I would have given up on this if it wasn't for all the rage from uncle Larry and others. When I first got it I felt like it did the same thing as any of my other good overdrives. But once I started recording and listened back, then it was evident that my tone had done a great leap with the ODR-1. It's like it's auto-sounding-good. With my amp and SSS Stratocaster I run the knobs pretty much at noon, perhaps the Spectrum closer to 1 o'clock, bass cut at around 10 o clock. The 30th anniversary version in gold has top mounted jacks which I really like. I've tried other ODR-1 but liked this one the best.