The KMA Machines Wurm 2 is an update of the Berlin-based company’s high-gain flagship distortion pedal, featuring a circuit based on the BOSS HM-2 but with lots of extra features – or, in the words of the builder, “taking it much further and pushing the envelope of how destructive it could be.”
In this circuit, a great emphasis is given to EQ, thanks to the 4-knob layout including +/-8dBs controls Highs (2 kHz.), Lows (90Hz), High-Mids (variable from 950 Hz to 3.2 kHz) and Low-Mids (425Hz).
But that’s not it: the 3-way toggle switch gives you 3 EQ Styles on the High-Mids:
HM-II: Selects HM-2 Style H-MIDS EQ with fixed internal Centre Frequency (labelled as “HIGH” on orig. HM-2).
KMA: Selects KMA designed H-MIDS EQ with adjustable centre-frequency (read, parametric EQ).
BOTH: Combines both EQ-Styles.
An internal trim pot lets you adjust each EQ knob’s frequency:
LOWS: 60–150 Hz (centre default @ 90 Hz*).
L-MIDS: 300–1050 Hz (centre default @ 425 Hz *).
H-MIDS: 950 Hz–3.2 kHz (centre default @ 1.3 kHz*). – only in KMA EQ Mode
HIGHS: 1.4–5.0 kHz (centre default @ 2 kHz*).
The Terror knob has a terrifically inspiring name but it’s basically just the amount of distortion.
This looks like another cool pedal for metal heads from this German builder. Check out the first videos of it, below.
KMA Machines Wurm 2, Builder’s Notes
Refine the Terror from Below
“Slithering across the ravaged landscape, the behemoth advances. With each thrust, the beast drags thousands of years of grinding grief and mauling malice that’s ready to be unleashed upon the world yet again. There is no escape. You either stand in its path and get torn asunder or join the legendary beast, receiving the blessing of its dark distorted powers and sawing sonic screams. The choice is easy. All hail the mighty WURM!”
With our WURM Distortion pedal, KMA Machines brought you a highly regarded, yet unabashed sonic love letter to the legendary filthy ‘doom and gloom’ distortion sound of the original Boss HM2 MIJ pedal, taking it much further and pushing the envelope of how destructive it could be.
Adorned in an iconic black and orange colour-scheme reminiscent of its inspiration, WURM 2 takes the essential ingredients of KMA’s now classic pedal, adding the ability to switch between EQ settings right on the front of the pedal. In addition, we squeezed it into a smaller and more pedal board friendly enclosure with top mounted jacks, improved the electronics and enhanced it with relay-based silent switching, all helping to make WURM 2 a more flexible metal-distortion pedal than ever before.
In-Depth Description
Adorned in an iconic black and orange colour-scheme reminiscent of its inspiration, WURM 2 takes the essential ingredients of KMA’s now classic pedal, adding the ability to switch between EQ settings right on the front of the pedal. In addition, we squeezed it into a smaller and more pedal board friendly enclosure with top mounted jacks, improved the electronics and enhanced it with relay-based silent switching, all helping to make WURM 2 a more flexible metal-distortion pedal than ever before.
We, of course, kept the iconic active HM-2 dual-band EQ section, but added two more bands, giving a much wider range of tones to tailor your evil and gritty distortion sound. On top of that, each band has an internal trim-pot to change the centre frequency and fine-tune your tone further if the need arises.
For the WURM pedal, we developed our own EQ stack and added an internal EQ STYLE switch to help you carve out additional tonal variations. In WURM 2, this is now on the front of the pedal to make it easier to access and for even more tonal options on-the-fly. Selecting HM-II mode will get you that classic ‘chainsaw’ High-Mids character. However, in KMA mode the EQ is a little more tonally balanced, less peaky and a bit wider in response. If balanced and less peaky sounds too boring for you, select BOTH to fatten and double up the tone stacking, letting you ramp up the LOWS and the H-MIDS and rip that Swedish forest completely to shreds!
However, with all of this extra tone shaping, the pedal can sometimes begin to feedback at extreme settings. So, if this proves too much and to help tame that high-frequency content, we added a new internal control to smoothen things out. By flipping the dip-switch to activate the input filter, this will help to tame the high frequencies when absolutely everything is maxed out.
The TERROR control dials in all the malice and the evil distortion sounds you are searching for. Crank it up and feel the tremors of the WURM 2 under your feet, tremors that would even frighten the wits out of a young Chuck Norris!
Powered by an optional standard 9V DC (max.) PSU (negative center, 2.1 mm, 50 mA current draw)
