If one of your tonal quests is to have the “brown sound” made popular by Eddie Van Halen in the ‘70s and ‘80s, but you need it in a small package at a good price, then you’ve come to the right place. One Control, in collaboration with master builder Bjorn Juhl, has your ticket, and on it is written “Anodized Brown Distortion.” Make no mistake, the ABD has one real purpose—distortion. And lots of that thick, meaty, punchy distortion that is essential for a hard rock attitude. The ABD is a simple pedal, but sometimes that’s all you need. While the ABD seems to excel at the Van Halen type of tone, there are plenty of other hard rock tones lurking within. As always, it’s dependent on your guitar, pickups and amp. PAF type pickups with the Gain backed off and you can get some classic rock type of tones. High output humbuckers with the Gain up will get you close to classic metal type tones. If your preferences are single coils or P-90s, then the Gain turned up some, and you can achieve some sweet singing lead tones. A quick rundown of the ABD’s controls: It’s got the essential Volume, Gain and Tone controls—nothing fancy here—and all three controls are very interactive with one another. Let’s start with the Gain, as this and the Tone control are a splendid tandem. With Gain set low, you start off with a medium amount of crunchy distortion. As mentioned, low-output pickups can give you more of a classic type of rock tone, using the Tone control to give it a little more attack, or rolling it off for a slightly more laid back, darker tone. Around noon on the Gain dial, you’re in hard rockin’ heaven. It absolutely does Van Halen or ‘80s hair metal band sound that quickly followed—the ABD just brings it and then some. With hotter types of humbuckers, the ABD really gets into that hard rock (not quite metal territory), and does it oh so well. The Tone control works with your amp and pickups, and doesn’t seem to really alter the basic tone at all, which is great. It’s not quite set and forget, but you won’t be tweaking it all day either. And volume—yeah there’s a lot on tap too. You can probably blow your speakers if you’re not careful. But dammit, that’s rock ’n’ freakin’ roll! WHAT WE LIKE What’s not to like? If you like big rock and big attitude, this is your pedal. Oh, and you want something that won’t take up much space, but can still be powered by a battery OR power supply? And it won't cost your entire paycheck? Then the ADB will check all your boxes. Seriously, this is a fun pedal, it will bring a smile to your face—and if it doesn’t, well, that's your problem. True, it’s not very diverse in its tones, and it wasn’t designed to be. It is a rock machine with an attitude: the best kind. CONCERNS I got nothing.