This is the best distortion (stomp box) pedal I've ever had. I've tried a lot of the Boss, Digitech...etc and they all have a sort of hissy-fizz sound (especially the metalzone). The Krank pedal has the crunchier "chug" sound I've been look'n for. I dialed in a great sound right away but then I added an MXR-108 10-band EQ behind it and BLAMO, perfection. A good reference of bands you could come really close to sounding like are: Soilwork, Killswitch Engage & Children of Bodom. Drop-tune to B and, with the right pick-up/AMP set-up you got Amon Amarth. With so many of our fans(local bar goers) requesting Lamb of God songs, this finally made it possible (well, close enough; I'm still saving up for a MESA/Boogie). It DOES take a 9V battery and my best advise to you, for that much-needed depth and endless tone possibilities, is to add the MXR-108 10-band EQ. Oh...It's not just for tube amps. The Krank and the MXR EQ are the perfect compliments to any valve/solidstate amp.

I got a lot of praises from my band mates with the sound coming out of this pedal. The distortion levels are good. Unlike other distortion pedals that I used, this pedal is clear and won’t compromise your overall tone even on high gains. My strumming is crunchy and my solos are screaming! The pedal is made of tough metal construction - I still have to break it (or maybe not). My complaints: the input jacks are like made out of plastic, you need to access the battery by unscrewing the back (which I never used because I'm running this with AC adapter), it doesn’t come with a printed user's manual - the small instruction is actually printed at the back of the pedal. My equipment: I'm using an American Strat, Ibanez, a few pedals, and a VOX amp on clean boutique setting with a little delay. I highly recommend this pedal!

I bought this anyway after reading all the reviews saying that its pretty weak on distortion. Honestly i dont see why, it has plenty enough for me and i play death metal black metal stuff. It makes these really tiny no name crappy amps we have here in iraq sound really killer. I totally love this thing and would definitly recommend it. Its built like a tank and almost the size of one. The only problem was i didnt find out until i opened the box that it doesnt take 9 volt batteries so i had to wait another 3 weeks for a boss power supply to get here before i could try it out.

The real problem with the Distortus Maximus is that Krank is calling it and marketing it as a "distortion pedal" when it's really more of an overdrive pedal, tube screamer, or preamp kinda thing. So if you're looking for a real distortion pedal, than this isn't for you, even though it says "distortion pedal". Now if you have a decent tube amp that has good cleans, overdrives well, and you know what your doing with your gear, this is a great, versatile pedal that can do all sorts of stuff and can make an amp sound a lot better if it's used right. But for what they're calling it, it costs to much and isn't powerful enough on its own. Also, despite all that people that say it's tough, mine was really fragile. Overall, I'd say don't waste your money.

A lot of winers claim that this pedal doesn't have enough gain and the sound clips are unrealistic. Using this pedal in front of a sterile tranny clean channel isn't what it was meant for. By the clips, the amp is already sounding nice and warm and just started to drive before the Krank is kicked in. This pedal is more like a preamp than alot of these pedals that claim to give a rectifier tone. With the gain on low, it gives a nice clean tone. Now for that searing, shred-your-face-off tone... Turn up your tube amp until you can smack a big chord and it sounds really warm.. Make it just-below-drive point. Then step on the Krank. I was surprised. Using a graphic or Parametric EQ after the Krank also helps accentuate or reduce certain frequencies for the cut you want or the tone you want. But the 3 band is a very nice touch.

Want pure heavy metal gain without needing to buy a new amp? KRANK! The name of the pedal is brutal too!