Feature:
More tone shaping options than you can shake a stick at.Level,gain,two concentric pots control low,mid,high and freq.(similar to a presense control)and a small two position toggle switch for changing the waveform of the distortion from high to low.Position one:Tight-for standard tunings.Position two:for drop tunings.If this thing had anymore controls,it would have to be an amp.Included with the pedal are:One velcro strip cut perfectly to fit the bottom for a pedalboard set-up.One glow in the dark footswitch patch to see the pedal on dark stages,and the best thing of all:one stomplock cover(especially great for people who play Punk venues,where pedals always seem to "mysteriously" change their own settings every time you turn your back).But the greatest feature has to be the fact that it runs on high voltage,making it possible to use in your amps effects loop.What many people don't realize is that the reason you never see people using distortion pedals in their amp's effects loop is because they sound lousy and full of undesirable noise when used this way.The reason for this is because the effects loop runs on higher voltage than the guitar input on the front of the amp and when used through the front input,most of the noise from the components inside of the pedal are filtered through the preamp tubes which eliminates most of the noise.When you plug anything into the effects loop,it is incorporated into the amps signal path after the preamp tubes and before the power tubes which are much more sensitive to any noise that the pedal might put out.Because the TL-2 runs on high voltage,it closely matches the voltage of the effects loop which eliminates the noise,adding a whole new deminsion of sound possibilities.It's almost like running a high end effects prossessor through an all tube power amp.

Quality:
Very high quality.It's as they always say,"built like a tank",minus the 50MM cannon.

Value:
Excellent value for the money.Better than the Boss Legend Series and almost 40% cheaper.

Desirability:
One of the best looking pedals I have ever seen.If it were any sexier,I'd have to hide it from my wife.

Sound:
Whenever I purchase a new stomp box,I determine whether I'm keeping it or sending it back buy giving it the ultimate sound test.I use two different guitars;a chambered ash telecaster with S.Duncan vintage output STR and STL single coil pickups,and a solid mohogany bodied Les Paul style guitar with S.Duncan D.Mustaine high output active humbucking pickups.The amps that I use are a 67 Fender Deluxe Reverb and a Mercury Magnetics modded Epiphone Valve Jr.Because both of these amps are so incredibley dynamic sounding when played clean,any pedal that I plug into either of them is going shine through for what it really is;either great,just ok,or crap.After about two hours of experimenting with the nearly limitless variety of extremely hifi distortion sounds I was able to dial up,I came to the conclusion that the TL2 is easily among the best ditortion pedals ever produced,not just the build quality,but the fact that it has a very unique sound unlike the vast majority of pedals I've used in the past.I would even go as far as to say that it is within the top five best pedals I've ever used.I read a review where someone said that it sounded exactly like a Boss Metalzone.I've owned a Metalzone for about 15 years and I can say that The TL2 blows it away.This pedal is in a class all of it's own and I have now doubt that it will one day be considered to be one of the greatest distortion pedals ever made.Just remember that if your using it in front of some crappy eighty dollar 15 watt practice amp,you're not going to get the best results.An inferior amp is an inferior amp and no matter what kind of pedal you put in front of it,though it may improve the sound,It's not going magically transform it into a high end boutique tone machine.The quietness and transparency of this pedal is unbelievable.If it didn't have an LED to tell you when it's on you would think it was off.Whithin the first minute of turning it on,I got a sound that was eerily similar Tool-Aenema,then after a little more knob tweaks,I had a sound that reminded me of the last two Lamb of God recordings.After experimenting a little more I found myself in a realm of sound unlike any other distortion sound I've ever experienced from any other pedal.This is a top of the line pedal designed for high quality amps,but they will work very well with many budget amps as well.Getem while their hot...

Ease of Use:
What can I say? It's a pedal not a recoding studio so you don't need a recording engineer to operate it.

Support:
Digitech has always been known to have one of the best support teams in the business,period.They will even fix your old vintage DOD pedals if they break,but judging from the quality of this line of pedals,I highly doubt that I will ever need their sirvices.

Overall:
The Hardwire line of effects are some of the most exiting products to come out in the last fifteen years.I may have to buy two of each of them just so I can always have a backup incase one is ever lost or stolen.