortion control always be set to a maximum of 10. We also like the CHAOS/Shape control set to 8-10 for maximum sustain....Or just let it rip and crank all of the BM pedal's knobs to 10...With some guitars, this is a great way to induce noise/feedback at very low volumes. This works best if your guitar's pickups are somewhat high output.

The BM-1 pedal can also be used with your amp's dirty/overdrive channel as a "screamer-booster" effect. This is where the pedal truly shines. Turn the HATRED/distortion and CHAOS/shape knobs down and use the POWER/volume knob to add a gain boost in front of a dirty amp. Add more HATRED/distortion and CHAOS/shape and experiment in order to dial in your best "screamer" tone. We personally set our amp to a very low gain, mild overdrive setting (a classic rock crunch tone). We then engage the BM-1 with the HATRED/distortion and CHAOS/shape set to maximum and our POWER/volume set to 5 and finally ATTACK/tone set to 7. If you are a high gain maniac, this is the way to go. If you experience unwanted noise/excessive feedback, just turn down the CHAOS/shape control slightly to a setting of about 7 or 8.

When the BM-1 pedal is used in conjunction with a users own graphic/parametric equalizer pedal, reverb, chorus etc., of course, an even wider range of tones, including more "modern" sounds can be produced. The BM-1 provides the raw foundation, the rest is up to the player. After testing this pedal with a few mid-priced electric, humbucker pickup equipped guitars, The Black Metal Pedal demonstrated great results while using little more than a very basic, low priced practice amplifier. Use of high output humbucking pickups is recommended when using the BM-1.

The BM-1 also works great when plugged directly into many computer based amp modeling and direct recording programs. This is a great way to add eq, reverb, compression and other effects in order to fine tune your sound.

APPEARANCE/BUILD QUALITY: An inverted pentagram graphic is boldly emblazoned on each pedal's ultra-tough, cast black metal housing. An absolutely sinister, distressed, Old English style font adorns the unit's control panel. These graphics are presented in grim, minimalist, black and white. A heavy duty, treadplate textured grip covers the bottom of the unit. This pedal looks as menacing as it sounds. Only the very best electrical/wiring components have been used to create this pedal. The BM-1 also uses true bypass analog switching. The BM-1 is built like a tank.

EACH PEDAL IS HAND NUMBERED: Every Dragonfly BM-1 has a hand written serial number (example: 033-666). Each serial number is applied by the BM-1's concept designer/artist, S.W. Sorg. This number is written in gold paint on the inside of the battery compartment cover. The serial number is not visible unless the battery compartment cover is removed.

Dragonfly BM-1 Black Metal Distortion power source requirements / information:

Power adapter: DC 9 volt (100 ma)

Battery: DC 9 volt

(Not included)

The pedal works with many of today's most common name brand 9V guitar pedal adaptors, but not all. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask us.

Power consumption: 8 ma (actively engaged), 4 ma (bypass).

We sincerely hope that the Dragonfly BM-1 Black Metal Concept Pedal will be a welcome addition to your audio arsenal. This is a very limited production, special edition concept pedal and we've done our best to keep the price reasonable for everyone (less than $100 USD and that includes shipping costs to any destination in the World...about the same price as many common name brand pedals.) We also realize that everyone has different tastes and we do not claim that this is the be-all, end-all solution to achieving all of your favorite Black Metal bands guitar tones. We know that there are 1,000 different distortion pedals on the market today, and we know you do, too. Please consider this pedal to be, at the very least, an artful, fully-functioning, fiendishly charming, COLLECTIBLE. We consider the BM-1 to be, above all, a work of electronic art. A great deal of its value is in its symbolism. The graphics on this pedal, without a doubt, make a statement. It is for die hard fans and collectors only. This concept pedal is intended to be our small tribute to The First Wave, the era where it all began, however, at the same time, it also pays respect to The Second Wave...and beyond. It is our hope that this pedal can be appreciated by fans of the Black Metal genre's past, as well as its present. This pedal's sound, when our recommended settings are used, in our opinion, is a great example of raw, classic, Metal guitar tone. This, when combined with the BM-1's unconventional appearance, as well as the out-of -the ordinary names for the pedal's controls, make for a truly unique effector.

Dragonfly Effectors team with only the World's best OEM companies in order to create strictly limited edition concept pedals. Our mission: Modest devices that already exist (OEM effector pedals), shall be rethought, regenerated, and thus, reborn. We give high quality, yet often unsung devices radical visual, as well as conceptual redesigns. We take these devices to a place that was never intended by their original designers. The end result makes for an entirely new, highly unique, effect experience. Our primary focus is to develop new and unusual ways of visually presenting electric guitar pedals. This is achieved by using extremely bold graphics and artwork. We create effector pedals that are not intended for everyone. We approach our effects in a manner that many of the "big companies" would never dare. Our goal is to provoke thought and to inspire musical creativity.

Additional pedal info:

*Additional BM-1 graphics assistance provided by B.L.G.

* The Dragonfly BM-1 Black Metal pedal's concept was designed in the USA and was assembled in China.

* Serial number info: The info below indicates when each pedal was hand numbered, not the actual day of the pedal's assembly. All pedals were manufactured between July and October 2009. All pedals were hand numbered in Chicago, IL. U.S.A. by the pedal's concept designer/artist, S.W. Sorg.

Pedal # 001 through # 206 and # 666 = Hand numbered last week of July 2009.
Pedal # 207 through # 665 = Hand numbered October 31, 2009 with the exception of the following numbers: 500, 502, 529, 555, 589, 600, 603, 616, 618, 654 and 660. These pedals were originally numbered on October 31, 2009, however, these pedals were accidentally damaged/destroyed. They were replaced with new pedals and these pedals were re-numbered in mid January, 2010.

* Metal Zone, Death Metal, Heavy Metal and Metal Core are all registered trademarks of their respective companies and their usage in this publication implies no endorsement by or affiliation with Dragonfly Effectors.

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