Boss DS-1 Distortion

Like many other single tone pedals, 3 knobs and its dead easy.

I use Ibanez GRG170 (DiMarzio pickups) using BOSS DD6 Digital Delay , Ibanez Tube Screamer TS808 Overdrive, Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi USA and BOSS GT-6 Multi-effects (usually on tremolo/violin) through Marshall JCM 2000 TSL 100 full stack or Marshall 100DFX amplifiers. Before I buy this pedal I have been searching all around the planet to find the best sounding pure distortion (and no overdrive) for lead guitarist of my brit-rock band. I could get the sounds I wanted in rhythms with Marshall amps but the lead should be more punchy but not crunchy. I first decided to buy a DigiTech Hot Head distortion pedal and I did. The tones made by the Digitech's recent pedal had lack of personality. I didn't like it so much that I decided to sell it and buy another distortion pedal. And luckily I found my 3 favourites I should choose from. One was Marshall's Guv'nor which makes a crunchy British distortion sound, good for brit rhythm guitarists. Another one was ProCo's famous "RAT" overdrive/distortion pedal which was excellent and the last one was the most famous and best-selling distortion pedal ever: BOSS DS-1 Distortion. This piece of metal was a really genius-made! The tones we were looking for all the time in our amps was there! Bingo! It sounds best for you if you play classical rock. The sound has its personality , mostly for guitar leaders, it is a must-have. The best technical thing that I should tell you about this pedal is : 1) It has a very powerful sound even when I don't use my Ibanez TS808 (tube overdrive) the sound is still punchy and powerful. 2) Noise-free!

When I heard that Steve Vai and Joe Satriani are using it, I got cool.

I play brit rock / brit modern rock and this is my weapon (ignoring the great Ibanez TS808 pure tube pedal). I have been playing guitar for 9-10 years and I think DS-1 is a pro choice. Although ProCo RAT is a strong rival which also produces overdrive as well, I think DS-1 is, at least, cheaper. However I think you should try all those 4 pedals I have mentioned on your gear to see which one sounds better to you. The only thing I was wondering is why DS-1's price in the UK is #39 but its $39 in the US, regarding #1 UK is $2 US! It may be hard to understand if you don't know any maths, but if an American wants to buy this pedal from UK, he/she should pay $78! So Brits, go and buy it from the US!

This is a very simple pedal and you can get a lot of good sounds with it.

I use a Fender Cyclone 2, and use it through a good solid state amp. It sounds great, you can get anything from a bluesy sound to hard rock. I keep the tone at about 11 o'clock and level and distortion at full. It's great. I also use it all the time with the Chorus Ensemble (I just leave it on the whole time) and often with the Flanger (BF-3).

I would use this without a backup because I know it'll always give good sounds and stay in one peice for the most part. I stepped on the tone knob and broke it off but that was my fault. If someone stole this pedal I would run out and get another. It's great, you won't regret getting it.

I've never had any trouble with this operating so I don't think I will ever. I got it at a local music store.

I play something of a grunge-y, modern punk-ish sound. It's great. As I said before I would definately go out any buy another. I love this pedal. I also like the fact that you can change the EQ right on the pedal itself AND on the amp, giving you a lot of sounds. I got this because of its price and I favored it's simplicity over other distortion pedals. It's a huge part of my music and I would be lost without it.

Very simple, 3 knobs, volume, tone, and distortion, each one is obvious what they do. It can be used as either your main source of your distorted sound, or as a booster, either in volume or gain. You're not going to get an easier pedal than this unless you get the SD-1, same three knobs, except the SD-1 is an overdrive pedal, and there is a big difference between distortion and overdrive.

This pedals sound quality definitly depends on the rest of your pedals, guitars, and amps. It's one of my quietest pedals, the SD-1 is even quieter. You only get some buzzing-like sound when you have the distortion at max, and please, don't turn all the knobs to max, that is very unprofessional. The DS-1 works great with my Dunlop wahs. I'm always changing my pedals around, taking things out, putting something else in, but I always have my Dunlops wahs first, then my DS-1, then my Digitech WH-4 (it makes the harmonies sound so much better when it's after your distortion), and then I might put a delay, talk box, chorus, or flanger after it. If you use a different distortion pedal and want a volume boost, put the DS-1 after it. If you want a gain boost, put the DS-1 in front of your distortion pedal. If you use your amps distortoin, figure out where it sounds best, in your effects loop or right in your effects chain. You can get a very wide range of sounds out of the DS-1. It does lack a little bit of character, but you have the EQ on your amp to fix that small problem, or just use an EQ pedal. If you can't figure out a good setting, check out the manuals sample settings, they have good options for anyone who needs them.

I've owned Boss pedals for over 11 years, I've been buying them for a long time, they never seem to break, I've never even heard of a Boss pedal just breaking. Very reliable pedals. I never need backup, I either use the DS-1 as my distortion, or my amps distortion.

I mainly play classic rock and hard rock. I play lead guitarist in my hard rock band, and lead guitarist in my instrumental band. The DS-1 is just about perfect for both. And yes, Steve Vai and Joe Satriani use a DS-1, I've met both of them, I've seen their setups, got to talk with each of them. I am seeing Steve Vai again in two months, I have heard he's updated his DS-1, he had it modified by Keeley, I forget exactly which mod it is, but it's on Keeley's website if you are interested. There are many other guitarists who use the DS-1, find out for yourself. If you also believe your DS-1 lacks some character and can't get the exact sound you want, definitly get it modified by Keeley, I am buying another DS-1 to get one modified. The DS-1 is Boss's best distortion pedal, their other distortoin pedal are either too muddy, too trebly, or emphasize the mids way too much to give it a nasaly tone. I didn't even waste my time comparing other company's distortion pedals, I knew this one was good when I bought it a few years ago. The only pedal I would ever replace my DS-1 with is either a modified DS-1 by Keeley, or possibly an Electro Harmonix Big Muff Pi (USA version only).

This pedal is very easy to use. Tone Level and Dist controls. Level is overall volume and dist is distortion. Tone is simple enough, turn it past 1 o clock and it has higher tone. turn it to the left side of 11 and its nice and bassy.VERY SIMPLE!

This thing sounds better than alot of the $100+ pedals I've payed. I don't like it when you have the tone on 9 o'clock because there are absolutly no highs.Great sound though.Awesome distortion for all types of music.

This thing is defenitly refliable.

Got it yesterday cant comment

This is a great pedal for the money i paid. I use on for my band. We play grunge and hard rock/metal and it works great for me. I only wish it had a 2 or 3 band eq on it. Besides not having enough tone control this thing is absolutly awesome. If you ever consider it...BUY IT!

Easy. Use your ears! Tweak it!

It depends on where you put it. I use it right after my wah and before my WH-1. I normally use the distortion from my amp. If you are into soloing then this is the best thing on the market for putting your guitar out front. This is why Steve Vai and Joe Satriani use this. Now Vai uses a Keeley modded verion called ULTRA.
I will review that one against this one soon. This is one of the few pedals that I have that I didnt read the manual and just plugged right into my rig.

Built like a tank! THey should use these to Armor the Humvees in Iraq! GO USA! We love you!
Look with over 550 reviews in this forum alone. A LOT OF PEOPLE HAVE this! Why? Whether they liked it or not, it is the mainstay, back up or defualt pedal of all time!

Dealt with BOSS support 1 time. Excellent experience.

I bought it in sale for $39. An excellent pedal for the price and cannot be beat by anything under $150.

How easy to use this pedal depends on how you intend on using it, as a booster or overdrive, ect.
I use it as a booster & find it pretty easy to nail my original sound but only make it more louder & fat

This pedal sucks as a distortion, in my opinion that is, as everyone has a sound they like & some like it for distortion, well I'm spoiled.


I've been playing for 25+ years & I am finally very pleased with my sound, where the DS-1 comes in is a level booster for leads only & this is where it truly shines. I place it at the end of my pedal board, if you use time based effects such as delay in your pedal board than you need to be careful with this as a boost, don't use it in front of a digital device as it will clip the digital delay & it will sound horrible, if you use it after I'm not shure how it will sound as I've never tried it.
I don't use delay in my pedal board so I'm OK with it.

You set the tone knob to where it is very close to the sound of your guitar when the unit is turned off, set the level to the ammount of boost you desire & set the distortion to off, or if you like the sound of the distortion than by all means use it, I'm just listing how I use it, & it is a great booster indeed, I payed $40.00 Can. for it & it's one of the best boosters I've ever used.
Why pay $100-$200 dollars for a boutique booster pedal when you can have one of these for alot cheaper?
Mine is a Japan made but I don't think that makes too much difference where it's made.

It's a Boss, need I say more?

Never tried, never had to.

I play heavy music, blues,& older rock, if I lost this pedal I would find another for sure, awsome booster pedal for leads, it makes your sound cut through without coloring it, if used properly that is.

a monkey with a blindfold could use this

This is THE best pedal ever you can get a range of sounds by twisting some knobs its and to all those people who think its to noisy ive got some things for you 1.take into consideration that you shouldent crank the whole thing ass hole 2.change the level of distortion and tone for evry dif style 3.And only use singlecoils if u like single coils, theres no point in pkaying grunge with them,Cobain had humbuckers or hotrails installed in the bridge postion of evryone of his guitars, so if u play with it cranked get humbuckers

its a boss

kick ass for all styles of music if you fiddle with knobs and use the right setup

Play around with the three knobs to get the tone you desire. Cranking everything to 10 on your Crate combo is going to make it sound like shit. Use your head.

Right know I'm using the DS-1 in this setup- 96 Fender Stratocaster=>Fender Princeton 65 amplifier. Then these are run through the amp's effects loop: Crybaby wah=>USA Big Muff Pi=>Boss DS-1=>Boss DD-6 Delay. This works pretty good with the Big Muff for my needs and I often crank the tone up a little to give the Muff a boost. Keep in my that this pedal doesnt only have to be used for distortion. You can get a boosted lead tone out of it, you can get a slight crunch and you can get a heavier sound. It does create some buzz, which can become irritating, but my amp gives off noise as well, so you just have to fiddle with it until you find something that fits you.

I'd depend on it in a gig, at least with a fully-charged backup battery. Either that or buy a power supply. Built pretty solid

Never dealt with them.

It's a good pedal for it's price, and it has long been known as the first distortion pedal that many guitarists buy. When I upgrade to a quality tube amp, I assume my sound quality will improve. Test it out, play around with it.

I found it very simple to dial in the exact sound I was looking for. You shouldn't have to use the manual.

I use a Les Paul Studio and a Fender Cyclone through a Fender Hot Rod Deville 2x12. I find the pedal a little noisy, but nothing that could be considered annoying. The distortion is very versatile and can cover blues to Nirvana (I mostly use the LP for the bluesy stuff and the Cyclone for the egdier stuff). I agree with the reviews that say it sounds better with a humbucker, it sounds way to thin and screechy with my Tele, but I don't use my Tele with it anyway. I seem to be able to dial in all types of sounds that can closely replicate the artists I try to play. I do think you need a pretty high quality amp and guitar to get a quality sound out of any effect pedal. This may be considered a bias review because I do condsider this pedal to give me the exact sound I want. My favorite thing about the pedal is the smooth crunch sound I get instead of that digital buzzing sound found on so many amps and pedals.

Pedal is very dependable. I use it on gigs all the time with no backup. Just keep a lot of batteries around. It eats them up faster than other Boss pedals I've used.

Never used it.

I have been playing for about 11 years and own only stuff that I use all the time. I play a lot of music, Clapton, B.B. King, Nirvana, Far, Weezer, etc.... My favorite use of this pedal is with my Cyclone through a Fender Hot Rod Deville 2x12. This was the first distortion pedal I bought 11 yrs. ago. I put it away for a long time then rediscovered it a few years back and haven't stopped using it since. I use it in the studio and on stage. In fact, I had been using the amp distortion on my Marshall, then one day I decided to show up to band practice with a DS1 and Hot Rod Deville and my vocalist said he had never heard a better sounding combination. The only sound I have found that is sweeter is playing the neck pickup on an Amer. Tele through my '76 Fender Champ at volume 8. That is a beautiful sound that can be appreciated by any musician, regardless of style.

3 knobs. tone, level, distortion. i dock a point because the maestro fuzz has one knob and thats it so i don't think it'd be appropriate to give it a ten, albeit a very easy pedal to use.

Epiphone Sheraton or Gibson Les Paul > Maxon OD808 > Ibanez TS9 > Boss DS-1 > DOD Flashback Fuzz > Vox 847 wah > Fender Blues Jr or Fender Hot Rod Deluxe.

Its not really all that noisy seeing as though its a distortion pedal. It does moderate distortion very well. doesn't sound too digital at all, but thats not to say it sounds 100% natural. I use my Maxon OD808 about 85% of the time, but when I jam out I like to take this or my DOD flashback fuzz. I like this because it has nice sustain and a big crunch, opposed to my fuzz which is just fuzzy, nasty noise (in a good way).

I can get a decent early Oasis tone (Definitely Maybe) but that's not why i got it. I got it for my rock tunes and it does just that.

I play jazz, funk, blues, and rock (mostly british inspired). I'm not exactly a rock guitarist, but when i want/need to bust out some rock tunes, this definitely gets the job done. This is actually about the 5th time i've had this pedal. I happen to buy it and sell it and buy it back and sell it etc. I just happened to walk into the CD/Game Exchange and they had one for $15 and i couldn't pass it up. If it were stolen or lost i'd probably get it again; i always do. I love its reliability and the fact that it gives me a nice, gritty rock sound. I don't really hate anything about it. Its cheap and it sounds nice. What's to hate?

This thing is very easy to handle. The controls do exactly what they say; tone, level and distortion. Look out with tone though - past 12 o'clock the treble is painful!

This thing is no Texas blues purist device (i. e. TS-808 or boutique overdrive), nor a poodle hair heavy metal effect. This is plain distortion and I beleive it is quite good for classic hard rock. I use it in two ways: Either as a no fuss distortion unit for hard rock standards, or with the dist control near 0 as a booster of my tube combos own drive channel.

In a solid state amp it delivers lots of (rather transistorized) gain, but in my tube combo you have to play loud to make things happen. But when you do, I believe it sounds very good! I suppose you will have more gain with a humbucker guitar than with my Fender Strat SSS.

Of course I can rely on this pedal!

Don't know.

Mostly I play bluesy hard rock staples from 68 to 75. This pedal delivers good standard distortion at a very good price. My pedal is Japanese, but I don't think it gives anything else than a new Tawainese one.

The only thing that annoys me is the tone control. I can't understand why it is designed with a range where half of it is useless! But keep it below 12 and it is OK.

Its a 3 knob pedal (gain, tone and level), it ain't exactly rocket science :p The knobs are quite sensitive, so sometimes you have to be careful when you twiddling.

i use a lot of crap, so i'll just tell you whats in the DS-1 effects chain (i use 2 seperate chains)
guitar (ESP F-200 with EMG 81 and 60) -> Boss NS-2 -> Dunlop Crybaby -> Boss CS-3 -> Boss LS-2 loop B out -> Boss DS-1 -> Zoom GFX-707 -> Boss LS-2 loop B in -> Amp (Peavey Bandit 112 with 4x12 cab, or Marshall JCM900).

the pedal is kinda noisy, granted it is a dirt box, but it was replacing a Zoom Trimetal (the trimetal was a bit of a one-horse pedal), which was completely silent at any gain level. In this department, i was slightly disappointed to be honest.

i struggle to find a rounded tone with this pedal, its either too bright or too muddy, quite limited because it only has one knob. i got GE-7 EQ off a guy i know for #30, and it greatly improved the pedal, highly recommend some form of EQ after it.

now, this is my real beaf with this pedal. my guitar is active, quite high output. PROBLEM: no matter how high i crank the level knob in this pedal, it refuses to balance with the bypassed sound. to be honest, that sucks.

but, every cloud has a silver lining. this pedal with my crybaby sounds phenominal. i dont know why, but this pedal has a very unique sound coupled with my wah, it doesn't give the traditional wah sound i'm used to with my crybaby, it adds this slight synthy edge to it, fantastic sounding and really helps it cut through when i solo :) this saves the pedal.

the sustain is a little lousy, but my compressor/sustainer fixes that.

i've used boss stuff for about 3 years, never had any problems. i used to gig at least once a week, sometimes 3 or 4 times a week, so they got fairly high usage. i've never used the DS-1 in a gig situation, i expect it'll live up to the same standard. therefore, no opinion (because i'm only expecting)

they suck

i play any kinda music, i use this pedal mostly for the more rocktastic moments though, coupled with the EQ pedal, i also use it in the medal/grindcore moments. been playing intensivly for 4 years now. if it were lost or stolen, i've have to think twice because of my volume issue, but i really love that crazy wah sound :) (i think it has something to do with this pedals asymmetrical diode arrangement, but i may be wrong). i didn't compare it to others in the shop, it was this or a big multifx unit, and seeing as it was for my pedalboard, i settled for this. i wish it had a decent EQ built into it, it woulda saved me #30.

bottom line - unless you have a crybaby and an eq pedal, avoid it if you wanna play properly. if you just wanna sit in your room and arse around, go for it. since i play properly, the pedal itself is going low, with the EQ, i give it a nine, but this isn't a review of the EQ ;)

its a simple o/d pedal, nothing special, one of their first little experiments......

i use marshall 900 50w 4500 heads and 280 watt greenback cabinets, stratocasters, crybaby wah, dd-3 delay,
i couldnt get this thing to sound good, the best o/d i have ever used and still do today is the dod yjm-308 vintage o/d,
its smooth which the ds is not,
if you look at the new boss graph charts youll find that they are one of the most unnatural harsh pedals available,
i cant gig with one of these, simple as that..

believe it baby!

not the best
thats your music stores job though isnt it?

i play hard rock covers and my influences are Malmsteen, and anyone who can play guitar properly, it doesnt help me at all, in fact it wrecks my whole rig!
may as well go out and buy a monterey guitar and a practice amp it will sound better.
There are many great overdrives out there so dont buy till ya try.

Three knobs: tone, level, distortion. How hard can it be? Can you spell DUH!

I use a 40th anniversary American standard strat and a Marshall Valvestate 8080. Never noisy, it just delivers. Everyone says it's not the most versatile pedal you'ld get. I say it's a good deal. Used it for leadwork only. At first I used it as a simple distortion box: I set the distortion knob past 3 o'clock, the level at 1, and the tone at bout 10. For my taste the low end was a lil' too muddy. Then I began to use it for crunch. Set the dist knob at 10 and everything else the same. It was OK but the tone it delivered was too harsh for me. Then I realised that maybe I was wrong in using it. This thing has character: definitely a rocker. Not for my taste. Recently I discovered the best way for me to use it: clean boost. SRV, George Lynch, Satcho, Vai, etc use it for that. Set the level at maximum, distortion at minimum and it will only enhance the tone of your guitar and the personality of your amp whether you use it on the clean channel or the overdrive. Try it this way. U won't regret! A pedal that'll allow you to experiment in getting your tone. Since sound quality is a personal preference I'll give it an 8.

If broken during a gig...I'ld use the amount of overdrive the Marshall delivers. That broken too...well...I'ld run for cover :)
It's hard as a rock. I always use it without a backup since it very dependable.

Never dealt with them.

I play guitar for about 5 years. Blues-rock's my thang. It's not a VERY good match for my style. But it's so hard to get my hands on equipment in my country (I live in Eastern Europe). I think I succesfully succeeded in using it. Maybe I'm a lil' too hard to satisfy :) I REALLY think it's a good piece of equipment to buy.

Very easy to use...only 3 knobs to deal with.
Best sounding overdrive/distortion pedal out there for the price.
Comes with a very handy manual for suggested settings.
This pedal sounds different with every amp.
I would recommend an all tube amp to get that nice punch.
Not a solid state amp of any kind....I've had them all.
I'm using a non-modified....right from the factory version.

I'm an old rocker from the late 60's....
been playing and teaching guitar for over 35 years.
My set-up is very basic .... wah wah using DS-1 and
other secret pedals in line to get my original sound.
Did SRV give away his tone secrets when he was alive?
Sound quality is the best in my opinion for blues and classic rock.
Metalheads may want to seek another Boss pedal for crunch, though.

Very sturdy die cast metal as Boss always uses.
Even the middle east terrorists couldn't destroy it.
You could probably gig without a backup pedal.
I only have an extra drive pedal in case DS-1 is stolen.
Actually I would like to buy another DS-1 as backup.

Not many reviews I've read have dealt with customer support.
That explains how awesome Boss pedals are.
I'll be dead before the pedals are.

I play Blues and Classic Rock mainly.
Played for over 35 years and 20
of that I taught guitar, too.
Yes...if lost I would buy 1 or more.
I like everthing about this pedal.
Has much Tone to it and if you back it down
a bit you have a Blues Driver BD-2 sound ...
but they cost $70 new compared to the $40 of the DS-1.
Has very good sustain....don't waste money on another distortion pedal.
Somewhere I read where Joe Satriani and Steve Vai use DS-1 pedals.
I don't know if this is true or not so don't quote me.
But with the great tone from this pedal...some famous players probably do.
You decide for yourself because this is only my opinion with my setup.

Why even bother saying how easy this pedal is!

I've had my DS-1 for a few years, I'm not sure exactly how long I've had it for. I have a few other distortion pedals and I've played may others. I think the DS-1 blows them all away. The distortion is perfect for me, the exact sound I like and want. There are many things I like about this pedal, the main thing is that even with only one tone knob, it covers a wide possibility of tones. The distortion is perfect me, it's not one of the many over-the-top distortion pedals where you get soooo much distortion where it covers up your playing, most people that suck buy those kind of pedals because they need to hide their terrible playing behind a ton of distortion. Another thing I really like about this pedal other than the tone, is that it is super quiet, I get no extra feedback or noise. If you get unwanted feedback or noise, it can be a number of different things, it's definitly not the pedal. Like another reviewer said, try this pedal out on the things you use, not just what you can play in your local music store. I too have noticed that this pedal sounds very different when using certain, guitars, amps, and pickups. I also must agree with the other reviewer that this pedal sounds the best through a Les Paul or any high quality guitar with humbuckers. Single coils are too trebly at times.

This pedal is perfect, no extra feedback or noise, and I do use it every show I play. I don't need a backup for this pedal, It's been lasting me for a while and doesn't seem like it's gonna die andytime soon, and it definitly will stay in my pedalboard, just like it's been for years. All Boss pedals are reliable, they last for more than you can imagine.

No need, nothing has ever gone wrong with any of my Boss pedals, and I have some that I've owned for more than 10 years.

I said pretty much all I needed to say already. I do have an EQ pedal that I could use after this pedal, but I find no reason to use it, I have the sound I want right now, I don't need to adjust it in any way with an EQ pedal. An EQ pedal does give you alittle more room to find the sound you want if you think the DS-1 doesn't give you enough "EQing". I also have to agree with the other reviewer that the DS-1 is way better than the DS-2, the DS-2 pedal is crap!

come on!!!! 3 knobs

well.. i was blessed enough to have a friend GIVE me a early eighties made in japan ds-1. i used to have a taiwanese ds-1 and the mij's sound much more natural and warmer hands down. if you can find one get one. i'll give a 9 for sound quality

i still have other boss pedals that i bought in 1982 and 1984. still good as new. they won't break down

no need...NEXT!!!

iv'e been playing for 26 years, iv'e played a ds-1 through marshalls ,fenders, peaveys and an old 65 ampeg amp.i also use mainly strats.it fits my style perfectly,which is hard rock to blues.im using the ds-1 through a peavey classic 30 with a celestion v30 and the tone is VERY CLOSE to EVH'S tone on the VHII album..i'm not kidding. it's a great distortion unit for the money,although the japanese one's are better. if you are a good player with good control and dynamics,this pedal will compliment you

Definitly one of the easiest pedals around to use and get a good tone out of at the same time. As you already know, 3 knobs, Tone, Distortion, and Volume, you should know what each does. Who reads manuals anyway, especially for the DS-1. If you read the manual or needed to read it, you probably are an idiot.

There are mixed reviews for this pedal, most people probably expect more from this pedal or think they are gonna get a certain sound out of it. It realy depends on your guitar and amp, if you have a junky guitar, don't expect to get too good of a sound from this pedal. If you have a junky amp, you might be able to get a good sound out of it. If you have a junky guitar and amp, your screwed. I use Les Paul's and a few other guitars, but this pedal really shines when using a Les Paul, I gotta say that. I have many amps, from small battery amps, to a few half stacks and a full stack, (i could have more full stacks if I put my cabs on top of each other). If you want this pedal to give you the sound it is supposed to, you should play it though a half stack or full, you can really get that nice hard rock distortion. I do have to say this pedals tone possibilities are limited because it has one Tone knob, but the one knob can cover a wide range of tones. But, if you are like me and are crazy about your tone and distortion, get an EQ pedal, that will allow you to really get the sound you want. I bought the Boss EQ and have it right after my DS-1, buying the Boss EQ is what you really should do if you want to get the most out of this pedal, it can really enhance and change the pedal in any way you want. *****Do not get the DS-2***** I bought the DS-2 before I got the DS-1, GIANT MISTAKE, the pedal is too trebly and the distortion is terrible. I think Boss thought they could have made another DS-1 but with alittle bit more versatility. The DS-2, in my opinion, can't compare to the DS-1, the DS-2 might have the extra "turbo" knob, but it really is nothing great, it just either gives you a low, muddy distortion, or a trebly, crap fuzz sound. Also, this pedal really can give you anywhere from a nice mellow, bluesy overdive, to a hard rock distortion. The distortion really doesn't get "heavey" like most think it would, if you want heavey, get metal zone, that pedal takes heavey to a new level.

I've had this pedal for a few years, this thing still works like it's new.

You can only call them up by phone, they do not have an email address.

This is a really good distortion pedal, it is even better if you get an EQ so you can really get the sound you want. The main thing, if you try this pedal out at a store, make sure you try it out on either same guitar and amp you have, or anything as close as possible to your guitar and amp. Because there is a really big difference you get from this pedal depending on what you use. If you go to a music store and say you wanna try the pedal out, the will let you pick a guitar or they will give you a guitar, but the guitar won't be a crappy-ish guitar, and they will plug you into a nice, quality amp. So, make sure you try it out on what you use to see what it will really sound like. I've tried this pedal out with a Squire Strat on a 30 watt amp, sounded like total garbage, but then I tried it out on a Les Paul and a half stack, the sound was a lot better and more what I was expecting. Also, pickups do have a big roll in the sound you get, too. Humbuckers are the best for this pedal, single coils really don't cut it for me.

For me the DS-1 is a little hard to get a good sound.
Cant get a sound like Nirvana.

Fender Jag-Stang,Through a DOD Grunge amp,Boss DS-1,EH small clone,EH Big Muff,EH Poly Chorus,Boss tremolo.
When you lay your hand on the strings or quit playing you get this annoying sound.I have used better Distortion pedals.

I would not use this pedal on a gig.
I would not depend on this pedal cause of the noise.

I am only thirteen and I play Grunge like Nirvana,sonic youth,smashing pumpkins.I have been playing for four years and if this were stolen I would buy another.I probely need a new one.

Takes a bit of fiddling to get a tone with enough bass and mids. I use a p.o.s squier strat so obviously its gonna take a bit more tweaking. I was pleased with the results i got though. It really helped clean up my pice of crap single coils and added more sustain. i also have a fender 15 frontman so if i really want to get lots of distortion i turn the drive on on the amp use the pedal.

read the first the EASE OF USE category i accidentally put it in there.

solid as a tank. you could drop it off your roof on your house and it wouldn't do shit to this.

never dealt with boss and i doubt i'll nead any repairs.

i love this pedal and once i get a decent guitar with humbuckers im sure it will make a huge difference. My friend has a jackson warrior with 2 humbuckers and sounds awesome already so i cant wait to try it through my ds1 distortion.

My sister knows how to use this thing, and has never touched an electric guitar pedal in her life. Easiest pedal in the world to use.

The effect from this thing is really powerful, and hits nice and hard. I like to crank the distortion to maximum and just put the tone about half a centimetre above halfway. It gets that heavy, modern-metal sound that I like, plus sounds great with a solo. The big "but" with this thing, however, is the ungodly amounts of feedback I get out of it. Not only that, but some sounds sometimes start to overlap with others, and sort of ruin some very fun chords. It works amazingly with hard rock, and isn't too over-the-top.

I could drop this thing from a ten-storey building and not break it. The only thing is that the batteries die kind of quickly, but that's not an issue if you just ram an AC Adapter into it.

Can't say I've ever dealt with them.

I have been refered to BOSS numerous times for new pedals. This pedal left a very good first impression. I am planning on buying a whole managerie of pedals from BOSS used, because they are a bit pricey, but are built liek tanks. This thing is like the Orange Abrams. Dependable, hard-working, loud, sophisticated, easy to modify, and loud! Gotta give this guy a 9.

It is easy to get different sounds out of it if you understand eq and gain controls on amps.
I use this as a backup for my Boss me-50(godly pedal).
Theres no patches and the manual is ok, there isnt much to tell. The fact that boss gave some samples of different knob positions for different sounds is generous.

It gives me the 2 sounds I need. I have the gain on full and the tone at 12-1 o clock for Hardcore/metalcore styles. If I want a more classic sound or punk sound I can roll my guitar volume down and increase my guitar tone controls for more bite.

This will give enough gain for most hardcore/metalcore applications when hooked through a half stack or anything at loud volumes. This isnt some mesa boogie chug imitation pedal, so look elsewhere for nu-metal application.

This pedal sounds fairly marshall with a bit of a unique midrange, I like it alot. The only pedal I like more is the Marshall Guvnor which basically replicates the marshall sounds I like.

It hardly feedbacks at all, I was very surprised by this. I have a quality guitar with fairly good pickups though, a Fender Deluxe Double Fat Strat.
I use this with various heads on a peavey 5150 cabinet or on a fender dynatouch deluxe 90 watt hooked to a PEavey transtube 2x12 combo amp. I also have a Vox pathfinder 15 watt which is good for mic'ing and direct recording. It gives superb tone with all of the above.
I can get the sound I want, I don't know about other artists. With the gain all the way down and the tone at about 3 o clock you get nice old rock sounds like rolling stones.

My only beef with this pedal is the lack of sustain, you can't do long sustaining leads or tapping much.
I don't use effects with the ds-1 except analog delay which is fine with it.

Its boss.... Its analog.... I am carefull with my equipment too.
When people are skanking, 2 stepping, and causing chaos at shows I can rely on it to work if my Me-50 pedal wont.

5 year warranty.. I might need that for my boss me-50( multi FX digital stuff can break), but not this boss ds-1.

Everyone should have one of these unless they have no use for overdrive/distortion.
Go get one while they are cheap, 40 bux if u check the musiciansfriend website.

3 knobs and a footswitch... duh?

I run an SX Les Paul copy (a GREAT guitar for the price...) -> DOD FX 64 -> Digitech Synth Wah -> Boss DS-1
The pedal itself is a bit noisy, but it's a distortion pedal, what did you expect?
The sound is clean and crunchy, a nice classic sound.
I was looking for a slightly less crunchy sound though.

It's a Boss pedal... I have a feeling it would survive a nuclear blast (along with the cockroaches).

You can get this pedal for cheap online! It's an excellent pedal for the price... no guitarist should be without one!
If it got lost or stolen (this puppy will most likely not break), I would either buy another one (for dirt cheap) or take one of my friends...

Easy enough....just 3 knobs...tone,level and distortion. just a case of playing around untill u can get a decent tone

my setup contains a 30 watt marshall(ss), epiphone les paul, and crybaby. this box would probably sound better on a big amp, with lots of tubes. But for my little amp, it gives more of a boost on my overdrive channel. on the clean channel, u can get tones like undertones/teenage kicks, and queens 'we will rock you' tone. put it like this....on my overdrive channel, i dont know how i ever solo'd without it

built like a tank.
would use it without a backup at a gig definetly(with fresh batteries every time of course)

never dealt with them

i have been playing for near 4 years, and play anything from bb king to zakk wylde stuff.
doesnt make much difference, tone wise, but provides a good boost for lead playing

3 controls.how hard can it be!!!

This aint no metal pedal by any means and it aint the most versatile either.Dont let that put u off though.Use mine b4 a metal zone as a booster and believe me it really kicks ass!! Also use it as a bluesy overdrive using the same settings but with the mt2 switched off into the clean channel of a jcm900.Plying dynamics are also retained well.Was hugely disapointed when 1st used it but it just takes a bit of experimentation...and isnt that half the fun!!!

ITS A BOSS!!!!!

Overall this pedal is a good workhorse,just dont expect pantera from it when used on its own.

Easy to use... just tweak the knobs until you get something that sounds good to you.

Using it with a Jackson Pro series, with 3 humbuckers, and a cheap yamaha guitar. ...a fender 85 solid state amp.
This pedal (with my gear) gives a good generic disortion. You can hear the notes when you play open chords, and you can get those harmonic pings and squeals. I like the sound of it... it's a very good, "middle of the road" distortion pedal. Just mess with the knobs and you'll find a decent sound... It's a quality product. For metal though, I'd recommend an MT-2.

Boss.... you could hit it with a hammer and it'd still work. Then run it over with a commercial truck and it'd still work. Then drop a nuclear bomb on it, and it'd probably still work.

N/A

I play everything. rock, country finger picking, blues, jazz... etc... this pedal is nice.. gives you a good distortion, and it's somewhat smooth. I prefer to turn the distortion down some for a lighter sound. It can do hard rock and metal but there are better pedals for that. (like the boss MT-2)
If it were lost or stolen I'd buy another. It's a good, solid distortion pedal.

Very simple.Many useable sounds from mild to abrasive.I don't have a manual as I got mine used but I have no problems getting decent sounds from it.

Perfect distortion as far as I am concerned.I tried a RAT just before the DS-1 but it is too "80s Metal" for me and I once borrowed a EH Big Muff which is really radical and chaotic sounding but it kept breaking down(it was old though).The DS-1 is perfect for me.I admit that I am a "naive" guitarist.I am really a bassist(pro basses & amps)
but I like to play guitar for my own amusement and sometimes for demo recording.My guitar/amp selection is a modest but decent VOX Pathfinder 15R(small practice amp) and an Epiphone Flying V copy.The VOX has a surprisingly good natural overdrive that combines well with the BOSS DS-1.

Solid.Bullet-proof.I have owned many BOSS effects for my Basses and virtually every guitarist I know has at least one or two BOSS pedals.
I have NEVER encountered a problem nor have I even heard of a problem with a BOSS.

Don't need it.

Not as radical as some hand-made boxes but all around useful for me and my applications.It does exactly what I expect it to do.It distorts well for chords and or single note solo.

It has 3 knobs. It is a distortion Pedal. Any of you nu-metal heads could even figure this one out.

Im using a Ibanez Jetking and an epihone SG through a Fender Princeton 65. It doesnt sound as deep or as Full as id like or as i have heard from some of my other pedals

It hasnt broken once, even after dropping it off a 40ft balcony in a theater i work at. But i have heard bad things about Boss support lines.

I dont know.

Its ok for beginners. I got one for free from a friend which isnt bad at all. I guess its ok for $40 as well since thats about as cheap as pedals come. I would however hold off and get an mxr blue box or distortion or a ibanez ts808. This pedal is ok, but doesnt sound very rich to me.

This is one of the easiest pedals on earth to use. There are just 3 knobs. From left to right these are tone, level (volume), and distortion. Maybe not as simple as some pedals that just have one knob or a switch or something, but a monkey could still operate it.

This pedal is a classic and I've heard it referred to as "the Swiss Army Knife of Distortion pedals", and there's a good reason for it. You can get a ton of sounds out of it. None of them are great to my ears, but there are many, many good ones. This pedal is great for trashy garage rock stuff. VERSATILITY is the best feature of this pedal, and for $40 new, you can't go wrong.

This is one of the Taiwanese pedals currently in production, and I use it with several different cheap guitars into a couple of different (cheap) solid state and hybrid amps. Right now I've mostly been playing through a little Vox Cambridge 15 at home with either a Squier Telecaster or an Epiphone SG with a JB in the bridge.

If you want your favorite artists' sounds, the DS-1 can probably get you close. This was THE sound of Kurt Cobain on all studio and live recordings until the In Utero tour (he used a DS-2 during the latter part of the Nevermind tour, but only "Mode 1", which is a DS-1 circuilt with a slightly beefed up low end). If you like Bush, and I don't, this WAS their sound on "Sixteen Stone"--tone at 10:00, gain at about 3:00. John Frusciante uses it as his main distortion pedal, though he usually only uses a distortion pedal for overdubs and solos. Try tone at about 1:00 and gain at about 11:00, with a strat and you'll get his sound at the end of "Give It Away Now" when the distorted guitar overdub comes in. I think Jack White from the White Stripes might have used it on the first couple of White Stripes albums (I've seen pics of him with some boss pedal) and I could approximate his sound with the tone knob around 12:00 and the distortion set fairly low--I forget the exact settings. I also heard a kid at the music shop one time getting a pretty good Neil Young-ish tone out of this, a Tele, and a Peavey Delta Blues amp. I don't know how anyone could say that the DS-1 doesn't have enough gain for metal, unless they have a Strat and play with their guitar's volume on 2. Scoop the mids, turn the volume up on your guitar, and you can get some saturated, albeit somewhat stale sounding, distortion.

I do think it usually sounds better with PAF-ish humbuckers because they thicken up the sound and help offset the lack of bass, but single coils also work well. Distortion humbuckers can sound too shrill.

I usually keep the tone knob at about 11:00, as do a lot of people, because it can get overly shrill and piercing quickly. It can also get a little too buzzy with the gain all the way up, but from 9:00 to 3:00 the sounds are pretty good. With the distortion all the way down, you'll still get a boxy kind of crunch--useful, but it makes the pedal unusable if you just want a clean boost--get a tube screamer or something similar for that.

If you want to sound like Kurt Cobain, his usual settings were distortion and level all the way up, tone at 11:00--into a blackface Fender Twin in the studio. A strat-ish guitar with a humbucker in the bridge through this pedal into an amp with the mids turned up will get you close to his sound.

The main gripe I have with it is that it doesn't have much low end on its own, and when you roll back the tone knob to thicken up the sound it can get muddy easily. You have to compensate with more bass from the amp, which will affect your sound when you turn it off. This pedal doesn't compress your sound or give you a lot of fat sustain: it can actually sound pretty thin when playing solos. When the pedal is off, I do notice a slight lack of natural harmonics, but it's nothing big. It doesn't affect the clean sound like my Big Muff.

***A LITTLE TIP*** This pedal is surprisingly sensitive to the type of batteries you use. It may sound silly, but I've noticed that Duracell Ultras give me quite a bit more gain and high order harmonics than, say, generic batteries or even regular copper tops. Try them and see what you think. Oh, and remember to unplug it when y

Right now it is my backup, as I prefer to use my Big Muff with the Telecaster for a thicker, sludgier sound and a Blues Driver for crisper overdrive on lead-oriented stuff. Boss pedals are known for being indestructable and I'm not real hard on my gear. After two and a half years of use it's only got some small scratches on the paint.

Never had to deal with them.

This is good for pretty much any kind of rock, and maybe some grittier blues or honky-tonk if you keep it set low. So many sounds to choose from, and it's a great value. I've had it two years and I'm still finding new settings with it.

***I HAVE A-B'ED THIS PEDAL WITH A JAPANESE ONE*** The sound differences were negligible. The Japanese one was just a little smoother and had a slightly fuller sound to it than my Taiwanese pedal. I wouldn't pay much more for a "vintage" model, though. If you have two to choose from and the Japanese one is $10 more, I'd go for the Japanese version, but it's really not a big difference.

All in all, this isn't a boutique pedal and it won't give you the Tone of the Gods by itself, but it is very useful and it's probably the best bargain going. For $40 new you get a lot of good sounds and it's surprisingly sensitive to your touch and technique. It will also clean up some when you roll back the guitar's volume knob.

Easy to use, three knobs, not hard to work out.

OK THIS IS THE TRUTH: This pedal gives the most warbling treble sound ever in the world. It screams out a highly distorted high pitch sound which looses all of your mids and bass. This is good if you want this, but I don't, I prefere a more solid tone, not the best pedal for me. Only buy this pedal if you want this tone, I use it mainly for solos where i need screaming but not for rhythm, it just sounds horrible.

Indestructable (unfortunatly)

I shouldn't have bought this in the first place and given a chance I would flog it on.

This pedal is extremely easy to use. The manual is very complete. I was not born a genius so I always read manuals. There are 3 knobs--Distortion, tone, and level. LED light lets you know when the effect is on.

My setup: Epiphone Les Paul-->Boss DS-1 distortion-->Boss CH-1 chorus-->Peavey Special 130. I have noticed no noise in using this pedal. The effects are strong and sound good to me. I realize that lots of heavy metal guys are gonna want something a little fuzzier, but I personally like this pedal for its crunchy distortion, because it doesn't destroy the sound of your playing. If you want heavier distortion, try a Boss Metal Zone. For my style of music, this pedal is great.

I feel that I can depend on this pedal, although I haven't had it very long. On a gig, I wouldn't take a backup pedal---just a backup battery. You never know.

Never dealt with them

I play different styles of praise and worship music. For the harder songs, I can crank the distortion, and it is awesome. Also, on slower songs, I can turn the dist. down and it has a nice mellow sound. I have been playing about 7 years. If this were stolen, I'd definitely buy it again. I love the array of crunchy to smooth distortion. I wouldn't say it's for everyone. That's why there are different types of dist. pedals for different styles of music. This one is perfect for my style(folk rock, praise & worship). I wish it came with an adaptor. I'm thinking about buying one. I didn't compare it to any other products. I bought it based on these reviews and I'm glad I did.

i've bought it used without manual, but there are only three knobs (tone, level and distortion) so there's no problem.

my setup:
les paul copy -> morley pwa wah -> boss ds-1 -> digitech x-series digidelay -> peavey envoy 110

i plug ds-1 into a clean channel (EQ: bass 3/4, mid full, treble 1/2).
it sounds best with tone knob at 9 o'clock.
dist knob gives you variety of sounds: from dirty blues to '70 (Led Zeppelin) rock even to metal (some say that it's too weak for metal, but i can make it sound like Death - Leprosy or even Symbolic). I can get Satriani (Always With Me, Always With You) and Vai (Hand On Heart) tones without any problem. It's a bit noisy with dist knob turned past 3 o'clock, but only a bit. It's very versatile box.

Some people say that there's a drop of volume when you turn it on, but here's how to fix it: lower your pickups.

i've bought it used, and it was somewhat scratched, but it's solid like a tank (hmm i think i've heard it somewhere :P).

never dealt with them

i play everything from blues and jazz to rock and metal, an it suits me vary well. if it were stolen i would buy another one.

Very simple pedal, 3 knobs and step on it to turn it on. Like someone else said, DON'T EXPECT THIS PEDAL TO SOUND GOOD IF YOU ARE USING A CRAPPY GUITAR AND SMALL AMP!!! This pedal sounds great with a Les Paul or any quality guitar! This pedal sounds the best through a stack, in combo amps, the sound isn't as good as you hear it is, but put it through a stack, if you don't have one, too bad for you.

You can go from a nice bluesy, mellow overdrive, to a kick ass distortion, and anything in between! This isn't a heavey metal pedal, if you want a huge distortion, definitly get the Metal Zone. Keep the TONE knob under 12 o' clock, anything above 12 sounds way too trebly. You can put the distortion anywhere, sounds great in any spot. I use to have this pedal set as my bluesy, mellow overdrive, but one day I turned up the distortion, and I never noticed how kick ass it gets! I am buying another one to have one set as the bluesy, mellow overdrive, and the other as my kick ass distortion! Trust me, if you think this pedal sounds bad, try it through a stack and you'll see what I'm talking about, and what everyone else is talking about! Satriani's distortion comes from this box, he uses a DS-1, not the distortion from his amps! Satriani uses 2 DS-1's for a few songs. Even Vai has one that he uses to get his distortion from!

Very reliable pedal, I use it all the time, practicing and doing shows. I don't need a backup cause I know Boss pedals last longer than most. I will have two DS-1's, but the 2nd isn't a backup, it will be for a different distortion so I don't have to keep changing the pedals setting every few minutes.

Boss and Roland don't have an Email, they only allow you to call them? I think they should get an email address. There really is no reason to contact them unless you need a demo for something or a manual. I never had to deal with them and I have a ton of Boss pedals that never died or failed me!

I've been playing guitar for 11 years, I have soooo many pedals, Boss is my favorite. I think I know if this pedal is a good quality pedal cause I have sooo many distortion and overdrive pedals and the DS-1 kicks them all in the ass! If this pedal was stolen, I would definitly have to buy another one! I compared this pedal to the Digitech Hot Rod pedal, the DOD Supra distortion, and Boss DS-2, the DS-1 killed them all!!! It really doesn't need any extra knobs for "EQing", if you want more EQ options, buy the Boss GE-7, but you really don't need more EQ, the pedal rocks!

3 knobs. Can you scratch your ass? Then you'll do just fine with this.

Ok, this thing is ONLY good with humbuckers, and sounds best when driving tubes, as opposed to solid-state amps. Don't use this with your Squier Strat and Frontman 15and expect magic, it won't happen. The pedal lacks lows and low-mids, but sounds decent with the right setup. I hated it with my old Epi strat, but when the footswitch crapped out on my Randall RH200, I stuck the DS-1 in front of it, behind my Ibanez GRX20. With the hot Powersound humbuckers and the bass-heavy Randall head, the DS1 threw out some cutting, brain-shaking distortion, and worked for me until the dude I borrowed it from got kicked out of my band. I even chose it over the MT-2 I had lying around, and my band plays a mix of punk and metal (think At The Gates eating Discharge). Repeat, it's ONLY effective when USED RIGHT. For lack of versatility, I'd give it a 5, but since it nailed what I needed, I'll give it a 7.

I've only had one Boss pedal give me any beef, and it was a Super Overdrive. Turned out the switch was dirty. I cleaned it with a q-tip, alcohol, and compressed air, it works fine. Boss kills.

No effin' clue.

Once again, don't throw this bastard between your Squier strat and a shit amp. You need beefy buckers and a ballsy amp for this to work right. Fat tubes preferred. Wish it had more EQ options, mids, etc. I like its voicing, just wish it had better EQing.

There are three knobs. If you want more distortion, turn up the gain; if you want a brighter tone, turn up the tone; if you want it louder, turn up the level; and vice-versa.

I use the DS-1 with a Strat or a Washburn ES-335 copy. It sounds good with both humbuckers and single-coils, but is definitely likes humbuckers a bit more. Nails the early EVH tone. The full range of the gain knob is useable. The only complaint I have is that if you turn the tone knob to far clockwise or counter-clockwise, it sounds either to shrill or too muddy. Also, it sounds just as good with an AC/DC adapter as it does with a battery.

The battery lasts quite a while, and if you you can see the LED glowing then you know it will work. It actually works even when you can't see it, although I don't recommend playing like that because it doesn't sound very good. Anyway I use an AC/DC adapter so that's not important to me anyway.

This is good for all types of classic rock. If someone stole it, I'd look for a used one because it's a great pedal and you can find 'em cheap used. It sucks that it doesn't come with a power supply, but FYI you don't have to get the $20 BOSS adapter, there are a lot of cheaper alternatives. It does what a Tube Screamer does for a lot less $$$. I enjoy playing a lot more now that I can get some good distorted tones.

It's easy. Really easy. Three knobs, Tone, Level, Distortion. Simple

Man...the sound quality is bad...Really bad. My setup is an all-original 1960 Les Paul, Or a '61 re-issue SG, into a 1960 Supro, Or A Vox Ac30. And still bad, I tried playing it through my Solid-state Marshall, but it still sounded bad. The only good setting on this thing that I found is distortion all the way down, tone at 12 o' clock, And level even with clean sound. Still, it wasn't that great.

The most amazingly bad thing about this pedal was that even with the Vox, I couldn't get a warm sound without the distortion sounding horrible. And that was true for every single one of my amps I tried it on. I'd love to say this is a great pedal...but it's not.

Also, this Pedal is very very tinny. You can't emphasize the highs without it sounding very shrill.

It's a Boss. But I would never use it to gig. I would rather just try to make my own.

I dealt with them once...and it was very sloppy.

I play all styles of music except country and rap. And while this isn't the worst pedal I've ever heard, but it is bad considering the other pedals that could be bought for not a whole lot more.

This is a wonderful piece of equipment...if not Vai or Satch wouldnt include it in his rig. Simple as ABC.

Great sound from this pedal. Cleans up well for strats, can go soaring heavy with bassy chordwork. Perfect break up sounds. Use it with a TS9. This thing is the best distortion pedal I've ever played, period. You want distortion, you get distortion.

Built better than a tank.

Never dealt with Roland and Boss people b4.

It's a must have in your pedal board. Dun waste your money in getting those tube distortion pedals that boasts tube warmth distortion...bunch of gimmicks. I've been playing for 8 yrs and this has been around for that long. I dun understand why this pedal is underated. It has the gains, transparency, simplicity and good price.
Go and get it ...no I dont work for Boss...rock on!!!

This is an update. After about 15 mins of non stop fiddling with the controls i found the distortion sound i was wanted, bridge pickup on my strat with tone at 9o'clock, level and distortion full. I must apologise for my rushed review below, if you fiddle about for a while you should find a good sound coming out of your amp.

easy enough. 3 knobs, how was that lobotomy?

I think it is fine. GO to your local shop, and et a used one for $35. It is well worth it. It is a standard medium/hi-gain distortion, nothing more. I would use it as a back up for my beloved Ibanez sd-9, but it is not as gritty. Good as an alternate solo distortion, and if you are a studio rat, this is one of those cornerstone sounds.

Boss, nuff said

Stop bitching and buy one, if nothing else but for a studio box. It may not become your main distortion (though it could be), but it seves many good purposes.

3 buttons, if you can use a pencil you can use this.

The downside. If you own a Fender Strat DO NOT BUY THIS, or for that matter any other guitar. It sounds crap, like they removed all traces of bass and mids, and left the treble in. Sounds very, very tinny. If used with a strat it is hideously noisy, which i may have been able to stand if i had liked the tone and sound of it. This pedal does'nt know what gain is. Tinny and crap and only good for very very subtle distortion. WEAK!

Its a BOSS

Never used it,and not likely too. Had it for 2 days and taking it back to the shop tomorrow.

I really hope you pay attention to all the reviews further down the page that say it sucks.....it really does! The people who praised it must have some miraculously fantastic amp and guitar to get a good sound out of this. I bought it because it looked like a bargain for #39, and i regret buying it. AVOID!

If it were lost or stolen i'd feel sorry for the person who found it (or stole it) as they would have the trouble of getting rid of it!

Once again i say AVOID!

Its so easy that i dont have to explain this pedal. Its been made for 25 years now.

It sounds so different depending on what you use it with. What guitar? What amp? Solid State, or Tube?

Anyway, i just picked this thing up at a pawn shop for $48 dollars Canadian, and so, i cannot complain. Its Used but someone only USED it for maybe 3 hours it seems since it is pristine condition. i thought W T F ! its a steal .

I wont even dignify this category with an answer (BOSS)

fuck em.!!

Hey, theyve been making these pedals for a while now. I didnt need it, nor was i looking for one. It was just sittting there in this Hock shop up north of the city. bought it on the spot. I wont rate it, cuz i just bought it today, and wanted to see the HC ratings on this, so i thought i would waste time and put in my 0.2 cents. Been playing for 20 years now. Have the TS-9 original, Sans Amp Tri-Od, now i have the DS-1 to round out the trio. If you cant get a good sound with any of these pedals ,,,,,,man,,,, give it up, and go and get a job that involves the words " Would you like fries with that?"

what a joke. simple.... been said a lot 3 nobs. manual is good to give general ideas to modify to your own taste.

im playing a Dearmond M75 into my ds-1,to a solec phase shifter, to shin-ei exciter pedal(wah basically) and into my Kustom amp.
With the ds-1 i am able to get a wide range of sounds though if your looking for a pedal that has fuzz this is not it, what the ds-1 gives is much more of a fizz. It is much more suited for a crunchy distortion.
this is great pedal as it can be used widly from blues to punk or metal.

need i say

never had to deal with them

I play rock/punk/blues/metal, a wide range of styles as my band is somewhat of a joke band so we just take off all sorts of music. This pedal is great as i can switch between sounds with the turn of a nob. very simple and easy to use, as i said before great for a beginner.
If it was lost or stolen i would most likely not buy another one. I would prefer a Proco rat or some other style to give myself a more defined sound.
This is a great pedal and i highly recommend it to people who are not sure of what type of distortion they want. Its a great all rounder.

Well, I honestly cannot figure out why people says this is an easy pedal to get a good sound of. In fact, it is really hard to get a good sound out of this box... too metallic for my taste.

As I've said before, this pedal sounds like a mediocre distorsion box. It is somewhat too metallic, it has a cold sound that never fits my style at all. It is good for feedback and for some solos, but other pedals can do this for you in a better way.

My current setup is Jazzmaster + cs-3 + proco rat + big muff + nobels tremolo + rocktech analog delay plugged into a fender valve amp. I've owned the ds-1 for 4 years but finally sold it. The RAT is a way better box if you're looking for a good distorsion, and it also can achieve great crunch sounds -while the DS-1 can't- If you are looking for fuzz, then the ds-1 can be a bit if that but the big muff really kicks it.

For me, the ds-1 is a pedal that can get a great variety of sounds, but always on a mediocre way.

Wow. Boss.

I've been playing for 10 years now, in a great variety of bands. Nowadays I'm playing mostly crunchy sounds like Luna, the Cure, Pavement, Jeff Buckley, etc. I'm also playing guitar with Christina Rosenvinge's bands in some of their last gigs. This pedal never fits my stile at all. It is way metallic and transistorized, as every other boss pedal i've tried. Boss are great pedals for the realibility they offer, but the sound you get from them isn't very nice for my taste.

But for the price I guess it is a good thing to start, so a 6.

it has three knobs... level, tone, and distortion. A monkey could figure it out in seconds.

The pedal isn't very versatile, but it is exactly what I needed. Just a good amount of distortion. You can't get anything heavy or strong out of it. When used with a normal tone, the sound does tend to be a little sharp, but the tone knob can solve that. I personally only use it with the tone very flat on my guitar and the distortion all the way up to get a smooth distortion sound. Only works for solos though, because when set like that the chords make a very strange mix that make it sound like the guitar is dying... but the solo sound is awsome. If you're looking for your average distortion, this is it, but don't expect too much out of it.

you could throw a boss pedal off a cliff and still use it at a gig.

don't ever use it

Boss has MANY different distortion and overdrive pedals. If you're looking for the right sound go to a guitar center or some other store and toy around with the different pedals until you find what you want. Boss has something for everyone. This pedal is the cheapest, but it is still very durable and well worth the measly forty bucks.

I don't think I need to repeat what has already been said. A simple pedal, plus the manual gives you differents presets to help you on your way

My set-up is:
Ibanez RGT42 --> Zvex Fuzz Probe --> BOSS DS-1 --> Boss CE-2 Chorus --> Zoom 707 --> Marshall MG30DFX

The effect is not noisy at all, no matter what kind of pickups your using, if there is any noise, it's your setup, not the pedal.
The effect itself sounds pretty good for what I intend to use it for, obviously next to a Zvex Fuzz Probe it will seem a bit weak, but its not the quality of this pedal, its the sheer quality of the Fuzz Probe, but the Fuzz Probe is #300 and this is #40 so a comparison between these two pedals is pointless.
I'm not using this as my main distortion, this is intended to be used for different distortion sounds I require in songs.
When I went to purchase a second distortion pedal I compared this to the whole Marshall range of OD and distortion pedals, I also wanted to try a SD-1, but the shop didn't have any in stock and they said Boss were a bit sketchy with their supplying of pedals. This could have cost them a sale because if I had not liked this pedal I wouldn't have waited for an SD-1 to be in stock I would have gone for one of the Marshalls.
Anyway it's about time I properly reviewed the sound of the DS-1
Hmmm where do I start? well I have to admit, you have to be careful with the tone knob, the sound can get trebly very quickly, but if your capable of turning a knob, the treble can be toned down, the amount of available drive is enough for what I want to do with the pedal. This pedal is very raw sounding, which is the kind of distortion I like, it's all well and good people moaning about the lack of bass, but isn't that what a bassist is for? get into a band and use a bassy sound, where does it go? it mixes in the bass so it's hardly noticeable, so stop moaning about lack of bass, the pedal has all the bass you need.
I'm currently using the pedal with a Solid State Marshall MG30DFX with all the EQ knobs maxed out, except 'Contour' which is at 0. I then use the EQ on the Zoom 707 to get a good sound that really compliments both of my dirt pedals and gets me a sound that I really like (can't wait to try it all out with a decent valve amp), it's a sound that can always be heard in the mix and has a great filthy quality to it which I love.
I'm trying to obtain my own sound, but my sound does have a Muse quality to it, thanks to the Fuzz Probe of course. I have always believed in being yourself and not to imitate others, obviously use ideas from your favourite bands, but don't imitate.
Overall 8 because it can be too trebly at the "wrong" settings, so alot of the Tone knobs travel is useless to me unfortunatly, but it gets a sound that I like and at the end of the day, thats all that matters

I own a Boss CE-2 Chorus, these were made in the 80s for the uniniciated (sp?) and it works as if it was bought yesterday, so my rating is based on that rather than the DS-1 because it has not been around for as long.

Not dealt with the company, but the shop I purchased it from did moan about Boss that they are unreliable with supplying the shop with Boss pedals, so this rating is based on that comment rather than first hand experience. But shops are just as important as the final customers and Boss should take this into account

The music I play is mainly Muse, Radiohead and RATM, obviously I play others as well as my own. The DS-1 should find its way into everything I play, well the bits where I feel the Fuzz Probe is a bit much, which is what I bought it for.
I have been playing for over 2 years now, purists will now be saying that this review is invalid, to set the record straight, I have been playing guitar for two years, I have been playing synths pretty much all my life (I am 17 years old, I hear more screams from purists)so I think I have idea of what a good sound is based on my experience with synths.
I have already listed my gear, apologies about the amp, its for use in my bedroom mainly, I would like a valve amp, but they are so damn expensive unfortunatly, but one day I'll have the money.
If it was stolen I would be upset, I'm not that attached to any of my gear though, except the Fuzz Probe which I love like it was my child, well instead of upset, I would be pissed off because it's my money that was spent on this pedal and I don't ever have much so buying another pedal would be a serious investment.
I love it's sound, how it reacts to your playing, how it reacts to different gear (if it sounds crap, it's most likely your gear, not the pedal, or you don't like real distortion).
I don't like the fact that it is not true bypass, but it does have a good bypass, so I'll let it off.
I wish it was more colourful, more boutique-ish if you can understand what I'm getting at. The colour and general mass produced quality to it doesn't appeal to me, it looks like it doesn't have a personality, which is a shame.
All of my pedals help me make music, they can all help me to get the sound I'm after, obviously the more I have, the better for that, hopefully this pedal will find a permanent place in my chain.

Overall: It's a great pedal that won't appeal to some, but everyone should try one just to see what they think. This is another Love It or Hate It pedal which I love.

For any purists out there getting their knickers in a twist because I max out everything on my amp's EQ, get yourself an EQ pedal and try it, it does sound really great and I'm not the kind of guy that maxes out everything.

3 knoobs, Tone, Volume and Distortion all self-explaining. Can be run with 9V battery or adapter as i do because batterys just cost too much money.

First of all my Set-up: I play a Epiphones Les Paul Standart through boss DS-1 into a Cry Baby and Straight into my Marhsall V100 and a 1936 cabinett. The sound of this thing just sucks in my opinion. Don't even try to turn the tone knoob above 11 o clock because the Sound just gets much too thin and sounds like an old broken radio cranked up too much. It's impossible to get a fat deep sound out of it and it also lacks any warmth. I tried everything, and the only usefull setting is tone to 9 1/2, Distortion and Volume both all the way up, then it sounds a bit nirvana like but there is no low end, no mids just this annoying high fizzle. Perhaps it's usefull if you play Punkrock but don't try too play Black sabbath, nebula any 70s musik or Heavy Metal through it.
What i like about this pedal is the Volume, it can get really loud(ok then i have this annoying sound not only bothering me but my whole neighbourhood haha) and it has a beautifull controllable feedback. And it's not noisy at all, also a + for it. I give it a 6 because it might be a nice pedal if it fits your syle but i can't get any REAl rock out of it so for me it gets a 3 for the feedback and volume.

It's a Boss, try smashing it with a hamemr if you want to, thing thing will last. but don't use batterys, it sucks them out really fast.

i allready said it's a tank so i never had to deal with them

I have been playing for 2 Years, still looking for my sound. I'm trying to get somewhere between the old sabbath, Fu manchu Kyuss and Karma to Burn sound,what is quite difficult. And this pedal is just the worst thing you can do to your sound if you want to sound like these gread bands. If it would be stolen i'd kill the bastard, take his money... and buy any pedal except this one. The best thing is to try one, perhaps it fis your sound.

Really easy to use. It is really easy to get various degrees of distortion with this pedal.

This pedal sounds great for the classic rock sound I was going for. I use it for Ted Nuggent, Aerosmith, Black S., and it seems to do very well depending on how it is set up. It has limitations when looking to use it for more of a heavy metal sound but it will work if needed. I have tried it with a MXR Phase 90, the 90 would ad a lot of unwanted mids (the cat screaming into a mic sound) that I have not experianced with other distortion pedals. It is an old 90 though, and it might have some internal issues. For a straight distortion box I love it.

Seems solid. Have not experienced any problems.

Its very easy using it, and it has a good manual.

I play a Yamaha RGX121D and a Warm Music amp. And this pedal did very good sound. Its not noisy, and I can get sounds like Metallica, Stratovarius, Helloween, etc.

Never had a problem with it.

never needed

It does what a distortion pedal should do. You can play anything distorted with it. For Heavy Metal, good pickups help you to make the heavier distortion, not only the DS-1. I would buy it again if it was stolen.

The DS-1... yeah.. How simple can a pedal be. If you dont know, well this is it.

The sound quality is good. I play this pedal with my lead guitar parts in the music we play (rock pop music check this: www.archer-music.nl). It sounds exactly what i have to have no doubt about that. No complains too. The solo's i play with my Marshall Valvestat 8080 switch. I put the sound a bit up so you can hear the difference.

It never breaks

Never dealt with them

My configuration is like this. Digitech RP7 Valve--> Boss DS-1--> Dunlop Cry Baby--> Guitar ( Ibanez RG 470 ). It just sounds great and once i put the volumes like my taste, well... there we go. On stage i sure do the same.
We play Pop rock music and it surely puts a part in my band. Till now i havent heard multi effect that gives a good distortion sound. Also grunch or metal sounds just dont sound right with floorboards. Also the wah wah sounds doesnt sound good on most multi's. The Boss DS1 is the sollution. The RP-7 gives all the other effects (wich sounds good). The Marshall brings in the solo feature.Well thats my cake.
If i would lose it, or it being stolen, i would by a new one. There is nothing i hate about it

Very easy to use, only 3 knobs (Tone, Level, and Gain)

This is an awesome pedal all around! I play alot of Nirvana stuff and can get the right sound for any song. Its great for lots of other stuff as well. Turn the Gain all the way up and the level at 12 o'clock and tone at 9 o'clock and yo've got a great fuzz sound. And for the Nirvana sound, Tone- 11 - 1 o'clock, Level- MAX, Gain - MAX.

Very dependable.

Didn't need to use custmer support.

Very good pedal indeed. Great for anything from grunge, classic rock to metal.

This stompbox has the usual features: Three knobs for tone, level and gain. So it doesn't differ from other classic distortion pedals. This makes it much easier. Though the level knob makes the sound more fat it doesn't really increase the volume. But I think that's not a problem at all. The tone knob gives you a wide range of sound. In comparison to other pedals (for example the mxr zack wylde)it gives some nice deep bottom sounds.

The sound can only be described a classic a heavy metal sound. I've been told many famous guitarists as steve vai and joe satriani would play it live. Believe it or not. I play the boss ds-1 with a jcm-800 and a 80's sqier strat and i must say it sounds really great. I recommend to use it only with tube amp that has'nt too much gain. Together with my jcm-800 it gives me a high gain distortion that is still soft and warm. But before buying it remember that the sound you receive depends very much on your amp.

I have for 3 weeks so I can't make some serious statements. But BOSS gave me a 5 years warrenty.

I'm a big fan of King's X and Ty Tabor. The sound I get from this piece of gear is perfect for melodic heavy metal. It doesn't sound aggressive at all. It isn't too noisy and allows you to play fast notes because of its high gain sustain.

Easy to use. As manual says, set your distortion, then tone, then level. Key thing here - rolling tone to left adds bass punch and cuts highs. Rolling right does opposite. This makes for a wide variety of tones. I think this pedal does a pretty good overdrive sound as well at lower drive settings.

I've AB'd this pedal against the Proco Vintage Rat extensively - my conclusions were as follows: (1) The DS-1 has more bottom end punch and crunch with a less compressed sound than the RAT. (2) The Rat is a bit smoother in attack (except with the DS-1 at low tone and drive settings - it's smooth as well). (3) The DS-1 works better/is more musical at lower drive settings with the Rat sounding a bit squashed due to the onboard compression. (4) DS-1 was far more articulate at very high gain settings with the RAT descending into a gurgling mush of fuzz that was unuseable. The filter control on the RAT is different than the tone knob on the DS-1. To my ears, the filter knob on the Rat only raises or lowers highs, but does not impact the bass side much. The conclusion, while there are certain tones out of the Rat I really like, if I had to run out of the door to a gig with one distortion pedal, I'd grab the DS-1.

Boss O.K.

I've been playing a long time (20+ years) and have tried many different OD/DS pedals including the TS-9 class of pedals. I play into a high powered clean amp through humbuckers on a Paul and depend on pedals solely for distortion. This pedal is already a great value even if it wasn't currently discounted so much ($40). It's got a satisfying tone IF you sit down and read the manual (don't laugh) to really understand how the knobs interact with each other. There's no reasonable distortion/overdrive tone you can't get out of this one.

A simple pedal with only three knobs, but the average american guitar palyer will set all the values at 10 and leave it. It's a single button and the hardest thing to detect is a dead battery, so, I guess it's gonna get an 8.

This is probably the closest you can get to a Marshal tone without a Marshall tube amp, you could probably use this in the effects loop of the MG line to make it sound even Marshallier. I love the way this one sounds, using custom fat-strats and a '73 Kustom III Bass amp and guiitar very gigable tone. Unfortunately, it can't take the place of a good 'ole british JCM.

Never broke, never didn't turn on with a push and the battery's got hella good life.

I say, go for it, what have you got to loose? It's a great pedal all around.

I don't think any one will argue that this is a simple pedal. I gave it a nine insted of a ten only because it is not as easy knowing how to use it well. I've used a DS-1 for about three years and i'm still finding ways to get new tones out off it.

Ok this is my slightly sad set up.

Obscure 70 guitar->cry baby wah->Electro-Harmonix Worm->E.H Big Muff
->DS-1 Distortion->Fender 25 watt frontman

This set up is not loud and it is totaly unaceptable if I play with a drummer in which case I would use another amp. Volume weekness aside I get good tone. In my oppinion this effect can be weak but the distortion i would call weak some one else may call hardcore. That is very often the case with this effect. The tone varies a lot with how you use it. I get great tone out of it.

It is a Boss they don't break. One time my basement flooded and it sat in a puddle for 2 days. I pulled it out, said a prayer, plugged in and played. It was perfect. It's not a tank. Tanks break. It's an M16. It's your best friend

Never delt with them.

As i said i've had it for 3 years. I love it. I play Blues, Jazz, and crazy trippy rock. Compared to the other basic distortions on the market this is a god. If your trying to play the pop music you hear on the radio i don't know if this is good for you. I'm trying to write things like Mars Volta and Fugazi. I find it very effective for this. Try turning the tone down and turning the ditortion all the way up than turn the volume on your guitar down to about 1 or 2. This gives me a great warm commpressed blues sound. Learn to use the pedal before you write it off. It will reward you. I gave it a 9 caus i hated it at first untill a figured out what to do with it. I now find it to be versitile and effective.

It's easy... too easy.. but...

Some guys said that it sucks and some guys said it's nice. Well, here is my opinion. If you use it with a solid state amp, it probably sounds so bad and ugly. If you use it with a tube amp, also maybe you would not be satisfied with it. I tried it with my Crate solid state amp, it sounded really aweful and I repented my choice. Also when I tried it with my Mesa Boogie Subway Rocket in clean channel, I disapointed a little, too.
Finally, I tried it in lead channel with low gain, I started the volumes up. And I realized some tips and the reason why some guys complain and some guys praise this little orange box.
Because THERE ARE SO MANY WAYS TO TRY IT! I'm not a defender of DS-1. But hey guys that don't like this box at all! Think! DS-1 has been produced since 1979! Why? Because it sounds nice! Of course, with some specific gears... though... Try DS-1 with many ways as possible you can... with tube amp in clean channel, with lead channel, or with clean channel... or with low gain, or high gain... with low volume, or with very high volume... or use FX loop! Tweak the knobs! Abuse them! I think this is the only way to find out the right sound...
The most difficult thing is to find out the right gears for you. I know also ther are some uncool gears out there. But all the brandmakers are investing their money for producing new gears in every day and month and year!
It's so hard to find out your right gear in a short time.
But I think this is worthy... finding my sound through my gears...
Good luck!

It's Boss!!! No doubt!!!

I also have GE-7 and the LED didn't work. And they changed it for free. But it took very long time about 1 month for doing that... which very sucks...

It's very cool and one of the best dist. pedal on the planet and no one can deny it!!!

This unit is pretty easy to setup. 3 knbos for Tone, Distortion and Gain levels. The LED for ON/OFF isn't very big though.

I am using an older Kramer Baretta into an older Randalll amp/stack. Like a few other reveiwers have mentioned, apparently Joe Satriani and Steve Vai use this pedal for their main sound and that's the reason why I picked one up. They are either using modded pedals or amping it up somehow because the sound I got out of this pedal (Japanese version) was weak, flat and what I call 'blatty'. I like in your face guitar tone, like Joe's sounds anyway or Randy Rhoads. This pedal didn't even approach that, in my opinion. If you're looking for a softer rock tone, it'll do the trick.

The pedal I bought was used and obviously seen it's share of use. It worked fine however and Boss does have a good reputation for quality. I don't think I'd have this pedal anywhere near me when I was out trying to rock the house, however.

I didn't need to contact Boss about this pedal.

I like to play alot of 80's rock or some amped-up blues i.e. ZZ Top. This pedal would suit the bill for softer rock tones, but not for the heavy rock sound of the 80's. I've been playing guitar for about 16 years and I haven't used alot of effects pedals. I was trying to find a little less edgier tone than my DigiTech Metal Master, but this pedal is on the LOW end of that scale. As noted, I bought it used and will probably be trying to recoup some of my money because I don't see myself using this that much. If you go to certain guitar sites like www.guitargeek.com and punch in a players name, you'll see most of them are using an enourmous amount of effects besides their main distortion pedal and it's assumed most of us don't have thousands of bucks to dump into this kind of extensive setup, therefore the 'sound' we're looking for is gonna be a far cry from what our heros sound like. I personally like to plug in to as little possible and PLAY! My suggestion is before you are swooned by anyones list of effects, take your guitar to a dealer that sells what you're looking to buy and try it out first. Might save ya some time and money!

I don't normally write reviews, but in the case of this pedal, I felt obliged to spread the word of its shittiness. I tried it on a limb because I heard Vai and Satch used it. I thought I could tweak around for it a bit and maybe replace my beloved SD-1. I am aware that Vai and Satch have used modded ones, or the older Japanese models. I thought of getting mine modded, but for all the hassle and cost on a pedal that I despise the stock tone of, why bother piss away any more cash? Besides, distortion pedal on top of a gain channel? What the hell was I thinking. If you're planning on using this pedal the same way...what the hell are you thinking?

I'm using an Ibanez RG550 with Dimarzio Paf Pros, and a Fender Stratocaster with maple neck and Dimarzio heavy blues in the neck and solo in the bridge. My amp is a Carvin MTS halfstack. Other pedals I use are a Dunlop 535q wah and a Digitech XDD for delay in the loop.

Putting the Leval or Tone knobs anywhere over half results in a harsh, unusable tone. When you use extreme settings on the clean channel, you can get a pretty heavy distortion out of it, but every note you play has a nasal and buzzy quality.

I initially hoped to use this pedal to boost solos, and replace my SD-1. It does have more bass than the SD-1, but picking just sounds not so great with this pedal. It's very harsh on high notes. It hurts my ears, no matter how I set it up.

I did not achieve any tones similar to those of Satch or Vai. I tried using it with my SD-1 and while it was an improvement, I said to myself "Hey asshole, you've got a great tube amp, why the fuck are you using two boss pedals to achieve all of your tone?!" I couldn't justify that, or keeping the DS-1 when I obviously liked the SD-1 more.

I'm sure it's dependable, but I wouldn't use it in a gig in the first place.

Never contacted Boss.

I play a variety of music. I like clean tone jammin', I like high gain metal and shred. I like bustin' out some good old fashioned rock 'n' roll.
I've been playing for nine years. If it were lost or stolen, the theif would probably return it to me after about 25 minutes. My favourite feature is when I step on it when it's on, it goes off. As mentioned earlier, I bought this on a limb because it was inexpensive and I have read some good things about it. When I tried it out at the store I felt I didn't give it a fair chance because I really wanted to try it on my set up at home...so I bought it, and after I tried it on my set-up, I returned it. It astounds me that some of these other reviews talk to highly of this pedal. I guess the other gear that these kids are using is a good indication of their conception of tone.

You know the Deal

Understand what this pedal is for. I didn't when I purchased it (not that I didn't play it before I bought it, but I hadn't played it with my gear and in my songs). I play mostly atmospheric folk-rock (?), and just couldn't find a slight enough sound from this device. I love all boss products (have had many throughout my 27+ years of playing) because of their construction-to-cost ratio, but this one was a bit too extreme for what I needed. I may start looking for a tubed distortion (please don't say "boutique" as I refuse to pay the money). Great sound, just not what I was looking for...

The reason for buying boss products.

Never needed to.

Many well respected and talented people have used this effect, and these are people who could afford anything, so what does this tell you about it? It's just that, for what I do, it was the wrong choice.

As any other distortion

Man! I got this Moded DS-1 called Liys Pro Mod and is ain't kelley or Brian, tried them both! OK keeley is nice but I need more kinda sweet harmonic in it and brian is away to fat is just not for me, suit more those ppl who still lives in the 80s. And this piece is the one that kicked ass. I like the look too, visit it's site at www.diokay.com and look where the switch and LED placed. Sweet! it's neat, Man! I just love the guy who design this Mod. I'm ordering the SD-1 Liys Pro Mod as well it looks kinda creamy overdrive too and wonder what the hi Freq switch is mmm...

I trust on BOSS pedals otherwise they won't serve 5 year warranty :)

Never dealt with them and hope I won't need them in the future

I play for 20 years, and play Vai, Satriani, Cyrka kinda stuff. Used to use original DS-1 japan, before getting keeley and brian, man! so thin! Couldn't remember how could I stand that all those time. With this Liys DS-1 through my DHP-55 and G-Force sounds away better than others and best to my setup. I also have SansAmp GT-2, OD808, they are great but I still prefer this DS-1 Liys Moded.

3 knobs. How hard can it be? You can easily achieve anything from modern rock, to punk, to britrock, or grunge.

I used this with a Godin SDxt and a Peavey Blazer 158. This distortion blows away most distortions on amps.

However the type of distortion is a bit limited. In order to get a wider range of sounds from it you might need to buy a boss equalizer. But thats only if you are really picky about tone.

I could light it on fire and throw it off my roof and it would still work.

Never talked to boss. It has a 5 year warranty though

Personally i'm a Nirvana fanboy. The DS-1 is the pedal Kurt used(tone at at 11 o'clock, level and distortion at the max) and after tuning my guitar to drop-d I could get the exact sound of any Nirvana song. I now have a Line 6 Spider II so I don't need the pedal. However, I've found that by turning the tone all the way up, level all the way up, and distortion all the way down, you can get a strange kind of clean tone that seems to sustain forever.

3 knobs how can u get confused

I have a washburn bt-2 and a mrshall solid state. this pedal sounds awsome through this setuup. i cant beleave ppl are giving it anytin lower than an 8. u can get a real classic sound or u can play grunge or punk (great punk sound if u play real punk, like the ramones) u can get a nice smooth distortion or a hard grinding distortion and everthing in between. i play clapton (when he was with cream) ac/dc led zeppelin nirvana the ramones and the who with this pedal (just to name a few) i also have a boss metal zone wich i bought just to mess around with and the ds-1 is alot cheaper and it still is deffinatly the better pedal the metal zone sounds very synthetic and thin.

hell yeah if u look up reliable or indistructable in the dictionary theres a picture of aboss next to it. bosses never fail.

never had to probly never will

awsome sounds great dont listen to people who say its bad they probly listen to kusic that is like a fusion of ska and death metal (wouldnt the be weird) but anyway awsome pedal esp. comsidering the price i couldnt beleave how cheap it was amazing.

Easy as hell...just turn the 2 knobs to get anyhting from a nice clip to a gritty tone. Anyone could figure it out, thats the great thing about BOSS pedals.

Guitars: 1999 Gibson Les Paul Std./ 2000 Gibson Explorer/ 2000 Gibson SG Std./ 1997 Epiphone Sheradon/ 2003 Fender Stratocaster US Deluxe/ 2003 Schecter Classic/ 2002 Fender US Std. Telecaster.

Amps: Peavey Classic 50 (head w/ Marshall 1960 cab), Marshall JCM 800 on 1960 as well.

One thing must be understood: I am a high school aged guitar player, about 18 and a half. I play a lot of shows with my band, and whenever we play a battle of the bands, we always go up against bands where kids have solid state amps with a Metal Zone or Zoom multieffects processor supplying distortion. It sounds like someone ripping paper to a beat - just grindy, shitty tone. I can't believe people on here rip on this petal when they have a 65-watt Crate solidstate. Dont blame the petal, blame the amp. Go try this petal out in a local music store on a AC30 or a Peavey Classic 30 - I will garantee you it will make your day. This petal sounds great on a tube amp - a good 9. There are only a couple of petals that can beat it, but those are about 4-6 times the price. If you want a nice SRV-like tone, run it through the clean channel on an all-tube amp...its just sweet. Also, it makes obtaining that grunge tone a lot easier for you Kurt fans.

Boss petals have never broken on me and they last forever.

Never dealt but I hear they are good as far as warrentee repairs

I play almost any kind of music and this petal gives the Classic 50 a nice little boost

I highly suggest it for tube amps...if you have a solid state, save the money for a tube amp.

3 knobs and a manual.Easy.

Not the most radical distortion but doesn't compromise my tone.I can play effective rhythm and/or lead with this.I play hard-pop rock like Spoon,Built to Spill,Mogwai...etc.The DS-1 is perfect.My main guitars are a USA Fender strat and an 80's Japanese strat with EMGs.I play through a Fender Ultimate chorus 2x12 combo.The overdrive on the combo is limited but the ds-1 really helps crank it when needed.

It is a Boss.Drop it from a skyscraper and it will damage the sidewalk.

I don't know.I never need support from Boss.

Like most all Boss pedals this thing is "dead-on"--not as extreme as some more expensive hand made boxes but totally useful and practical and cheap.

Three Knobs, and it's made by BOSS. Not much else to say.

I love this pedal! I play a Squire Series 24 M-50(surprisingly good guitar)> DS-1>Ibanez FZ7>Dunlop Crybaby Wah> Early 1970's solid state 80watt Gibson Amp. This pedal is all I ever need. I play a lot of punk(the real shit, no pop punk) and hardcore music, and I sometimes jam out Hendrix or Cream, and this pedal is the shit.Heavy Grind, Light overdrive, Fuzz, even screaming leads are all there with the DS-1.

The main reason I bought this pedal is that I was tired of the overly saturated sound of the the Boss Metal Zone, and because my amp doesn't have OVERDRIVE, I went out and bought a DS-1. It's perfect for heavy chords or light Dist. So I can play TOOL and SONIC YOUTH with the same pedal. If I had to choose on pedal out of a million, It would be the DS-1.

It is made of metal(mine has a lot of wear and tear on it) and it has good battery life. I can honestly say that I have never had a battery go dead in my DS-1

Didn't need any.

This pedal is a great Distortion for almost all types of music. The only Thing I would not recomend it for is REALLY HEAVY METAL. With the right amp, maybe, but It's not really ment for that.

Other than that, I have no warnings about this gem. It can be used as a Overdrive, Gain boost, Rock, Punk, Classic rock or hardcore Dist. and even as a Feedback machine. Every song I've ever written had the DS-1 in there somewhere. It is good with both Single coil pick-ups and humbuckers(sucked ass through a '62 FENDER JAGUAR once)and is about a versitile as they come.

For all those who dont like the DS-1, fuck off. Im sorry It's not a pussy ass Tube Screamer, or Nu metal and cock rock METAL ZONE, but it's not supposed to be. The DS-1 is supposed to be a raw sounding Distortion, and that's what it should be.

Easy to learn.I got mine used with no instructions but I had no problems figure it out.

Nice sounding distortion.I had a Danelectro Fab-tone distortion but lost it at a gig.I got the Boss as a temporary replacement but have grown to really like it more than the Fab.It isn't as rough as other distortion pedals but it blends better and comes more alive with my guitar tones.I play blues and classic rock and my axes are a Fender American strat,an Epiphone Casino and a Tokai Les paul copy.I play these through a Sunn Beta lead 2x12 combo and sometimes through a borrowed Bassman head and whatever cab is around.

100% I also have a Boss chorus and delay from the mid 80s and have never had a problem.

I have never called or dealt with Boss.

This is a great little box.I have gone through the boutique pedal phase but keep coming back to Boss.The Ds-1 is simply the perfect distortion as far as I am concerned.Go to guitargeek.com and check to see what the pros use on their pedalboards.Just because somebody shells out 2 or 3 hundred bucks for a high-end Z-vex or Budda or Fulltone or whatever does not make you a pro.Real touring and recording musicians use what they know is good and reliable.

It's not as easy as a two knob compressor, so it takes a few minutes to find your sweet spots.

Many years ago (late '70's), I had a MIJ unit. Used it with a Fender Harvard, retubed with American tubes, cranked to ten. It had the sound, played with it for years. Then I got bored with it, gave it away (ouch, who knew?) and moved on to a MXR Distortion +, that got tired, the amp got tired, and I was making some $$$, so I puckered up and bought a Mesa Mark IV stack, the whole full tilt with the EVM's. Don't really need distortion pedals with this rig, but something was missing. Then I discovered the power of boosts to tighten things up, provide a little more clarity, and generally make things go to 13.

So, I bought a new DS-1 (MIT, of course) to see what kind of boost it would make. Well, it pretty much sucked. But for $39, you win some, you lose some. You can always give it away to some beginner, would sound better than the distortion on some Crate.

But then I found Robert Keeley's website for modding pedals and he does a mod for the DS-1. I'll send mine over to him for a mod and see what happens.

There's nothing wrong with Boss reliability, and I'm one of those that likes the buffering when they're off. No bleeding, I only get that on my MT-2.

Never had to deal with Boss, their products don't require too much CS as far as I can tell.

Stock, it sucks as a boost. Compared to a Mark IV, the distortion doesn't do much for me, either. We'll see if Robert Keeley can do something with it.

Simple.3 knobs.Mild or wild all the sounds are great and quite useful.

I love this box.The distortion is creamy and musical.I currently have an old Ibanez Roadstar Solid body electric with twin humbuckers and a Japanese Fender Tele Re-issue.I play my guitars through a Roland JC-120(mellow solid-state)and the distortion on the JC-120 is rather light.The ds-1 is an awesome asset.Major improvement over the Rolands's onboard distortion.If both are combined it gets really gritty.

So far 3 years and going strong.I can honestly assert that I have never heard anything negative abous BOSS reliability.

Don't need support when all the products are perfect.

I mostly play Jazz in my original band and play straight through my JC-120 but I recently got a gig playing in a party/covers type band that pays really well.I needed more "fuzz" for some hard-rock and metal songs that we do so I opted for the dS-1.I have in the past had an Electro Harmonix Big Muff that was really savage but totally unreliable.I also had a proco Rat but it was too "80s" sounding for me.I think the boss suits my very well.

Very easy to use.Dial in what you want and your set!

Ok.I hate people that come on hear and talk crap about pedals.I went pedal shopping one day. I was looking to get a metal-zone. I've read all of the reviews on this site about how amazing metal-zones are.But the truth is, when it came down to it, then metal-zone failed me.The metal-zone is only good if you play power chords only! Even then the metal-zone can still be very muddy at times.I play a lot of heavy melodic-hardcore and melodic-rock.I play mostly Deftones,Thursday, Evergreen Terrace.Anyways, this is where the DS-1 comes in.At first i played the DS-1 alone and though it was crap.But if you just plus it in and crank the TOne,Level, and Drive all the way up(which is what most in-experienced guitar players do) of course its gonna be crap.So what I did was dial in a good solid musical distortion.Then I went about and purchased a Boss EQ.HOLY SH*T!!!!!!THis pedal came alive!This is probably the best distortion I have ever gottan out of a pedal!! The key is to run the EQ in front of the DS-1 and crank the level knob on the EQ all the way.Now I can get great chunck for my power chords, but then when I play a nice melodic chorus,people can still tell whats going on!

its a boss...nuff said...

Here is the deal.Buy the boss DS-1 for 40 bux.Grab an EQ and crank the level all the way on the EQ.From there, dial in ur sound and I PROMISE, you wont be dissapointed!

very easy to use.

godin radiator into a mdx1400-ns2-ph1r-ls2-(1)>fz2-hm3-(2)>ds1-sd1-H&K ats120 valve head-fxloop-mdx1400-hf2-smallclone-pds1002 into a 2/vintage30 cab.
I really like this pedal, it can go from warm fuzzy distortion to hard crunch. i have the mij version. i use this effect with the small clone to get nivana type sounds. this is also a great distortion to use on my amps lead channel. i can dial in a very lush fuzz distortion with lots of mids. this pedal can also do nice dinosaur jr sounds when combined with the sd1. however it is not as good as the sd1 for pristine sound quality. if you want a really contemporary heavy crunch distortion then i would recommend the hm-3

very realiable. i have owned for 10 years now.

no need for support.

this is a great effect. it is not as usefull as the sd1 but it produces warm fuzz distortion for grunge and 80's guitar sounds.
i play grunge and alternative rock. gotta love the ds-1

The Boss DS01 distortion pedal is great, probably the best distortion pedal out. It is very easy to use, it has 3 knobs, tone, level, and distortion. Produces a great distortion, not an overdone distortion that sounds fuzzy and trebly. The ds-1 can even be used as a volume boost pedal, but better as distortion.

I use a Fender Strat and an Epiphone Elitist Les Paul Standard Plus through a Peavey head and Behringer cabinet. The DS-1 is my favorite distortion pedal, it sounds great. It doesn't give you a stupid trebly or fuzzy distortion, it produces a distortion that is perfect for most types of music. The Boss DS-1 distortion pedal is the best distortion pedal, and the way you know it is, is that all the best use it, like Vai and Satriani.

Boss always makes great, long lasting pedals. The only problem you would have with it might be some scratches or paint chips if you are careless or don't take care of your stuff. I use the DS-1 on gigs every time, I use that and the dist. I get from my Peavey head. Boss pedals are built to last, they are made of metal.

Never had to deal with them, no problems.

If my DS-1 happened to get stolen, lost, or broken, I would definitly have to buy another. I did think about gettin a Digitech hot rod pedal, but the Boss DS-1 sounded a lot better. You can get the best distortions out of it, but it is not a pedal for heavey metal, for heavey metal stuff buy the Boss metal zone pedal, insane pedal, I got a ton of pedals, mainly boss. I have wahs, volume, digitech whammy, compressors, distortions, overdrives, delays, chorus, easily, I got just about every kinda pedal out. I do have a few distortion pedals, but the Boss DS-1 distortion pedal is the best. I also have the DS-2, do not buy that over the DS-1, trust me. DS-2 is not a good distortion pedal, it is ok, but the Ds-1 is a lot better.

Any idiot can use 3 knobs

I have been playing for around 7 years. I needed more distortion to play my solo's. I bought it for my crate GX-30. First I thought that my Crate GX-30 and Crate GX-60 didnt take to the pedal well, as the distortion sounded like crap. Then I tried it on my buddies Marshalls and I couldnt get any descent sounds out of it. Its a garbage pedal. I play blues classic rock and metal and not one sound that comes out of the distortion pedal sounds half descent. DONT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS PEDAL. I would say it is getting good review on this post because people dont know what they are talking about. If you play punk im sure you can get away with using this pedal, but dont expect to play any sort of good solo out. Its Garbage.

I have not gotten a descent sound out of this pedal therefor i dont use it. and dont know about reliability

SHIT DONT BUY. I HATE IT. I WILL PROBOBLY GIVE IT TO MY BUD FOR FREE.

3 KNOBS... IDIOT PROOF

SET UP AS FOLLOWS //FENDER HI WAY 1 STRAT(SWEET)//BOSS COMPRESSION..SUSTAINER//BOSS DS-1///DOD EQ/// DANELECTRO CHORUS//FENDER HOT ROD DELUXE <--- GOTTA USE A TUBE AMP... GREAT PEDAL VERY VERSITALE FROM HEAVEY ROCK TO GRINDING BLUES SRV SOUND CAN BE ACHEIVED BUT I'M NO SRV..LOL

ONE WORD BOSS OF COURSE WITH SOME BOSS PEDALS THAT STANDS FOR
B: BATTERIES
O: OBLITERATED
S: SPLIT
S: SECOND......... BESIDES THAT TOUGH AS HELL NO BACK UP NEEDED

NEVER DEALT WITH

I HAVE BEEN PLAYING FOR 25 YEARS.. RIGHT NOW IM IN A CLASSIC ROCK BAND. THIS PEDAL IS FUN TO USE I PLAY IT THOUGH THE CLEAN CHANNEL FOR RYTHYM PLAYING BUT WHEN I NEED TO KICK IN A SOLO I HAVE MY OVERDRIVE CHANNEL UP FOR JUST A SLIGHT EDGE AND I9 KICK THAT AND THE SOLOS SCREAM THIS PEDAL IS SO SMOOTH AND IT DOESN'T MAKE THE SOUND BLURR IN TO A WALL OF MUD IT .... I LOVE IT

Unless you're a retarded or brain damaged..
this unit is very easy to use..
3 knobs...what can go wrong/.?

Okay...im sick of ppl complaining this and that bout this lil' orange pedal...u pay for what you get...and some guys even listed their highly sophisticated equipment which i doubt they've any one of them mentioned....

Okay coming back to this pedal.... U can get an awesome sound from this pedal... From grunge like [ think of nirvana, smashing pumpkins ] to punk like [ green day, ramones ] type of crunch/distortion....its not THAT versatile like what other ppl said it is....so if you're looking for those modern mid scoop like distortion....stay away from this pedal....Good for solo boost too..
Sounds nice thru a solid state amp [ as opposed by many ppl ] and shines thru a tube amp...

Newayz im playing a Yamaha EG303 > Digitech Whammy > Snarling Dogs wah > Boss DS-1 > Pro co Rat vintage > MXR distortion > E-H small clone > BOSS BF-2 flanger > MXR phase 90 > LINE 6 delay > Rocktron noise supprassor > Peavey Blazer 20 watts / Fender twin reverb..

Btw i play ala Green day mix Sonic youth mix radiohead mix My bloody valentine mix smashing pumpkins .......and i think this pedal is perfect for all of it....

I can strap this pedal onto some suicide bomber body....
and the pedal will still outlast that guy...:P

Why should i deal wif them..?
the pedal is working perfectly..~

All in all is a d3cent pedal if you want crunchy type of distortion
Altough is not as good as my proco rat and mxr...i still like this pedal cuz the crunch is awesome and ballsy....

Good for the sttuff that i play.....Green Day, Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana, Sonic youth, Radiohead, My bloody valentine etc..

Very simple to use with only 3 knobs: tone, volume, gain. Comes with a manual for the dumb.

Ok, running this through a BC Rich Platinum Beast (sweeet!!!!) into a Kustom 65kga.I picked up this pedal because the amps distortion has a decent overdrive but doesnt have enuf chunk. This pedal provides wicked chunk!. Can get a bit noisy when the tone is put past 11 o'clock, so i just tweak my settings on the amp to perfect my own sound. Solos sound awsome with reverb+chorus effect.

Built like a tank.

Never dealt with boss before.

Well i used to own the Boss mt-2 metal zone, but i find this pedal to be MUCH better! Doesnt suck the tone like the mt-2. If you need a little extra chunk, i would recommend this pedal.

There are only 3 knobs that you use, a tone, a distortion and a level. You dont need to worry about too many knobs because every sound that comes out of here is good. The only problem is it is hard to understand how to get the tones you want without fiddling around with the controls. Certain settings can yield a fuzzy tone while others can have a lead tone. The lack of a 3 band eq makes it hard to fine tune your sound. This still gets a 10 because I have found that the best way to use it is to keep the tone at 12:00, set the eq on my amp and then adjust the distortion... QUite simple!

Awesome! Doesnt sound good with my ss crate combo, but it is awesome on my marshall dsl. It really adds depth and clarity to distorted sounds. It can also be used as a type of solo booster but thats not what I use it for. You can get any sound out of it and it is really warm and tubey at all settings, not like the mt-2 piece of junk for death metal kids.

Never had a problem with a Boss and has a 5 year warranty.

Never had to deal with them which shows how reliable their pedals are.

Awesome, the best thing you can buy for 40 bucks (although I saw some places bumped it up to 60 recently.) and just because it isnt expensive doesnt mean it isnt good. Steve Vai uses one and I can see why.

extremely easy to use. three knobs, and its quite simple to find a good sound.

used with a squier telecaster and a 68 bandmaster, i can get a good ballsy distortion, with lots of bottom end. it can be a bit noisy and trebly with that setup, so its usually necessary to set the tone way down. also, this pedal is good for only a couple different distortion sounds. i find it pretty useful though.

its pretty dependable. i've never had a problem with it, and its my main distortion when i gig. like anything else Boss produces, it's pretty solid.

This pedal is very easy to use, 3 knobs thats all. Really easy to find settings you want. Manual is alright has some settings i never reallly used them though

My set up is Gibson Les Paul Studio ( sometime I use my old squire strat) into vox wah, boss cs-2, ds-1, ge-7, ibanez ts-9, mxr 90, line 6 dl4 - into Fender hot rod deluxe. The pedal is very quiet. Now, the sound that u will get from this pedal depends on the equipment you use. Before i had a small solid state crate amp, and this pedal sounded alright kinda classic rock fuzz, now i use it with the all tube Fender hot rod, and i use it for more heavy gain and this pedal sounds amazing. On my setting it sounds like a nice old Marshall (zeppelin) if you put a little more gain its a little heavier sound like jane's addiction. The only thing i dont like about it is that after the tone is about at 2 oclock the sound is pretty much the same very fuzzy. Works good with other effects. If used with an equalizer its even better, u can pretty my get any sound you want.

Boss is pretty dam reliable

N/A

It's a great pedal if used with good equipment. Very versatile and inexpenisve. I wouldnt try playin death metal with it though.

you have got to be kidding.this unit has to be one of the easiest pedals to use in the world .sure lots of experience helps but PLEASE use somne common sense.

my set up goes like this....'71 strat w/stock pickups,'00 american tele > tu-2>oc-2>sd-1>ds-1>tr-2>ph-2>dd-6>ce-5>2 fender stage 100 1x12 combos.most everything sets in a bcb-6 pedalboard.to start with i have a pretty awesome sound. i play straight ahead r&r, none of this modern day wimpy shit.i still believe in the doobie bros.,ccr,eagles,santana etc.i could go on about the real bands forever but...... i guess what i'm trying to say is that i wish that some of you guys who are shitting on these pedals would just grow up and buy some good equipment and then maybe you would see just how good the ds-1 really sounds.and stop bitching about batteries and buy a FUCKING POWER SUPPLY.AND ANOTHER THING I AM GETTING SO SICK OF HEARING I WANT TO SOUND LIKE KURT F#$*KING COBAIN,SATCH,VAI,VAN HALEN AND SO ON.get my drift? i've been playing guitars for almost 40 years and i've been playing in bands for 33 years.i have a quite a few recordings to my credit.what i'm trying to say is grow the hell up get your own sound be yourself and maybe then you'll understand what these pedals are all about.be a goddamn man .....get your own sound .don't expect someone else to make it for you.sorry for the ranting but it's about time that someone did it.oh and by the way these pedals are not noisy.i have no noise at all.

JUST LIKE EVERYONE SAYS IT'S A BOSS.WHAT ELSE CAN YOU SAY ABOUT PERFECTION.

i have never dealt with the company,and don't expect i'll ever have to.

if any of my boss pedals we're stolen,i would hunt the bastard down,break both of his arms,and give him an enema with a grease gun,and then fill his asshole with bondo.i love boss products because they work well and last forever.i give them a 10 for everything.i've been using their stomp boxes for probably 25 years.

This is the easiest pedal I have ever used, if your a begginer you can basically teach yourself how to use is.

The setup i use for the DS-1 is just a Yamaha EG 112C and Yamaha yg15 amp. It is kinda noisy, but thats what you want when you use a distortion pedal, atleast thats what i think. This pedal sounds excelent when you play it either in a band situation or even just playing in your room. I think if you wanted you could get the exact sound of your fav. artist, you just have to search around a little! But i think all effects are good, it just depends on the kind of music you wanna play

I would use this pedal anywhere!

EXCELENT!!!!

If you can't use this pedal without the instruction manual, you probably can't make toast....

I needed a little extra "omph" to my distortion. My rig is a Mesa Dual Rec (triple channel), with BBE SMM, Hush IIc, multieffects unit, etc. My main guitar is the Ernie Ball Axis (smoking!) I wanted a bit more "bite" from the amp, and this worked great. It can certainly be used as a boost for solos as well. My style is 80's rock (Lynch, Nuno, etc...), and the Boogie is very different in sound from the Marshall, but both need a bit more distortion (which is why a lot of the pro players actually use this exact pedal...Zakk for one). I use it not only for soloing, but rhythm as well. The only problem is I need to shut it off before switching to the clean channel (Boogie has a great clean channel..). The unit is unbelievably quiet for what it's use is. No crazy, uncontrolled feedback.....If you want more treble, turn the tone knob to the right...I have the tone at 11 o'clock, the distortion at about 10 o'clock, and the level dead center (12 o' clock). It may not have enough distortion for someone who wants to only use this pedal with a clean sound (i.e. step on pedal for distortion, step again for clean).

It's Boss.....I say no more....It's cheap enough (40 bucks US brand new) that if I lost it I would just buy another one.

Never had to call them..

This is a great pedal to push the amp for a little more distortion, but maybe not for a straight up distortion pedal. Been playinf for 18 years, had one, lost it, and just recently got another. Great to add even for a solo boost. I would defintately replace it if I lost it. Boss effects are better than any other I have toyed with (DOD, Arion, Ibanez, etc.)

Well...3 knobs pretty easy I think. No need for the manual. The manual is useless.

Ibanez RG (Tone Zone + Air Norton) -> true bypass with multipleloops
-> and then in one loop I have DS-1 -> Carvin Legacy -> Marshall 1982A cabinet with G12-80 celestions. Is it noisy? Yes, it is noisy. It could be covered with noisegate, but since Im only using this for solos (and the od-channel in Legacy itself aint so noisy) little noise doesn`t bother me. Besides it makes the feedback come out easy which can sometimes be a good thing:).

Distortion itself. I tried to use this as a rhythm od by plugging it into the clean channel of legacy. Absolutely horrible in my opinion.
The I tried it for rhythm playing by plugging it into the od channel, it got muddy (I had pretty much drive from the amp though).
But for solos this thing is pretty damn good. Some other guys said here that this you should not turn the tone and drive knobs over 12.
They seriously knew what they are talkin about. I never turn those knobs over 10, neither of them. Level can be turned up all the way for more boost and sustain (although it adds the noise I was talkin about earlier).

So finally, I would give this unit simething like 4 for rhythm playing. But I think this was designed as a boosterpedal for leads to be used with allready driven tubeamp (havent tried this with solidstate amp, propably wouldnt sound good with one). And for that purpose I would give it 9. Finally I give the 9 for it, because I think gear should reviewed in that category they were ment to be used.

Well...if ever tried any Boss pedal, you know what are we talking about.

No idea about this.

Hard Rock (Skid Row, GN`R, Vai etc.)
If it was stolen, I would propably buy it again since its cheap. Or then I would try TS-9 which isn`t so cheap. I like the saturation and sustain it gives to my solosound.

Haven`t compared it to TS-9, I chose this because it`s alot cheaper to buy used.

plug. step on switch. repeat.

very decent pedal, but not great. "full" distortion is about as heavy as about 7 on my 15 watt marshall, and the tone knob has one major fault: if you put it on the bass side, it cuts out treble, and vice versa. this means that to get good tone you have to add a lot more of both on your amp, which depending on your setup might screw up your clean.

i bought it used but almost scratchless, and the only thing wrong with it is that the jack on the output side doesnt detect whether youre plugged in or not (sometimes you have to fiddle with it to get it to turn on or off, but then its fine for quite some time).

i play rock and metal, and its more than good enough for hacking around, but i wouldnt recommend it to someone who's planning on a metal gig. if it breaks/i lose it/i get a summer job, im probably going to buy a more serious pedal (dititech metal distortion or boss metalzone probably). good first pedal or as a backup/light distortion.

Getting an good sound out of this could not be easier! Even with both the knobs at 12 o'clock the sound is good! It doesn't take long to get your own customized sound out of it either, coz there's only 3 knobs. The manual really just says that you need to plug it in and depress it for it to work, and really thats all you have to do!

I'm running this from a H.S.Anderson SG to a Fender Frontman 15G. So far I havent found it to be noisy at all, the drive circuit on the amp is way more noisier than it is.

Like all Boss pedals it is like a little brick! The manual does say that you shouldn't stand on it or anything like that, and to be on the safe side I wouldn't. I think the only thing i'd be careful about would be the swicth under the pedal, coz its only plastic.

I play mild rock and alternative, this is good for what I want it for. If i lost it i would probably buy another, or i might spend a bit more and buy an Electro-Harmonix Big Muff. I really love the colour of this pedal (as strange as that sounds), and the tone switch i really handy. Really, it has everything it needs.

Too easy almost.

I started off on this pedal. It does a job, i.e. a not very heavy distortion, but it is far too flat.

You quite simply can't get any range on it. I want something hard and aggressive for punk/post rock, and this doesn't cut it.

(My equipment = Squire Tele, Epiphone Firebird, with a Fender 100watt valve amp)

Volume reduces a lot towards the end of a battery. I found one minute it would be fine then it would whimper.

Once a new battery was in you'd be safe for a reasonable time, just carry a back up if at gigs.

It's an average pedal, but certainly not cut out for Sonic Youth/Fugazi type stuff.

However if you're trying to find your first distortion pedal, then this isn't bad. Easy to use and fairly cheap I guess.

Pretty basic. Not hard to figure out.

Not a heavy distortion. Great for blues of classic rock. Use it through a Hiwatt 1x12 and a strat type guitar. Not noisy. Great sound for what it is.

Seems rugged enough.

Never dealt with.

Very good as I've said for blues or classic rock. Won't get a Zeppelin sound or a heavy metal sound, but good for a sound similiar to SRV. Not exactly, but close enough to fake it.

Very simple, not much to say here

I love it; unlike most people who say it sounds best with all of the knobs near 12 o'clock, I like to have the tone around 9'oclock and turn the treble on my amp almost all the way up.

Don't see this thing ever breaking.

n/a

I love this pedal, it's the only one I use anymore. I used to have 2 dod pedals but now I just use this one. If you love to play grungy metal sounding rock then this fits the bill like no other

Unless you're dead, you will find this unit as easy to us as a pencil.

I can't fault the sound quality, although i haven't got the most experience in the workd with this sort of thing, i can tell what sounds good and what sounds crappy and this is definately not crappy.

Ists like a solid chunk of metal! It would take a huge effort to stop this thing. And the electrical sid eof things hasn;t gone wrong with mine and i doubt it will.

Not had to deal with them.

I'm borowing this pedal off my guitar teacher and i may have to give it back soon. Unless i find something completely amazing (or enough money for some huge clever thing) i'm probably going to buy one of these for myself. I play quite heavy rock (my main influences are Avenged Sevenfold and Thrice) and this covers everything i need. Ir you're considering buying one of these DON'T HESITATE. don't listen to any reviews that say this sounds 'trebly' or doesn't sound distorted enough (this pedal only EVER loses its amount of distortion if you turn the 'dist' knob down or if the battery is running low) and if you can work out the terribly complicated 'tone', 'level' and 'dist' knobs (notice the sarcasm) then you will have no problem with treble OR anything else. Bottom line is, this pedal is great.

Three knobs - Distortion, Tone, Volume. What can I say?

It's good for getting a nice hard distorted sound, more natural sounding than the Metal Zone, at least. However I find that it's extremely limited. Perhaps it's because I run it through the clean channel of my amp, but I use a 15W practice amp so I don't really use the amp distortion.

I find that it pretty much takes away a lot of your guitar tone and replaces it with it's own set distortion. Not bad if you have lousy gear to start with, but otherwise you might find it takes away the soul of your guitar tone.

It'll outlive you. Built like a tank. I bought mine used and it still works perfectly.

It's good if you want a nice, hard distortion. Good for nirvana, stuff like that. If you want overdrive from this pedal you'll be better off looking elsewhere, however. Ditto if you're trying to get a humbucker sound from single coils.

If it was stolen, I'd get a Proco Rat if I could afford it, or else I would use the Marshall pedals.

Very easy to use. Plug and play action. I bought mine used w/o a manual but you really don't need one.

I play this behind a crybaby wah and in front of a boss bf-2 flanger and an mxr phase 90. When I add distortion to the flanger it actually boosts the volume(which is good). I bought a used Tawainese model of the boss ds-1 distortion. It has very good distortion sound and doesn't sound digitized at all. very clean sound. That is why I stopped using multieffects because of the "cheesy" sound.

I use this all the time. Gigs, at home practice . everywhere. I would use it without a backup. i would just make sure I had extra batteries or an extra ac adapter(if it goes bad)

Never dealt with Boss.

Great for rock. Depending on what settings you put the tone on, you can get your guitar to sound like Carlos Santana's tone. If you are just converting to single effects like me Boss is the way to go. The price isn't cheap which is a good thing because cheap pedals usually have cheap quality, but it isn't expensive either. It has midrange price.

the basic distortion pedal controls

doesn't take long to find a good sound... then it's easy to find more good sounds... a great sounding pedal depending on the guitar used

the switch on mine has gone iffy but i have never had a bad experience using a boss pedal... never heard of many problems

never dealt with the company

if you don't have one try one you might just like it

Its a distortion pedal. It has 3 knobs and footswitch. Its easy to use

Ah.... the DS-1. This pedal is almost always on in my setup. I mainly use my ESP/LTD SC500 (Stephen Carpenter) into the DS-1 directly into my Crate Blue Voodoo half stack. (The amp is 50 watts tuuube.) I don't use this pedal as a stand-alone distortion most of the time. When I do, it sounds like your run-of-the-mill distortion, and I'm not complaining. I use this more as a signal boost for my overdrive channel. With the tone at about 9 o'clock (a little above), level and distortion cranked, and then the mids scooped on my amp, master volume dimed and the gain at like... 7 o'clock... this pedal makes my amp sound wicked. I know that is probably a weird setup, but it rules. I rarely use this pedal alone.

This is my 3rd Boss pedal, and I have never had an issue with anything not working.

Never dealt with them

As a booster for your decent tube amp, I give the pedal a 10. But for a stand-alone distortion, it gets a 9. If you want a good sounding distortion for not too much money, buy this. DO NOT waste your time with anything cheaper.

As simple as it gets....3 knobs. Mine is stock but I've heard good things about Keeley mods.

My setup is cheap and usual...I play it in front of a Johnson J-Station set to the "J Crunch" amp model. Personally, I think this pedal SHINES in front of a tube amp to push it a little harder for more sustain, like a Marshall JCM 800. I would ONLY use this pedal in front of an already distorted tone with all knobs at 12 o'clock, the EXACT same way I would use an Ibanez tubescreamer. For me, those 2 serve the same purpose (added sustain in front of a good distortion) but each has its own 'flavor' - the tubescreamer gives a warmer midrangey tone where the DS-1 has a little more bite and treble, but not too harsh.

I chose this pedal because one of my favorites, George Lynch, alternates between a DS-1 and a tubescreamer for his lead tone, and now I know why. I talked to George recently and found out that his lead tone on the 2nd Lynchmob album was the following setup: "Boss DS-1 (Keeley modified) in front of 50 watt marshall plexi through 2x12" cabinet with sm57 in a small room." I think this pedal sucks A$$ as a stand alone distortion, but can make a tube amp cry and scream. Want Lynch's harmonics and sustain? simple....put THIS pedal or a tubescreamer in front of an overdriven tube amp. In my case, I currently don't have the money or room for a tube amp. If I could, I'd probably put this DS-1 in front of a Soldano SLO 100, or a Marshall Plexi.

If you like to HEAR your own playing dynamics in an exaggerated way, I highly suggest this pedal. Pick on up on eBay for $25-$30 like me.

Looks pretty solid to me.

I play old school 80's melodic hard rock. My influences are George Lynch, Greg Howe, Blues Saraceno, + most of the 80's Shrapnel guys.

3 knobs. Level, drive and tone. Have we got that covered? It takes some playing with the box to get a good sound out of it - it's very 80s and on the scratchy side. I have settled on running it with the level at about 3 o'clock, the drive at about 2, and the tone at about 10 - that way I get a nice fat sound, but eliminate some of the tinny, "boxy" sound. I'm primarily using it as a lead boost.

For many years I've used this with an Ibanez Roadstar, and a Peavey Special 130, and for the last couple of years, a Fender Princeton 65. I've also played through a Marshall 5212, though not as much as the others. I've also played a Squier Fat Tele and an Epiphone Bully SG. This pedal works well with the Ibanez and the SG, but the Tele seems to emphasize the "scratchy" sound that the box produces.

Well, it's a Boss, so it's never failed. I also use an Ibanez TS-9, but usually to get a different distortion effect than what I use the DS-1 for.

Never needed it.

It's far, far from perfect, and very 80s sounding. It works pretty well for the bluesy, psychedelicized hard rock that I play, though I alternate it with amp distortion and the TS-9. I've been playing for 25 years, and I've had this for aout 12 (not bad for a freebie!). I probably would not replace it - I'd probably get another TS-9 and run them on different settings, or look for something else.

easy to use, only 3 knobs, and thats why u cant get too many different sounds from it. although the tone switch pissed me off sometimes.

im using this with an epiphone SG special, and it sounds like crap. no, not the guitar. you can hear a buzz in the amp which is really annoying. you can only get 1-2 decent distortion effects from this, well you get what you pay for

NO. it will fail on you! the pedal kept coming off in practices and i never used it on a gig. i dont trust this piece of s**t

this pedal is the s**tiest pedal i ever played with. i use built in distortion instead its way better. dont buy this !!!

Extremely easy to use from a feature standpoint but not a tonal standpoint. I don't use this as my main distortion. I use it as a lead boost like vai and it works great.

I run this through various marshall and laney amps with much success. I set the tone and dist levels pretty low around 9'clock and dime the level for a volume and grit boost for solos. It works great. I set my amps distortion levels to give me a good rythm sound and use this for leads. It also works well the same way on clean channel for some great blues solos. I originally bought it for distortion and didn't like it but after I read that steve vai uses it as a boost for leads I tried it in similar fashion and what do you know. It's awesome. It does have somewhat of a fuzzy character to it but that can be tamed with manipulation of the tone control. It really gives leads a thick sound while cutting through and making your amp scream.

I've had it for years and years and it has never broken on me. Since I could do without this pedal for one gig if it were to break I think I could gig without it. But then again it's only 30 or 40 bucks so I might as well buy a backup.

Don't know never tried to contact them.

This pedal does everything I need it to. It makes a 1 or 2 channel amp way more versatile. It gives me some really great lead sounds. The only thing I might try would maybe be a fulltone fatboost because that would probably suit my needs better. Then again that pedal is about 4 times the price of this pedal. If it's good enough for steve vai it's good enough for me. When I kick this on at a show I always know it's going to provide me with huge, searing guitar solos.

it's a very simple pedal to operate. c'mon, 3 knobs. i bought it from a crackhead who needed the money for drugs. i ripped him off, and only paid $5 for it.

i'm using it with a 1972 bassman ten and various guitars - some single coil equipped, some humbucker equipped. it's not very noisy. the distortion is very lo-gain. some people say that it's too trebly, but turn any distortion's tone knob up past the 12 o'clock postion and it'll be trebly. there are a couple of mods, usually involving the replacement of the diodes.

it's boss, it'll always work. when i get around to modding it, i'll probably use it as a counter-voice to my modded EH russian big muff. i occasionally need a more metal-type distortion, something that has chunk when you palm mut, as opposed to the big wooly wall of sound we all know and love.

i play some heavy indie rock. i've been a musician for 12 years, a guitarist for four. i own an ibanez talman, a fender jag-stang, a harmony from the 60s, a guitar i built myself, and a pink moridira bass. oh yeah, and a pearl export drum kit. my pedals consist of an ibanez DE7 delay/echo and a modified Russian EH Big Muff. if i hadn't gotten it for $5, i wouldn't own it. it's not that great of a pedal. way too low gain. i'd have either gotten a Proco Rat, or a Boss Metalzone.

This was a made in Taiwan unit that I purchased yesterday afternoon at Guitar Center. It was a spur of the momment purchase, while I was picking up a few other things. I had owned one a few years ago, but got rid of it due to it's harshness and felt I needed to give it another chance. As far as ease of use, it doesn't get much simpler, one tone, a level and gain knobs. Set to taste. As far as getting a good sound out of it? that's quite subjective and depends totally on your setup. I had a horendous time getting a good sound out of it.

Like I said above, I got this pedal in a spur of the momment decission. I had owned this pedal before, but couldn't make it work for me the way I wanted. Since I now own a different amplifier (Carvin Legacy) I thought it would work better, so I tried it again. Being that Steve Vai uses one with his Legacys, I thought getting a good sound would be a snap. I was dead wrong. I couldn't set it up as a semi-clean boost (drop tone and gain, dime level)...it was too muddy. Using that same setting in front of a Marshall DSL results in truly godlike tone. So next I tried using the DS-1 like Joe Satriani uses, i.e. set tone & distortion to taste and play into clean channel. This resulted in that notoriously harsh DS-1 tone that everyone complains about. Very unusable sound....so next, I set up the DS-1 like Steve Vai does (tone at 10 oclock, gain at 10 oclock and level at 1 oclock)...and put the pedal infront of my Legacy's gain channel, with a little grit. The result was just as bad as the semi-clean boost attempt in the beggining....I half considered that I might ship the pedal right off to Robert Keeley for modification, but decided against it. If I hate the way the pedal sounds now, what kind of chance will I like it after a few minor modifications...no matter how good the mod sounds, if I dont like the inherent sound of the DS-1, the mod wont make me like it.

It's a Boss. Most of these things are made like tanks. I would easily gig without a backup and I wouldn't worry in the slightest.

Hard to say...they never break, hense there's no reason to call Boss. I've never talked to em....but I can say this. There website sucks ass. They need lots of soundbytes, tech specs and more useful info on their site....whatever soundbytes they have are hard to find.

I play covers. Everything from the beatles to good charlotte. When I'm not doing that, I'm playing aor/guitar rock. This pedal was NOT a good match for me. I want to make it work for me...but it just doesn't....

Easy i didn't get a manual but I can read and hear so tone, Dist and level seemed pretty straight forward and I was not surprised when I pluged it in.

I have a few single coil guitars I've played through it and a bunch of other effects along with it, haven't put it in an effects loop yet though maybe I should try that I just plug guitar-effects-amp. I can get the sounds I like out of it pretty basic workhorse distortion. A little noisy at high volumes with feedback but besides that not much worth noting in the noise department. Some setting should just not be used on this thing though, like tone at 10 unless you want to become deaf. I'm using a peavy transtube at the moment and it works nicely

I have never encounterd any problems with a boss product, except they seem to eat up batteries at an insane rate so I use adaptors. I have a chorus that I maybe had plugged in for maybe an hour max and the battery was drained. I like to get carried away and really stomp on effects that I know can take it no problems yet. I have a Nobels DT-1 that is basically the same sound but the adapter broke so I bought this one. I gig with batteries though so I' don't have to worry about all the adapters so I have a backup ready if needed.

I bought this thing pretty much new, only used a couple times and it was a pretty good deal. I play everything that catches my attention. I haven't been playing too long but I got really good really fast so i upgraded equipment pretty quickly but haven't sold off much. I'd buy another one of these if I could find another deal which isn't that hard, i think these are the most popular effects pedals in the world. I wish it had an 11 on the drive

3 knobs, easy to use. Remember to set the level knob last.

It sounds GREAT. I'm not a very experienced guitar player, but i'm not concidering trying out other distortion pedals after getting my hands on the good ol' orange. If you're looking for that nirvana "in utero"-like stomach-turning grunge sound, this is it. Lots of tone. Sounds best with the tone knob between 10 and 2, and distortion knob on no more than 12.

I think my boss pedals have evil plans on outliving me. I've not abused mine, but by looking on it, I believe what they say; boss pedals don't break.

When I plug the input in it, it sometimes turns on and sometimes don't. It's not a problem since it has a LED. Also, remember to unplug when not using, since the battery drains if it's plugged in, even if it's off.

If I gigged, I wouldn't feel the need to bring a backup, just make sure you've got a new battery.

Never dealt with them.

I play mostly garage/punk, and with low distortion and high tone it gives me that hard edge i'm looking for. I use it all the time, and even though I've tried very few other distortions, I can't picture myself replacing it with anything else.

Very easy to use....3 knobs, tone, level, and distortion. Doesn't get much simpler than that. I would suggest getting the adapter from Boss as this thing seemed to eat batteries pretty quickly.

This is one of the all-time classic distortion pedals. I own quite a few but always seem to come back to this one. I use a variety of Fender guitars through an all tube Laney half-stack. This pedal sounds thin and weak on solid state amps but comes alive on a tube amp. I set the level and distortion knobs on 10 and adjust the tone to taste. I get a nice mid-rangey crunch with plenty of sustain. I play everything from CCR to Metallica and this pedal suits me just fine. I wish it had just a little more gain for the Metallica stuff, sort of a Spinal Tap knob that goes to 11, but otherwise this pedal is a fantastic product for the money.

I've used Boss pedals for years and they hold up very well, even under heavy use. The switch under the footpedal is made of plastic and I suspect it would not hold up if one were to stomp the crap out of it but I've not had one fail on me as of yet.

Never had to deal with Boss yet.

I've been playing for about 15 years or so playing classic rock and metal. I own other distortion pedals...ProCo, Electro-Harmonix, DOD, Ibanez but this one is my main weapon of choice. It's simple to use and gets you a fair amount of crunch and sustain. It's a generic mid-rangey distortion and works well for me playing covers. It won't do the scooped mid thing, so if you're into the nu-metal scene, you might want to try something else. Overall this is a great product.