The point of this box is to give you the sound of a classic driven Marshall amp. I haven't had a classic Marshall amp, so I tested this by seeing if this box could make a Fender strat in bridge pickup mode get tone like Andy Summers. And it can! So yes, this does what it says it does.

Now to the box: it's the most versatile disto/OD pedal I've played. It really sounds good at almost any setting. You can give yourself a clean boost, or a subtle overdrive at low gain settings, or roaring nasty crunch at high gain. If you turn both the disto and the boost knobs on, it gives you beastly hard rock distortion that begs for AC/DC power chords. The tone knob -- always a hit-or-miss feature on a disto box -- is very effective, especially between 9 and 3.

The only problem with is that it crackles when you adjust some of the kobs. They say this is normal, though it's mildly bothersome. Also, as it's supposed to simulate a Marshall amp at full gain, to my ear it also tends to run a little hot and trebly, so if I play with it on for hours I get ear fatigue. I solved this by getting a more subtle, warm and less trebly OD pedal to go with it, the Death By Audio Interstellar Overdriver, and I switch between them. Also, it's good-but-not-great at cleaning up on low guitar volume settings, but I just think a guitar on 10 sounds better than a guitar on any other #, period, so maybe it's just me.

Anyway, point is, I'm a major pedalhead and the Box Of Rock is a permanent fixture on my board.

I have the hand painted one. If your into that go for it but anyway, this pedal is so good. It is really easy to dial in the perfect tone. The boost is also clean until about 8 (that is MORE THAN ENOUGH, TRUST ME) it is a great clean boost, and a marshall like (might as well be a marshall) Distortion/overdrive (however much you want).

This Zvex Box of Rock is one of the best overdrive pedals out there. Its a true overdrive pedal that gives you warm overdrive and a good amount of gain for both strats and les pauls. With strats it wont give you shrill like overdrives and with les pauls you get a perfect blues tone, much like marshalls. The drive signal cleans up beautifully with the guitars volume knob and thats were the boost feature is special. The BOOST side of the pedal is there to boost your clean tone mostly and put it into overdrive. The only thing is that the boost feature is very powerful and makes your amp very very loud. But I find it most usefull at low volumes to give your clean sparkle and much more clarity. Overall this pedal is great for rock, blues, perhaps alternative. No metal.