With performance engineered for low noise and super long sustain, the Big Crush will not compromise your tone. Unlike other compression pedals that can effect your tone and often APICEfuzz onAPICE as the signal decays, the Big Crush will ring on like you want it to. Controls include Level (to adjust the output), Attack (to adjust the amount of delay before compression occurs), and Sustain (for adjusting the amount of dynamic range limiting). Players can achieve lusher and richer sounds when the Big Crush is combined with other effects such as chorus and flanger. When playing chords without distortion (clean), the sustain control helps all the strings become clearer and more distinct while the overall sound will ring with a similar volume level. The Big Crush will allow you to hear every note - great for today's modern players using 7-string guitars or guitars with heavy gauge strings. The basic idea behind a compressor is to make loud sounds softer and soft sounds louder, enabling you to avoid peaks in the sound and keep the volume even. For guitar, it is a consistent volume level across all strings. It also gives you more sustain. As a plucked string's volume dies out, the Big Crush will provide automatic gain control to keep the volume of the note(s) at a consistent level. For bass it is recommended that you use a slower attack speed to avoid over-compression. We recommend placing the Big Crush in your signal chain after the guitar or bass, but before and other processing. Thus, if you are using any other stomp boxes, put the Big Crush first, then followed by your distortion pedal, delay and so on. The Big Crush features a super-bright blue LED, letting you know when the pedal is on. As with all Rocktron stomps, the Big Crush comes in a very tough road worthy extruded aluminum chassis. An easy-access battery compartment makes changing batteries a breeze.