Use it only 3 days - extremely enjoyed!

Wha wha pédal, analog

- can't be more easy to use

Good effect but the pédal seems poorly built: the bypass (not a true one) affect the sound quality (in the bad way), and when the effect is on, the signal drops and become thin
I'm modded mine and all those problems are over

Here's the link to compare moded and standard cry baby:
http://www.robtognoni.com/wahwah.htm

The Zoom Tri Metal is (how surprisingly!) a heavy-rock-oriented analog distortion pedal. Regarding controls we have the usual Gain & Level knobs, plus the classic Treble-Middle-Bass trilogy with a (very efficient) Range control for the mid frequencies. The pedal's case seems sturdy (probably even more than a Boss, which says a lot), the (big) on/off switch looks a bit unusual but seems reliable too.
According to the manual this stompbox was designed to handle the low frequencies of 7-string guitars -- I don't own one to test though.
This model was manufactured in Japan.

Obviously it takes more time to find your sound than it would on a mere Level-Tone-Drive (classic) distortion box... but if you have at least a bit of experience with that kind of settings it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

As usual with distortions the manual provides mostly very basic informations, plus a few examples of settings here and there. Nothing to complain about.

I use this pedal with a (mexican) Fender Fat Strat equipped with a Seymour Duncan SH4JB humbucker, into a SansAmp GT2 in clean (Tweed) setting which goes direct into the board, sometimes with a Small Clone between the Tri-Metal and GT2.

As the name "Tri-Metal" indicates, this box simulates three stages of distortion at once (I'm not too much into tube-amps technical informations but I assume the three stages correspond to two preamp tubes stages distorting plus the traditional crunch provided by power tubes). I can hardly compare it with "the real deal" (hey, I never played on a metal-plated or snake-skinned tube-powered beast!), anyway it provides a thick, mean, heavy and rather dynamic sound. Even with the drive level set low don't expect a clean sound out of it. It definitely sounds WAY hotter and versatile than EHX's Metal Muff, and provides a more "modern", tight sound compared with the Mesa (California) or Marshall (British) simulations on Tech 21's SansAmp GT2. As long as you want a modern distortion sound it will do the job, not only for metal but also punk, grunge, power pop and most certainly several other styles -- well, at least, that's as long as you concentrate on rhythm sounds...

Indeed, Zoom came up with what could have been a brilliant idea but in the end proves itself a major source of disappointment: they included a sort of internal noise reducer, which indeed succeeds in providing a surprisingly noise-free and hiss-free sound (I don't even need to use my ISP Decimator when the TM-01 is on), BUT in the same time it tends to reduce dramatically the sustain... had the circuit been equipped with an on/off switch so as to control this factor this might have been the PERFECT pedal for huge distortion sounds, but unfortunately it seems to me that this pedal will hardly be useful for soloing, even with a compressor or booster/overdrive in front of it.

Mounted on a ebmm JP6
The d-sonic is one step higher than the tone zone: précision, modern sound. Great pickup for distorted rythms and solos.
You have two ways of installation: if you have heavy gauges strings or drop tunings you can install the pickup with the blade towards the bridge. If you play with standard tuning and strings, put the pickup the opposite way, (it increases the mids for a shredder oriented sound)
I have also played on dimarzio Steve's special, Evolution, Tone zone, Seymour duncan JB, EMG 81, EMG 85...
an excellent pickup for métal

F-spaced version mounted on a ebmm JP6
The tone zone is a standard: précision, modern sound. Great pickup for palm mute... not so great for solos or clean
I have also played on dimarzio Steve's special, Evolution, d-sonic, Seymour duncan JB, EMG 81, EMG 85...
a good pickup for métal

Analog preamp + digital multifx in a 2U rack
Got more effects than you'll ever need in this unit

- you got to be patient when you setup the 2101, the effects chains can be very complicated: lots of paraméters, same effect can be used and re-used at any place in one chain. The manual is well designed and very helpfull

The effects are really good. 2 groups:

- analog (préamp): compressor (excellent), distorsions (transistor or tube, they both sound very good)
- digital (multifx): the wha is cheap but otherwise all the effects are great (you've got here all the effects you can think of, even the whammy). You can blend the ratio original signal/processed sound with the mixers in the chain. I only had problems with the réverbs: lot of people find it great, i don't (T.C. electronics reverbs sound 10 times better to me)

You can really achieve uncommun sounds ala allan holdsworth etc. Everything is possible!

- compressor limiter

- At first the setup can seem a little tricky and you'll need to read the manual (and even the online manual of the constructor website, where you can find some settings) to understand the use of the setting "response", but that's the only difficulty

Beautiful !
The Carl Martin compressor is well known for being one of the best "non-rack" compressor... Once you try it you understand why

- a great bunch of effects

- Présets configuration is really easy. There's is also an EZ edit for even more quickness.
- The LCD screen and the effect chain diagram are well designed: in one look you see the active effects

- classic effects are ok, but it seemed to me that they sounded différent than the boss pédals.
- you can also find some "exotic" effects like the feedbacker, accoustic simulator etc. Some of them are cheap and some are really interesting (like the accoustic simulator used with the pickup simulator)
- Hated the "tube heads distorsions simulators", sounded thin and lifeless to me (Probably my fault: at that time i connected the GT3 in front of a transistor amp but didn't set the 3 band EQ as the manual advice)