Boss DS-1 Distortion

not easy getting a good tone from it, because when you're using a tube amp, it will sound different on stage as it is at home. on stage the amp will cut off the buzziness and sawing sound, because of the tubes.

Also there's many problems using the tone knob, i always put it right down to zero, or one.

When dialed in correctly, PERFECT!!

I always used tubescreamers and a bluesdriver and a fulltone fulldrive, but I sold them all, and i placed my old ds-1 on(perchased years ealrier for my very first gig!!)

It is looking for the right tone, and in my opinion is it, working as a boost. level op, gain down en tone very little. work that into my fender bassman, wich is set volume to about 5(crancs it up a little), use the guitar's volume and tone for rythm, clean or lead and you've got the perfect tone for any guitar!! solo's do come out and cuts through the mix and rythm is softer with less treble and fits right in. the ds-1 reacts way better on picking strength, better than the fulltone!!

never broke down in all these years

don't know, butt sometimes i'm thinking of modding my ds-1 but don't know the people to ask( in the netherlands)

playing alternative pop it's great, but it's also right in blues, jazz, rock, heavy rock, metal etc!!

it depends on how you play!
(take ted nugent for example, plaing with blues-tones in a metalband)

i have used it in many styles anyway!!

Three knobs. But on a distortion pedal, three knobs are all you ever really need. You got your level knob, your tone knob, and your drive knob. Like a safe cracking adventure, you have to dial in the sweet spot for the guitar amp and situation.

Great hot overdrive; not for metal and a bit edgy for mellow applications, great in the middle, sweet distortion.

This has the ibanez tube screamer enamel look with the big knobs, I can't see much hurting this pedal.

I play this in my chain with a ts-9 and a wah and an analog delay and eq- Because I play a vintage amp with only a clean channel, this is a valuable tool to start the distortion process. Its got such a nice algorythm, its super.

Just like any pedal, try it our before you buy it. But for the price of this, its a no brainer.

Though the simple 3-control setup appears trivial to use, it is not very easy to get a good tone out of this pedal.

I played the DS-1 with my Ibanez RG450 and a Gibson SG, into a Fender G-DEC at home or a marshall 100w head and matched speakers for gigging.

I bought this pedal online after reading rave reviews about how everybody who's anybody in the music scene uses this pedal (Vai etc). I also have a couple of other od and distort pedals (maxon, ibanez ts clones etc). The first time I plugged in the DS-1 I thought my pedal was fried. The tone control was all the way at max and it sounded like angry hornets in a tin can. A bit of tweaking made the sound slightly better but not much.

At any setting the effect is quite harsh and very artificial sounding. It really sounded like something cobbled up from spare parts lying in the garage. I have a couple of other boss pedals (chorus and delay) and I can't believe this tin can has a boss name on it.

I really thought my pedal was busted and packed it up to send it back, but I tracked down someone else who has a DS-1 and asked to try it out - the sound was pretty much the same.

Why anyone would recommend this pedal is beyond me - when you can buy better sounding pedals at the same price. Even the boss SD-1 sounds far far superior.

Dunno - I only used it a couple of times and sold it after that.

Never dealt with them.

I play rock, blues and some funk. This pedal flat out sucks at that. Heck, this pedal sucks at everything I've tried, and it sure can't do metal. What do I love about this pedal? Hmmm.. let's see... I love the fact that I could get rid of it to another poor sucker at almost no loss to me.If it were stolen, I'd track down the thief and buy him a beer. Compared this with other products - yes, I use a maxon OD (some TS clone) and an ibanez in the same ballpark distortion level.

It's pretty easy to use. There are three knobs: tone, level and distortion. It came with a manuel; probably shouldn't have to use it, but if you've never delt with distortion pedals before, it's nice to have around. However, it was somewhat hard to get a decent tone out of it, but there's more on that below.

This is the pedal's one weakness. It does not sound that good at all. I use a Fender Roc Pro 1000 combo hybrid amp with a Fender GE112 extention cabinet. It can get some pretty sweet clean tones, but it won't break up, so this is why I bought. This was a mistake. To start off, the pedal is extremely noisy. It sounds like there is a swarm of killer bees coming from my amp. I've tried using a noise suppressor (that didn't work). However, that is not the main problem. The main problem is that this pedal sounds like crap. It's tone is lacking. No matter how many different EQ setting I tried with my amp, this pedal insists on sounding like a pedal a little child made. It is incredibly brittle. When you stomp on it, your amp sounds like it was enclosed in a tiny metal can. Overall it's too hard to get for me to find the smooth distortion tone that is was looking for. However, you do have to keep in mind that is did cost only $40 (although I have gotten MUCH better pedals for less than that!).

It's a BOSS. You can drop it down the stairs, throw it at a brick wall, play with it in the smokey haze of a bar, put cigarettes out with it, spill beer on it, and say really mean things to it and it would work (however, I advise that you don't try some of those things). I guess reliability is what this pedal has got going for it.

I play rock, so after talking to some people and explaining to them my tight budget, I thought that it would only be logical to buy it. My advice: if you already have this pedal, get it modified by Robert Keeley (www.robertkeeley.com). This is what I did, and WOW!!! The tone is AMAZING!!! I guess you have to keep in mind that for people on a tight budet, this is not that bad. But for the giging musician, which is what I am, the pedal is lacking. Definately get it modded.

The pedal is very simple to use. 3 knobs. Volume, Tone, and Distortion. The manual offers a bunch of settings you can use. And a few empty ones so you can write your own settings.

If you want an all around distortion try a ds-1. It has a very Marshallesque sound. Most people would say to go for the modded one from robert keely or analog man.com. I have not tried those but the Ds-1 is so unbeleivable common in music though. Everyone from John Fruciante, Kurt Cobain, To Joe Satriani and Steve Vai. Literally tons of people. The stock pedal I will admit has some midrange issue, but that is what the Modded pedals accomodate. They add more control over the midrange. It's hard to get a good review of a pedal because most people rate it based on what they play not on what it's for. It isn't the BEST pedal for metal, but can get alot of distortion, and it can get down to a mild overdrive-ish sound a la The Tube screamer. It can work well infront of an amp to add that extra kick for a lead tone. It does create a small his though when doing this but most pedals will. Try out a regular one and then keep in mind that a modded one will have a better tone. It's also really cheap. The DS-1 is about 50 bucks unmodded, about 100 modded. Overall though the sound is still nice.
P.S. It is wicked infront of a wah pedal. You don't get that annoying clipping you get with a High gain distortion.

Boss pedals are usually built like tanks. You can use this without a backup no prob, but at 50 bucks a pop, you can get two for what you'd usually pay for one of the other pedals.

I've had boss pedals for over ten years and never need to get anything fixed.

I play mostly punk and metal. This does not give the amount of distortion that I would like, but it would pass if you had a loud enough amp. If it were stolen I probably would buy another one. I love it's variability. I have the HM-2 and it is pretty much for only one style. This pedal can get tons of low and tons of high. (but the tone suffers on either. That is where the mod comes in. Which I plan on getting) but if you want a generally midish tone anyway, with the distortion allowing variability then this is your pedal. Most tone comes from the amp anyway. I usually run this through A Washburn SB. Mohogany body with maple top. Rosewood fingerboard. I'm running through a REXX preamp/amp with a homemade cabinet sporting cheap roland speakers HA.

use this pedal straight into your amps Return. this is always the best way to hook up distortions to your amp.

Guitar > DS 1 > Amp's Return(-input)

you'll be surprised how good your pedals will sound when used as pre-amp.

very easy..only has three knobs..

i use this with a dd3 super chorus and for lead i add in an overdrive turbo.using a 79 strat..i tried it through a behringer vintage and it sounded awesome for blues,,rock but not metal...i had to turn the tone at about 3 to 4,distortion at about 4 and level at about 4 also..the sound gets too thin when the tone is past the halfway mark..use neck pikup..run your amp clean and turn down your treble..you'll get a very bluesy rock tone,,very clapton like..i can't give this a ten coz there's other distortion out there that could sound better,but this pedal aint too bad..

never had a boss break down..

never had to call them so i don't know

this style is good for rock and blues..been playing for about 15years..i use a 79 strat and a 95 lp standard.if this was stolen,i'd probably try a mxr distortion..i like it but don't love it..i've compared it with a rat pedal..two different sound..it's all preference george lynch was interviewed about his effects and people thought he was using a 1000,dollar pedal.it was interesting when he told them it's a stock ds1 store bought.just because it's cheap doesn't mean it's crap,ibanez tube screamer wasn't even selling when it was 40 bucks until srv came along then it became 200.00 bucks.

as long as you can read the letters on the front and turn the 3 knobs, you'll be fine.

got this last night and been playing it like crazy.. hard to believe my neighbours haven't complained yet, but my point is i LOVE the sound of this pedal.

i've seen alot of reviews in alot of places where people bash this pedal due to it's shrillness or fizziness, but i personally love it. i'm an overdrive kind of guy, and this is only my 2nd distortion pedal and it's already my cup of tea.

i run the ds-1 after my overdrives into a vox ad15vt amp set for ac30tb, and after tweaking the tone knob on the pedal i've come up with a great distortion sound that isn't too fizzy or shrill at all. i've got the warmth of the tube preamp still coming through, and the ds-1's distortion is extremely transparent and great on the ears.

good ol' classic distortion from boss, doesn't get any simpler or better than this.

hehe... what do people say about these things? IT'S A BOSS!!

1. throw it off a building
2. bonk your brother on the head with it
3. drop it like it's a bomb on north korea.. etc etc..

yeah, i have a few boss pedals and this bad boy is here to stay and built to last. 'nuff said.

never had to deal with boss, don't think i will in fact.

but my local music store has my back on all my purchases hence the 10, and with a five year warranty you really can't go wrong.

if you play electric, you play it cuz you're drawn to either some form of overdrive or distortion.

now there are alot of pedals out there - cheap ones, boutique ones, generic ones, standards... etc etc

say what you want about boss, but the ds-1 is a time-tested truly great product. all the good stuff i've read about it is true now that i finally have one. i'd definitely recommend it.

Easy to figure out. Tone knob is kind of touchy. Goes from slightly muddy to slightly too bright in a very small turn. Some tweaking and it could sound good. There isn't much of a drastic change in distortion unless you're very high or very low. At 0, there is still lots of distortion, a but less though. Past 3 o'clock and you're ripping!

Stock, it is great for the price. Because it's so cheap though, you don't have to be afraid of modding it. $40 brand new is a bargain.

I have a 1996 Gibson LP Studio, into a jimi hendrix wah, into the ds-1, then to an me-50 for delay, chorus, sometimes compression and into a Traynor YCV50 Blue. The pedal sounds really good. Could be a little fuller sounding, but for the price, totally worth it. It doesn't sound very well with and already overdriven amp. Sounds sloppy and bad.

It's not noisy at all, very quiet. It's very good.

I modded it though by pulling out diodes 4 and 5 and now it's a great boost pedal. It got a LOT louder, and a lot less distorted, but can still get pretty distorted by cranking the distortion knob. It goes great now with and overdriven channel. With this mod, I'd give sound quality a 9, because it could still be better. Great with tube amps!

It's a boss, they never break.

Their website is nice. I've never dealt with customer service.

I like this pedal a lot after the mod. Stock, it's still very good. If it was lost or stolen, I'd get a new one fast.

Stock, it's great for rock. It would almost be nice to have 2 of these, one stock and one boost, but I'm pretty happy for now.

Overall, great product. Boss makes great pedals.

The things real simple to use. A distortion knob which controls the gain. A level knob which is the volume. And Tone which is A Built in EQ. TO turn it on you just step on the pedal button.

I play Either my squire Strat or Ibanez S470DXQM through a Line 6 Spider III 15 watt amp set on the clean channel. so far it isn't really noisy unless I use the single coil on my Ibanez (that does that with all pedals and amps though) This thing is great for alternative and grunge sounds. Like to get Kurt cobains tone You put the tone at 11 Oclock The LEvel all the way up and the distortion all the way up. But don't try to get his exact tone. Experiment with it first. I Know with my really old DOD chorus pedal it gets a little fuzzy but not too bad.

It's made out of a metal body so it holds up really nice. I would gig with it but I would bring an extra if I didn't have a power supply (in case the battery went dead.)

I got it from guitar center and they helped me pick out a nice power supply.

I play Grunge and Punk music and this thing matches what I play real nice. Some of the music I play consists of Nirvana (Kurt played a DS-1) The Offspring and Pearl Jam.
I've been playing for 4 or 5 years now. I own A Crybaby A DOD chorus A line 6 spider III. I'd buy it again If I lost it. My favorite thing is It's real simple to use and gets great hard rock tone. I don't hate anything about it. I compared it to Line 6 POD Danelectro T-bone. A ZOOM G1X and out off all this one was the best by far. This has been on all of my recordings. But make sure you try other stuff first you never know something else might suit you better.