I just got this last week. In short, it is the pearce bc1 in a pedal. Yes, it sounds exactly the same because it is and yes, it can push a power amp. The boost channel can be switched between the regular bc-1 channel 1 or the billy sheehan mod. Yes, if you run a p type bass into this it sounds like billy sheehan. I happen to have two attitude basses and yeah, thats his sound. I was thinking I would use this as a di for acoustic rock gigs but, this is more aggressive than I need and I have a pile of distortions already. I have $400 into this shipped and would like to get $350 for it shipped in the US. I'd consider trades for other preamps, especially an ampeg SVP-CL or high end di's. It is mint so feel free to look up pics and the manual on line.