Boss DS-1 Distortion

It has three knobs - tone, level and distortion. As simple as you can get. Tap the pedal to switch between clean and distorted sounds.

Quite a few people have a misconception about the tone. Many people remark on the 'tinny' or 'high' sound. Many people also recommend setting the tone to about 2 to get a good sound.

However, if you plug in the guitar to your amp, and cut the amplifier gain to zero, or if you plug in to the auxiliary/CD input on your amp, then the tone control works as you would expect, and you get a great sound. The tinny sound is obtained only if the gain on the amp is high - the equalizing circuitry in most amps throws the tone out of balance.

The sound is good for a generic rock sound ... you can tweak with the settings to get sounds that suit either soloing or accompanying. A light touch of distortion provides a warm tone to the sound. It has very low noise.

Sturdy metal build.

I play my Jackson JS-1 through a Peavey 158 Rage. Though both of these are low-end, basic gear, the pedal generates a good sound. I liked the distortion from the pedal much more than that built-in in the Peavey amp.

Simplicity at it's finest. I bought mine that has the "Monte Allums" mod, toggle switch on the front of the pedal. This kicks ass, as it has yet another 3 tonal ranges it can cover, rather than the "Stock" DS-1. I bought mine from eBay, perfect condition, and it didn't come with a manual, but no drama, it's easy to setup, and it's easy and fast to find the setting your looking for!

My one is the Taiwan version, but I'm not sure what the difference is between the japanese and taiwan versions.

This pedal is very good to get that added distortion I was hunting for. The monte allum mod makes this pedal sound a whole lot better, than stock versions I've tried in Music shops. I use this with my strat and fender champ amplifier.

But alas it doesn't quite cut it for me, as it is clean hard distortion, and therefore not the best for shredding and good fuzzy metal, therefore I have also just recently bought a BOSS HM-2 Heavy Metal distortion. It is still yet to come, but when it does I'll review it. With these two distortions working togther, I'll have a blistering fuzzy overdriven distorted sound that will rape anything else.

But this gets a perfect sound for AC/DC kind of rock, etc.

This is a pre 1980's pedal, making it over 20 years old, with maybe more than one original owner. It's NEVER cut out on me, or stuffed up. I can always sleep at night knowing this baby won't fuck up on me last minute.

Never delt with them, but I have heard they are quite nice about helping out with pedals, etc.

Not the stand-alone distortion for me. I'm looking for a more overdriven fuzzy metal tone, perfect for ripping hard solos and good metal tuned down riffs.

But with this as my backup distortion, working with my lead BOSS HM-2, it should be perfect.

But if you are looking to buy the DS-1, make sure it has the Monte Allums mod intalled. If not, buy it off their website, it's cheap and apparently easy to install. It's even easier if you find one with it allready in it.

NEED MOAR FUZZ!

Ok, 3 controls but watch the tone dial.

I have a slightly older made in japan ds-1 with weird metallic / aluminum looking controls. Dunno if they were swapped out by the previous owner. I bought it because my gig-mate lost his gear and we needed something for him to jam with urgently, for practice sessions.

It sounds sort of ok for a distortion, but I wouldnt gig with it, sounds too tinny and harsh. He plays an american strat through it with overwound single coil pickups from wolfetone I think.

There are many better distorter pedals around, at the same price. We replaced this with a digitech bad monkey and it sounds far better.

Dunno, this pedal looks like it's been used as a football, still works. But god knows for how long.

Never used. this pedal was probably 3rd or 4th-hand. It sure looks it.

Ok pedal for practice/jamming but I wouldnt take this for serious playing. Sounds sub-average.

Well there are just three controls so it's not rocket science.

This was one of my first distortion pedals I used for a year or so. I didn't have much experience with effects. The distortion is harsh and fizzy, very thin sounding and lacks sustain. Some of you praising this unit should take the time to try out other pedals. Forget the botique pedals like the blackstone, lovepedal etc, just pick up an el-cheapo box like the bad monkey overdrive or even a boss blues driver or SD-1, they all sound FAR better than this noisemaker.

After I disposed of this orange tin of noise, I'm not surprised ad how much better my tone sounds now. I'm giving it a 2 because it does sound sort of acceptable in some settings.

Just don't get the tone way up - it sounds like the oft spoken about bees-in-tin-can cacophony.

Mine was about a year old when the power supply went flaky. It wouldn't play off the mains - I had to use a battery. Then the on/off switch started acting up. It often wouldn't register I'd pressed the switch, it would take a few attempts before it would switch off. This was especially embarassing during a few gigs when the stupid thing would refuse to switch on just when I'm launching into that huge power chord.

Look elsewhere. I have no idea why people praise this box of noise, but I suppose they haven't tried better stomp boxes. As soon as I heard some better stomp boxes I got rid of this **thing** .. the boss SD-1 which I got modded sounds faaaaar better, nicer, warmer, more sustain and really more organic.

very easy to use

ok folks, i have here a vintage ds-1 circa 1986 as stated buy the serial#. very warm compared to the the modern units. tone control is very usable, never harsh. has that 80's analog style distortion. great alone or adding gain to a slightly overdriven amp. great for anything except nu-metal. a little noise, but its analog and a little white noise is ok. works with single coils, p-90s, humbuckers, any amp.

its a boss and it lasted this long

got it for free back in 96, put it away until now, plugged it in and marveled at the tone. compared to a friends keeley ds-1 ultra and completley blew it away! they just dont make them like they used to. i cant believe how harsh the new ones are. you'll never know until try a vintage unit. people, save your cash, get on ebay and find one!

very easy to get a good sound, three knobs only, though i would like a little more bass on it. the drive pot can approximate almost any od/dist from the tubescreamer to the heavy metal. i bought it new with manual which gave suggestions on how to get certain settings.

the distortion is really good, i can get almost any sound from blues, hard rock (lynch mob,badlands) to ac/dc, malmsteen, van halen, whitesnake judas priest. what is lacking is clean boost and extreme metal sounds but i don't use those sounds everyday. i use a yamaha rgz, boss od-1, super chorus, delay, pitch shifter and heavy metal into a marshall combo. there's some noise sometimes but its probably the cords or the switches on the guitar.

its built in the legendary boss quality. i've seen a ds-1 before floating on two inches of water during an outdoor gig but it did'nt fail. its my new take-one-pedal-only pedal.

they have very informative websites plus the boss area

i've played blues, some crossover country; southern, classic, hard rock and metal since i was in my teens and i'm now 40! i definitely would buy boss pedals if it would get lost. this thing deserves its tag as a legend and it makes me wonder why many hate this pedal. you just need to tweak your pedals and amp's knob to get the sound you need. i think boss should make a ds-3 with high and low eq to make it more versatile. my ds-1 is an mit so i don't know how different it is from the mij, but its really the workingman and the (guitar hero's) distortion pedal.

Hard to get a decent sound, but it is in there.

I use a USA Custom Strat (w/ S.D. neck humbucker) into a Fender Deluxe Reverb. In other words I live in Toneville.

Or used to, until I got this pedal.

I have a real love/hate relationship wih this thing. Sometimes the sound is exactly what I'm after, other times it sounds like a drowning cat.

I am intrigued by the people on this site who say they turn the tone right up. I find that if you turn it past 10am it sounds like someones chucked a few forks in a blender.

Last night I was jammin and could not believe how awful it sounded. Thought maybe the batteries were going or something. Sounded like the TV aerial just broke, you know that fuzzy screen sound. AND THEN....maybe it was just a matter of the tubes in my amp warming up....maybe an overhead UFO boosted my signal....but I entered the TONE ZONE. It was the perfect distortion ive been searching for. Everyone in my band was like WOW, what did you do? Hope it's not a one off.

Really i should give this thing a 5, but after last night it's getting a 10. It was almost mythical.

SSOB A STI

3 knobs ! easy as it can be.

It sounds really excellent. Better then the MT-2 and SD-1 because they sound less natural. De DS-1 is more clear and cuts through the mix much better. I own the MT2, SD1 and DS1, and I really find the DS1 the best.
!!!! You have to use it as a boost in front of your amp. Through clean channel it's useless.
My setup: guitar (seymour duncan sh6 pups) > Boss GE7 eq. > DS1 > Rocktron noise gate > amp (on od, with gain on 3/10)
To me as good as the Proco Rat.

10 years of gigs no problems

dont know

excellent

Very easy to use and very easy to get any type of tone out of it. It comes with a manual that is pretty good, and it shows some factory setting that you can try. It has settings for "hard rock" "Fuzz" :"american rock" and a few more.

I can get very very close to Black sabbath tone with this pedal. "Tone" at just past half. "Dist" maxxed out and the "volume" at just past half also, try that out!

I'am useing a ****** little Crate amp at the momment with a dean ml and an epi SG. When I upgrade to a better amp it will probley sound 100% better.

It's a bit noisy if you have eveything maxxed out (which I do sometimes for fun lol) but aside from that by anything just a wee bit of feedback

would take it to me with a gig everynight if I was in a band. If this thing crapped out on stage I would be in shock cause this thing is built so good. "Like a tank as many people say" lol

Nothing has gone wrong yet. One thing though...I cant register it online or by sending the form in. I bought it from america and I live in Canada so...

Hard rock and metal are my style and it matches up perfectly! If it was stolen or lost I would order another one right away. For 39 bucks I dont understand why someone would steal it... must be really strapped for cash...

Couldn't be simpler. Tone, level and distortion. If you can't figure that out you're probably a chimp with dementia.

I absolutely LOVE this pedal. I work in a guitar shop and the other day we hooked up every distortion pedal all in a row to play them all off against each other. The best two out of our stock was this and the Marshall Guvnor 2- they actually sound pretty similar. DS1 totally owns way more expensive distortions. But you've got to have the tone knob turned right down! even on a level setting this thing is SO trebly that it hurts. But set the tone to about one and a half out of ten and it's fantastic. I've noticed a lot of distortion pedals are like this actually. Maybe they're all designed by people who've spent their whole lives surrounded by too much volume and they've all lost all the high-end from their own hearing? Just a theory. Seeing as it's such a cheap pedal the unwanted hiss is really low n all. Although I have heard more expensive pedals that had way less or no hiss to em. But this one's blooming good nethertheless.

A ha! I'm not alone in what has happened on occasion with mine (which I bought second hand so it could have been properly hammered- I just don't know!) And that would be- VOLUME DROP! One dude who's wrote a review on here even seems to think that this is a design flaw rather than a fault. Dude, your pedal is shafted! Of course it aint supposed to be quieter when it's turned on! And doesn't it just seem to be a common fault?! Almost everyone reports getting a big volume drop either always or (As in the case with mine) intermittently. As faults go, this is pretty ****** bad. Imagine if half way through a gig your distortion suddenly was half the volume of your clean. Imagine if you were playing Smells like teen spirit- you'd look like such a prick! Mind you, if you're covering smells like teen spirit you probably sodding deserve it to happen. NO ONE WANTS TO HEAR THAT SONG COVERED AT GIGS BY BANDS ANYMORE, NO MATTER HOW MUCH THEY LIKE IT, COZ EVERYONE'S HEARD IT A BILLION BILLION TIMES, TRY SOMETHING ELSE FOR ONCE!!!! But I digress, it happened to me in practice luckily. But the n it worked fine for weeks before catching "level-drop-fever" again. I still use it for gigs but now I make sure I've got another distortion pedal in my set-up in case the wee orange beauty dies on me. Shame really, if it wasn't for this totally annoying and REALLY common fault It'd probably be the best pedal in the world- considering it's price obviously.

We don't stock BOSS pedals in the guitar shop I work in so I really don't know. But I believe they're part of Roland who for reasons completely inexplainable still seem to have a reputation for making good keyboards. I don't care if you like em, they're rubbish- fact! So no idea what BOSS are like to deal with. But with a huge firm like BOSS any complaints/ customer care is gonna be up to your dealer rather than the manufacturer. Buy local, keep music shops alive coz they're closing every day, and please please please if you're gonna buy online don't use us as your proxy internet show-room and then sod off back to the internet when we're unable to match the price. IT'S COZ THE INTERNET DON'T HAVE THE OVERHEADS OF KEEPING A SHOW-ROOM AND KNOWLEDGEABLE STAFF TO HELP YOU OUT, THAT'S WHY SHOPS ARE A BIT MORE PRICEY *********!

I can't help but feel I've strayed slightly from time to time in this review away from the BOSS DS1. Camel's final judgment overall- Amazing sound, but one hell of an Achilles heel in the really common occurring fault. Such a shame, coz the tone of the thing just breathes pure quality which shouldn't happen at this price point. Actually, how much are they anyway to buy brand new? Mine was twenty five english pounds second hand so they must be proper cheap yeah? I'd totally recommend it, I still use mine even though I know it could bail on me coz it really is worth the risk. But make sure you've got a back-up pedal coz one day it WILL let you down. In summery then the BOSS DS1 is like a genius who occasionally has a nervous breakdown. And where the **** would music be without them?!

How ease can a distortion pedal be?!? Look at the DS-1.
Tone, Gain, Volume. This is, what you need, this is what you get.

I have to make it clear: If you are a studio-nerd-guitar player, than you can probably find a better pedal for any unique sound setting you want to alaborate.
But if you are a live maniac and play anything out from the world of rock, then it??s THE guy.
I checked so much overdrive and distortion pedals, from stock to boutique, but I always have fallen back to the DS-1. At least for my live set up. Sure, for recording it will always be interesting to play around with various gears, to get more individual sounds, but if you need a solid and reliable pedal, that rocks your socks of - and that in a broad variety of styles - then I love the simlicity and over decades of usind artists prooved sound quality of that cheap but food pedal.

Don??t trust in any of that nerdy effect discussion. Or make your own picture: buy or borrow some high end boutiques (Fulltone OCD, Baldringer, Okko Diablo, etc..) and find your favorite spot on them. Then compare it with your good old DS-1. I always landed on that point: that this great allrounder covers all I need - if you have a good amp. I play with it from alternative rock with pumping metal riffs sometimes to psychedlic and bluesier stuff. It fits both - which is a thing, that I can??t say about the majority of overdrive/distortions.

I give a 9, cuse the search never ends... ;-)

Try to destroy it...

look above - I don??t know

As I stated: get it for your flexible and reliable live set up and live your GAS at other spots that worth it.

Very easy. Three knobs Tone, level, Distortion.

I was very taken by the range of tone you can get out of this box. OK there are better pedals out there but at three times the cost. It won't do the full on metal fire attack but gets close enough for my needs. I use a Standard Tele, Aria TA65 Semi through a Orange Crush 30R practice amp and a Marshall 100 head through custom built cabs (4X Cast Rim 12" Silver Cone Celestions). This pedal adds to my tonal range and increases the punch....which is what I was looking for. It's great for blues to add a little extra crunch and classic rock'n'roll springs forth from your amp.

IT A BOSS.Nuff said.

Who knows, I expect it's rubbish but you never should need them.

This pedal has been about for nearly 30 years and has more than earnt it's legendary status. OK it has its limitations but where else can you buy a true classic for this kind of cash?? I have been playing for over ten years now and I wish I had got hold of one of these when I first started out. Everyone should have one.

very easy to use I use it 2 ways With my Marshall mark 4 for my tribute band heavy cream it really nails the old school clapton 60s tone For all other gigs I use this first in chain with a boss bassman pedal then my wa out of a randall rg 75 (I beleieve this is the greatest clean tone I have found even better than my hotrod deluxe) I set the ds 1 for anything hard rock or metal and the bassman handles everything else blues country etc ..beleieve it or not this setup rocks and sounds very warm and tube like

see above

very dependable i have had this for quite a while no problems and the battery life is long

na

I have been making a living playing guitar since I was 14 so thats ..yikes!!! over 40 years!! I have a epie 335 a thin line tele strat with jeff beck pickups 2 variaxes a hotrod marshall randall trace elliot princeton 65 I play all styles and with these 2 pedals I can cover anything

As far as understanding how to use it. Very easy.

If you're thinking about getting this pedal for the sound most say it's good for. Get a fulltone OCD. Or something that has tubes. The Electro-harmonix English Muffin or Radial Tube Drive would be much better choices in my opinion with more options when dialed in. Spend the extra money and you won't be dissapointed.

Seems built well but I've had a few boss pedals that start to have volume problems.

No experience with it. Smaller companies are usually easier to deal with though.

It's a consumer pedal in my opinion. The kinda I would maybe tell my students to get for practice when I was teaching. Not pro quality.

Really easy to use, just 3 knobs, tone, level and distortion. Takes a bit to get the sound you're looking for but i'll bet you'll find it.

I use a mexican Strat and a GTX 35 (korean) through a line6 spider 3 (150w) and a 40w marshall. I really like the sound you can get out of this little orange box, i think that's the reason why Vai and Satriani use it. Just one problem, the output level is really low. And it really sounds like when you step in it(with the level knob set at the top), the volume is lower than the clean tone. Maybe is just that im going deaf and i can't hear some frecuences(i doubt it) but its really weird. i've tried 2 of them and they both do the same thing. For me when you turn the distortion effect on at the maximum level it must sound at least as loud as the guitar...AT LEAST! i dunno if there's some modification that can be done to fix this but if there's one i'll try it!

Got some scratches after a few months, now (i've own it for 2 years)....it has more obviously. xD

It's a really good distortion pedal. I play rock, fusion, alternative, indie... anything really, and this pedal can fit in almost every style. I just love the sound of it, i can't explain it with words (i dont even know what they mean when the talk about "Brown Sound" haha) but i love it. It has really good harmonics. The only thing i hate is what i said about the volume, it really bothers me sometimes. If anyone knows why or knows a solution email me!. If it was stolen or lost i'd probably try some other pedals to see if i can get a sound like this without the volume problem. if i couldnt i would buy it again deff.

Easy to use, not hard.
Battery is fairly easy to get at, no screw driver necessary.
In my opinion.

Not the best FOR ME with single coils. Better for my humbucking guitars.
Not a whole lot of "body", lows to it. Not warm, buzz saw sounding.
Though can be useful, not too much charter in my opinion.

Sturdy to me.

Decent distortion but I don't get the lows unless I eq.
Not too much charter, no warmth.
All in my opinion.

Its simple just three knobs. Two knobs to find your sound then one to balance it out. Its pretty easy to get the sound your looking for.

I can get the sound im looking for out of this. I think anyone can. The sounds are powerful. I play indie/pop punk. Its perfect and by putting the tone at 5-6 and distortion to 5 or lower i can get a little lighter distortion for playing blusier sounds. My setup is boss ds 1, mxr double shot,Marshall 1960a, Marshall 50w avt head. The mxr has a nice sound but just doesnt have the body and fullness the DS 1 has. The only thing wrong is that it is a little noisier then some more expensive distortions but its not that bad. Get a noise reducer if it bothers you that much. If you play live you probly wont even notice it.

look at it

I play pop punk (Starting Line, All Time Low) its perfect.
I can level it out just right and go from clean picking verses to smooth loud choruses. Even on higher dist settings its not muddy at all.
Ive been playing for about 4 years and have digi tech, mxr, and boss pedals and an esp 400 wih EMG acives. I love the sound i get with the marshall cab. The boss out shines all my pedals. The only thing i would change would be to make it quitier but id wish that for any pedal really.

The pedal has three controls: tone, level and dist.
quite simple to obtain the sound you want, but needed some time of practice for a correct impostation.
the istruction manual is useless.

it's got a very great sound, lots of harmonics and low-end, very good for hard rock (especially if used with a chorus and a ~200ms time delay), but also for heavy blues and heavy metal (like iron maiden, thin lizzy, etc.).
using the tone control too low (0-45%) can make the sound a bit confusing, better with an high tone (artificial harmonic sounds much better too!!).
the dist control is quite dynamic, at low dist is very very blues soundand at high dist (as i use it) is very heavy with a rich (of harmincs)sound.

very versatile dist pedal, you can't use it as a boost pedal, but it sounds all kind of music, from std. blues to hard rock and '70heavy metal. it was my first dist pedal and still is my main dist i use, very great pedal.

ok, i wish to give 0, but i can't!!
i sent an e-mail to roland (the italy division!) to have any information 'bout some pedal and never answer me!!!

i play guitar for 'bout 9years, started with rock and now i ply lots of blues and pink floyd and this pedal is always in my pedalboard, it's great for rythm and solo parts.

>Large Orange Box
>Three knobs (One Tone, One Level, One Distortion)
>9v Input

Simple, manual is just a waste of paper really.

Well i'm not going to go through my entire range of sounds, I play punk, simple as. In the preset book there is actually a preset called "British Punk". I just love this damn pedal. Especially when I try to blast some alt/indie ?? la Arctic Monkeys. Turn tone up full, meet the dist half way, level it up and... smoootthhh. It's just a big orange... mess of sound. It does get kind of loud, the further you turn it up, but you can't ask much more from single coils and p-90's eh?

I play it through my Line 6 Spider II 30, practise home amp, thus why i needed the pedal. Overall great sound, but a bit noisy.

Three words... Big Orange Brick

Company are fantastic to deal with. The American and British websites are terrible, the Japanese one is so much easier to direct and use.

Now I'm not usually one for stomp boxes or single effects. But the DS-1 is just perfect for the kind of music I play. I've been playing for about 3-4 years and don't really own any other effects, but if this was stolen I would kill. Then I'd probably steal the guy's wallet and run to buy another. It's an awesome price for a Boss aswell.

I have to admit the battery is a bit of a drag, but that's through fault of my own i.e. buying special offer 9v's from Poundland.

Epiphone Les Paul Junior '57 Reissue > Boss DS1 > Line 6 Spider II 30

^^^That's my setup^^^

The P-90 and the DS-1 are just perfect together. If anyone is thinking whether or not they need this and you play punk (i.e Green Day, Blink-182, The Clash, Sex Pistols, Ramones etc..) just buy this, because it'll be worth your while.

Very simple. Three knobs.

Unfortunatly this pedal was not a good match for my setup and it did not have the tone I was looking for. It was one of six pedals I weeded through before I found the right one to match with my amps and tone taste. I finally settled on an ibanez TS-9 Tube screamer. A far superior pedal. It is probably a good match for many other amps.

seems to be built well. Only had it 3 days before returning

don't know

I play blues rock and metal. I'm sure this pedal would be a good match for many other people. Just not me.

As easy as it could ever be.

As you know;
Tone, Adjust Treble or Bass
Level, The Output volume
Dist, Adjust the Distortion level.

Changes batteries is a breeze, just like all Boss Pedals,
and a power supply makes the thing even easier

People right this off as a simple distortion pedal.
But that's what's so great about it.

It's a brilliant pedal, set high with my single coils, this things snarls.

It get a bit noisy with the Dist up past three o clock, but a Noise reducer pedal sorts that out no trouble

It's a Boss.

If you don't know Boss already, maybe you're new to effects pedals, these things are metal bricks with wire in.

Never needed to speak to anyone, probably never will.

Along with the CE-3 Chorus, this was the first pedal I bought.

I play this pedal and the Boss SD-1 as my main drive sounds, as the amp I own is shameful on all but clean settings.

I use it for the heavier stuff in the sort of Indie, RadioBloc sound area.

It's great, but if you want versatility, go for the SD-1.

The DS-1 Distortion is great, but only at doing one thing; straight up distortion tones.

For a bit of everything, go for the Super Overdrive (Or both, like me) are it can be very subtle if required.

If it lost it, I would search the market very hard to make sure there was nothing better available for the money, then buy a new one.

Don't let my comments about the SD put you off, this pedal is super great

This effect unit has recessed knobs you are unlikely to step on by mistake, and the casing is all metal, not plastic, two features you should demand as standard on all your effect pedals. I like the disposition of the controls and the range of sound is worth the buy. It has everything a distortion pedal needs and nothing it doesnt, especially useless eqs or dumb names for the control knobs. I gave a 10 because in my opinion it simply is the best solid-state distortion pedal on the market.

Those who say it can't play metal really mean that "they" can't play metal. Either that or they moan that a simple 50$ pedal can't reproduce the sound of thousand dollars worth of studio equipment.

If you really take the time to seriously fine tune your amp and your guitar, this pedal can produce an excellent, clear and articulated tone that is perfect for metal. If you are still not happy and need a wall of buzz to hide your hideous misnotes, buy a metalzone instead.

My usual setup is: a DiMarzio humbucker or EMG81, the pedal, and a Peavey Transtube Supreme on the clean chan (high 5, mid 6.5, low 7) or an all-tube combo with everything flat.

My pedal setups are: tone 50% dist 90% level 50%

Again, take the time to tweak your gear, its worth it. From 0 to 50% the tone knob roams the midrange and you can get a slushy, loose sound cool for old school blues. Set the tone too high and you get a handful of razors shoved down your ear.

I got mine second hand. The only problem was the ac adaptor jack. Its solderings broke away from the board. I just had to re-melt them in place, it took 5 seconds. I take care of my gear. Never had the slightest problem elsewise. I use it instead of my amp distortion and if it would break, I would just plug my guitar right into my amp and use the distortion on my amp instead.

its a BOSS!

Essential piece of gear for any self-respecting guitar player.

this pedal is pretty easy to get a good sound out of, alot of the quality of the sound really depends on your amp and guitar.

like any distortion pedal, it sounds alot different in your bedroom and on stage. it's not particularily noisy onstage, but i do wish it had more boost. while it's well voiced and not weak at all, i wish it could go louder than it does as you increase the level control, this would make it alot more flexible, or even cleaner sounding on lower distortion settings. but, seeing as it was released in 1979, i don't have a problem with it, distortion pedals were expected to be alot different back then.

i have never ever had a problem with any of my boss pedals, and i have over 8 of them.

i've heard their customer support nothing to write home about, but then again, alot of major companies lack in this department.

i play rock and classic heavy metal, and this is the most important piece of gear in my whole setup. it gives me my basic tone, and is good for so much more. i bring down the volume on my guitar for a dynamic overdrive, or i set the tone and distortion knobs to face the top corners of the pedal, and max the level for my heavier sound. often, i don't even need this much gain. like i said, i wish it had more output, but i'm buying an MXR Distortion+ to help me out, and i have a hunch these two pedals will work wonderfully together.

TONE - LEVEL - DISTORTION.....does it get any easier ? It's all you need on a distortion pedal anyway...

I bought this pedal for a specific sound I was looking for... Ironically it was for Bob Mould's HUSKER DU guitar tones (specifically from "Zen Acrade" thru "Candy apple grey" era's)... I know that Bob used an MXR distortion + for his sound...that's where the irony comes in. I plugged into an MXR distortion + through a Fender twin reverb (which is the amp that I swear by). I was not impressed with the MXR distortion + or the newer III model... So I figured, well let's try the "coveted" DS-1.. BAM... that was the sound I was looking for right out of the box... Once I got it home and put it in my pedal board rig I was hooked. With my Boss CE-5 chorus and Boss compressor/sustainer and the DS-1 all run through my Fender 65 reissue Twin Reverb... I can get 90% of that HUSKER DU tone I was looking for.. Even with my 70's reissue strat with single coils it sounds very "Bob'ish".... There is a bit of noise if you go to high on the level / distortion settings... I set it like this... LEVEL 3-4...TONE 4-5...DISTORTION 7-8... Even with gobs of distortion, chords articulate exceptionally well. Individual notes still retain their clarity.. This is not for the NU-METAL / Death metal... buffs... You won't really get that "chugga, chugga" palm muting "Master of Puppets" metal with this.... But if you want a great distortion pedal for ringing chords ...this is perfect.

It's a Boss. Unless there is a manufacturer defect out of the box.. It's going to survive a lot of abuse/ gigs/ practices.... Boss makes tough pedals...

Never dealt with Boss for anything.. Never had any problems with any of their products...

Like I stated above.. this is an excellent pedal for that early-mid 80's melodic punk/indie tone..(think HUSKER DU, BLACK FLAG, PIXIES...etc..etc..) And of course Nirvana must be mentioned here.. although they came a bit later... The MXR distortion plus does not even compare in my book to the DS-1, 2 completely different animals here. The DS-1 is way harsher in the mid range which I love... I've been playing guitar for 20 + years and have tried tons and tons of amps / effects / and guitars... So I hope my review helps someone with their decision... I would buy this pedal again ASAP...

3 knobs... i wish it was a tad louder...

Excellent dirt and a nice basic sound... i like to use the tone @ 10-11 o'clock, the level full and dist at about 3-4 o'clock... nice warm mesa-style distortion... i use in a chain in the following order:

EH small stone>Boss OD3>Boss DS1>Zoom Tri-Metal>Boss BF2>Boss CE5>Traynor Custom Valve 1-12 w/ vintage Sunn 2-12...

The Zoom is my "scooped" recto-like tone, the OD3 gives me a nice vintage roar (like a Marshall SL-well, kinda)& the DS1 functions as a nice "in between" distortion tone... it sounds great through a good tube amp, and in conjunction with the OD3 as well... yes, it might be a bit "generic" but that is just another way of saying versatile!!!

Seems fine for such a cheap pedal

I play in an experimental metal band - Nosebleeder http://www.myspace.com/nosebleeder666
- and we play many different genres... folk/thrash/punk/bossa-nova.... this is my basic crunch tone & i love it... i've never felt the need to mod it... a great distortion that goes from blues to mid-spiky metal...