Boss Custom mod SD-1

Extremely easy to dial in good sounds. The tone control now will dial in or out that boxy upper mid sound that makes me hate this pedal in it's stock form. I keep it set low, which offers an almost scooped mid sound. The control is very sensitive, so I'll gradually tweeze it up to cut through the band. The tone control is extremely useful now.

I was told that this mod was designed with blackface, or silverface Fender amps in mind. I'm using either a 69 Deluxe Reverb, or a 73 Pro Reverb (BF'd, re-capped, and loaded with 80 watt Celestions). I have been using the Morley JD-10 into these amps, with the amps set clean and getting all of my crunch tones from the JD-10. The modded SD-1 will be taking the JD-10's place for a while. I can't say that it's better - just different in a good way. For light crunch, it's unbeatable. It seems to have more gain on tap than the stock version, and sounds great with the distortion turned up as well, although it's way more than I'll ever need. I'll probably continue to use it for light crunch duties, and use my old mid-80's Rat pedal in front of it as a boost. This works out great as well. Very smooth sounding overall. Not gritty or spitty. Very natural sounding.

I've had this pedal for a couple of years now, just setting on the shelf. It was an impulse purchase that didn't impress once I got it home. There's never been any reliability issues with it, and Boss is noted for it's reliability.

I don't know about Boss, but dealing with Keith at "Machine Head Pedals" was a wonderful experience. He's a great guy, and knows his stuff. Visit his site at: machineheadpedals.com.

I'm using this for blues, and classic rock gigs, although I do play the occasional country gig. I've been playing since the mid-60's, and gigging since the mid-70's. If lost or stolen, I would definitely buy another SD-1 and send it to Keith.