Regardless of how you feel about this pedal's actual tone - if you've ever played through one, then it's likely you have some pretty strong feelings about it. People certainly seem to love bitching about this thing, but just as many (and perhaps more) seem to fall in love with it...aside from possibly the 250 (Overdrive Preamp), this is DOD's most popular effects pedal.

Many of us simply get them as teenagers, because it's usually the cheapest "real" distortion pedal at the guitar shop. As such, these things often get played through cheap solid-state practice amps with little wattage behind them - hardly an ideal situation in the search for great tone. This may have unfairly influenced some user's perception of this pedal...give it a shot through a nice tube amp sometime and see if it changes your mind.

Admittedly, it's not very responsive to picking dynamics, the distortion it unleashes is not subtle in any way, and two of it's controls are labeled "Butt" and "Face" (changed on later versions to "Low" and "High"). Nonetheless, many players admit that while not particularly versatile, the FX69 is superb for creating loud, harsh tone.