KMA Audio Machines Guardian of the Wurm Dist.

When I plug first in my direct setup pedal. It was good feeling when I play power chords. My first thought was, did I summon Satan? It gives death metal sound in my simple and cheap setup. It is my first HM-2 clone pedal. I connect the KMA Guardian into Joyo American(bypass cab sim) and IR pedal. I don't own similar to this. It is better to stacked this pedal with preamp distortion/crunch instead of clean or FX loop to achieve metal sound. IMO.
EQ: The LOW and HI-MID are responsive. You can achieve chainsaw sound with LOW is 90% and max HI-MID. But I notice the mud with my setup if the LOW and VOLUME are maxed. After randomly play with the settings. I find that the volume is best with noon and gain is 9 o’clock. The L-MID can scooped or boost the mid depends on the band and HIGH can tame the trebly amplifier.
Features: There are plenty of options using the combinations of EQ and switches. It is versatile that you can play any rock genre. The gate is useable in less than 75% because it cuts the guitar sound if more than that.
Hardware: I like the regular size knob, it feels smooth and the slider EQ also has lock in the middle. After randomly experiment with footswitch. When I try to turn OFF the footswitch, the switch is turn ON again. But that is rarely occasion. The soft footswitch is nice because you don’t need to push harder to turning on.
Handling: It takes 4 business days in my country to arrive and it arrives with deformed box. Luckily, the package and item was not harm.
Design: In my taste, it is cool looking pedal. It is not big at all. It is twice the size of regular pedal. It looks boutique pedal at first look.
Downside: The LED in gate is slightly brighter when turned on. It is slightly lower gain that the Boss HM-2 but in a good way. Because you can use higher gain amplifier without making noisier. I notice the volume difference when switching into another voice. The A-S is the loudest in three of them.
After playing for a month. I think It is best to use the blend option when using higher distortion to retain the flavor of your amplifier. I recently bought the Revv G3, it is best combine with the KMA Wurm of the Guardian. It screams with rage, the sound is mid-focused due to G3 and heavy when using blend. The gate is nicely removes the noise without making tone suck. It is very fast compare with noise gate built-in to my compressor. I will update this after I try the FX-loop. I like the Wurm EQ options too, it is different chainsaw type but it is more bass-y and less gain. Maybe it is for bass guitar? The clip changes the gain types, I like the Si(Silicon) for riffing and the A-S(Asymmetric) for soloing.
Conclusion: It is completely versatile pedal and it does the job. But it is still expensive for some. Overall this surpassed my expectations.