Sound quality is amazing, if you dig vintage late 70's or early 80's distortion this pedal gets the tone. In bypass mode it's very quiet. There's a little bit of hiss when engaged, but that's pretty much the norm for analog distortion pedals, and it's not noticeble when playing.
Reliability/Durability:
Considering that most of these pedals are pushing 30 years old and still going is a testament to their reliablility. Cast metal casing and a switch, can't really beat it. It's literally built like a tank!
Ease of Use:
It's extremely easy to get a good sound out of this pedal. Unlike some OD/Distortion pedals that have a limited sweet spot, this pedal sounds good just about anywhere you set the knob. Batter access is not so easy, you have to unscrew the 4 feet with a phillips screwdriver.
Customer Support:
They've been out of business for a while. however, the schematic is available online and any competent tech should be able to perform any maintenance or repairs you might need.
Overall Rating:
I'm a big fan of vintage pedals and own a good variety of them. I love this pedal! There's no boost, so for a lot of modern players that's a deal breaker. It doesn't get sweet, creamy, saturated overdrive tone on it's own (it might be able to push a tube amp there though, I don't have a big enough tube amp to test that out on) but it is warm analog sounding. It can be brutal and in your face when cranked.
