Boss DS-1 Distortion

Three controls, easy to use, tone control also cuts out lows when cranked up, takes a while to get the right sound.

I use a '72 telecaster loaded with Lindy Fralin's replacement pickups that sound sweetly warm, and a beautiful 1988 burny "super grade" Japanese les paul running on Duncan JB and Jazz pickups. The guitars both sound wonderful when played direct, which is a very important factor in producing great tone.

I play these through a fender blues deville 2x12, a hot rod and a blues deluxe for practise and Laney LX412A with 4x12" celestion drivers or an LV300T or 412S depending on the gig.

I've been trying out a whole variety of overdrive and distort effects, and use the amp tube overdrive much of the time. I also use a boss blues driver, SD-1, and a digitech bad monkey drive.

Tried many combinations of effects, tried driving the tubes by maxing out the volume on the DS1, and stacking the DS with low gain effects before and after the DS1.

The DS1 in itself sounds very shrill and buzzy. It's rather nasal and I can't seem to get a good tone setting that doesn't kill lows and give me decent treble at the same time. I got my DS1 modded and it does sound a little better now but still not so good compare to the other drive effects.

I've used it a couple of times for gigging, but I've always been told my SD1 or bad monkey sound far better, specially with the tele which comes out sounding very much like angry hornets. Will probably keep it and play around a bit but wont use it for gigs.

My bad monkey and SD1 do a far better job of maintaining the wide open sound of a tele and driving my tubes nicely at the same time.

Dont know as I have not had it long. I would always take a backup, since I've had my boss BD2 die on me once halfway through a gig.

Haven't used them for the DS1 yet.

Cheap entry into the disto world but there are better sounding alternatives, look at the bad monkey and tube screamer clones or the boss sd1.

Very simple except tone is where level is on some other boss drives so can be confusing at first. But its very easy

Sound sgreat when used correctly, will sound different on various amps. On my Reeves hiwatt clone it sounds awesome, just keep drive low and level high and use it as a booster(trust me there is still enough high gain) this way gives you thick high gain with low noise. Keep the tone between 10 0clock and noon add more if you want more bite and treble.

Great pedal and sounds great. I have been playing for 25 years and do have lots of different equipment including Bogner xtc, Soldano SL100, DR Z z28 a whole bunch of Carvin electrics.

This pedal will sound good for you just use it lightly and remember this will work better on an amp that has its mids driven more. It will give you satriani and vai tones. Mine is a stock model.

Very slight rolling off some of the chimey highs or crispness when bypassed versus when not in chain at all, but its only slight. Just dont have to many boss pedals in a row and you should be fine.

Just make sure you are using this with an amp that is just about breaking or where you amp is already giving you a good crunch.

Very well made, boss probably makes the most durable stomp boxes

Never had to deal with them which is good and besides most stores swap these out if the one you had went bad.

Overall its a very good pedal no issues at all. I play every thing and I use a Reeves custom 6 for home use and recording, need somethign to pushed it into Bogner XTC red channel territory and this does this to a tee. Great pedal.

This particular DS-1 I am reviewing was made in the early 2000's. The circuit is still the same as it was in 1978 with no changes. It is easy to get a good sound out of it as long as you know what you are doing, i.e. move your guitar controls from 10 to something lower and play on a valve amplifier that can take advantage of the boost in the preamp stages.

I'll give this a 7 because most users forget to use a quality valve amplifier with the pedal, which should be mentioned in the manual like it was in 1978.

If you are using a solid state amp your review ends right here with a "5" out of "10." If you are using a valve amplifier, keep reading.
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The Boss DS-1 overdrives the preamp stage of most 2 and 1 channel boutique amplifiers (Bogner Ecstasy, Carvin Legacy, Mesa Lonestar, Fender Twin, etc.) and creates more distortion to push the amp. When dialed correctly on the pedal, your guitar, and amplifier, you can get some superb distortion tones out of this box. This is why Joe Satriani and Steve Vai use this box, even in it's original form.

The DS-1 was meant to be used in conjunction with a valve amplifier and with different guitar settings than "all 10 on the knobs." When used correctly, it is a perfect "10" pedal.

BOSS pedals by Roland are some of the most dependable pedals ever created. The design is the same as it was in 1978. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" is most likely the BOSS philosophy.

Never had to deal with BOSS for repairs, but most pedals do carry a warranty of 5 years. I did call them for amplifier recommendations with the pedal and they recommended any valve amp that can have the preamp stage loaded. (Which is most quality valve amplifiers manufactured today.)

The new DS-1's have the same circuit as the 1978-81 models - don't let anyone fool you otherwise. They are tonally 100% the same, even when analyzed for frequency response.

The DS-1 is cheap at an average of $39.99 USD at most retailers. When used properly, with a valve (tube) amplifier, you can get amazing full distortion tones out of it.

A solid "9"

Fairly easy to figure out, mine has got hte keeley ultra mod and sounds fantastic...more on this later.

This is the reason I am writing this review. I had searched far and wide on the net looking for some idea of what to expect from this pedal. I am a huge Satch fan and thought this pedal would help provide that coveted tone. I had Keeley mod mine because I loved the sound bites on his website. Now, for EVERYONE who has reviewed this pedal...here is my take. When I first got it back from Keeley, I thought it sounded as bad as the original. It sucked. Very bright, overly aggressive....complete shit. I was using it thru a JSX head thru the clean channel and could not figure out why even Satch or Vai would bother with this thing. I was about to throw it out and then I struck gold!!!!!! I killed some of the treble on the clean channel and played with the tone controls on the amp and the pedal. I left the tone on the pedal at 10pm and left the treble on the amp at 4. OH MY GOD.... The real tone of this pedal came shining thru. suddenly I had SWTA and Vai all in one. Monster Tone with balls to boot. It was easy to nail early Satch or Vai. I am in love with what this pedal can do, but it is very dependent on where you run your tone controls.

Its a Boss pedal, you could drive over it and it would still work. enough said.

HUH?

If you put the time in to playing around with this and your rig, you will be rewarded but its going to take time to figure it out. When you hit on that tone, this pedalis the Mac Daddy of them all....why do you think Vai, Satriani and Gilbert all own and still use DS-1's......I'm not making this up!!!!!!!!!! And Keeley does a great job modding this pedal!

I've got in my hands a "special" DS-1 with silver/gray knobs that says it's made in Japan, of a particular sweet vintage that is much sought after. It appears rather easy to figure out how it works without the manual, use your ears, easy.

I'm one of those over-obsessed stomp box crazies who pretty much blows almost his entire income on gear, much to the displeasure of the missus. I've tried out almost every overdrive, distort, fuzz and "death metal" type distortion boxes around, from cheap off the shelf danelectros to exotic stuff like custom made hand-crafted moollon gear from Korea.

I use a variety of guitars, from the stock Fender H-1 strat, an Ibanez RG, a Gibson explorer, an SG and a Yamaha AES 920. Once in a while the old "lead-butt" epiphone les paul equipped with JB's comes out. They go into a relatively small pedal chain, one compressor, one od/distort and possibly a second, one phaser/flanger, one delay and one eq. This is played off a 1966 fender twin reverb blackface, or a Genz Benz El-diablo 100 or a mesa boogie dual rectifier solo head.

Sound-wise this pedal is a mixed bag. It most definitely sits within the "distortion" class of effects, nothing subtle about this one here and none of that "mild transparent overdrive" nonsense. The tone is rather shrill on the strat or any single coil pickups but does fairly well with a very low to mild distortion setting. The gibson does ok with a higher distortion setting. The tone control is pretty much unuseable - moving it out of a 11-11.30 setting produces very shrill sounds when cranked up, or muddy bassy sounds when turned down. It has some volume boost but not much.

All in all a pretty simple pedal, but the sound quality lacks character and depth. The tone could have a lot more depth and juice, which even a cheap "bad monkey" or SD-1 can do.

This pedal is very solidly built, but my particular unit has been exhibiting problems on and off, very intermittent. It would suddenly drop volume/gain by nearly 80% and sound awful, like you're playing a very bad sounding distorted "sitar" (Ravi shankar in the 70's through a bad overdrive?). If I powered it off for about 3-4 minutes and powered on again, all would be well. Dunno what the matter is - definitely not the cables or power as we checked that time and time again, and this pedal is far too old for warranty repairs.

Dunno, mine is too old for support.

This is a mixed bag. It's cheap enough for anyone to give dist/od a shot. Sound wise, I've used better.

Before i start, i'm going to say that there are way to many "negative reviewers" on this site who smash a product just because. Yes, i am currently trading in or keeping this pedal as a back up, but that does not mean i am going to give it terrible ratings. I am also not participating in the japan vs China boss debate either. Mine is a newer pedal (less than 3 years)

This is a very easy to use pedal. A basic understanding of what drive (gain level,) level (volume level,) and tone (think eq). This is the most basic and the most common pedal layout, but I wish there were an extra knob or two to provide some extra tonal options.

My setup is custom Fender highway one (2004, before they started producing the crappy ones...) with a dimarzio pro track HB in the bridge with a virtual vintage 50s in the middle and a virtual vint. blues in the neck, with a 500k volume pot installed > fender pt100 tuner > dunlop crybaby > ibanez TS-9 tube screamer > Boss DS-1 > traynor YCV 80 amp with a ibanez CS9 chorus and a boss DD7 in the efx loop. A simple setup, but it works.

I use this pedal with the tone at about 10 o'clock and the drive at about 3 o'clock, with the level control adjusted to compensate my surroundings.

This pedal is a bright and fizzy with the tone anywhere past, say 11 o'clock, but sounds kinda muddy on the bottom end (not too, too bad though) With the tone fiarly low you can get some nice tones though, but the "usuable" range of the tone wheel is not very large ( maybe 8 o'clock to 11 o'clock.) This pedal also doesn't have a lot of sustain, but to get a lead sound a couple it with the Ts-9 and with the added midrange and drive you have a nice lead combination. Throw some delay on top and you're set! On it's own, i can achieve a nice "pop rock" lead tone coupled with loads of delay (think the edge's tone at the end of one by u2) On it's own i don't really like it too much. Still, it's not a bad pedal, especially for the price.

Anybody else will tell you of the sheer brutal strength of boss pedals. I have honestly never seen a broken boss stomp box in my life!

I can't honestly reply to this. i've never had to deal with them because they're built so sturdy. Their website is very informative as well.

I definatley think this pedal is a great value for the money, and can achieve some nice tones. In other areas it falls short, (perhaps the heavier rock genres?)but can suit a lot of musical situations very nicely. Do not let some of the idiots with their negative reviews scare you off this pedal, try it for yourself first, and second keep in mind that its only $45 CAN!!! Also, don't get caught up in gear, because you'll always sound like you no mater what your setup!

3 controls, easy.

Sounds average, for all the hype. My strat sounds like a can of bees and my HSH ibanez sounds like a strat! I got it modded but it still doesn't sound half as good as some of the other digitech / ibanez pedals on the market.

Dunno, I sold it within 2 weeks.

Never used.

Sub-average sound, look elsewhere.

Three knobs, forget the manual, use your ears. Easy.

Used with my strat on kinmans, and the les paul with burstbucker pros. They go into a laney 30w practice amp or a marshall stack when gigging.

I try several combinations and settings to refine my tone by ear, before a session or a show. The DS-1 is by far the poorest sounding pedal I've used. It kills the lows and highs and gives me a thin, characterless and nasty noise. It gets worse when you turn the treble knob past 2 o'clock.

I heard there are mods that improve the sound but I don't have the patience or energy to waste on that - even my cheap dod overdrive sounds way better than this.

Dunno - I used it only a week.

Not used

Look elsewhere.

the only thing hard is choosing which setting youll keep... but hey.. its just 40 bucks... if you love the sounds so much you can save for two! haha

just 3 knobs... pretty easy

i use it pretty much as an overdrive... my current setup (i change it because whenever i try a new pedal, even if its not mine... ill try to find a real use for me and everything chances from time to time.. except the knobs on 2 or 3 pedals) is guitar - boss ns2 (a tuner in the send)- crybaby535Q - ds1 - zoom hl01 - ac2 - dd5 - amp
i use it to get some chunky stuff together with the zoom hl01, or to boost some solos (especially when using the neck pickup of my guitar... its a stock single coil and my settings are pretty much done for the bridge position, a dimarzio with a ridiculous high output)with the tone between 11 an 12 o clock.. level al the way up and the gain pretty much down... about 10 percent... and when im not using the zoom hl01 (btw hl01 stands for hyper lead 01.. its a distortion pedal... a heavy one) i can get some really nice tones.. i use it with the neck position and ad some wahwah stuff there... awesome... besides i use the amp with a little gain in the celan channel to keep it electric but still clean... (i own an ibanez tb100)

but you can also use it as a heavier distortion... it has an awesome range.. i'm really considering buying another one... have one as a moderate rock dist, and one as a fusion dist (tine around 9, level around 1, and gain around 3 oclock) and having a tubescreamer or any other overdrive (i really havnt decide between the ts9 or the zw44)

always in my pedalboard... and its boss... it will last a lifetime

get one... at least give it a chance and dedicate time to get that perfect tone.. youll surely find 2 or 3 settings youll love... and its pretty unexpensive!

Very easy, only 3 knobs which are tone, level and distortion/gain or drive. Editing patch just by turning the knob with 3 way:-
1) Starting from min to max (which i use on the distortion and the
level knobs or for all 3 knobs like the way i use before)
2) Starting from 12 o'clock and use that as the starting poing to
boost or cut, i use this way on the tone knob to cut treble or
boost more treble.
3) Starting from max to min which is not too recommended get to
noisy for the level knob LOL

I havent refer to the manual since i bought it becos i dont need them yet, too simple to get the sound depending on how the amp settings and characters. My DS-1 are stock and made in Taiwan, more or less not much difference than the Japanese model. (Try one before not my cup of tea)

Im using this setup with variety of amp (Roland JC-120, Marshall JCM800, JCM900, Peavey VTM120, Peavey Valveking, Triple XXX, 5150/6505 Series, Laney VH100r and etc that are provided during gigs and inside the studio, for teaching, im using this with a Behringer transistor/digital amp on clean (this amp overdrive channel need more push and im switching the clean and dirty channel to get a crunch and lead sound or stick with the dirty channel and roll my guitar volume to around 6 to 8. Im using this with my Ibanez RG350 and Squier and Fender Stratocaster (need a noise gate for Strat too much gain can make the amp feedback with insane capacity) I like how the pedal respond to my volume pot changes and the way it react to the amp. Im not to particular to get a sound from other artist or something i just want to get my own sound and if im in a cover band, usually i find a sound that suit the songs and refine it with my touch. My setup with my band usually goes something like this lately:-

Wah>>compressor>>eq (x2)>>SD-1(boost for lead)>>DS-1>>MT-2>>eq>>flanger>>gate>>eq>>chorus>>delay (x2)>>to amp

Yeah, i depend on it a lot especially i dont have any amp that i can drag along to gigs and simple to setup and get the same or similar sound everytime my band perform onstage. And i have been using it without a backup for all this years and it still never breakdown on me.

My style of music are something like the range of rock/metal with a touch of pop/funk here and there, and it suit my crunch and lead need for this reason. I have been playing since the last 10 years and get more serious last 5 to 6 years. Other Boss pedals that i own right now are the SD-1 Super Overdrive, MT-2 Metalzone and CH-1 Super Chorus , other than that are loan to me from a good friend of mine. I love the pedals but if i have more cash i might just get a different type of overdrive and distortion to fill in my needs and compare with what i have now. I love all the thing that this pedal can give me but i wish it have a 2 knobs for the tone with one for the bass and the other for treble. I try some distortion pedals from Digitech and this one just suit me well, it just preference i guess.

Drive, level, tone. Same as pretty much every basic distortion out there.

Kind of a mixed bag; I actually got the most of out of this pedal by using it as a lead boost after an OS-2. I was able to get some creamy lead sounds with a decent sustain through this method.

By itself, this pedal either seemed a little to abrasive or a little more "fat" than I wanted from a distortion pedal. I was looking for a smoth, harmonically rich sound (like Everclear's So Much For The Afterglow and Good Time for a Bad Attidue albums, or the solo from Dishwalla's "Counting Blue Cars") and the DS never seemed to deliver that. I actually got decent fuzz sounds out of it... but I've already got a Russian Big Muff Pi so it was kind of un-needed.

Standard Boss, which is to say it'll probably outlive me.

Not talked to them

Despite my negative comments in the Sound Quality I'm hesitant to say this is a -bad- pedal; after all it's 40 bucks new and I'm familiar with the concept of getting what you pay for.

I ended up removing this pedal from my chain and relying on my Big Muff Pi when I discovered the DS-1 isn't true bypass and was indeed (apparently) sucking quite a bit of tone in bypass mode. However it's an excellent unit for beginners (low cost, fairly versatile) and even pros with tastes different than mine can find space on the board for a DS-1.

The bad reviews I have read of the DS-1 all stem from some ******* not knowing how to use the sound controls. It always takes some tweaking, be it of the level, tone, or distortion control. There are no hard and fast rules for using them. Just tweak them until you like the sound; it can take a while. Have patience and have fun screwing with them, and you'll find a sound you like. Trust me. I'm a distortion freak, and this is my all-time favorite pedal, just over the Ibanez Tube Screamer (which, by the way, I use in conjunction with this)!

I use this with a mid-90s Mexican-made Fender Stratocaster, a Tube Screamer, Vox wah-wah, a delay, and occasionally a flanger, all plugged into the front end of a late 90's Fender Blues Junior. I can conjure up an extremely authentic Pearl Jam, Jonny Lang, Shadows Fall, Buddy Guy, and Steve Cropper out of that setup. I use the tone on 9 o'clock, level on 11 o'clock, and distortion on 3 o'clock (all corresponding to hands, not dial numbers). The DS-1 never disappoints and always delivers great distortion, tube warmth, and killer grit and gain whenever I want it. It's the workhorse of my rig, with the exceptions of my guitar and amp; it should also be noted that my Tube Screamer is almost always switched on, but the DS-1 sounds great by itself as well when I need it to. Moreso than my Tube Screamer even, the DS-1 is my go-to distortion tone.

This bastard will withstand the nuclear holocaust.

Never had to contact them; see above.

I'm an alternative rock guitarist, tending toward the heavier sounds of that subset of rock. After having been doing this for over a dozen years, I haven't found anything as useful as the Boss DS-1--not a Tube Screamer (though it's close), not a DOD Hard Rock Distortion, not a Big Muff Pi--nothing. It has a warm-sounding distortion that produces huge gain that I'm unable to get with the small tube amp I'm able to afford on a limited budget. I'm not crazy about the mid-scooped tone--all the bands I've heard who use that sound are garbage. A graphic EQ wouldn't really help the pedal; I've learned to adapt my amp's clean tone and the pedal's tone to work together. This is by far the most versatile piece of my rig, and I couldn't do without it--ever.

Very easy, gain, volume and tone. Couldn't be easier!

First of all I'd like to say I use two basic kinds of distortion, a Voodoo Labs Sparkle Drive for a bluesy Tube Screamer type of sound, and this pedal.. The DS-1 has more of a crisp, rectified 80's sound. Think of Dokken, Bon Jovi, classic rock like Bad Company etc. I imagine you could get a good nu-metal sound out of it too, and I guess some bluesy sounds with the gain down. Through an amp the reproduces too much high end, like my Champ 600 with a 6" speaker it sounds harsh and horrible, it's quite top endy. But through a Marshall 4x12 or my Traynor 2x12 combo it's awesome. I have the tone about 12 o'clock, the gain about 3/4 way up and the volume around half. Mine is also an older "long dash" MIJ unit.

I've owned it for about 25 years and it hasn't failed yet.

Never dealt with them

I've been playing almost 30 years, I do mostly classic rock, blues, twangy retro stuff etc, but used to be a metal head and still enjoy that sometimes! This pedal sounds better with a humbucker guitar doing hard rock/metal stuff, might have to experiment a bit to get good sounds with single coil. I plug in my RR Jackson into this then to my Marshall 4x12 and it's instant hair metal heaven! The ultimate pedal for smooth compressed 80's type distortion..

This is my second pedal from Boss, and actually this is very easy to tweak to get a good sound from it. No fuss, no manual needed especially if you are used to play straight to amp for your basic sound. Controls are tone, level and gain (or distortion).

Refer to my other post in the Boss CH-1 for my latest gears. That are what i still use now. For any gigs im using the amplifier they provided (which usually either Marshall or Peavey, once in a while i might get to abuse my pedals with amplifier like Hughes n Kettner, Mesa Boogie, Crate or Randall). At home im using Marshall MG15dfx combo. This pedal would sound noisy with high level of gain and level, especially the way im using it with the amplifier overdrive channel (im setting the amp at a milder crunch usually use to play blues or rock n roll rhythm works)

I can get any pedals in my arsenal to sound like what i want, that is the most important thing. The only defects is the midrange drop when engaged but it could be help with an aid of an eq pedal. The only problem for me is when im using it as my main distortion it sound pretty buzzy when the gain control are maz.

Well yeah, i have use this without a backup until now and i have 2 of them on stage, one as a sustaining crunch sound and the other are used with a Boss MT-2 (not both pedals together but either one), for a mid scooped crunch sound with single note fill in parts becos im using the MT-2 as a power chords riffings. As i wont know if it gonna break or something im gonna give it a 9 becos of my experience with me.

No comment

Well you can refer my previous post on the Boss SD-1 and CH-1, for other xtra reviews. I try the Digitech Distortion which is okay but doesnt suit me well, and the DS-1 now are being used as my crunch as im preferring the SD-1 as my main lead sound now.

I used this for 1 yr practise and gigs and i can honestly say that this is just a very average sounding pedal. When i first got it i thought it was the dogs nuts but actually its not. Its like a 'generic' pedal that covers some ground-can be used as a boost or as a crunch or heavy distortion....however, all sounds are a bit weedy and actually not very good.
Its easy to use three knobs to make a sound but the sound isnt that good.

I am lucky enough to play through top quality gear and ive been playing 20 yrs. All i can say about this pedal is that its just ok. Nothing special about this. But then its a cheopo discount pedal from BOSS not a top quality type so dont expect too much. Its better than a 'crappo -cheap -beginner type' but this is soooooo average. Check out some of the others out there-and then youll realise.

Absolutely dependable cos its a boss which means that it could withstand the immense force of an extremally fat lady's arse smashing onto it .....er.....or something similar.....!

Dont know

Playing a long time and loads of experience-but so what really. Make no mistake this is a cheap pedal that is up to the job of bedroom players and for gigging BUT play this long enough and you will grow to dislike its bland sound. Its just so average sounding. So uninspiring. Do your self a favour and try out something non BOSS but not el cheopo and then youll see the difference.
I love the build quality and the price-but bored with the dull sound.
Ive found that its better to have one fantastic piece of kit than loads of cheap stuff so save up and buy something expensive.

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

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

When dialed in correctly, PERFECT!!

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

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

never broke down in all these years

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

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

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

i have used it in many styles anyway!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Never dealt with them.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

very easy..only has three knobs..

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

never had a boss break down..

never had to call them so i don't know

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It's a boss, they never break.

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

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

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

Overall, great product. Boss makes great pedals.

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

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

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

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

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