My Ross Distortion is amazingly quiet even when engaged. What a beautiful, grainy, yet smooth distortion! I have a Xotic Effects BB-Preamp, a Analogman TS-9 and a BYOC BBOD- it is a great addition to this line-up. I can say with no exception that my Ross Distortion is as good or better than any of these higher end OD's/Dist.
Reliability/Durability:
I bought it without testing it and low and behold the jacks were bad, no worires. I replaced the original plastic jacks with Neutrik jacks and presto a wonderful sound was reborn. Of course Ross is out of business, but they are simple, board and component effects which are very easy to work on!
Ease of Use:
Simple set-up: 2 knobs- Dist and Level. Mine is the black version made in Taiwan.
Customer Support:
Ross=RIP
Overall Rating:
Great Distortion, by one if you can find one at a reasonable price (any vintage pedal can have issues and paying an arm and a leg should not be one of them). I smile everytime I step on it as it snarls and spits out great tones. I play an Am Std Fender Strat or G&L ASAT Classic->Carbon Copy->Clone Chorus/CE-2->BYOC BBOD->BB Preamp->Ross Dist->Teese RMC-1->'Supreme' modded Fender HotRod Deluxe. It is a wonderful addition to my palette of dist/OD flavors! This is NOT a metal or digi-smooth distortion, it is a crunchy peanut butter distortion, great IMO. Eventually this may gain more notoriety, but in a sea of great distortion/OD's this is still a sleeper.
