After comparing this with a number of expensive pedals (some that I own), made it my main distortion unit on my pedal board.

Sound
This is one outstanding DISTORTION pedal. Right out of the box it sounds great. The 3 band passive EQ gives great versatility to the stompbox and allows you to tailor the sound to whatever guitar or amp you are using. I have a number of tube amps (Marshall, Bogner, Fender) some of which are sensitive to what pedals they react well with. I have two expensive distortion pedals that sound great on some amps but not others. This pedal sounds great with all of them. I am considering replacing those pricey pedals with this one. One of my amps uses 6V6 power tubes that seem very picky for distortion pedals but this one sounds great through it. BBE made a serious mistake naming this pedal "Crusher" because it gives the impression it's one of those massively over the top metal pedals - and you see some disappointed reviews as a result. Well, this is a distortion pedal, not a metal monster. But, it works great for shred and metal as long as you are not looking for something with enormous gain and thump. For me, this pedal is perfect. I can go from blues to shred with it. I can scoop the middle out or bump it up for solos that cut through the mix. I am also very pleased by how much the character of your guitar comes through even with the gain maxed out. You can hear the real tone of your Strat, LP or whatever, coming through… read more the distortion - a great feature. Running on my clean channel, this pedal sounds as good or better than any OD channel on my Marshall or Bogner. It's like a classic Marshall amp in a stomp box. With true bypass, high grade components, an included ac adapter and great tone, you just can't beat this distortion pedal.

Features
Pedal has true bypass switching, high grade electronic components, is built tough as nails and has smooth, high quality pots with machined knurled knobs. Way better than the stuff you pay 3x for from other manufactures. It includes a AC adapter as well.

Ease of Use
It's a distortion pedal - it has 3 band EQ and controls for Gain and Volume. You should be able to figure it out how to use it. That said, the 3 band EQ gives great variation to the tone. I also have a Satchurator and I can totally get that sound from the (much less expensive) BBE, PLUS I can get a lot more sounds from it that are not possible with pedals that only have a tone control. Easy to instantly scoop your tone if you want - try that with a pedal that has only bass and treble controls.

Quality
Extremely well made. Solid and heavy case. Secure and smooth controls and footswitch. Definitely gig worthy. Practically everyone uses their rack gear for sonic maximizers, so you know BBE knows how to build dependable stuff.

Value
At the prices these sell for, this is unbeatable. Better than boutique and other expensive pedals.

Manufacturer Support
5 year warranty. You'll never need to use it.

Musical Background:
Active semi-pro

Musical Style:
Classic Rock, Blues, Shred read less