First of all I would like to say I think BOSS has a wonderful line of quality pedals, however this is the only one I have ever disliked. It has 3 modes but honestly the Fuzz Face mode is pretty much the only usable mode. I was pretty dissapointed when I got home and plugged it in. The tone was wayyyyy to broken up and muddy, and had just about no clarity to it (and yes I realize thats usually the direction fuzz pedals take, just not like this). I am convinced however that the pedal would be excellent in the right rig, also I think a compressor might clean it up a bit. I am running through a Deville 410 with about 6 pedals (Wah->VOX big ben->Boost pedal->chorus->delay) and it just didn't mesh right at all and was very unpleasant to listen to. Also anytime I laid my palm on the bridge like to palm mute and then lifted my hand it gave a horrible sounding feedback. Needless to say I returned it and got a Seymour Duncan Tweak Fuzz and I am extremely pleased with it. If your a big fuzz player then Im confident you will be much happier with another pedal, however if your just looking for something to toy with this might do the trick. However I still say keep up the good work BOSS.

Some pedals suck, but they do it in a good way .. this pedal ... just plain terrible! Now let me tell you, I love boss pedals, but this pedal was totally unresponsive and lacked any "feel" to it. There are 100's of fuzz boxes out there, no reason to settle on this one. Seriously, this might be the only stomp box I have not found a use for and I have tons of them ... don't buy this it sucks...

I got this wonderful pedal at my local store new and love it. The fuzz face is great. It has more than enough gain to want. I play a Gibson Les Paul into an ME-50 into a fnder tube amp. If your having trouble with hum and hissy feedback, just push the volume on your amp or multi FX board and back off the FZ-5 level.

The mistro is a setting i seldom use. I used it as an intro for one of my songs with some ambient delays. Its trebly and not very useful.

The octavia is great, but picks up more feedback and hum than the other settings. It has a perfect mix of the two octaves. I just wish there was a way to switch from the fuzz to the octavia so i could use it as a solo. Now I have to use a makeshift octavia with my harmonizer.

If your looking for a rich, warm, hendrixy sounds, this is a definite get!

Recently bought this from a local music shop for the sake of getting another effects pedal. I didnt expect too many features out of it, since I got it on sale for about $90. I was surprised that it is essentially three fuzz pedals in one. All three modes work well and offer a lot of variety. I dont have the experience with other fuzz pedals to say how this one stacks up, but it is a great device if you know how to use it and certainly fulfills what I need it to. Boss is known for quality, and this little thing delivers.

This FZ-5 is my first Boss pedal, and believe me, it's convinced me to never use a Digitech again. I had a Hot Rod distortion before this, but there were too many problems with it. One being that it wouldn't work with a battery, so I had to use an adapter. Another being it sounded like crap. The FuzzFace setting is nice, sounds like a distortion should, and the Octavia setting is pretty heavy when you use it like they tell you not to, haha. But the one that absolutely sold me with this pedal is the Fuzztone setting. I've always wanted one, and I think this hit the nail on the head. Don't buy this pedal unless you know what a real Fuzz is. You're not going to find a 'creamy' sound with it, it's a FUZZ. I would also highly reccomend to use the Maestro setting with a Humbucking equipped guitar, single coils have a tendency to get kind of fizzy with it. That and use a nice tube amp, then you're set.