Boss DS-1 Distortion

3 knobs and an on-off switch.
Yet there is a trick to getting this pedal to sound absolutely frikkin killer!

Mine was a late 70s model and was stolen. I bought a DS-2 to replace it and they sound the same when the DS-2 is in Mode 1.

The trick to getting Van Halen and Santana like tones from this otherwise thin and average distortion pedal is to use the Boss CE-3 Compressor Sustainer before it and the Boss GE-7 Equalizer after it.

See my recent write up under the CS-3 pedal to see the setting I use to obtain these magnificent sounds.

Most people turn the distortion up too far to obtain the sustain and fire they seek. What they are lacking is the other two thirds of the equasion.

Boss engineers designed this pedal to be used with a compressor and EQ. That must be why the manuals and brochures often show the DS-1 in series with these two other pedals.

These three pedals united take you ANY where you want to go. From vintage Big Muff sounds to Pantera. Van Halen to Santana.

Stop turning up the distortion past midway and get a compressor.

Stop complaining about a thin tone and get an EQ.

Go from Ok to Excellent!

get an AC power supply while your at it.

You can get all three pedals on EBAY for under $100 total, so why buy some fancy pedal for three hundred? I guarantee you'll find the tone of all your favorite artists with these 3 pedals.

reliable as a hammer

Now mind you. I play through a 1971 Les Paul Standard and a 1973 Fender Champ. I quality guitar and a very pretty sounding amplifier. If you don't have a great clean sound without pedals...you're not going to get a great sound with pedal. You gotta have a decent guitar and amp or all the pedals in the world won't help you.

Another thing. The distortion pedal doesn't sound good with an overdriven amp. The amp has to have a good clean sound at the volumes you play at. An old Marshall 50 watt is going to sound muddy with the DS-1 if you start to push it at all. Gee, I guess that's anywhere over 3!

Also, I guitar is the most important piece of the puzzle. Most guitars sound horrible. The wood is everything. Thats why a Taylor 810 sounds so very different than that $200 job on the wall. They look the same but the tones are a million miles apart. Strange as it may seem. The electric guitar is the same way. Nothing sounds as good as an old Les Paul or Fender. Newer guitars may look better, play better, feel better and last longer but unless it's a $3000 P.R.S. it's not going to come close in tonal quality. If you want to sound like Tool get yourself a 1979 Les Paul Custom. I think that's where the term Heavy Metal came from! The guitar feels like it's made out of metal it's so heavy and so is the tone! I'd change that bridge pick up with a Seymore Duncan Jeff Beck model as well. Now that's a killer guitar. Pick one up for less than a new Les Paul and it won't devaluate. I still see them for under a grand. They are the ultimate ka chunk ka chunk ka chunk guitars.

three knobs that are a bit more subtle than on most distortion boxes. if you cant figure it out...you need help.

my setup: dillion dse533->arion tuner->dano cool cat chorus->dano trem->ds1->fender champ.
its a bit noisy, but hey, its a distortion pedal. i traded a couple of dano minis <flanger and phaser> that i wasnt using any more for this. got it for the "kurt cobain" sound, even though i mainly do blues, i grew up with nirvana and like to get rowdy on occasion. the pedal had little marks by the dials that someone put on there, these were the exact settings for smells like teen spirit. nice. i turned the dist. knob a bit and got the pixies sound. then upon a friends recommendation i cranked the dist knob back, fiddled the tone, and got the beatles "revolution" sound perfectly. its a suprisingly versatile little thing, but not really my thing...lots of fun though.

you cant hurt a boss pedal.

beats me...

these are cheap, nice distortion pedals for those of us who couldnt care less about distortion basically. if you grew up listening to nirvana and the pixies, and occasionally want to revisit that, its the best. if you need that occasional bit of dirt, its good. if you want the most versatile pedal for all kinds of distortion, not good. but workign with it, i have been able to get some cool sounds. if it were lost i would definitely pick up another, being so cheap and all.

With only two sound-shaping parameters, it's easy to find a suitable setting. That said, it's a fairly limited effect with a narrow range of sonic manipulation.

The DS-1 provides you with "stock distortion". I used it with synthesisers and drum machines. One thing I noticed was that it is extremely noisy and quite unsuitable for any subtle effects. Noisy distortion works well - I used it on drums if I wanted to get a certain "bite" out of them. When processing an entire drum track, I really wished it could work with a stereo signal, but being a guitar pedal, I was asking for the impossible.

It didn't exactly break down, but it was receiving radio transmission, which I found extremely annoying. After realising that it wasn't just a passing phase, I had it checked out and repaired.

The technicians at my local Roland service centre are great - helpful, knowledgeable, and the excellent service is not too expensive.

I make new wave music and I feel that for synth pop, an overdriven VCA or a resonating filter provide enough distortion. If some distortion is needed, however, your studio multieffect will take care of it. I had the DS-1 for seven months and I didn't use it very much, but since I had bought it used, I didn't lose and money in the sale. If it got stolen or lost, I wouldn't buy another one.

To hear it in action on some of our tracks, please e-mail me.

Very easy to use. Just three knobs, an input, an output, and a nice big pedal to stomp on.

This distortion is a little trebly and not as smooth as I'd like it to be. If you take the tone down too much, the guitar loses its definition, though, so the problem is not easily remedied. I've started using my built-in tube amp distortion in its place and it's heavenly. I go from a Fender Jazzmaster (drool) to a Peavey Classic 50-212 (also drool... Oh man, do I love my setup), with the occaisional Dan-Echo delay (best delay on the market) in between. The pedal lost its place in my setup after I stopped playing punk and started to get into art rock and avant guarde jazz. (On a side note, Joey Santiago of the Pixies used this on Trompe Le Monde, can you tell?)

Ugh of course so. It's a Boss pedal. You don't get much better (other than Danelectro pedals, those are incredible).

N/A

If it were stolen, I'd be pretty apathetic. There was a time, however, when I would've bought a new one of these. I've been playing for years now, but in the past few years I've slowly reduced my usage of this pedal. If you're into heavier music like punk, this is a good buy. Otherwise, get a Fab Tone or something.

I have reviewed this pedal before, and have had very mixed feelings. I have to say though, lately I have been recording and I have noticed that this guy into an all tube silvertone with the dist set to nothing, tone and level high noon, it delivers a very good sounding dirty tone. It sounds very ratty, but it is clear in a strange way on the recording. Its not buzzy sounding like it is with the dist up to anything. Its just a nice dirty sound without a lot of compression, you can really breath with it. Would I use it live, probably not. But when I record and need different tones, it really helps. Very different type of distortion when compared to my JCM-900, blackface bassman, or silvertone. Workable tones are available with tube amps, with solid state forget it, it will suck.

for $35 these things are very worth it. I have the tawain version, so I assume that the japanese one is even better. but for what I did it sounds good.

Super simple to use. Very hard to get a bad sound. Don't need a manual, although it does have some good sample settings to get you started.

Fender Stratocaster > Boss DS1 > Fender blackface Deluxe Reverb w/Jensen reissue P12N speaker. Pedal's not noisy at all, except when maxing out the volume on the amp and the pedal. It gives a very convincing rock sound. Plenty aggressive, nice attack, great edge and full bottom. The mids in this pedal are tuned just right - not too honked and not too scooped. Incredibly easy to dial in a great sound and it cleans up nice when you back off on the guitar's volume.

Seems very dependable. build like every other Boss pedal.

never dealt with them

I play all sorts of rock oriented music, from blues to metal. This pedal's definitely a great match for 70's & 80's rock. Been playing 15yrs & own mostly strats, a couple of marshalls & a couple of blackface Fenders. This pedal's a steal at $40. It can definitely beat the pants off of many other pedals out there going for much more money. A fantastic value it is.

Very easy to use! Hard to get a really good sound out of it.

I use a tokai strat copy with a duncan custom custom in the bridge and a little'59 in the neck. Guitar into the ds-1 and then into a Laney vc-50 tube combo.
It's only noise if the gain is set high, about past 1 o'clock.
It sounds okey thru the lead channel with out drive, but with drive engade it's only adding noise =(
The amp sounds way better with only the amps own distortion.
The peadal even sounds a bit harsh and metallic.
Can't get the sound of steve vai or satch with it. But they use the old japanese ones and very diffrent gear.
But I think it makes a bad amp better.

Haven't had it especially long to determin that. But it seams sturdy and well build.

Havn't dealt with them, but their hompage sux big time.
Should divided the page into diffrent parts, one for stomp boxes, one for studio stuff and so one.

Might work for some not for me. My advice is to test it your self with your own gear.

its very easy to get a good sound! just 3 knobs!! if u cant get a good sound u are an idiot!
(or u have a fake strat..)

i use a epiphone lp special II-->wah-->DS1-->mt2-->korgax100g-->crate gx15r. its not noisy. ok it dont have a truebypass but thats ok.. i think its better than the mt2!!!
the fx sounds VERY kewl!its a good beginner pedal. k i know there are better distortion pedals out there but i wont get such a good pedal for that price!!!!!

i do not gig yet but i wouldnot use a backup. hey all the boss pedals are awesome!!!!

they are very friendly!theyre gonna send the manual to me. FOR FREE!!!
the homepage sux...

i play mostly punk/rock/metal. its very good for punk and rock.for metal buy the mt2 or another pedal.
ive been playing for 2 years.if it were stolen or lost(how can u lose a pedal????) i would buy it again!!!!
some say that the pedal sounds trebly but thats wrong. with my humbucker there i enough bass. i wish it would have also a remote control like the ds2 but better.
to all newbs who dontknow what dist pedal to buy.....THIS IS THE PEDAL TO BUY!!!!!!
if u wanna have some good setting mail me.

Real Easy to Use

Im using an Ibanez stagestar, and a pretty cheap amp a gorilla gg-25 but it serves the purpose, I can get a perfect Iron Maiden run to the hills with this thing, and yes of course nirvana.

buy it, your guitar will probably break first

never had to deal with them

I would buy this pedel again if it broke. I play stuff like nirvana, iron maiden, biohazard, soundgarden, etc. and get real good sounds out of it I recommend it.

Simple to use. 3 knobs, no hassles.

Set-up:
Gibson SG -> DS-1 -> Roland JC 120. Depending on where it is in the effects loop sometimes you have to crank the volume. It's an excellent pedal for all-purpose distortion tones. Not the only distortion I'd have in my arsenal, but basically it's essential. Professionals as well as beginners swear by them - and rightly so - it's probably the best distortion pedal they make, and for the extremely low price, it's a bargain.

I've owned like a dozen Boss pedals in my life, and only 2 have actually broken. You have a better chance of having one stolen from you than having it break. Just make sure the washers on the sides are tight and you're all set.

Never needed to call them.

I bought this pedal BRAND NEW at a pretty large chain music store for $36! The salesman couldn't believe it either. Possibly the best equipment bargain that exists. Every guitar player should have one of these.

simple enough: stomp on, stomp off, distortion, level and tone. I gave a 9 cause i found the tone too be a bit touchy.

Heres my basic setup Sg standard - DD3 delay - crybaby - DS1 [on my home made pedal board]- fender hot rod deluxe, . This pedal [with the gain at 9 o'clock, level maxed, and tone 12 o'clock], delivers a crisp complimentary distortion, without a lose of tone. The basic distortion is great for rythm, however, its a bit flat for lead work. A lead tone can be gotten out of this thing, crank the distotion some more and tweak the tone. This sound is still kind of flat, and by adding distortion, you loose some of the notes character. Based on this I gave it a seven, but i can get a better sound. I use my amplifiers distortion [at about 9 o'clock], for lead work, and combine it with the boss [at rythm levels], to get a big sounding, crisp singing lead. This tone i give a 9, and if your amps got built in distortion I recommend this method. Just keep the distortion levels down, and you'll be fine.

I wasnt't a fan of the tone, it has a really broad range which i'm not into, i tend to leave it at 12 p'clock. It could work for other people, though.

this pedals 6 years old and the paints barely chipped.

no worrys

I'm gonna mark this in context with my equipment, not just on its own. Its great for distortion, and with another distortion box it'll give you a great lead. The sound i want is big and hard rockish, with lots of mid. My ideal tone is big and raw, so i tend to shy away from lots of effects. And the the combined sound i get from this pedal and my other equipment can deliver what i want. If this thing was stolen I could probably part with the 30 bucks and pick another one up, unless i decide to shop around some more.

Very easy to use. 3 Knobs, Level-Dist-Tone. A lot of different combinations. You've got your basic Dist all the way up with tone around 12 oclock. Plus you've got a couple other combinations in the manual that actually work pretty good.

I'm using a Fender Mexican Strat to a 15w Crate practice amp. I will be purchasing a tube amp soon though. On the SS practice amp, it really makes my tone better. That amp is pretty bad and this really improves it. I've played it through a tube amp and it sounds great. Its a whole new pedal through a tube amp.

Very Reliable.

Never Dealt with them.

I play a wide variety of music. This pedal is a great purchase. First, if your a beginner with a crappy amp looking for distortion, don't look any further. Second, if you've got a nice tube amp and need some boost it works great there. It will work for you.

3 knobs.... Tone (Treble), Level (Volume), Dist (Gain Level). and a switch. The manual has some settings in it, but its real easy to find other sounds.

Played this with a strat (little 59, then changed to a JB trembucker), a mustang (JB Jr), and a tele into various other amps. It wasnt too noisy overall. There was some hum and buzzat max gain, but what else would you expect at that level. I ran this through a Boss NS-2 to reduce the noise. The DS-1 is fairly flexible. It can get you high gain sounds as well as settle drive. Anything in the middle sounds really generic. I kept the tone at about 9-10 o'clock, because anything high was way too bright. The distortion sound full and meaty with humbuckers, but with single-coils can be weak. if nirvana is your thing, the DS-1 is perfect since kurt used it and anyone trying to reproduce his tone go through this pedal first. if nirvana isnt your thing, its still a good pedal overall. Don't bother using this with a bass... it sounds like a chainsaw and speed, unless thats what you want.

Boss pedals are soild. Built tough. I've owned 7 different Boss pedals, and NEVER had any problems with them.

Never dealt with Roland/Boss....

This was my main distortion for a long time. I play a lot of early to mid 90's rock (IE: Weezer, Pumpkins, Nirvana, etc etc), so it was a perfect fit. I've been playing for 8 years, and if someone stole it, I wouldn't care too much since I've switch pedals. My main distortion is now a EHX USA Big Muff. I use the DS-1 as a boost sometimes, which it does quite well. I may use the Muff now, but if I'm in search for that early-mid 90s sound, my DS-1 is still around.

Very easy to use - no parameters to mess with. Just three knobs.

I'm using this pedal mainly with two guitars - a lace sensor equipped strat and an Epiphone 335. It does have some noise (like any other pedal) but its fairly quiet. I set the controls as follows - Tone up halfway, distortion all the way down, and volume all the way up. The pedal has a considerable amount of gain at this setting, but the tone of the guitar still comes through. I like the way the pedal cleans up when I turn down the volume knob on the guitar. The pedal is pretty versatile and has enough bite to cut through the band. Be Careful with excessive gain settings, however; too much gain will compress the sound too much and make you actually lose volume.

Boss has a reputaion for reliability. This particular pedal had one knob missing and another twisted in such a way that the knob turns in a different direction. That said, the damn thing still works. Remarkable. This thing could withstand an Al-Qaeda attack.

Never needed help. Besides, these things are so reliable you won't need it wither.

I play all sorts of rock music - stuff like the Stone Temple Pilots, U2, Live, Television, etc. The pedal works well with my Mesa Boogie Studio .22 amp, and I would buy one again if it were stolen. It certainly sounds better than any of that digital distortion BS thats on the market right now.

its a 3 knob distortion no need for a manual to figure it out but its nice to have one for the 8 settings listed in the manual

i dont know what some of these people are smoking but this pedal is a great distortion pedal a good range of sounds.. and you can still get good sounds even with the tone turned past 9oclock it doesnt have quite as much gain as i would like but i have a death metal for the insane amounts of gain i sometimes want...

oh come on this IS boss we are talking about just by looking at it you can tell its reliable

never dealt with boss never heard of anyone having to have their boss pedals repaired that i say is a good sign of the reliability of boss pedals

this is a great multipurpose distortion if mine were stolen i would be pissed then i would buy another

tone, level, and amount of distortion are the controls simple, simple, simple.

with my les paul custom the output is pretty high so you can only get one level of actual tonal distortion out of it which is pretty high even at the the lowest distortion setting and from there you can add more fuzz in the high register area. with a t.c. electronics chorus after this box you can replicate a tool sound fairly well.
The pedal has a great deal more versitility with my strat (USA delux w/fender gold lace sensors) as the output is much lower on this guitar I can take th ds-1 to a level comfortable to play the blues when using my strat, and can be taken to a more hard rock level. with the les paul the distortion cannot be rolled back very far.
my amps are very clean toned I play a fender twin and a music man hd-150.
this pedal is fairly low noise but I would sill recomend a good noise gate in everyone's rig.
with other effect if you want a deep effect sound, from say flanger, you must place it after this pedal because this pedal post effect deaddens the effect, much more even that other distortions.
(with my overlord distortion (dean markley)i set wah,rotovibe, and chrs before the distortion as that dist is more transparent and expressive.)

boss pedals are invincible

who knows they dont break

this pedal clearly has its applications but it is not very versitile. If you want to sound like everyone else, buy thios pedal.
if you want a more individual sound buy tis thing anyway. a new one is 34 bucks a used one is 20 and you willuse it for stuff so part with the 20 bucks it is less than the cost of going out on a date.

Three knobs, level, tone, dist (distortion)
VERY easy. If you can't work this, you must have failed kindergarden.

I play it like this: bc rich bronze warlock/gibson goth explorer/fender telecaster or a washburn dime bolt---boss bass flanger (its for bass, but i got it free, why wouldnt i use it?)--boss ds-1---danelectro grilled cheese distortion--marshall half stack or a vox combo. it sounds great, not so great for metal tho. it doesnt make your guitar sound tunnely and thin like a danelectro. its good for punk too, and the manual has sample settings. its great.

if i wasnt 13, and i could drive a bus, i would run over this pedal and it would still work. its been thrown at a wall, amps, drums, guitars, basses, people and things have fallen on it, and its still fine.
its a boss..must i say more?

the roland people are friggin nice! i have a bass flange i got for free and it died at a gig, and i called them up and they fixed it for free without having a proof of purchace or anything. pretty cool huh

great pedal all round. very easy to use, strong, and its orange! it lasts forever too, and most of all, it sounds great. if it got stolen, i'd ram my brand new osiris shoes so far up the persons ass my shoes turned black to brown. but if i didnt find it, i'd probably get a new one cuz its cheap or i'd get a metal zone.

Yes, i rated it a ONE. Why? because NOBODY knows how to use this thing right. Read on and find out how and why Satriani,Vai,Schon and many others use this pedal professionally. 3 knobs seems easy right? Well many years of owning one will let you know that it is not.

I've read too many times on various sites, including this one where people say "I cant get Satriani's, Vai's, or Schons tone from the ds-1. Theres no way they are using this." Bull dooty. you have to 1st have a good amp. An amp with a really good overdrive or gain tone. Next, you set the amp to get that good tone. Finally, you set this pedal w/ the following settings : TONE = 0 Dist = 0 Level = 3 o'clock
Why you might ask would those settings work best? Simply because the best tone in the d-1 is its boost function. Not it's distortion. I use it soley for a sustain/boost pedal for more gain for leads. It really smooths things out and gives killer sustain.
Questions you might be asking now are, why not just buy a boost pedal? the answer lies in the reason that neal schon and steve vai use them. There is not a better boost pedal on the market. Plus it adds a lot of warm tone and sustain. Keep in mind, you may turn the distortion knob to your liking but it should never go up over halfway. you should get most of your drive from your amp. thats where people get confused w/ this pedal.
Another note, DO NOT ever use the tone knob on this pedal unles you want fuzz effect. The tone knob is basically a treble enhancer and it adds fuzziness past 9 o'clock. Get your amps treble up so the character of the pedal gives you a good dark lead tone.
Satriani actaully uses this pedal w/ a nearly clean marshall amp tone. Therefore, his use is a bit differen than vai and schon. He uses the tone knob a little, and he uses the distortion knob a lot. That is why his tone is not as good as the afore mentioned. However, for satriani tone, playing this pedal into a breaking up tube tone (matchless, dr. z, etc) and cranking up the pedals gain will get you that similar sound.
I use this pedal through 2 fender twin reverb amps. i normally run 1 for clean and one for lead, w/ a fulltone fulldriver and the Ds-1 and a delay for my lead tone. I basically set the fulltone to minimum overdrive and hit it hard w/ the Ds-1 to push it into a singing lead sound. So the key to this pedal is to either have a overdrive pedal that you really like but would like more sustain out of on leads, or use it into a breaking up amp, or good gain toned amp.

These are sturdy!!

People have battles with this pedal, but it is because they don't know how to use it. One must first figure that out. I learned the hard way, bought one several years ago, got mad cause it was a fuzzy thin tone (because i used the gain and tone knobs) sold it cheap, and bought it again a year later when i realized how cool they could be.
If you want any kind of advice on running this pedal w/ the rig you have now, you may email me and i'd be glad to recomend some things. I have tried and know about a lot of equipment, amps, guitars etc so i could steer you in a correct path hopefully.

3 knobs,level,tone and gain.can't get much simpler.

I have MANY guitars, both single coil and humbucker set ups. In my opinion this pedal sounds great with either, although the humbuckers seem to push it a bit more, resulting in an almost fuzzy sound. This is, by the way, a very good fuzz sound.For amps I usew a marshall vs65r or a fender blues junior.As far as what artists I can sound like with this pedal,I dont try to sound like anyone in particular, I just want to sound the best I can. This pedal helps me achieve this.Actually,I originally bought this pedal on a whim. Went to the store to buy an sd-1 and the clerk misunderstood me and gave me the ds-1 by mistake. I reconized right away that he had made a mistake but I went ahead and demoed the ds-1 anyway. I was not overly impressed at the time BUT I was in need of a decent distortion as well as an overdrive (they are two different animals don,t let anyone tell you different)so I bought them both. To make a long story short, I found that with a little time spent tweaking I was able to dial in a very "kick-ass" distortion. I use it all the time and when it is off I find myself feeling as if something is missing. Oh, by the way, it can produce some noise when not playing but that is the nature of distortion boxes.Certainly NOT a large amount of noise but then again I have discovered the real secret to good sound with any pedal.It took me 23 years of searching,experimenting,and pulling my hair to finally discover the key to good results with distortion or most any other pedal.Now after years of frustration and many,many sleepless nights spent in search of decent tone I have the answer. Are you ready for this? Here it is. A little goes a long way! simple huh? Don't crank it to 11.I don't care what Nils says.I'm talking about pedals here NOT amps,that's a horse of an entirely different color.Anyway you should get my drift. If you just shove every knob on the pedal to max, you will produce nothing but disgusting fuzz,fizz,and fart.TAKE YOUR TIME> Tweak a bit and you may just find that that pedal you had hidden under your bed 6 years ago holds the holy grail of tone you have spent so much time and money searching for. If only you had spent a little time with it in the beginning instead of just cranking it to ten and then dicarding it when all you got was static and crud.I rate this pedal a nine. Nothing deserves a 10.No such thing as perfection.Finally,this pedal is best for classic rock and blues-rock.May also find some use for it when playing country and country-rock. Will do good ac/dc,areosmith,skynyrd,etc. Would not be my first choice for the newer heavy metal-ie-Korn,Limp biscuit,etc.

Oh please.Everyone else hasa said it, don't make me say it too.OK here it goes. Its a boss, it'll last forever.(When it lasts forever and a day, I'll give it a 10).

Have never dealt with them so I don't know. See reliability above.

Give this puppy a nine and put it to bed. It has a busy day tomorrow.If lost or stolen I would most certainly replace it.I won't go so far as to say I love this pedal (it is after all an in-animate object therefore uncapable of giving love in return),but if it was missing in action I certainly would feel its absence.

three knobs, no probs

i use this like so: SG - ds1 -50 top valve head. real simple, which suits what i play (heavy sabbath/black flag) perfectly. this has got to be the piece of kit i couldnt do with out. it always sounds the same...fat, heavy, but with a clear mid-range sound which really translates what yer fingers are doing. it's ideal for chugging, and sustains nicely. my tip is to keep the drive down to around half and let the valves do the rest. it's also very versatile, i've used it for blues and got a fairly decent rory gallagher/billy gibbons tone.

i've used it to hammer nails into my cab, open beer bottles and throw at prima-donna singers. it's chipped to all hell, looks great and has yet to let me down. it's been said before, but c'mon....it's a boss.

i cant imagine the boys at the complaints desk in the boss factory are very busy.......

the cheapest bit of kit i've got, and i couldnt live without it. i've used other distortion boxes (tubescreamer,big muff)and liked them all, but this is the one i always come back to. for heavy, fat distortion it's the business. i'm a big fan of keeping it simple, and it gets no simpler than this. if you can only have one pedal, get this one!

Hrmmmmm.... 3 knobs... Manual gives some decent settings.

Ibanez/PRS/Fenders ---- JD Cry Baby --- Boss DS-1 --- C/S 3 --- CE5 --- RV3 --- Marshall AVT2000 --- Marshall 4 x 12 (75watt (low bass) celestions)

Boss pedals ALWAYS sound crap outa the box. If you're someone who assumes that 10 = good, you'll have 2 sit and read the manual. If you don't you'll miss all the decent sound you can get. Nice rock tones, and a little metal. Nice treble boost if you lower the gain enough! Sounds really weedy for 90% of the time tho.

It's a Boss... I'd run over it with my car, but I'm afraid I might damage the car.

Boss = Roland = Nice people :-) But they don't like it if you rip out the insides of their baby, and twiddle it's resistors...

Basically, the pedal will sound TERRIBLE if you don't work at it. I found a few excellent tones from it, but most of the time, the pedal sounds pretty weedy :-( There are TWO versions of this pedal, a Taiwanese version, and the Japanese one. They look the same, but there are a few components which are different. Vai and Satriani use the Japanese version. It's got better midrange, and isn't so weedy. If you think you have the inferior version, you can always change the components for some decent ones!
Another tip is to blend your amp's distortion into the pedal's. By backing off the tone control, you can generate deep sounds for the wound strings, but keep the amps treble up to keep the highs alive.

A decent distortion pedal, but not great outa the box.

How can anyone not understand these controls? Distortion, level, and volume... pretty self-explanatory.

I can't beat it for versatility. My setup is a Fender Stratocaster through the DS-1, a reissue MXR Dist. +, a Dunlop Crybaby and a Ibanez DM-1000 rack delay into a Marshall solid-state, and a Peavey Classic 50 VT (the one with the kick-ass phaser). There is no bad setting on this box. It doesn't always get as heavy as I want, so I use the Distortion +. I play blues/metal (some combo, huh?) and it just fits.

I bought it used, and it just keeps on going. 'Nuff said.

N/A

This pedal hits a fat lead sound, a good overdrive, nice scooped Marshall sound, treble boost, and most anything else. Good stuff. If something happened to this pedal, I'd go out and buy it again. There's nothing to hate on this pedal. An EQ would be nice, but then it wouldn't be so cheap. This is a killer pedal.

Very easy...tone, distortion and level knobs...

I use this as my main distortion pedal in my effects loop. I use a Gibson Les Paul studio thru the effects then to a Sovtek MIG-100 head. The sound on this Distorion pedal is pretty good. Keep in mind that this pedal is not for shred metal or brit-pop... it can get close to both, but this pedal is suited more for hard rock music. The Distortion on the pedal is very balanced and allows for the tone of your guitar to shine thru, which i think is pretty important...

Boss....

havent dealt....

This is a great pedal for a wide variety of rock. I've gona thru several pedals and this one is very reliable and has great sound(specially for $30-40). if i lost this pedal, i'd go replace it the same day. The only thing i wish it had is some EQ, but a boss EQ pedal should fix all that... overall, i reccomend this pedal and if you have any questions about it, just emil me....

Well if you can't figure out TONE, LEVEL, and DISTORTION, then what are you doing playing with a distortion pedal? You shouldn't even have to think about looking at the manual, although it does give some good starting points. Since I play bass some of the suggestions weren't quite so helpful but...

I was reluctant to buy a non-bass pedal for my set up but Musician's Friend was having a huge sale on it so here it is. It sounds pretty decent all the way around.I play an Alvarez AEB-250 with a Peavy TNT 115. My effects are the Boss ODB-3, DS-1, Big Muff, Boss FZ-3, Dunlop Bass Crybaby, Digitech BP-8, and Ibanez VL-10. Some of the preamp settings on the BP-8 really bring out some beautiful sounds on the DS-1. I try to pattern my sound off a Christian group called Skillet. Their newer stuff is pretty industrial and this pedal captures the sound fairly well.

Does anyone own a Boss pedal that isn't reliable? Have they ever made one like that?

Well, out of the three Boss pedals I have, one I bought used, I haven't had a single problem so I haven't had to find out about the customer service. If it's as good as their pedals.....

I would have to replac it if it were stolen. THe tone is really flexible. I like it better than the Rat, bare in mind I play bass. It has a different sound than the Big Muff and teh Fz-3, not quite as hard as they are, but has more grit than what I have the ODB-3 set at.

3 knobs, pretty easy to change the sound. The manual came with some suggested settings which were okay.

Pretty good for what it is, it tends to be too lound when playing with headphones late at night. Other than that it works just fine. It can get a really good alt rock punk sound. I use it with a strat through a Deluxe 90.

It's a boss.

I like it, took some time to warm up to it though. It gets me the sound I need. I would get it again if it were stolen, because it is so cheap.

Very easy to use. 3 knobs, just look at the big picture up there.

I just use this for practice. At practice, i might use some POS washburn or sometimes i actually take my gibson SG but regardless, it goes into a peavey studio 112. I get a pretty heavy tone since that's the style of the band (not by my choice though) and it sounds great (for practice of coarse).

i know the previous owner, and if it survived him, it can survive through me. It has a huge paint chip out if it like he threw it against the road or soemthing and it still works fine.

I play Oasis brit pop rock and use an SG and marshall jcm2000 and the pedal doesnt seem to fit in. but when i take it to practice, it works great cos the lead guitarist plays a lot of metallica, it definitely gets teh job done. If it were lost, i'd start using my zoom505II again. I love how it was so cheap and how it sounds pretty good for being virtually free =) but i'd definitely suggest this to any guitar player using any amp or guitar. cos i belive you can get them for $40 and well, if you dont like it, you wont lose much. Great value due to the price

Standard distortion pedal control knobs: Level, Distortion, and Tone. Took about 2 minutes to find a good setting. If you can't work this pedal, the word "special" probably applies to you.

Here's the deal. I play hard rock and metal. I was looking for a pedal that didn't completly destroy guitar tone, was somewhat smooth sounding, and had plenty of gain. This pedal didn't bury my guitar under a mountain of toneless fuzz. It responds to your picking technique even at max gain. Hit it soft, it comes it quieter and cleaner. Hit it hard, the comes out louder and more distorted. The pedal has a pretty smooth distortion. It's not rough or fuzzy. It's quite clear. My only complaint is that it doesn't have enough gain for me. But I soon fixed that problem when I put a CS-3 before it. Now, it's more even and sounds like I've turned the distortion knob to 12. With the CS-3, pinch harmonics JUMP out and tapping is louder. Tonally, the pedal isn't very beefy or very thin. It's pretty middy. Luckily, I have an EQ pedal and I dialed in more bass and treble (make it sound BIGGER). Also, the distortion range is pretty wide, with the distortion knob at 8 o'clock you get a smooth subtle crunch, crank it up and you get a powerful distortion.

You know their rep...

Never dealt with them.

I guess this can be the architypical distortion pedal. Universal applications and pretty much a standard for other distortion pedals. If it were stolen, I'd club the thief with my CS-3.

3 knobs, how much easier does it get? almost as easy as a phase 90...

running an ibanez SA160QM through a crate gx212. i was lookin for a good distortion, went to guitar center tried out a bunch of pedals...passing up the DS-1 the first time around thinking what can a 40 dollar pedal give me. after trying many pedals such as the metal zone and being disappointed i tried the DS-1. the best 40 dollar pedal i've ever bought. it's perfect for rock distortion, has a nice crunch when yoju want it to. not as much versatility as i wanted, but great sounding distortion.

B-O-S-S, that spells quality

i think i'd give it a 9.....it wouldn't be perfect unless it had more versatility

The Ds-1 is very easy 2 use ......3 knob

My set-up consists of a dean avalache 1, two marsall amps (Avt50 &Mg-15rcd), a boss Mt-2 metal zone, a DOD FX69 grunge Distortion, AElectro-Harmonix russian big Muff, and a Korg AX1G. its not very noisy unless u want it to be. No it is not at all weak it sounds awesome. Considering Kurt Cobain used one I can get his sound. + it works with every thing.

This pedal is awesome and very reliable so i would have 2 say i would gig without a backup.

Havent had 2 deal with the company.

Great,Great,Great

It is simple to use , the more you change the settings the more interesting sounds you get, i recommend this pedal to anyone ,, it isn't exactly the greatest for metal but it makes a distinct metal sound that is cool anyway. good pedal,, boss is a great name brand especially for the price.

it sounds great for most rock , like grunge, riff rock, and so on its all right for metal. it has a very good tone in E and drop D tuning i don't use any other tunes so i wouldn't know,, i really dont like thos other down tuned nu-metal sound ,, i like basic and simple metal and rock,, this pedal can also be used for some blues just turn the mids up and use some reverb.

it's metal in ain't gonna fall apart on you in the next century so don't worry about that.

never had any trouble

Great pedal for all ,, beginers all the way to professionals ,,, great for a garage band especially.............. Musicains Friend rules buy your stuff there!

Three knobs, no rocketscience needed. But beware of the typical mistake of turning all the knobs to 10 thinking it would provide the best sound

I'm using my Epiphone LesPaul Studio with DiMarzios (Tonezone at the bridge, HumbuckerFromHell neck) into a volumepedal a Crybaby, a Boss ChorusEnsemble, a SuperOverdrive, the DS-1, Big Muff, Univibe into a Soldano with Celestion V30's. I mainly use this pedal *BELIEVE IT OR NOT* as a lead boost, I set the tone at 9 o'clock dist at 8 and level at MAX and use it ON TOP of my tube distortion (YEAH FOLKS DIST ALL THE WAY UP). It gives me this awesome FAT lead boost and makes my sound much more syrupy; sticky and liquid. I also use a SD-1 superoverdrive for the same purpose, only I use that one for the more "Wylde"-solos.
In other words, it rocks!!! like FUCKIN HELL

It's BOSS, NO SHIT!

It's BOSS, NO SHIT!

It is one FUNKY box,

its easy to get a good sound...just 3 knobs!

i use a harmony les paul copy with a peavy bandit amp. the sound is a nice heavy distortion sound but its not versitle at all.no matter where you turn the distortion knob the distortion is heavy,just quieter at lower levels. useful for punk rock or old school metal but thats about it.also pretty nice for lead work.

boss is GREAT!

i've been playing for 5 years and play anything for metal and punk to blues and country.this pedal works good for a heavy yet smooth distortion. i'd probaly buy a big muff if this ever got stolen.
works good if all you play is heavy music but otherwise you wuld be better off with an overdrive pedal.

This pedal like all boss (or any stompbox) is very easy to get something you like. make sure to really try different amp settings and guitars. Duh?!

My setup is very basic , I use mainly les pauls or an ibanez 7-string going through a Fender Deluxe 1x12 . my effects are a Digitech Whammy pedal,Boss Chorus Esemble,Boss DS-1 distortion and a Crybaby wah. The reason I bought this pedal is that my Zoom Tri-metal pedal broke by itself after only SIX F***ING MONTHS !!! $107 SHOT IN THE ASS! anyway I had to find a new distortion but with one catch; I DONT WANT SOMETHING THAT COVERS UP MY PLAYING OR MY AMPS TONE! I tried out the Boss Super-Overdrive.Zakk Wylde is a huge influence for my music and he uses this so i figured Id try it....results...NOT FOR ME,NOT ENOUGHT DISTORTION,I tried the Ibanez Seventh Heaven tone lok pedal,figuring it would be great for my 7-string and tuned down six strings...results...NO WAY AT ALL SHOULD YOU BY THIS IF YOU PLAY THROUGH A TUBE AMP!! FAR TOO BRITTLE. Then after a few more pedals I said "let me see about that orange distortion pedal" when i first tried it about six years ago i hated it(hey I was a kid,I thought "well it dousn't sound like METAL ,I dont sound like METALLICA WITH THIS!! THIS SUCKS!!) well times have changed ,I have realized that in order to get great tone you must dismiss the need for ruthless saturation. The DS-1 is plain and simple ,if you want to sound like you and you have A TUBE AMP!!,buy this pedal. If you want to sound like pantera or metallica GO BUY A RANDELL OR MESA BOOGIE FULL STACK AND CRANK IT !! this pedal takes your amps tone and gives it just enough distortion to the point where you can get great HEAVY(yes METAL-LIKE TONES),very good sustain, and a good lead tone. If you dig Nirvana its good,if you dig AC/DC its good, If you dig TESTAMENT,BLACK SABBATH,BLACK LABEL SOCIETY...ITS REAL GOOD! Seriously I would not reccomend this pedal to anyone who has a solid state or is into real saturation. if you want good heavy tones that let you here what the hell your playing and make you sound like you,dish out the cash and get this thing!

so far ive owned many Boss pedals and I have never had a problem, other people i know have but I think they really abused it.

I play in a (75% of the time)metal band,But Im an old school blues freak at heart. Our music is very influenced by Black Label Society a.k.a Zakk Wylde,Down,Pantera,ZZ-Top,E-town concreit,Motorhead,Black Sabbath,Lynyrd Skynyrd,Frank Zappa,S.O.D etc...I have been playing for about seven years and play Blues,Metal,Country,Classical,Jazz whatever. Overall Im very pleased with this pedal. It fits me better than i thought it would.I've played with many different people,bands,guitars,pedals and i know what im talking about when it comes to music,that is one thing im good for! trust me you want a natural loud,distorted tube sound...get this pedal.

the pedal is very easy to use...i didn't get a manual cause bought it used. It's pretty easy to get good sounds out of it, i only messed around with it for like 15 min, and got a lot of good sounds rom a low toned bluesy jazzy sound to a high end lead sound to a nice crunchy distorted sound for rhythm. Mine is japanese made...i heard they may be different sounding than korean made ones. For 30 bucks...this is well worth it.

i tried playing it a little out of my mexican strat and epi les paul...from each guitar the sound is completely different. Out of both, the pedal sounds good. For a good distortion, you really can get it to sound like Radiohead from the pablo honey album, specifically creep. I use it out of my practice crate amp, which isn't the greatest amp, the pedal would probably sound better out of a better amp. I can sounds of some of my fav artists, but moreover i can get the sounds that i'm looking for, some blues stuff, some rock stuff.

ya i think it's very reliable. Its made of metal, not plastic like some other cheap pedals. I would use it on a gig, but i would brink a back up anyway just in case

wouldn't know

i play mostly rock and blues, sometimes some metal stuff. I've been playing about two years, and this pedal is pretty great for my stle of playing. I also own a danelectro daddy-o distortion pedal, a dunlop wah, and some cheap chorus pedal. Looking back, i should have got this pedal first, and i recommend buying it before looking into other distortion pedals...it's like a standard. I just like the overal sounds i can get out of it...pretty much what i was looking for...i like the solidness of it too, and the color. Compared to my daddy-o i like this a lot more...it gives a hell of a better distortion. I had a bd-2 that i sold, i wanted that for a bluesy sound and a distortion i could use for rock, but i couldn't get the sounds i wanted. I like this a lot better than the bd2. I suppose i couldn't ask for nething more from this pedal, considering it's price range. Get it...it's cheap and good.

3 knobs how could that be hard?

I've owned and played several dirt box's(eh big muff, pro co rat2, boss ds-2, metal zone, xtortion, sd-2,bixonic expandora, z vex fuzz factory. and almost all those pedals mask or change the tone in some way. the ds-i just makes my amp sound like it has an tube distortion(I've got a crate vintage club tube amp i've moded) it's pretty transperent to a point, the only thing i hate is the fact i have the level knob maxed out and the distorted sound seems to have less volume than the clean sound. besides that i would say it's the best value for a decent distortion pedal.

Boss...............come on like allmost all my pedals are boss and one of them is 20 years old and still works fine.

good, basic, pretty transperent distortion pedal.........i just wish the level knob went up a few more notches.

It has three knobs. Easy.

This pedal covers a range of sounds, but it's not going to get you the sound of the metal-zone, not really even close. It sounds great on solos, and great with strumming. Its basically the perfect distortion box as long as you aren't looking for the metal zone sound, or great amp distortions.

Yep. It's way more durable than my ibanez tone-loks.

I dunno.

I love using this pedal. Before i had it, i would use the not so great distortions on the Zoom 505, and i noticed that tone was great with this pedal.

3 knobs? Can't be to hard. Less can be more!

Here's the set up(s). For smaller venues, I am using a Fender 65 Deluxe Reverb into my pedal board which includes (in order from the amp); boss TU-12 Tuner, Boss Delay, Boss Chorus, Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive, Boss DS-1, TS-9 Tube Screamer. The guitar is usually my Carvin TL-60T (endorsed thank you, or a custome tele w/ b bender. Between the amps famous bitey clean tone, and my variety overdrive/distortions, I get every tone needed from fender spank to marshall shred. I do not use the effects look and get no noise, period. Just tone for days. For larger venues where more stage monitoring is needed, I use a rack set up with a SOHO preamp (all tube built after the Kitty Hawke) into a Carvin 50/50 tube amp. Same pedalboard, into a Marshall 4x12. I get the exact same tones as with my smaller rig. Specically on the DS-1, my only, and I mean only complaint is that it can be treble bound, so I simply keep the tone know barely on. I run the distortion setting at about two thirds, and then roll off the volume knob when needed. I think the key to this pedal is using a tube amp with it. When you roll off the knob, it maintains tone while simply lowering volume. Something the Line 6 stuff I used for years could not accomplish. You HAD to use their floor board's volume pedal because using your guitar's volume know just created mudd. Something about a mechanical devive telling a digital signal what to do didn't work to well. Oh well, back to tubes!

One word.........tank!

Never dealt with. They're pedals just do not break.

My main touring band is high energy country with a rock influence. I play all styles and have been playing 20 plus years. I have owned most everything and pay a lot of attention to the reviews of fellow musicians. Therefore I try to be as upfront as possible and give my 2 cents as a pro level player, and try and help steer the next generation the righ way. My goal is to help people buy the right stuff the first time instead of listening to some 17yr old guitar center yokel who is just trying to make quota! If I lost it (it's attached to my board!), I would pop off another $35 and do it again. This catagory is about value, and this pedal is a slam dunk value!

the unit sounds great and the manual for it is great it has these cool thing that tell you how to set fuzz and hard rock.is very easy to use.

i use this for my bass and it works great.its noisy when you put the tone to the higher settings but it sounds great with lots of distortion its all distorted but it sounds good. im using a crate bfx25 bass amp. ive allso got a zoom 506 and i put the distortion on the zoom effects and it still sounds good.

ive only had it for a few months so i dont know how dependable it is

ive got no clue.

i play stuff like nirvana, tool, system of a down and it works good for that. ive been playing bass for like 3 years and i own a zoom 506, a crate bfx25, and a squire p-bass. i would buy this again if something happened to it. i love how its that great orange color and its got great sound. i dont like how if the tone i high it makes it sound all crapy but i think that is because i play bass.its a great deal.

3 knobs. Any setting sounds good, so you don't even have to worry about that.

Exelent range of sounds. At low distortion, you get a crisp overdrive sound. about midrange you get a raunchy vintage rock sound, High end gets a bit noisy but I like to keep the gain midrange or so. With ultra hot pickups, (aka x2n) the ds1 would stutter like and old tube. I trimmed my pickups so they are farther away from the low strings and closer to the E and B. Superb results!

If someone had one of these pedals in the world trade center on 9-11, it most likely made it through. We could stick it up Bin Laden's ass.

I wish I knew about this pedal when I was starting and only had $40 so spend. Now I think it is one of the premere stompboxes and it is under 1/2 the price. I am not going to lie, this pedal is 2nd to my marshall, but for small bars and such where a stack is overkill, I opt for it and a much smaller 2-12 amp.

Three knobs, if you aren't a total guitar idiot you should be able to get it...although some of you people seem significantly less than brilliant.

My set up:
Les Paul Junior> DS-1> DOD Flanger> Crate Gx 15 practice amp. Yeah, the amp sucks but if one person mocks me because of it, I'll have to remind you that I know how to spell. If all of you apes would stop cranking the tone knob, and roll it back you'd get a good tone. I know, I know, the amp. But I'm not deaf, I know what other people sound like and for some reason I don't care that it's not perfect. It's kind of ironic how you all swear by Kurt Cobain and then proceed to rip into one of the pedals he used. Click, click, boom. Besides, the pedal is like what, $35 at musician's friend? The Big Muff's like $54. What do you all want? Perfection? You all have too much money on your hands, stop pissin' and moanin'

Here comes the cliche. "It's built like a M***er F***ing T*nk..." Duh. I'd make more fun, but I'm too lazy to come up with something better.

Never dealt with them, but somebody said something on another review about a dark hole somewhere in LA.

All in all...(hold on while I clear my throat for another cliche)...you can get tones out of this that are crazier than a craphouse riot. I don't understand all of you people who don't like this pedal it's great for rythm, lead, that 'at the drive in' crap...just clownin' they rank up on my list close to Danzig and Disciple; and that's only under those friggin' overrated bands Led Zepplin and the Beatles.

Easy to operate, turn and step, not hard, slightly harder getting that perfect distorted sound you're looking for, but with time, you figure it out as with all things, constant tweaking.

Ok, my setup -> Ibanez GSA 60 w/ DiMarzio PAF (only setting I use) -> Boss TU-2 -> Boss DS-1 -> Boss DD-5 -> Crate GSA-30. Ok, I know I have a fairly economy guitar ($219 at musician's friend right now...) but the pickups are nice that I use now, and yeah, the amp is no giant tube stack, but for solid state practice amps its pretty good. Anyways, the distortion for the first few months I had it sounded decent... with Ibanez Powersound pickups (that are total crap), but after replacing them with a DiMarzio, I was able to turn the gain past 12 and get no hum. With good pickups, this pedal is almost entirely silent (when you're not near a TV, Computer monitor, or Flourescent light), and with a high gain, and tone around 11, with the amp EQ'd to have extra bass (4-5 O'clock) reduced mid (10-11 O'clock) and middle treble (12 O'clock), you can get an incredible sound. I was amazed, for $35 a distortion pedal I had never heard gave me the sound I wanted, a thick bassed (for palm muting) sound, that still has fullness all the way through without the feeling that the treble is being muted, so leads still sound good, and chords are clear. I can get this thing to sound about like L'arc~en~Ciel (j-rock group), Luna Sea (j-rock group), Weezer, Blink 182, etc. A lot of alt. rock and punkish bands, which is the kind of music I play, so it worked out nicely. My only complaint- I don't have $1500 for the Crate tube head and cabinet I want... so I don't have the warmth of the tube amp distortion sound, but I never expected that from this pedal... definately the best I've heard (compared to Big Muff, Boss BD-2, Ibanez's awful dirty channel on my amp) for the money.

Gigged with it, stomped it to death once, and of course I'd do it without a backup, built like anything... definately get a power source, Boss products have cheap battery connections... but with power its incredible.

Never talked with em... gonna assume they're good... and hey, if you never have to talk to em, doesn't that make it a great product?

Well, like I said, I play the alt. rock, j-rock, and punk rock, and for all of them its the ultimate distortion (at least for me). You can hear what it sounds like in a song I did at www.mp3.com/cloe. But really, if stolen I'd buy it again (they're so inexpensive), and its definately the essential piece in my pedal setup as of now... gonna try putting a CS-2 compressor behind it to get more sustain... I just wanna be able to hold out notes for like 30 seconds without any volume decrease. If you're just a starting guitarist wanting a solid distortion pedal, get this one, avoid the crap DOD puts out, and just play with the knobs till you find your sound.

Turn the knobs and step on it. It takes some practice.

Great sound! I have it running through a Marshall 30 watt amp. The overdrive on the amp it awesome but its hard to find a good clean distortion, if that makes any sense to you. With this pedal your distortion doesn't drown out the sound. It hits you really hard and crisp.

You could probably run it over with a car and it would be fine.

No reason to call.

Its great for rock/metal. If I lost it or it was stolen I would definetly buy it again. Go buy it!Now! Seriously!

Im a big boy! I can turn knobs and step on things!

My favourite overall distortion pedal. I had considered getting a big muff because I liked my friends so much, but I decided to get this instead because I really liked it (and i already had a big muff to borrow). After using it for a while and using the big muff, I think I like this better. The big muff distortion is great, but I tend to lose myself in it, its just too overpowering. With the DS1 I still feel like I have some control over whats going on. Like the big muff though It can get really distorted but it can't get kinda distorted. I sometimes feel like the distortion knob is just there for the hell of it. It doesn't change much.

You could make body armour out of these things.

They probly have like one guy who works in customer support cause nothing ever seems to go wrong.

It's my best distortion pedal when I want things really distorted. Its nice and thick and in your face. I almost always use a boss eq with it so I can get the exact sound I'm looking for. I wish I could get less distortion sometimes, but I've got other pedals for that I guess. Sometimes its cool to stick a lot of reverb on it and lower the tone on the guitar. Makes a really great smooth lead for slow depressing songs.

It's pretty straightforward

This is a pretty harsh sounding pedal, but if you want to play some really in-your-face, rude, spanky sounds, it's great. I use it to get a Chris Duarte-ish (Cleopatra) rip to my tone. (I've seen him use this pedal, so don't tell me you can't get that tone). I've oly used this in front of tube amps, so maybe it sounds terrible with SS. It's a one-trick pony, but it's a cool trick

Never had a problem, and doesn't eat batteries

I play Texas-style blues, rock, and funk. I couldn't live with JUST this pedal, but it nails the grainy, obnoxious rip that is great to have in your bag of tricks. Good sustain too.

Three knobs, how hard can it be?

I play a Yamaha SG700 (SG-type solid body, two Alnico humbuckers with split-coil switch) through a Fender Blues Jr (15W, all-tube combo). Blues Jr gives real nice clean sounds, real nice, slightly distorted blues, indie rock and rock sounds, and, given its small size, quite nice hard rock sounds. Nonetheless, occasionally I feel I need some pedals to colour my tone. That's why I purchased DS-1.

I've read reviews here where people speak about turning their gain up to the max. And that makes me wonder: ARE THEY NUTS? With tone set at 11 o'clock - anything past 12 is simply too trebly and harsh - and no gain dialed in, just turning the pedal on (and no gain dialed in from the amp, either), I can get a concinving Appetite-era Guns n' Roses - rhythm sound. Add some gain and meddle with the amp's settings, and you're as close to classic metal as you can get with a Blues Jr. And with gain set at 10 or 11 o'clock, I get a pretty good Nirvana -sound.
But if you turn the gain on DS-1 all the way up, it's just to fool around, right? The amount of distortion is unbearable. Leadwise, DS-1 tends to kill sustain a bit, but otherwise, it's OK. Personally, I opt to use my Tubescreamer or MXR D + for leads.

I bought it used. The previous owner had had no problems. And neither have I.

No idea.

I've been playing for about 8-9 years. I play everything from blues to alternative to classic hard rock. Unfortunately, I can't get much variety from my amp, so I'm thinking of purchasing a used Marshall for rock and classic metal sounds and use my Blues Jr for clean sounds. DS-1 is a good, basic distortion pedal. You can get pretty usable sounds for different purposes out of it. But it's not the best pedal around, although perhaps one of the best all-around pedals out there. A good purchase, if you buy it used. The prices for new pedals in Finland are ridiculous! DS-1 costs 800 marks new - that's little over 100 US dollars! So I wouldn't buy it new. But I'm happy to have it.

3 controls. Anyone can figure it out. Manual gives good starting points for people with 0 knowledge of sound.

Epiphone Les Paul or Cheap Strat Copy -> DS-1 -> Solid state amp.
This pedal is noisy when gain is up and tone is past 12 o'clock. Great "grungy" sound at high gain levels, cool mellow bluesy sound at lower levels and with tone down. Not too good for classic rock and bad for heavy metal. But for the price, it delivers enough sounds that I like to justify it's presence in my gear. I actually love that warm fuzz that I get out of it when playing blues. Haven't heard anything quite like it yet. So I guess this pedal works good for me, but I still need a good thick distortion that this pedal does not produce. But for what it does, it does it good. Does not sound like natural distortion in any way, but I guess it wasn't build for that either.

Build like a tank. You can't brake this this thing.

No idea. Manual is suprisingly detailed for such an easy pedal. I bout that it will ever brake.

I bought this for the grunge sound. It does it good enough for me. I got tired of grunge and I'm more into blues. It took me sometime to get a sound that suited me. It was never quite there. But then I got my Epi. BINGO! Not the most versatile of pedals, there really is only a couple of sounds that I use, but I like them enough. Very inexpensive and reliable. Not sure that I would buy it again. But it's worth getting for someone looking for a 1st pedal. I've had this pedal for over a year.

totally a great pedal... pug in and turn it up! the distortion knob goes right to ten, and you cna get metalica distortion wiht it by turning down the tone, and good punk by turning up the tone... level is self explanitory

great sound- no noise, and very reliable

gig all you want with it- just have an extra battery, that's common sense, but a power cable makes life so much more easier.

awsome! i asked for a manuel and sent one within a week!

best distortion out there for the money, but i think it's the best distortion out there at all

Level,Tone,and Distortion,step on it of you want it on,step on it again if you want it off,doesnt get much easier.

My rig is Squier Strat with S.D Hotrail in bridge=Boss DS-1=Crybaby wah=Fender Hot Rod Deluxe.If used on the clean channel of the HRDx,I get a great Grunge,Punk,Classic rock (Zep,ac~dc...),and all around distortion sound.When used with a wah it isnt the best,but how many of the above use alot of wah?When playing chords other than power or barre,it gets a little to fuzzy,even with the distortion at low.Every thing else is great for the price.

This things a rock. You couldn't break it if you tried.Another good thing is it doesnt eat through 9v like alot of pedals.

No exp.I told you,this thing is a rock.

I have been playing a year and 3 months and for me it is perfect.Being a player strong on power chords it is just the distortion I want.This is a hard rock pedal and it gets a little weird if you try to play anything else with it.For 35 dollars,off hand I cant think of a distortion that matches up to this one.If it was stolen,I would whould look around a bit,but if all else fails,this is the best bang for your buck IMHO.

The Skinny:
If you play Punk,Grunge,AC~DC like classic rock,or anything else in these boundaries you will like it.

Basically as long as you can play a few chords on a guitar, you can use this thing. I mean come one, three knobs.

Defintely a good sound quality, thats why so many of the greats use it, Kurt Cobain, Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen, and the list goes on and on. It can cover a huge field of musical genres, and will fit any guitar. I play grunge, this thing is just dead on.

Perfect reliability, never had a problem with it, don't think i ever will.

Overall this thing will satisfy me. I have no reason to consider anything else for my dirt. One hell of a peddle.

I think it's easy to use.... but i had some minor difficulties at the first time... It was my first pedal... I was a dumbhead.

I used it with a Washburn Bad Dog 12W amp and with an Ibanez GRX-70 axe. With this amp it sucked... So I sell it. But now i know that the problem came from the amp. I changed it to a Laney HCR-30W (MAX). And now I know that it was a good pedal. It has a quite wide range of distortion...

This is the strongest thing i ever seen in the guitar world.... I think it can't brake and it would survive if i droped it out of my balcony ( I live in the 6th floor :)

I think with the AC and with the battery I can use it without backup...

There is only one thing I don't like in Boss. The prize of the pedals. :)

I think this is a very good and cheap pedal. If you has a bigger amp then a 15W you should buy it! After i sold it ( ohh i was sooo dumb) I think i will buy a ds-2.

Easy as. Tone, Level and Distortion. No manual or box 'cause it was given to me. But a crash test dummy could figure it out.

I play (or did, I don't any more cause it's crap) old Aria Pro 2 >> DS-1 >> Morely Bad Horsie >> 50W Marshall JCM 800. The amp is great, the guitar is fine, the wah rocks, the DS-1 sounds like a bad joke. I've bought and played other boss gear that I have liked but this product sucks.

It is pretty solid and consistently puts out a bad sound No I wouldn't use it to gig with, it's an embarassment

Never dealt with the company but the products I've encountered are pretty sturdey and the ones I have owned have not needed to be followed up

I play a wide variety of music. I have bought a Marshall Jackhammer and won't part with it. Who the hell would want to steal it (the DS-1) Anything I wish it had. Hell yeah! I wish it had the value so I could straight swap it for a Marshall Supervibe Chorus or a vibrato/Tremelo pedal or a compressor, or an Ernie ball Volume pedal, or a powerbrake, some new valves for my amp hmmmm. What do you want?

This is a pretty simple box. You only have tone, level, and distortion so its pretty easy to operate. The manual is really just basic knowledge (i.e. where the input-output is, etc.)In the back it tells the settings for crunch, fuzz, mild and warm, and fusion. It's a great pedal.

This pedal can get pretty noisy depending on the pickups your using or it can be very quiet. I am using a Fender Telecaster and an Ibanez Roadstar 2. Both work great. On the roadstar (which has the three singles like a strat) the box sounds best on the neck and middle or the bridge and middle. The telecaster sounds fine on any settings. I usually play into a Fender Bandmaster, Super Reverb, Hot Rod Deluxe, or Hot Rod Deville. It's pretty easy to get the sound of the guys that I like. I listen to Steve Vai, Led Zeppelin, Satch, and Aerosmith. If you want to sound like Eric Johnson with one of these things it'll still take some time. I still can't get his tone. It works well with any pedal. Just don't crank up overdrive on an amp and then turn on this. It sounds pretty good.

I always use it without a backup. One time I didn't have the level up high enough at a gig but that was my stupidity.

Boss makes such great pedals I have never had to deal with them.

Its a great box. It works for rock, metal, and most blues. If it was stolen I wouldn't wait 24 hours to buy another one. It works for what I play (i.e. classic rock, blues). If you need a good distortion box buy one of these.

Alot of people say shit about this pedal. But those people dont seem to know how to use it. This pedal HAS tone. Gee if Steve Vai and Satriani uses it how could u go wrong!? the trick is to keep the tone below 9 o clock. The tone knob should be named the 'crap' knob since thats what makes it sound thin, staticy, trebly. Keep it low and max the gain. If you are using humbuckers, you should get close to Satriani's or Vai's tone. This pedal has BALLS. The distortion isnt dark enough for metal though. Its for hard rock.

-Extremely easy to use
-Only 3 controls so you can't really go wrong

-Played through like this:
Fender Strat Japanese->Boss DS-1->Fender Frontman 25R
-My settings: Drive-10, Level-3, Tone-5
-Got a nice metal type distortion
-Harsh and gritty, but doesn't have that static shit sound
-Didn't notice any noise
-If you crank the level and turn the drive down you can get an overdrive sound
-Wouldn't say top of the line but definitly did the job for me

-Boss pedals are known for being made solid
-Never broken once

-Haven't dealt with it

Great pedal to start off with.
It could even be better than an MT-2 if you use a high gain pickup.
I'd probably want to use it Guitar->DS-1->GE-7->Amp.

Well handling three knobs and figuring out where the in- and output is at, ain't that hard.

I was surprised since I've made some bad experiences with distortion stompboxes. But this one covers a wide range of sounds and has a warm and authentic tone. Great!!!

Haven't used it live so far, but I never had any troubles so far.

Never dealt with Boss so far.

You can geat a wide range and variety of sounds with this pedal. I mainly use it with a Les Paul and a Fender Blues Junior Combo, along with other Fx's and am very satisfied. Though with the band I play a Marshall Stack.

3 knobs. It's a no-brainer...

I used this pedal at school for something like a full day, through this setup:

J&D Luthiers Strat Copy (Very crap) -> DS-1 -> Pro Combo 75 (Um, I don't even know if it's solid state or tube... I'd say tube because it has a "tube drive knob".)

I had tone set to 12 o'clock, level cranked and distortion about 5 o'clock. On the amp I had gain at 8 and Master at something like 2 ;)

Totally nailed the sound I was looking for, which was the chorus of Kryptonite by Three Doors Down (Thats the song my band were playing in the talent quest :)

Sound above 12 o'clock on the tone was kinda harsh sounding...

I gigged without a backup ;)
Of course, if the pedal crapped out on me, I'd swap to the other amp (A Marshall Valvestate :O which the other guitarist was using. I'm playing the leads so I *need* the distortion, lol)

I'm a heavy guy and I didn't break the pedal by stompin' on it... it's pretty solid :D

Never dealt with the company. If it broke, I'd yell at the music teacher for giving us crap equipment to work with...

I've been playing for about 3/4 of a year... but that doesn't mean I don't know my guitars... I'm getting an electric tomorrow, but I'm not getting a pedal with it, I'll probably blow the speaker on the crappy little amp i'm getting with it... lol

If it were stolen or lost, I'd bug the music teacher until he bought 3 or 4 Marshalls :D

I was getting a fairly good distortion sound out of just strumming hard (amp settings as above) but I figured that was too much effort so I grabbed the pedal instead :O

Very easy to use, use the distortion at top, the tone at the center and the level at the center

I was use it in different amplifiers but I chose the LANEY GC 80. That combination is very good

No, I use some others pedals that makes me sound better(Shred Master)

That is a great option to a low price. is good for beginners but if you want a professional sound for any styles, use the shred master(marshall)

Very easy, 3 knobs, clearly labelled. Doesn't get much simpler than that.

Right now, I have a Squier Strat, but I've got an Ibanez JS1000 coming in less than a week. That's why I got the pedal, to get that Joe Satriani sound, cuz if you don't know, this is the same pedal he uses. I have a Marshall VS102R 2x12 100W Combo. Turning up the tone or distortion past 12 seems too trebly (if that's a word) but I don't mind it too much if there's no twang. I love this pedal. For those of you looking for the Satch or Vai tone, try this pedal. They both use it, if you can get the Japanese one, get that one. It's discontinued though, so it would be used. Again, for Satch or Vai tone, I would recommend this pedal but with an Ibanez guitar.

Not sure about reliability, haven't had it for too long, but it's pretty old so it seems to be working just fine.

Fairly easy. 3 Knobs.

Good sound quality, great for the price. It does distortion. Not a good overdrive, not a great lead sound in my opinion, but a good crunch to heavy crunch for chords. I can see why some people shit on this pedal in the review, and I can also see why some people rave about it. If you turn the tone knob past 10 or 11 o'clock, you're in for some thin, harsh, trebly sounds. Past 12 and it's completely unusable, total crap, painful. But around 10-11 o'clock, it sounds very tight and punchy. Depending on where that tone knob randomly happens to be pointing when you turn it on for the very first time probably has a great deal to do with how quickly you turn it off, never plug it in again, and sell it for $15, and shit on it in a review. First impressions are monumental.

Compared to the OD-3, it's not as natural, complex, or articulate sounding. But it's more natural and articulate than the Metal Zone, and more direct sounding than the OD-3. It's got good mids.

Boss seems good.

dunno

Good deal.

This is easy to use and has such a great sound! It has 3 controls TONE, LEVEL and DISTORTION and is an easy pedal to operate. INPUT and OUTPUT jacks on the pedal obviously. So simple!

Has a great sound! Smooth distortion sounds and not so cruddy as other pedals i've used. I play it into a Fender 1965 Reissue Twin Reverb and it does everything I want. I'm a blues player so I like to keep things simple. This pedal is easy to operate and is truly one of the best distortion stomp boxes out there. Plenty of choice and tone with this pedal, but so easy to use and uncomplicted.

I've had my Boss DS-1 pedal for well over a year and it's really held it's own. I've never used it live, but I think it'd stand up to a live situation easily. BOSS pedals are very robust and, with a lot of care, can last several years. Seems very reliable.

Not dealt with the company!

I have used this pedal with all of my guitars; 52 Reissue Tele, '57 reissue strat, Gibson 335 etc and it's always top notch! It almost suits and shapes itself for different guitars. I'll just say that my guitars SCREAM when using this pedal with my Fender Twin! WOW!

This is extrremely easy to use. Plug it in and step on it. Anyone can it out. Plus it comes with a nifty little hand book that tells you where to set the 3 dials for different sounds.

I would say the sound quality is fairly good. It is the best distortion pedal in terms of bang for your buck. It's cheap, and gets good distortion. It can be crunchy or fuzzy. Occasionally at high dist levels it becomes muddy, and it doesnt have great range.

Very reliable. It is like a rock.

N/A

This is a great starter pedal. I use it with a Crate GFX-15 amp. I would reccomend this to any beginner or someone who wants a good allaround cheap distortion. You can use it for oldies, classic rock, punk, heavy metal-- but some heavy metal may sound muddy.

Midd, lots of harmonics, great dist box!

I would always use this with my reverb, its very dependable

So far, this is the only best dist box for my ears, except for the GT-2 by Sansamp which currently use as of now. The mid is the best reason why I love this box, and also its harmonics. My oter gear include Ibanez 470 guitar, Boss flanger, Marshall 8040 amp, and Sansamp GT-2. I have a GT-2 now that is why I don't use my DS-1, but this still one of the best box. Every guitarists should have one.

very simple,3-knobs. as you turn the knobs you will hear their individual input, which makes it easy to pinpoint and taylor your sound.

im using the ds-1 w/ a morley wah,t.c. chorus,into the front end of a mesa triple.when used into the mesa clean channel it is ran as a full out distortion pedal, which totally delivers tight focused crunch for rythum playing(ie;brad gillis ,lynch)the tone is as sweet as the mesa's ,just not as versatile,and lacks the sustain.i must say though there is plenty of distortion when used in conjunction with a good tube amplifier. in the other channel i use the ds-1 with the mesa's distotion as a boost for lead playing.the ds-1 does not color or destroy your tone, it simply adds flavor to your sound.when adding a tube amps gain in various degrees you'll find your sustain. with a good tube amp set up i beleive you can come real close to nailing the sound of your favorite artist, in a live situation. i also ues a t.c. delay which just kills with the ds-1. so far the pedal is quiet, nothing unusual.i cant see wanting more distortion than what this baby can deliver..

the ds-1 is new ,i dont forsee any problems, before a gig i would simply replace the battery.

no need..new unit no problems

ive been playing for approx. 6yrs, i'm now giging,and i am very tone oriented. i play hard rock,(metal) if you will, and the ds-1 is a great match if you really like the chest beating, tight rythum, full out distortion tone. i bought the mp-1 used, looking for the aformentioned tone, but the ds-1 with the mesa blew it away, (no match).

Three knobs with no hidden meanings. Simple.

I use it with my Peavey amp and my Epiphone Casino. Used to also use it with a late 70s Les Paul (an econo-version though). Also, I've used it with synths, the cheaper the synth, the more this helped. The main problem I get with this is radio interference. I hadn't used it in a while and the other night I plugged it in and started listening to National Public Radio as received by my DS-1. Other than that this sounds great, listen to any Nirvana and that's the same sound you get here. Has large noise floor when using lots of distortion but what do you expect? Rating includes the fact this thing only costs $40.

Seems alright but I'm not going to rate it as it's been kept at home the entire time I've owned it.

This is a simple and classic distortion pedal. Boss/Roland would be insane if they discontinued this within the next fifty years. I don't have anything to compare it to and I don't feel the need to ever do so. Want a distortion that sound like it puts on a layer of static around each guitar string but still is full bodied? This is it. Sure, I need other types of distortion pedals like fuzz and maybe a tube based distortion but this does exactly what it's supposed to (minus the radio signals) and inexpensively.

this is just another review from the one I submitted earlier

I said that it was solidstatey and harsh before, well, last night me and my buddy were jamming, I had t5his sucker hooked up to my digitech rp200 into my peavey bandit solid state amp with my esp mh-300, when using clean w/ chorus, reverb and delay and this baby, you can get s weet lead tone, not the best sustain, but I did'nt have my amp very loud, but sweet and bright, kind of like ty tabor's earlier lead tones, but a little more processed sounding

3 knobs, how hard could it be?

its a good nuff sound, in combination with a decent amp you can get pretty much most distortion sounds.
on full whack you can get a solid radiohead sound.
only noisy when on full gain and since thats quite a lot you have to expect it.

BOSS!!
need i say more

good enough for home use, but used in conjuction with another pedal its gig worthy.
if it were stolen, i'd probably buy it again.

stomp

okay, for a grungy or classic rock type distorion, you should proably run it through a tube amp or it will sound harsh and solid-statey, useful as a booster (vai, satriani, lynch), i only paid $25 for it, so it wasn't a great waste, not that useul though

boss

boss (no idea)

It's okay, but not that useful, if it were stolen I'd probably save and get a tubescreamer

Good, cheap, i heard it with a strat and a tele , into a vox ac 15.
Good for almost every kind of rock. It is not the best alone from metal but if you use a boost it works !!!
It isn't good with a solide state amp, it is too muddy but with tube amps it rocks !!!

It's Boss !!!!

Very good for the money.maybe it isn't so good as rat, big muff etc..
but it is cheaper and very easy to use.

This was my first pedal, and I found it very easy to use, only 3 knobs...the manual was as informative as one could get about something so simplistic

Well..Kurt Cobain used this for most of Nevermind and I feel the sound is really great. With the tone all the way up, I can get trebly higher sounding distortion and when its down low, i get a heavier metally sounding distortion. I have achieved the sound of Green Day, Blink-182(sadly), and of course Nirvana. I use this with my Ibanez PH-7 Phaser and they both sound really great.

definetly reliable, i wouldnt use anything as a backup. its a boss its built like a tank!

i play alternative rock/grunge/punk and this pedal is a dream for it. id really recommend this pedal to beginners as well as everyone else! they have them at guitar center for about $25 - $30 so DONT PAY OVER THAT!!!

I think this pedal is pretty simple to use and to get a decent sound of. Tone, gain and volume knobs is all there is to it. Anyone having problems with it is just plain stupid.

This pedal is simplicity itself, and to get good sounds out of it, you better keep it simple as well. Steve Vai uses this pedal, and his lead tone is one of the best out there. Now, the big question: Does he use this pedal only?? NO!!! Of course not. Anyone thinking a pedal in this price range can give you a sound as good as a 2000$ amp head is dumb or a newbie. The way to use this pedal is to place it in front of the (much better if tube) amp, set the gain about 15% and the tone at 0%. Then you use it with your clean channel to get a warm overdrive, or with your lead channel to get some singing lead tone. Easy enough??

Pretty good for the price. keep in mind that this distortion pedal was designed to give a somewhat mild distortion. If you are looking Metallica tone, look somewhere else. However, you can get pretty good overdriven tones (read Ibanez Tube screamer) and good lead tones. This pedal colors your sound, but in a warm, colorful way. Try it before you buy it. Also, I think this pedal is too complex for newbies, as they wanna get killer gain right out of the box. Only after a number of years, one realises how important a warm and natural sound is...

Only 3 knobs, pretty simple.

My rig consists of 2 Marshall JMP heads, 2 Genz Benz 2x12 gflex cabs. My only FX unit is a Alesis Quadraverb. My 3 stage guitars are ESP custom strats. The Marshalls have a crunchy gain, the DS-1 is mainly used for my lead solos. My settings are very low, Tone = 1, Level=5 Dist=2 This gives me just enough boost to get that George Lynch lead tone that I like!

Seems very reliable, never has failed yet.

Never dealt with them

Its a good value for the money. I also own an Inanez TS-9 with the 808 mod...I switch back and forth depending on my mood.
I own a Soldano SLO Amp, when i use it I dont run a distortion pedal because the amp has LOTS of gain!

No problem here. You can go from sounding good to sounding like crap with a push of a button.

You must be kidding. This is bar none the harshest, most brittle sounding shitpile of a pedal as I have EVER heard. If you are new to guitar and guitar tone this pedal is actually a good thing. It will teach you what shit tone is. Ever wanted to hear what "crappy solid state" sounds like? Try this pedal. Ever read a review where somebody described a "brittle" or "harsh" tone quality? Try this pedal. Once you hear this pile, you will be that much better of a product reviewer, because from that point on, you have a reference point for 0 on a scale of 1 thru 10.

I can find some use for ANY piece of gear.

Unfortunately, a million years from now, they will dig us up and display us in museums right next to these. I can see the little display card now....

HOMOSAPIAN: Circa 21st century (left)
Sonic Torture Device: Used by 21st century man to inflict suffering to masses of citizens (right)

See listing for United Association of Pawnbrokers.

1-800-........

The worst piece of equipment I have ever plugged in to period. Hey kids, even from a pawn shop for $10, don't even waste your time. In all seriousness, this is horrible. A 12 pack of beer will make you sound better and is roughly about the same price.

Tone, Level, Distortion, STOMP. Very easy.

Distortion Pedals are like candy bars, some love one kind, others hate that same kind. This is because there are so many varieties of didtortions. This pedal is great. Some that are reading this think I am the most stupid man alive............screw you!!! This pedal is capable of warm crunch up to treble-infested, in your face fuzz! Great for alternitive music. I play an Amer. st. Strat through a little frontman, and up front I have this, a DS-2 an Crybaby, a Phase 90, andit still sounds beautiful. If you are looking for a more heavy metal sound, then I'd go for the DS-1, but if you're lookin for DEATH METAL, go w/ the Metal Zone. This pedal is also for you little kids opening the doors into the wonderful world of Distortion.

It's a friggin tank. You've hear this before, but it is. Lightweight too!!!

Never dealt w/ them.

GREAT PEDAL!!! If you are looking for a more heavy metal sound, then I'd go for the DS-1, but if you're lookin for DEATH METAL, go w/ the Metal Zone. Enjoy this pedal responsibly!!!!

A blind monkey could work this thing, after 10 minutes or so, you can get a very good sound (original or imitation).

My bedroom setup (too small for my Marshall :p) is Squier Strat->DS-1->CH-1->Peavey Rage 158. This thing sounds very decent on my bedroom amp, and even better on a mate's Mesa, but it kicks ass with my Marshall and Ibanez when gigging. DON'T buy a MT-2, get this, way cheaper, and you can get a Metal Zone-esque sound outta it. If you use the AC adaptor w/out a limiter, it hums a lot, but I use rechargeable batteries now instead.

Jumped off a bed onto it, not a scratch. Gig away, I don't use a backup when gigging.

Never had a prob!

This is perfect for me, the pedal cost about #35 in Hungary, but it is a lot cheaper in the USA apparently :(. I tried many other pedal including the DS-2 but the turbo was no use to me, buy this now!

3 knobs which are easy to use and getting the right sound takes minimum effort.

setup
either fender strat or marlin sidewinder--->ds-1----> calsbro 100w

some of the time the sound is abit weak but with some tweakage it cant be put right. with this pedal i can get the sounds of pennywise and green day but unfortunately not nirvana.

very reliable and i have used it at a gig without back up.

a very good over all pedal which can cope with sounds such as punk and grunge and moderate rock but im keen to find out about the ds-2.

If you can't figure this one out you better go back to playing with legos and silly putty.

My setupe consists (in order of line-up) Ibanez rg570-> Dunlop origianl Crybaby-> Boss Compression sustainer-> Boss Digital Metalizer-> Boss Heavey Metal 2-> Boss Distorion-> Boss Metal Zone, (i know thi sounds like overkill here LOL)-> Boss Ge-7 EQ-> Boss Ph-3 Phase Shifter-> DOD Ice Box Chorus-> Into a Marshall Valvstate 200 Bi-Chorus head with two Crate GX412 cabinets. I know it sounds as i have two many distorion boxes but i have bought them to test and try and found a unique tone in each (DS-1 and the metal zone being the favs.) so i keep them in line to bring up different sounds for live play. The DS-1 is about the noisest box of them all but can be husshed with adjustment. I can achieve a great variety of tone with this pedal. If you bought this pedal to sounf like satch your well on your way but you definetly need the fulltone ultimate octave and a delay to zero in on the leads.

I have used these boxes to keep my van from rolling when changing a tire (REALLY!!) and it still works fine.

Never had to deal with them.

I have to say for the twenty bucks i spent on this little godsent. It is quite the value. You cant touch the tone on this bugger for that kind of cash. Sure if you want to spend a fourtune on the ts-9 go ahead but i will make do with this and my Eq. just as good. especially live.

Very simple, naturally, Level, Tone and Dist controls.

I think I share the same problem as a number of other reviewers. The DS-1 is perhaps the first distortion box than many players encounter (.."in Boss we trust") and for this reason I think Boss owes it to the pedal public to deliver a price effective piece of quality filth. Sadly the DS-1 is a horrid sounding unit. Using a humble Tele, I couldn't avoid a saturated sound at any point on the Dist control's travel. There is also the problem that the actual volume on tap doesn't get above my Tele's clean sound. So any player who actually steps on and off this thing is in trouble. No lectures on the spurious virtues of turning down the guitar's volume to achieve a better balance, please - a ProCo Rat can easily shouts louder than any guitar I can think of.
To conclude, the DS-1 is a one sound device which would best serve a player who leaves it on permanently so that the deficiencies of the unit are not exposed by reverting to a clean sound or other distortion unit.

Credit where it's due, this box would survive to irritate whatever evolves after humanity

Who seriously explores Boss customer support? "Hi, I bought this pedal of yours third-hand from some guy for $10 and I was wondering...

I love Boss's cantankerous SD-1 and am glad to see that with the OD-3 and BD-2 they're making serious efforts to gain the Tubescreamer's crown. I so wanted the DS-1 to be the right partner for my SD-1 but it JUST DOES NOT CUT IT. Don't be fooled by the oft-quoted Cobain association - Courtney used it too..

three knobs, very simple, everyone knows that, except the level is nearly impossible to adjust with my foot. I have to lean down and risk damage to my guitar to change it. The tone and gain knobs you can turn easily with your feet

I use a Hamer SAT through the ds-1 into a Princeton 65
When I first got it I tried to use it alone into the clean channel. I couldn't get any sound I liked out of that way, so I turned the distortion all they way down, and the tone and level all the way up and put that into the amp's overdrive channel with the drive set low. I liked that a lot better, and these settings boost the harmonics, which sounds great with leads, and also pretty good with power chords.
I don't really play any one style, but this pedal with a decent amp and the right settings can cover most styles.
This gets a three because I can't figure out any way to make it sound good on it's own, and it still has some of the bad sound that you get from it through the clean channel even when you just use it as a booster.

It's dependable, but I can't say the same about my cables. You have to be careful about jiggling the cables if you're using cheap ones (that's self explanatory). I would gig without a backup pedal, although I would want a few extra cables in case one goes.

I would'nt want to try to deal with them with the stories I've heard

This pedal works for me because I don't use it for it's intended purpose (distortion) I use it as an overdrive booster on a two channel amp so I have three channels. It wasn't built for this, and it adds a lot of noise and HF feedback
I wanted an sd-1, but my parents got me a ds-1. I think the sd-1 would work better than the ds-1 for a booster, but who knows?
Not me apparently.

The BOSS DS-1 is extremely easy to use. With only 3 knobs, the owner's manual was about as informative as it could be. Plug it in and go.

Well, this is always the big question. I am currently using a modified 1991 American Standard Strat with Dimarzio HS-3 pickups through a 50-watt Marshall SL-X into a Marshall 2x12 cab with only a wah pedal out front. I play rock/hard rock and like Malmsteen, Vai, etc. I had a great rhythm sound going, but wanted a boost for solos. The amp I use is already hot-rodded with tons of gain, but I wanted more edge for sustain, fullness, and more harmonics. This pedal does just that. The DS-1 will make a great sound better by adding a subtle touch of rich distortion. It doesn't color the sound at all but seems to become part of your existing tone. With the amp set on a clean sound, the distortion of the pedal alone rivals the distortion made from the preamp. Used in conjunction with the preamp gain, I was able to articulate lines alot easier with my fret hand due to the added sustain. Sliding around and nailing harmonics is a blast with this thing because everything just sounds more lively. The only drawback I can see is that the thing is a little noisy and it may take time to find a perfect setting of the above listed qualities and less noise. It also may take time to learn to "control" the noise and/or feedback, but this is only a problem during silent moments (when is that during a hard rock guitar solo) and plus, with an entire band behind you, the noise may not even be noticeable.

This thing is made like a little tank! I don't think it's gonna break anytime soon!

I haven't had to contact BOSS as of this review.

I was very impressed by this thing. I had played other distortion/overdrive units that either didn't even work with my sound at all or turned my already cool rock guitar tone into crap. This pedal does not do that. Vai/Satch in a box? Not hardly! But it is easy to see why those guys use this little thing because it really is full of great hard rock tone. If you are a fan of hard rock guitar, I'd definently say to try this thing out because it really does enrich the sound with a quality that (especially for the price) is tough to beat. If you can't cop a good metal tone, this may be the ticket!

Oh please. There are 3 knobs. No manual necessary. Major BOSS cliche, i know, but this "ease of use" catagory won't even come into your mind when using this thing. However, i must say, part of the reason it is easy to use is because it's range of sound is not very good. Fiddling with it will not make a massive difference in sound.

Ok, time to bitch. If you know your stuff, this is the catagory you should be looking at. That's the point, right? Ok, it is an inexpensive unit, uncharacteristically so for a BOSS, and you get what you pay for. Not all that great. Not to say this is a peice of shit, as it is not. To name-drop, the great Kurt Cobain used the same pedal. So, if he can use it well, then there's hope for you. However, the range of sound is the real problem here. There is none. It makes one not-very-special kind of distortion sound, and that's about it. It's all fuzz, if you ask me. Turning the distortion high makes it sound very muddled and sloppy, and turning it down makes it sound harsher than it should. There is no such thing as "light distortion" with this, unfortunatly. But, it does have a sweet spot, and it is different for everyone. I'd say more people own this pedal than any other. Personally, i don't think that is a good thing. You will NOT sound very distinctive with it, that is for sure. Especially since it does not have range. This is a basic, typical slightly-above-crappy pedal, and it is great for a beginner. However, i can safely say that you will want to purchase something a touch better (and hence more expensive...around $70), such as a ProCo RAT, in the later years. That thing gets a 10 for everything. I highly suggest you buy the RAT, reguardless of your musical taste, if you are comparing the two. You can get the sound the DS-1 gives off, and about 1000 others. It has amazing range. Everyone from soft rockers and country musicians to punk rockers use it. Honestly, i have witnessed all of them. The BOSS DS-1 is a decent unit, and that's all it is. Nothing special, but also not a hunk of junk. Finally, i will say, if you were enticed by the KURT COBAIN reffrence, let me tell you something. I love him, he is my idol in many respects. He was an amazing musician. However, this pedal is not what made him, it was his creativity. Don't buy this pedal because you love Kurt Cobain, you will be sorry. I am, now that i am buying a ProCo RAT for about twice the price of this one, and no one wants to buy my DS-1.

Yes, it is dependable. Never had a problem, and have had it for at least 3 years. However, it will start to ABSOLUTLY SUCK once your battery start to go low. Try to replace your battery once your LED light loses it's brightness- that's one clue. If it starts to sound bad and you can't figure out why, then replace the battery with a shiny new one and you'll remember why you bought it in the first place. Otherwise, it is as solid as anything else you'll find.

Never called them. I hear they are less-than-wonderful, however. But i will not judge.

Please see the "sound quality" section for great detail. TO elaborate, it is a decent pedal, affordable for anyone, even a beginner, and for amature use in my opinion. Nothing special, but not aweful either. If you are on the fence about it, do not buy it. Honestly, heed this remark. If you are pretty good and want a equally geed pedal, purchase the ProCo RAT. It is worth the extra 30 dollars.

Very easy to use, three knobs: Tone, Level, Distortion. I mean how hard can it be?

I play early 90s rock and classic rock. This pedal is great for both. For early 90s rock or "grunge", the distortion level should be all the way up, i like the tone level at about 12 oclock. You can turn the Dist. knob down a little for classic rock, and it sounds great.

My favorite bands are The Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana, Beatles, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, and Rage against the machine. This pedal works excellently for all, if you know how to place the settings. It works for practically everything but heavy metal (which i hate anyways).

It has never given me any trouble.

Im sure there nice though :)

It rules! Such a great value for a great pedal. Its probably my favorite pedal. You just have to know how and when to use it. If i lost this i would buy it again, of course, i love it. It sure kicks the crap out of my old crappy DOD Grunge pedal which is the worst thing in the world. Its awesome! Buy It!

Three Knobs, tone, level and distrotion. It's pretty easy. It's not hard to get a decent sound out of it.

I've been relativly happy with the sound quality but then again i am a big fan of Nirvina so you see where i am coming from. It can in certain links suck the tone out of any pedals before it but it's a distortion pedal, it's ment to distort your sound.
There can be some higher level hiss when you turn the tone knob past 12 o'clock but thats what happens when you distort higher frequencies. This can be a little painful when recording.
Also the pedal tends to be a one trick pony. It does that one trick well but is limited.

I purchased it 8 years ago, second hand and i've never had a problem with it. I think it will last longer than i will.

Never dealt with them

I think this is a very soild distortion pedal and it has suited my tastes. I have found it limiting but not enough to ever get rid of it.

It's just got three controls, tone, distortion and level, how hard could it be.

Well, i play everything from Hendrix- Incubus, i guess its alright for Hendrix, its good enough for punk rock, it is out of the question with harder stuff like Metallica, Incubus, Paparoach, etc. This pedal is actually very quiet, unless u have to jack up your volume up to ten like how i have to when i play on my Fender Champion 30, then it squeaks and you have to put down the tone, level, or distortion. But thats probably cause im jacking up a 30 watt amp to volume "10". This pedal is good for punk rock, alternative, maybe oldies rock too.

Yeah it's dependable. I've gigged with it without a backup. Once i played at pool party and everyone surrounded teh band, got all my pedals wet and all, but the DS-1 still sounded and worked perfectly fine. And you can stomp on it, jump on it, do wutever without having to worry bout it breaking

Never dealt with Boss so i wouldnt know

Well, i been playing maybe a year and a half at the time of this review, some other gear i own is a broke down Hondu guitar and a Fender champion 30 watt amp. I play every kind of rock there is, alternative, hard rock, not much metal tho, classic, punk, ska, funk. If it were stolen i wouldn't buy it again. I once played at party where a guitarist from another band had teh Boss MT-2 Metal Zone, that is one sweet pedal. He saw i had a DS-1, felt pity for me and lemme use it. The Metal Zone has bout the most insane distortion ive ever heard, bout ten times better than the DS-1, but also costs twice as much. OVERALL: this pedal reall shouldnt be your primary source of disotrtion. Maybe if u were playin with two different distortions you could use this pedal as teh lighter distortion. I bought this pedal primarily becuae my amp didnt have a footswitch to go from clean - gain so instead of dishin 40 bucks for a footswitch i decided to go with this.

Heeeeyyy!! Boy is this thing fun. Whooop, whooopeee!! Like that that other guy said, if you can't figure this out, then just give up on life. Or go buy a Tube Screamer. Or one of it's many offshoots and modwhatevers. Jeez, it's not really a Tube Screamer anymore is it? "Yes boys and girls, I'll make your TS9 have more bottom and gain and answer the phone and incite a panty soiling frenzy!" Ahh, maybe just get a different pedal that already does that. Anyway, all you cats have put in your two cents on this silly pedal, guess I will too since I scored a super clean one in it's box with it's papers at a pawn shop yesterday finally. I was waiting for just such a deal. For years now I've read these unstoppable and varied DS-1 reviews with equal parts hillarified glee and keen anticipation towards getting one myself to see just what ol'Satchman and all the others dig about it. Or whatever else it does. My verdict: Everybody's right. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!!! It's what you make it DUde. It rocks Babe a. It's a freaky fizz machine. Turn them lil'knobs til you achieve sonic divinity. Or mayhem. Go back to your TurboTS9brownmodded whatever if you're not into it.

I thinks it just sounds totally mad wack. Some will hate it, some will kneel before it in holy reverence. Wooh Hah!! I just played it at a rehearsal into my mostly clean but sometimes more cranked BFSR(no , not a reissue,GC boys) Yowwee, it works good both ways. I'm with that other dude that says stay away from the last half of the tone knob. Depends on what you're running into, I always say. Perhaps you enjoy shaving peoples heads. Ziiinnngg. Let's see, what did we play... It sounded like the real deal on Ten Years After, I'd Love to Change the World, with some delay. Of course I goofed around with as many Satchiod licks as the other players would tolerate.(Not Many.) I don't know what the hell is wrong with these boys who can't get an early Satch tone with it. Plug a damn humbucker into it, run it into a clean amp, and you're there! Reference that other dude's review for exact settings. Drum roll please...Ha, ha, ha, haaaa!!!! That's great! Instant Always with you Always with Me. Yipppeeee! Satch Boogie! Too bad I can't play it! It also sounded killer on the solo to Jesus is Just Alright With Me from the Doobies. Cmon boys and girls, this thing ain't half bad. No, it's not a Matchless Hotbox. Or a Pod. Or a Real Tube. But give it a chance. Careful, it's a Fizz factory, but I can hang with it.

Oh, this is the really hillarious part...... IT's A BOSS. HeeeHeeeeeHeee. Don't you just hate that!!! God, I've joined the legions who state those silly words. Oh, get this: Like the guy in the pawn shop looks at me real serious after I'd talked him way down and says, "Sir, this will have to be an as is, no money back thing for such a sweet deal you're getting. Like I was worried. It's in primo unscratched new condition. Wah freakin'hooo.

They can kiss my bung. Why don't they just reissue the slow gear and stop being aholes. Or how about the Tremolo Pan. Jeez.

I like it all. I've been playng for 31 years. This one goes with the collection of many other buzz bombs I play and cherish. Like little children. Each with it's own voice. Wahhoooo!!!

It's easy to use...normally I get the tone closed to 0, full drive and there it goes.I have been using it for almost 15 yrs, and I have no complaint about it. I have been using it with many amplifier from cheap amps to the great amps.

As I had mention earlier I play with so many amps from Roland Jazz Chorus, Mesa Boogie(tube) to Marshall(tube), I don't find any problems at all. I play it with my Fender and Gibson. It's all up to individual person on how they set up their instrument and the understanding of each individual instrument they are using. We got to know every characteristic of the specific instrument used.

Dont leave home without it.I have the full trust in it, and of course U got to liase with the sound engineer before playing a gig.U got to know the set up of the pre-post EQ on the mixer board to get a good sound!!!!

No Comment

I played all kind of music, cause I'm a working musician. I did some demo with it and the sound is great. I believe every product have it's good and bad, but it depends on how u make full use of it, because I believe in sound balancing, and you got to have a wide knowledge in sound and it takes years and years and a great tones are only produce from your finger. There are 2 kind of DS1, one is made from Taiwan and the other is made from Japan, from my personal opinion the Japan made is the best, cause it sound 'warmer' compared to the Taiwan which is "treblish" sound with the tone closed to 0...Well I'm wondering and surprised, how Joe Satriani and Vai did make use of the DS1 if it's bad.

Please don't use this thing because Kurt cobain or John Frusciante or whoever else uses it. I used it for like 5 years and have finally seen the light. It sucks. there is no tone. It only sounds good through a dull amp. Through a Marshall ....UggGGGGGGGGGhhhhhhhh.

It's cheap, but please spend 10 or 15 more and get something else.

Don't even think about using the top %50 of the tone range.

Through a Fender, kind of makes it sound like a Marshall. Through a Marshall..........ugggggggghhhhhhhhhhh. Through a dull voice solid state amp, okay. Through a bright solid state amp......uggggggghhhhhhhhhhh. Very glassy. Very little sustain. I used this thing for way longer than I should have as a teenager. Heed my warnings. There are many better. Do an AB comparison with any other stomp box. Please!!!!!!

Indestructible

Please don't use this thing because Kurt Cobain or the Frusciante used it. It just isn't good!!!

This pedal sounds like crap. I use a strat into a Twin Reverb.
It's not noisey. The distortion sounds like mud. There is no midrange at all. Just all high end. I got it to get a heavier sound when needed. I mostly use my Boss SD-1 super overdrive for crunch. That pedal blows away the DS-1.

It's a Boss. 'Nuff said.

I play blues and Fusion. This pedal sounds OK. It just lacks a little midrange and low end. I don't know how the heck Satch and Vai use this thing????? My SD-1 sounds way better than this thing.

I guess it's good for Nirvana type stuff but not for me.

This pedal is simple. as long as you make shure you've got a good amp (=tubes all the way) and a good sounding guitar this pedal will add good sounds n almost any posotion. szounds cool with the distortion button all the way down and tone 'bout one o'clock. nice for that 12th to 14/15th frett sound. evetr used it in the studio? ever heard sonic brakeup? in a studio situation this pedal has more gain than what you could imagine. sounds really bad with all the knobs all the way up but that as well could be usefull. never had the manual but it's three knobs for cryin' out fuckin' loud!

my settup is constantly changing. but down to earth it's les pauls, fender tele and strat and a couple of marshall slash heads. a vox ac-30 and a fender twin. the boss ds-1 sounds best with the marshalls. none off my amplifires or boxes are modified, i use it whit the vox mostly. it is somewhat noisy, but i use hush to reduce amp hum anyway so that's no problem for me. latle i've not used the hush and i haven't felt the noise up my ass yet so i guess it's cool.
good thing is that it always sound the same. never had problems of that concern.
i could nail the vai sound pretty good. nice pedal for those long runs. sounds best without any modulation fx's but some verb and delay is fuckin' grat to fill out a little bit with.

never had any problems with it in any way. i've had it a long time. looks like it's been trough the war (nam, 1st. and 2nd ww all together that is!) but i would and i do gig without a backup.

never had contact with boss or roland.

i think this is a great pedal as long as you've got a nice guitar and a nice amp. with bad git. and amp the box won't sound good either. nice price. noe fancy shit just plain fucki8n' distortion. fits good with any style consistant of distorted guitar.

Ok, I am sick of people complaining that they "bought this pedal because Satriani uses it, but can't get his tone".

Satriani's setting:

(drum roll ...)
9 o'clock, 5 o'clock, 2 o'clock
(this is taken from an interview with the him, so I can assure you it is correct)

His setup for live performances:
- DS-1 into the CLEAN channel of a Marshall Stack
(So the DS-1 is his only source of pre-amp distortion, never uses the Lead channel of his amp)
- Speaker cab with 2 Celestion Greenbacks
- JS 1000 Chrome boy guitar with Fred and Paf pro pu's, another JS1000 Chrome with Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates (thus he calls it "Pearly").

- Digital Delay: 350 ms, to create that reverbish effect (without this, you won't sound anything like him)

He does use other effects, like a Boss chorus, other delay pedals and racks, Fulltone octave pedal, Crybaby modified Wah etc, but he uses them sparingly. The setup mentioned above should allow u to cop his basic lead tone you hear on his live performances (except EOC ofcourse). Also, remember to blast that marshall to get power tube distortion, and feedback (intro to Flying in a blue dream). Remember: Even if you get all this equipment, you won't sound like Satch, cause tone is, after all, in the fingers.

I hope this helps.

Note: All the info regarding Satch's setup has been obtained from interviews with Satriani, or his Techie. So I am darn sure it is right on.

Good pedal, only problem is that when i turn it on, it buzzes like crazy, didn't need the manual, i can get the best sounds that im looking for but the buzzing drives me insane, it could just be my pedal but i cant see how everyone says it's "silent"...

im using it with a fender mexi strat, it's noisy once you turn the DIST. knob up, the sound is much better w/ my ibanez ts7, the buzzing could be my wires or my shitty princeton amp...who knows

you can depend on it, great sounds..things built like a tank

never had to talk with boss...

i play mostly nirvana, chili peppers, janes addiction....perfect for alternative. i might wanna get the ds-2 next time though, all in all good pedal

You can get a good sound out of it if you can turn the knobs, no problem. Also, you gotta have feet, or just stumpy legs so you can step on it, or if your into indie music you can hook it up to a mic and press it with your hand like the guy from ATDI

i used it with an ESP LTD M-100 and a Kustom KGA16 practice amp, its not noisy at all, its great. this is a universal pedal, you can sound like anyone with this one, except maybe for that heavy hardcore distortion like boy sets fire or taproot and willhaven. this works for classic rock really well, although i play skatepunk and anti-flag peacepunk kinda stuff, some emo, like the dashboard confessionals, but that guy uses an acousticguitar so i guess i got my own sound.

Throw it thru a window, drop your grandma on it, run over it with a mack truck..well, maybe not a mack but a big wheel. this thing is built.

never dealt with them

Great pedal, buy it.

there's no need to comment on this one, if you can't figure it out then just give up on life.

well, i sold this pedal to a friend for $25 and he gave it back to me for free! the trouble with this pedal is that it sounds like a little 15 watt practice amp!. i hooked it up to my little peavy amp and couldn't tell the difference! it just doesn't cut it as a serious distortion pedal.

hard as a rock, despite it's cheap sound it's built very well.

never delt with them.

i play early 90s grunge or whatever you want to call it, and punk, stuff like that. i know i should like this pedal but i just dont.

Mad easy to use. Three knobs, tone, level, distort. You gotta watch it with the tone down full and distort up full cos it'll feedback.

I use it with my Legend Jazz bass - I wanna get a Stingray copy.....
I have a marshall bk25 mk.II amp. I have the bass turned up hard on the amp to compensate for the fact it's a guitar pedal. The MT-2 has a slightly bassier sound, but for #40 extra, no thanks.
This pedal can do heavy grinding distort or light crunch and everything inbetween.

Em, it's a boss.

Didn't have to deal with them.

Wonderful distort, if it's stolen i'm getting another one.

Well, it's very easy to use. And i think tha is the worst problem. It's to easy. But very good anyway...

I use a Jackson PS-2 guitar with stock pickups, and a Crate GX212 amp. The sound isn't very good, specialy when tappin, but i guess thats because my guitar and pickups aren't very good. Anyway the sound is great for a classical distortion. Very versatille, but it isn't a must.

It's BOSS! What the hell you want more? It's a lifetime durabillity!

Sory, never tried it!

I play metal. It's very nice but there are some better pedals you can get...

It's really, super easy to use. The manual gives you ideas of other sounds, but you really don't need it to get the sound you like. Just turn the knob to the left, right, and you're set!

I'm using an Ibanez Rg220 with stock pickups (will change to EMG's soon), and a Vox 15w tube amp, (will also change to Marshall AVT). This thing sounds incredibly nice. I thought the amp's distortion was enough, but this is much better. It might get a bit of noisy and feedback if you turn the level & distortion up, but you can work your way out of it. I can get any sound I basically want, Joe Satriani, let's say.

I don't know if I can depend on it, I've had it for 1 wk, but seems really well built & hard to break. I think I'd gig with it(whenever I do, I hope sometime soon), but I'll replace the battery with a new one just before the gig. I think I'd use it without backup because I don't have any other distorsion pedal :)

Haven't dealt with them, I hope I dont have to either.

I mostly play rock, like Joe Satriani, Metallica, 3 doors down, and that stuff. This pedal works great for my style. I've been playing for a bit more than 1 year, about 1 yr 3 months. If it were lost or stole, I'd buy it again, of course! I love everything about this pedal. I did not compare it to other products because I heard that the BOSS name is good on pedals, so I gave it a try. Great thing overall.

3 quality controls, never been easier to muster a cool sound. and who needs the damn manual!

i play through a wah--DS1--marshall jackhammer--chorus to laney gh100s im into progressive rock. i.e tool etc, i use the DS1 as my mellow pedal, and believe me it has the scope to do all the things u wan it 2! fuzz 2 crunch 2 flat out raw distortion!

BOSS! nuff said!

probly never need it! its a fucking brick with nobs!!

easy to use, large range of sounds, nice price, essential 4 any guitar player looking 4 that little extra somthing in a distortion peadal! id recommend it to any1! im 17 and playing in a hard rock/progresive band, and its an essential part of my rig. make it 1 of yours 2!

This pedal is easy to use. 3 knobs. That's it. Easy to use. It's much easier to use than the metal zone pedal. If you mess around with the metal zone for a long time, you can get a good sound out of it, but with the DS-1, you can get a great sound with-in 5 seconds!

My setup is: Gibson Les Paul or Fender American Strat --> Morley Bad Horsie Wah --> BOSS DS-1 Distortion --> Boss MT-2 Metal Zone (sometimes) --> Fender RocPro half stack (horrible amp, but the ds-1 still sounds good on it.) This pedal sounds great. A few months ago I started listening to people like Satriani and Vai. I wanted to find out what distortion pedal they used, and I was very surprised to find out that it was the DS-1. I went down to guitar center to try it out, and I loved it! If you're into heavy metal and stuff like that, get the metal zone. This pedal is good for almost any other type of music.... especially if you wanna sound like satriani.

It's a boss pedal, of course it's reliable. I have gigged with it many times, and dropped it many times, and it still sounds great.

Never had to deal with customer support, and I'm willing to bet I never will have to.

I've been playing guitar since I was 9, and this is my favorite distortion pedal. I play many styles of music, and this pedal rocks. If this pedal was stolen, I would track down the guy that stole it and kill him. Anybody that would take a DS-1 from another person deserves to suffer. If I lost the pedal, I would cry... then go out and buy another one.

3 knobs: doesn't get much easier.

The manual has a few GREAT examples to achieve the sound you may be looking for.

My setup > Fender Strat ('95 Model I think) => Crybaby Wah => DS-1 Distortion => DD-5 Digital Delay => Crate GFX-212 Amp. I always keep the TONE knob at about 10 o'clock and the LEVEL knob at 3 o'clock (I play around with the GAIN most of the time)

This pedal just seems to follow the emotion of you fingers VERY smoothly. When the TONE knob is turned passed 12 o'clock, a very nice FUZZ effect is achieved (it may be a little noisy, but that adds to the effect).

Right now I'm listening to Satriani, Vai, and Schon. When I heard these guys used the DS-1 I was shocked, so I tried it out at the music store. At first I was uncertained of it's sound, but i thought it may be the guitar & amp I was trying it on. So at $45 I decided to take my chances. When I tried it at home....WOW!! I was amazed by the closeness I got to these guys sounds (as far as distortion goes).

OF COURSE.....YOU KNOW IT.......IT'S A BOSS.

You don't have to worry about this or any other BOSS pedal messing-up unless you don't take care of it.......and even then it probably still work.

I own a Danelctro Fab Tone (which is also a good pedal), but for me the DS-1 has the sound I've dreamed of having for so long. Like I said before, this pedal conforms to the emotion of your fingers.

This is a great pedal, but not everyone is going to like it. I'm sure there are other pedals, rack effects, ect that may sound better, but I think EVERYONE should have a DS-1 handy (especially for only $45). If you play around with it you are CERTAIN to find your own unique sound.

Since I bought mine used I didn't get any manuals or such things, but on the other hand you don't need any. Three knobs; Volume, Tone and Dist.

I'm using the DS-1 with my Riley practice amp, and with a Marshall V40. If you drive the amp a little, just so it starts to distort, and then put the DS-1 in front of it you get a quite good distorted sound. The key in handling all distorsion and overdrive pedals is to keep the gain at resonable levels, and the DS-1 is no exception. The more you turn the Dist knob the fuzzier and muddier it sounds, it may be the sound you're searching for but not mine. I've tried to use it alone but it does sound better with a slightly distorted amp. I give it an 8 because of the amp thing.

I currently own two Boss pedals, and so far I've only needed to repair one of them (a Metal Zone). They are quite dependable, but realize the facts; you have it kicked on every time you play a gig or practice, and when you engage it you STOMP it!!! Floor effects have a short lifetime and it's only natural that they have to be repaired sometimes. I use it frequently on gigs, but always with a backup.

Never had to deal with them.

I use this pedal when I want to get some basic distortion and it does the job very well. Not the best piece of equipment you can get but if you're not a professional musician it's a good choice.