I'll start off by saying that the pedal sounds way better than I was expecting for it's price. That said, it's cheap for a reason. I've lost count of the number of times I've had to take it apart to resolder a connection somewhere, and now it's starting to show. When the ground starts going out... It just sounds terrible. After three years of owning it I've given up on cracking it open to work on it, now I just stomp on it until the connection gets jarred back into place - the construction is solid enough to handle that at least.

Poor quality aside, it sounds pretty decent - especially if you throw a good wah before it. I can get some really bizarre and intense tones out of it with the right EQ and the wah. The notes also come out pretty clearly, if I play a chord I can hear each of the individual tones well. It's cut switch is sort of necessary though, it does put out some small noise that you notice when you're not playing. It holds a strong attack and has good sustain.

I play seven string with some somewhat messy tunings and it handles the lows pretty well on the smooth selection, but it gets a bit fuzzy on sharp. The EQ on the pedal is a little screwey - the high control doesn't really do anything unless the low is turned down below halfway and then it just adds nasty fuzz. I'm not really sure if that's the pedal or the fact that I've banged on it so much.

The notes also come out pretty clearly, if I play a chord I can hear each of the individual tones well and if I leave an open chord going with the low B I can play on the top strings and still expect them to come through well.

All in all, it's worth the price if you don't mind prying it open and sticking it with a soldering iron. The cut switch is handy too, but not as good as having a dedicated gate if you've got noisy pedals.

I don't like metal. I'm an acoustic/alternative artist. But I was in a metal band and had to use heavy distortion pedals. Between the Metal Master, the Death Metal and others, the Smash Box has the best tone, most features and the best value out of all of them. First, you have a drive control to adjust the amount of gain. Second, you have 2-band EQ, which is adequate to shape your tone. It has void switches that can help control hum and feedback when you're not playing. And the tone is decent. It's a fun pedal to play with and it gets the job done for most heavy distortion needs.

i got this pedal for my birthday last year and at first i liked it. but as i got better i realized it was a joke. The gain is very good but everything else is just pitiful. this pedal has died on me twice since i got it and this time it cant be fixed so i would not buy it again. if you want a good distortion pedal go with the electro-harmonics big muff

The bass player in my band has one of these for his bass, and I never payed much attention to it. But one day, when my Boss DS1 finally quit, he handed me this. I plugged it into my chain and stepped on it, at first, the sound wasn't right, but that was because the onboard eq was set for bass. I adjusted it and wow! This little pedal has such a natural sound to it, you can really feel the warmth in the tone. And this thing is invincible. I have dropped it down stairs, it has fallen off of my amp onto the floor during set up, and it still performs like brand new. It performs best when running through a tube amp with a little gain on the amp. I will be getting one of my own very soon. Buy it, you will never regret it.

The void features are indispensable on this. Always use 1 or 2. It's great that the buttons pop up, then hide away out of sight. I had a little trouble with it turning on randomly, but then replaced the battery and all was well. If it had better compression control, I'd be even happier. I've used it for electric guitar, and it gets the job done. Even better is how great it works for bass! It gives a great crunch to the low end -- the EQ is adequate for that.