Visual Sound V2RT808 Guitar Distortion Effects Pedal

I love this pedal because it has useful numerous musical tones which can be easily dialed in.

The ever-swelling sea of tube-screamer clones is pretty deep, and I've owned a number of them in my quest to find the best one at a decent price (because let's face it, 300+ bucks for a hand-wired Ibanez is just ridiculous). I've tried TS clones from BBE, EHX (east river drive, which is also a great pedal), Delta, etc. as well as a couple of the later-model Ibanez, and this is the one that I love the most. Here's why:-Huge volume: I need volume boost as a lead guitar player. This delivers volume in spades, unlike some other's I've tried.-Versatility of tone: First of all, the tonal range is pretty good just with the tone knob, but the bass boost is awesome. To my ears, it's more like a mid-range boost, with the increased bottom end supporting harmonic mids and increasing the overall body of the tone. I run the bass boost "on" most of the time for an almost Fuzz tone that is still clean enough for distinct notes and chording. With humbuckers, this thing is a power chord beast- crunchy and massive. With single coils you get a hot, harmonically dense sizzle. My favorite setting is with a Telecaster neck humbucker, Bass Boost on, Tone at 1:00 and Drive at 2:00 through my Jet City 2112.-Durability, Price and Support: The case is bullet proof, and the switch is awesome- super easy to mash no matter how dark the stage or how sideways you hit it. In this case, big is definitely better and I like the smooth operation. For right at a hundred bucks, I'd say this is a reasonably priced piece of gear... again, I think it's far superior in terms of versatility to the Ibanez stuff in the same price range or even a bit higher. VS has also proven really wonderful to work with when it comes to repairs... which brings me to a short "cons" list:-The bass boost toggle is dangerously close to the toe of one's combat boot/converse/vans (if you play in flip flops please stop reading) when wildly stomping in the midst of a solo or chorus drop. I managed to break mine totally off one night, which, obviously, affected the playability of the pedal for the remainder of the set. I contacted VS the next day and, despite the fact that I was the second owner and the pedal had obviously been broken my ME, they had me send it in to be fixed free of charge. I had it back in a week, and they even paid return shipping! So, I guess the moral here is watch your step, but if you don't, you're in good hands.-Looks: ok, seriously, this pedal is ugly and kind of big. But so am I.-Finally, depending of what you're trying to do, this pedal doesn't really like other pedals. It's kind of a brat like that. For instance, Big Muff next door? nope, not interested. OD in front? Compresses the signal. So I guess if you're the kind of player that likes to run 5 distortion boxes at once, this is not the best choice. But the thing is, the Route 808 is so massive tonally and so loud that you don't really need other pedals anyway. When I run it I just have an MXR micro-amp boosting into the 808 and that's really all I need.Bottom line, this is a great pedal if you like dirty, grungy rock and roll. Like you should.