I don't own one of these but it does sound good. Have you tried an eq in the loop with gain down? Seems like you could dial that in without the pedal but I'm no expert

Yeah. I've tried both a Boss GE-7 and an MXR 10-band, both in the loop and in the front.

I'm playing a Marshall JVM410H with a 4x12. I like the "natural" gain sounds of the amp, but I haven't found that warm, creamy, articulate tone like above. It has more than "enough" gain, but I haven't nailed down the "type" of gain I want yet.

Yeah, I've got one. It's a good pedal for sure when it comes to metal tones. I had a Boss Metalzone before this one but when I A/B'd them the Hardwire was the winner. I don't use it that much though because my Blackstar gives me everything I need.

I read that in a few places, that the Hardwire is better than the Metal Zone. I've owned a Metal Zone since the early 90's when they first came out, and I used to get a killer tone with it across my JCM800, in conjunction with a GE-7 EQ (which I also still have).

Have you ever tried moding the Metal Zone? I hear great things after its done. They have several different mods. Here is one http://www.lonephantom.com/2010/03/m...the-boss-mt-2/

I've watched videos of modded ones, like the Keeley and Diezel mods. Most of those mods seems to be geared toward "da brutalz" which really isn't my thing. I'm into shred, mostly.