Very $$$$, you can buy knock off's and such but yes. It's seen by many as a Dumble Overdrive Special in a pedal. I've seen a few top players using it and yes, it will push the front end of an amp and with your guitars volume knob you can get it to give you clear, edge of dirt, translucent sound. I couldn't afford to go that route so after much research I went with a Providence Stampede and it does much the same thing. At their lowest settings these kind of pedals start at no distortion at all and then you go from there, and they have very adjustable mids, which is super important to sculpting a distorted tone. Robben Ford, Larry Carlton, Bonamassa, they all have and us Dumble's and Dumble-like pedals.