Boss DS-1 Distortion

If by "good sound" you mean the best sound this pedal is capable of producing then it's quite easy, there are only three controls, and you don't need a manual to fool around with them. Mine is a made in taiwan model, late 2005 I guess, from what the dealer tells me.

I play a variety of guitars but mainly a Fender tele, a Godin LG P90 and a Charvel San Dimas, which go through a variety of effects into a Kustom tube 12A combo or a Budda at times when we gig. I used to play a lot of shred stuff with my old Ibanez guitars for which I used pretty nasty distortion pedals. When I mellowed down due to age (I am 44), I wanted some milder sounding distortion stomp boxes. Since everyone around me used or recommended the DS-1 I bought it.

The DS-1 has its own character and tone, and it does change the guitar tone in a non subtle way but it is most often too flat, sucks lows, doesn't deliver chunky rhythm nor does it sound full. I'm not looking for a do it all Grateful Dead overdrive to Napalm Death thrashmaster stompbox but I wish it was at least good at what it did.

First of all this is a distortion box, not an overdrive so one can't expect mild hair tones from this box, but the gain setting only goes from mild fizzy sore throat to nasty fizzy fart. Beyond the 1 o'clock setting it gets real nasty and sounds truly screechy and noisy. I'd use it with gain between 10 and 11 o'clock. Too low a gain and it sounds like a transistor amplifier on its last legs, letting out its last croaking breath before it falls on its back, throws its legs up in the air and dies.

The good thing is that I didn't pay much for it, and I'll gladly get rid of it to anyone who offers even 60% what I paid for it.

Got to give 'em that, it IS quite well made. I would depend on it, but then again I probably wouldn't even use this pedal. If there was no other dist pedal around I'd probably just use the amp's distort.

I didn't use it.

A cheap entry level distortion. There are much better sounding pedals at this price. The newer Behringer pedals are dirt cheap and extremely good value for money if you're really strapped for cash. If this were lost, I'd say good riddance, and yes, it really does get in the way and I went back to my EHX pedals.

Well, even though it has "only" three knobs, they don't all work like you'd expect. The tone knob is quite tricky, since bumping up the tone beyond 10 o'clock really eats up your lows, and you get a thin watery icepick kind of tone. It depends a LOT on the guitar and pickup used. I find the 9:30 setting ok for my strat but when playing a humbucker equipped hot strat I can go up to 10:30 and still get enough lows. I wish increasing the tone didn't kill the lows.

I bought the DS-1 because "everyone" recommended it. This was supposed to be the "standard", a yardstick used to measure every other dirt pedal out there. I fell for the hype and bought it many many years back. I think mine was a Made in Japan version.

I play a standard strat with slightly hot DiMarzios, and another strat with humbuckers. On stage we use a 100 watt Marshall stack and for practice I use a small Marshall 15-watter.

I was not happy with the tones I was getting. It was too fizzy / hairy for lack of a better term. Not much character to the tone. There was a large amount of coloration to the guitar's tone, but in a nasty way. Like some other people have commented, I was surprised at the poor tone quality I was getting out of this pedal.

There's not much noise unless the gain is way up. For me the pedal sounded best when gain was close to 9-10 o'clock, tone at 9:30-10:00 and level to taste. I got quite upset with this pedal for some months when even a naturally fat sounding Les Paul sounded thin and watery through this pedal.

Then I got mine modded (Keeley) and it did sound better. I always found myself going back to my SD-1 or Maxon's because I could get a warmer, fuller and more rounded tone with lots of character from these other pedals. It was sold a few years later and it's been replaced by other pedals.

I'd rate this a 2 (stock) and 5 (Keeley modded).

I dunno. There was a problem with the input socket. I had it repaired at the local music store for $10. I had it happen again and had my bassist fix it for me in his workshop. Didn't happen after that, but I didn't have it long after that.

Never used.

This is a cheap dirt pedal which tries to do it all. Sadly it doesn't do anything quite so nicely. If budget is a constraint, there's the SD-1, the bad monkey overdrive and some other dirt pedals which have far better tones. For just a few dollars more, I got the truly blistering West Siberian AMT california sound a few months ago. Imagine yourself playing on a fourth-hand $50 guitar, minus a couple of strings, through a 5-watt practice amp with overdrive. That's the DS-1. Now imagine playing a beautifully crafted top of the line PRS or American fat strat through a 100-watt marshall stack. That's the AMT. Don't compromise on tone, I almost ended up giving up music thanks to bad sound.

It's a bit tricky getting a decent tone out of this pedal.

This is a weird pedal. People rave about it, but I have heard better OD/dist sounds from almost every other pedal I've tried. I run my Gibson Les Paul or Fender MIA strat with texas spl pickups through this pedal. There's also a SD-1, a compressor, a chorus and a delay in the chain, sent to a mesa boogie or a fender.

It does add a significant amount of color to the tone of the guitar - the original tone doesn't really come through nicely. The distortion is not quite nice to listen to. It's a bit fizzy when at min, and sounds like a nasty shriek when close to max. The tone ctrl is weird, when you increase the tone, all the bottom end vanishes and it sounds truly nasty.

Thought it may be a problem with that one pedal, but I tried a couple of DS-1's, all made in Taiwan, and they all sounded the same. I can't imagine how anyone could rate this good. I'm going back to my SD-1.

I guess so, but why the heck would I use this horrible little noise maker?

Not needed. I sold my DS-1 a month after I bought it.

I'd really look at other pedals, any other pedal would probably sound better. I know my SD-1, OD-3, TS-9, MT-2 and every other dist/od pedal I've used sounds better.

Level, tone, distortion....if that's not easy I don't know what is.

I'm not sure if anyone has noticed or mentioned this but the tone knob is is just a freq shift for a freq that is permanently boosted on the pedal, its a parameter. I have a MT-2 Metal Zone (have had for 8 or so years) and if you boost the mid and rotate the mid parameter back and forth it sounds just like rotating the tone knob of the DS-1 back and forth. Just thought you should know.

Okay the review. I bought it for a generic rock/alternative/punk/whateverthehell distortion, and it serves its purpose well. What I had not planned on was that it would sound like the Divine Intervention and Seasons In The Abyss Slayer albums. Shocking, I know. Go ahead and try out Dead Skin Mask, War Ensemble, SITA, Serenity In Murder, 213, Sex Murder Art and see do it sound like that. You will be surprised. I'm rambling now.

I set level at max (not a very loud pedal) and its just about matches my amp volume (I think I should mention I have high output hums so if you have sc's it will sound louder). Tone at around 10, 11 o'clock and dist anywhere from max to 12 o'clock.

Pros:
I am amazed at the difference you get from a Seymour Duncan JB pu (New Found Glory, Green Day-ish) and an EMG 81 (metal, Metal, METAL), not that I use ti for metal, but it sure does work with the right pickups.

Cons:
There is an ear-piercing high freq characteristic to this pedal. When you shift from low fret chords to high fret chords (like in most punk) the sound of you're hands moving down the strings seems to be amplified, pick srapes all the way down the strings even more so (perhaps this particular aspect is a plus for some but not for me). This doesn't happen with any other distortion I've ever used and I can't seem to get it to stop, but then again it's 40 bucks new.

Overall a decent sound and if you're just starting to play you can buy it without fear. Maybe look around a bit first but just about everything else is more expensive.

C'mon, it's BOSS, should this category even be here when reviewing a BOSS pedal?

Don't know, and probably never will.

I play all types af metal (too many to types list, although the amount of time it took me to type this paranthetic blurb probably took more time than it would have to just list all the various types of metal....I'm gonna go cry now), just about all types of rock, some blues but I'm not that good at it, a bit to technical. It works for most rock, some metal (especially with the right pu's). Been playing for 10 or so years, I'd probably buy it again, maybe try something else out. Sure as all fuckin hell would be nice if it had a 3-band eq instead of tone.

3 knobs. dist, tone, level

not the metal sound i was looking for, but i adapted with minutes.

boss...

simple, relatively sheap, solid built

Tone,Level and Gain thats it cake walk!!

Well its OK,so-so.
I use it to boost my Marshall into a more thrash percusive sound for heavyier rythm sounds and lead boost.
Its OK and pretty decnt for its price but not the"be-all-end-all take into abby road pedal". The tone knob tends to get make the tone nasily and tinny and metalic(not the music type).It seems like I can't get enough treble bite outta the pedal without getting into that metalic tinny thing.
The lowend on power chords tends to be a hair muddy and "garbled" as I call it.
As far as gain I'm sure theres not enough to boosta clean amp into Mesa Boogie territory but there more than enough to boost an allready overdriven Tube Marshall.
For leads the pedal is pretty decent I can get some nice pinch harminics with it but it allways seems a bit middy.Atleast with my rig.
Also I do think thsi thing loads the signal a bit too. I A/B'ed it bypassed against the amp alone and I can hear a differnace.......unless its just the double cords length I'm hearing??
Its not the best pedal in the world but its a decent distortion on the cheap if you only need it for certain things.If you use Dist. all the time there are better units.

Can I say it??........................Can I??.................ITS A BOSS!!!!!!!!!!................cliche

Dunno

OK So-So yadda yadda.....Its Ok on the cheap.If you like your sound and only need a distortion for certain parts or for a few songs.Its great.If you need a pedal for your main sound or are realy particular about your alternate tones this ain't it.If your distorting a clean amp prolly not enough gain.

Bone simple 3 knob layout. I much prefer a 4 knob setup with individual bass and treble controls but the 3 knob layout has become almost standard even on a lot of the botique pedals. The ac plug is on the top which I like, (I hate them on the side.)

A lot of people give up on this pedal (too early) I have a lot of other pedals to compare this one to and I must say... harmonics and smokey woody tones come out of this pedal better than my Fulltone OCD or Xotic BB and RC and at about one third the price thats a huge statement. I tend to run this pedal with the gain fully cranked, for me that is where this thing comes alive (atleast with my setup) and my only real problem with it is that it is a bit noisey with its gain fully cranked. This pedal is actually quite articulate and does have its own voice. For me grind boxes are just colors and flavors and each is a little different and I like having a lot to choose from. I concidered having this pedal modded for a while but after playing it and comparing it my other dirt boxes this stone standard DS1 will stay just as it is. I do know that what you can wring out of your guitar and effects comes from your own hands, your touch and style and the little things that make you you. It has taken me a long time to get to this point (been playing 40 years) but its true. I must give this pedal a 10 for sound, it may not be concidered a botique pedal But, it really is a classic and there is a reason many of your top players use this pedal in pro rigs.

I have owned many Boss pedals and products over the years and their stuff keeps working long after many others stop. Build quality on the pedal is good and I like the silent switching.

I have used customer support several times concerning my BR1180cd and they always been helpful and polite. They have always tried to help.

I play mostly rock (my own stuff) The DS1 is run into a Genz Benz El'Diablo 30/60 (tube) combo and sits in line with a Barber tone press, an Electro Harmonix Metal Muff, Xotic BB, a Frantone Peachfuzz and a BBE Sonic Stomp, this line up goes straight into the amp and I also run a row of effects through the amps effects loop. I also have a Digitech Bad Monkey, Boss OD3, Barber Direct Drive, Dan Electro Fab Distortion, Barber LTD Silver (and a few others.) I like to have a lot of switch out options when it comes to drive pedals. The Bad Monkey is an outstanding pedal and a great deal as is the Fab Distortion. The DS1 is a fantastic deal provided you are willing to put the time into your playing to make this thing really sing. This pedal really suprises me sometimes when it comes to sounding great. For build quality, price, sound and reliability I have to give this classic a 10 ... you can spend a lot more and get a lot less. I may get another DS1 and have it modded a bit but I will always keep a stock one around!

Easy to get a good sound out of this than other pedals cause its only got 3 huge wonderfull knobs, manual is cool I guess but who needs it?

Im into alternative rock mainly but I judge on power chord sound mostly and this thing surprised the hell outta me when I first tried it, I was not expecting it to be so LOUD and crunchy! more like a sd1 sound I guess but oh man I just turn both tone and dist. all the way up and BAM its there, very good harmonics! Only complaint is its kinda noisy and also a bit HIGH and squeally and not as warm as other pedals (so 1 point off for that) but ive tried it against all kinds of distortion pedals and this one keeps beating them to hell I dont know why its got a solid sound that stands out, right now my set up is a hotrod deville 212 and Epiphone sheraton 2 it works well with my boss dd3 as well and seems to do well on batterys

you know the drill its Buh Bah Buh Bah boss.

Here are some pedals ive tried it against: Boss metalzone, Boss ds-2 Line6 UberMetal, Ibanez Ds7, Ibanez Ts7, Bigg Muff, ProCo Rat 2 (I still own this one) Digitech BadMonkey and some others ive tried in the past like the boss sd1 and korg dst3

My next pedal I wanna try is a boss blues driver but if this gets stolen then I would buy it again since its so cheap I got a good deal on mine for 20 bucks :)

easy, but the again, I'm from belgium.
(I could give it less than a 9 going from other peoples reviews,
only 3 knobs, yet many cant get this one sounding good ??? oh well )

I descided to post a review on this one because:
I went through nearly every distortion / overdrive imaginable.
played the entire menatone, fulltone, Xotic, radial, MI Audio, whatever boutique, and all the others => boss, line 6.... lineup. Didnt own them all, (too much though), but had each one for a few gigs er at least for a few hours. After this dist/OD frenzy (and a few years and many gigs & countless rehearsals) the bottom line is, I stil use the DS-1 as "my sound", the building stone for my entire rig. A previous reviewer said: the are but 4 distortion pedals out there: DS-1, Big Muff, the RAT and the guvnor. what is (In my humble opinion, true)
If you can't work any of these, you dont have it in your fingers, and thats where 90% of your "sound/signature" is. other pedals only try to emulate one of these 4. Of course there are flaws in this pedal, but a lot less than in any other I've come across. (must say, the menatone carcrash is MIGHTY GOOD, but for 400?/$ ???)
The Radial tonebone hot brittish is nice, espessially with a better 12AX7, has many times the tonal posibilties of the Boss, but still I prefer the Boss, example, A/B these two guys they both only sound at there best on One or Two setting, then whats the use of 100 sounds if it lacks that (REALLY) sweet spot ?
the DS-1 is not noisy, not more than others in this gain rage, you only have to use it wisely. As I said, level and gain are to be set as you wish, but here the toneknob is the key, to set this one, just listen, straight in front of the speakers, (at a safe distance ofcoarse) TURN UP THE AMP, !! LOUD !!!
any distortion pedal that sounds good at bed/living-room volumes will Not sound good on stage. and the DS-1 sings at gig/rehearsal volumes. Also mind, if you are using a solid state amp (and a POS guitar) this will not de the pedal justice, or visa versa. The pedal is picky to what amp it is played through though. i'd say best on 6L6. think thats about it.

everything I ever owned broke down, rattled, being switches etc...
everything but the boss pedals. wonder when these will fail on me ?
I gig without backup.

never dealt with ...

I play everything but house and classical. currently studying at the Jazzstudios. play rock (hard), blues, funk, fusion, jazz, pop ......
this pedal works all these styles, all the time.
been playing a lot for 10 years now
my rig:
Les paul - 535Qwah - MXRsupercomp - OD3 - DS1 - Pitch shifter - DD6 - volume => mesa F50 or (the mighty)FUCHS ODS50 - FXLOOP=> 10 Band EQ, RV5 reverb. speaker out to the REDBOX DI.(to PA) and G12T75 and G12M greenback speakers.

Besides experimenting to find the levels you like, it's a piece of cake.

I don't think of the DS-1 as a single, stand-alone effect. I've found that the shortcomings others have mentioned are done away with when it is paired with an SD-1 Super Overdrive (except for some noise... you may want a noise gate). Then it becomes like a distortion boost layered on an already full and warm overdrive sound (the drive can be set low on the SD-1 and you still get the warmth). This approach delivers the compressed crunch of a traditional distortion effect this role, but without the cold, thin sound of the DS-1 on its own. If you already own either the SD-1 or DS-1, I highly recommend getting the other pedal and trying this versatile combo. It covers the gamut from blues to metal.

Sure. I've never had a Boss unit fail on me.

I haven't had to deal with them, but I haven't hear good things.

As I said, on it's own it doesn't cut the mustard for me, but with the SD-1 it undergoes a magical transformation. I play everything from Cream to the Cult to Dream Theater, and I can cover it all with this combo. In twenty years of playing, I have found sounds as good, but I haven't found a compelling improvement. They're so cheap, if you are curious about this pedal, you might as well try it. Simple, effective, solid.

Tone,LEVEL,distortion.Fairly straightforward I would say.

O.K.,this pedal sounds like shit,BUT wait,there is hope for this little diamond in the rough.If you feel brave then there is a simple MOD that will breath life into this otherwise crappy sounding pedal.Remove the four screws holding the bottom plate and remove it.Lift the board up and out carefully. Find D4 and D5 and remove them(cut them off,or unsolder them if you want to reverse the MOD)This will give it more crunch and tone.P.S.if you have an older pedal made in japan,don't do this as it may affect it's value.Buy a new one(they are cheap).You'll be pleasantly surprised.

All Boss pedals are reliable,but then so are most electronics these days.

doesn't matter really,at what it costs it is easier to toss it and buy another.

Blues,rock.this pedal not suitable for polkas.

3 knobs which makes not so overwhelming. But to get a good sound requires some what of a good experianced ear. The tone knob I find is well responsive and by adjusting that I can get the sound I am after. Then adjust the other knobs accordingly to your liking. simple.

My BOSS Distortion DS-1 pedal is completely stock, Made in Taiwan

I found (much like many amps and pedals) at a low volume it dosent perform at its full potential, when I finally used it at a jam and a gig and cranked up the amp with this pedal, its sounded amazing and I loved it. You really have to play it at a higher volume to hear it sing (as I said much like many other devices). I can get that crunch out of it that I like for a good blues tone. When I play punk I can get that heavier chunky sound. Also for Metal I can get a good over the top searing tone. Its all how you play with it and how well you play and as I said having a good ear helps.

It can be a LITTLE noisy when you play loud, but nothing unbearable, I manage fine with it. I use a Fender Stratocaster with a Seymour Duncan Humbucker in the bridge, through a Fender Bassman and sometimes through a fender Princeton 65. Through both amps I can get the sound I want from this pedal no matter what style of music I am playing.

I found I can get that raw Jimmy Page sound from it (think the solo in Heartbreaker) and a heavier 80's metal sound. Also when I jam to Green Day it works great. For rock and roll and blues its amazing.

Once again all how you set it, It can sound horrible if u crank up tone and distortion (just like if u put everything at 10 on an amp) or it can sound muddy and horrible (just like putting everyting at 1 on an amp) so people who say its too trebly or muddy are forgetting that theres a set of knobs that come with this pedal to help prevent that. Cause I make just fine with it for every style I play.

It gets a 9, NOTHING is perfect, the onyl cons to this is th ebit of noise u get from it at high volumes, as I said u get from many things and this isent even that noisey. Hope this add helps someone.

Yes I have used it numerous times in jams and gigs and it performs well everytime, sound wise, quality wise and I know I can depend ont his pedal.

Never dealt with BOSS

I play all styles as mentioned above, and this pedal delivers everytime.
Iv been playing for 7 years, I own a few other BOSS pedals and they have never let me down, its pretty hard to go wrong with BOSS!
Theres nothing I really hate about this pedal to be honest. Compared to other distortion pedals I have played this one beats out the compition withotu spending hundreds of dollars. If you want a great distortion pedal for cheap then Boss Distortion DS-1 is IT!

Come on, three knobs!

I used a Cort G290 (EMG SAs and 89>TU-2>Whammy>Wah>NS-2>DS-1>CH-1>PH-3> BF-3>DD-6 into a Marshall MG100DFX. The sound was good, clear tone but unfortunately a noticible lack of bass, a bit trebley and not all THAT much gain. Stick an EQ after this however and I'm sure you'd love it.

It's a Boss.

N/A

I play alternative rock mainly and this just wasn't suitable for my needs. I prefer the modelling of it on the OD-20 (my current distortion pedal), as there is a bottom control, allowing you to get that power and there's more gain on tap! This is a great starting distortion pedal, and is good as a booster, if a little noisy. On a bass though, this pedal is AWESOME. Probably one of the best bass distortions out there. But on guitar, average.

Three knobs, it couldn't be easier to use

I'm using this with a Epiphone SG on a Spider II 30w amp. It's not noisy.

I think this pedal just sounds like crap, the only "correct" tone setting is setting the knob on the minimum to the left, when I put more, it starts getting way too trebley and it's unuseable.

I'm using it just as a gain booster on the drive channel of the amp. It does it OK.

It is very reliable and strong, I would use it certainly without backup.

never dealt with them

It is absolutely not what I need, I find it very poor.

But, I'm not playing on a tube amps and I have read that it sounded greater on a tube amp.

I'm just keeping it until i'll have a better one.

3 knobs a n00b would have no problem with this pedal. Manual was great

By itself it sounds ok, but combined with other distorsions, it can really warm your sound up, if you put the tone to 0 and distorsion to full

This thingy's a beast

No Dice

This is a cool pedal, but there is probably better out there.

hmmmm... ok so its a basic stomp box so its pretty easy to use. Plus its a Boss compact pedal, which are really well designed,
the knobs are easy to see and access, but placed away from the footswitch, so you dont change your settingas as you hit the switch (something ProCo should think about! lol)
There is a Red LED to tell you its engaged (just incase you didn't notice!)
oh and of course the battery can be changed easily, no tools required to access the battery, nice!
The base has a HUGE rubber grip, so its not going anywhere, and the foot switch is easy to press and also has a rubber grip.

This thing is very easy to use.

My setup at the mo:

Fender Stratocaster (SSS) --> CryBaby wah(basic) --> BOSS DS-1 --> ProCo Turbo RAT --> Peavey Express 112 (transtube series)

a really average joe setup here! Im after a new all tube amp, will be extending my sounds soon (after I get paid lol)

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Ok so this is the infamous Boss DS-1 Distortion, and thats exactly what you get!

This must be the most "standard" distortion ever!

BUT that does not mean its not versatile.

theres the three usual knobs found "Tone" "Level" "Dist"(distortion)

no fancy eq or la di dah Mid boost found here, and theres no need.

ok so lets put Dist up to max...WOAH! yeah, theres a lot of distorion here, could even argue that its got some fuzz!

Now its the Tone control which gets interesting here, theres a little marker dot at 12 o'clock, and if you push it up to and beyond that dot, say goodbye to your hearing! 'cos here we enter sharp, fuzzy distortion, screaming high sound, push Tone to the max and it just sounds aweful in my opinion!

But its when Tone is under 12 o'clock when this lil box starts to warm up...

ok now lets turn Dist down a bit, say 10 - 11 o'clock.

messing withe the Tone control at around 7- 10 o'clock can give some nice results, smoother or chunkier distortion here!

Right, time for my favourite setting, thats Tone just over 9 o'clock, and Dist just under 10 o'clock

This gives me a twangy jangle to my sound, which is nice for single notes and when you play chords hard it gets nice and messy and scratchy (kinda how i like it, kinda)

ok so to round off "Sound Quality"

yeah, this is pretty good distortion, I can get a nice "Slayer" sound and a nice erm... i dunno "Rock" sound, its just that theres something about this box which makes me think "hmmm... plastic" i dunno, perhaps I should of gone for the SD-1 Super Overdrive, I dunno...lol,

This Is a great sounding stomp box, its just not exactly great for my style, although I have no idea what my style is!
hmmm... i think am gonna mod it!



(oh yeah, its you can get Nirvana out of this thing no problem)

Heck yes I can depend on this!

I have only played a few small gigs with this, but it is built well!

I would gig without a back up no problem.

Not applicable in anyway, I haven't contacted Customer Support, and probably won't need to.

I play mainly blues/punk/jazz/funk/newwave/soul
Im influenced by pretty much anything, but I love these bands/artists alot: Hendrix, Yeah Yeah Yeah's, White Stripes, The Black Keys, Bromheads Jacket, Be Your Own Pet, Graham Coxon, many more!

I think if I put this through a Marshall and recorded in ball rattling stero I could get a Be Your Own Pet sound, yet if I had Marshall I would just use the gain on there. hmmm...

Ok I'll admit it, I bought this cos I was quite bored with my lame setup and had 40 quid to spare so went out and compared this to an SD-1 Super Overdrive, I got the DS-1 because it had more gain/drive/whatever! I shouldo saved my ###'s and gone for a blues driver or something, but i'm not complaining,
Ths DS-1 will do for now, at least I know I can go to a gig and just plug this thing into any amp or PA and get some quality distortion!

If this were stolen or lost I probably would get something else, simply because I am trying to find MY sound, and the DS-1 is just a part of that journey. That idea pretty much goes with all my effects, unless I absolubtly love them.

I wish it had a little more "character" and a little more volume because when you turn down the Distortion, you loose that little bite in volume and it turns a little 'wooly' or 'fuzzy' trashy kinda.

Im unsure if it helps me make music, i mean, the tone kinda hinders pogress, but that fact that I dont have to walk over to my amp and change the settings all the time helps alot!

I would definatly check out the DS-1 if you have a little spare money and want a basic pedal. If your just getting into effects I would recomend the DS-1 for sure!

takes a bit of fiddling to get the sound you want but has a tone, distortion and what amounts to a volume control so not that difficult.
manual comes with it, but with three controls you probably wont spend much time looking at it

ok ive read a lot of reviews slating this pedal because its too noisy etc etc, and at high gain levels i'd have to agree in some ways, but apart from that it is very good. people dont seem to know what this pedal is meant to do. they say it doesnt sound like a tube amp, but thats cos its not supposed to. tube amps, especially ones that dont go for five stage gain circuits, tend to use fairly soft clipping. distortion pedals use harder clipping, so sound different. up to moderate gain this pedal sounds very good indeed, especially when played through a tube amp which warms the sound up quite a bit. its great for a crunch sound and for classic rock sounds.

built like a tank

i play blues, classic and more modern rock and a little metal. suits the rock styles very well. i use a MIM strat (getting the pickups upgraded soon) and an epiphone les paul. play through a laney LC15R tube amp. the amp at lower gain suits blues better than this pedal, and if you want metal a MT-2 would be what youre looking for. and if you want a status quo sound youre probably more interested in the OD-3, but for a nice classic rock sound that can do lots from AC/DC to some pink floyd and beyond, this could be what youre looking for.

Easy to sound like Poop!

If the purpose of this pedal is to Distort & make your Amp sound like Shit?? It does that very well. If you want your tone ruined & colored in a way you can't imagine. Then buy this pedal.

Boss makes a couple good pedals that I can deal with. (One is a Tuner)!

Boss stuff lasts forever.

If they cared about their customers they wouldn't flood the market with crap pedals! I wonder if any of their research folks even know how to turn a Tube Amp on?

I know some noted Guitar Hero dudes use this pedals, hopefully the old Japanese ones sounded better. I've been playing, touring, recording for 20 plus years. I own many very nice sounding Stompboxes - The DS-1 may be the worst I've ever heard.
There are plenty of other choices out there for Solo/Boost pedals, do some research & try something else.
This thing was back up on Ebay within 25 minutes of trying it out.

Boss should spend more time on tone quality & less their Bottom line.

Simple Distortion pedal Tone-Distortion-Level

It takes some working with to get that sound that youre looking for.I use this stock pedal with a Epiphone Dot Limited Edition With a Gibson Burst Bucker Pro Bridge and a Peavey Stereo Chorus 2x12..pretty dopey amp too..I found a setting that fits my need but for some people it may vary. I play punk and it sound great...altough with some settings it sound fake.

It's a strong little thing..It's built like a tank...It can run on a 9V battery but i always use the adaptor.

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I've been playing for about a year and a quarter but i've been playing bass for about a year and a half now...so i'm stil a young pup in the industry....This pedal works good for punk

Easy to use. manual ok....but really you dont need it.

I use a decent valve amp (cos they are the best!) and a decent strat with fat 50's (good pups)
Of course this is noisy but the sound you get is good. Not so good that it makes you feel good to be alive etc or that you've finally found that holy grail fantastic sound in your head type of sound .......but this really does a decent job in making you sound authentic and good.!!

Its a boss which means it puts other makes to shame. Absolutely reliable.

Dont know

Love how easy it is to get a decent sound. I only use it for two types of sound really........low fuzz so its like an overdrive but with more rawness to it, and then with high gain for a more modern fuzzy sound think franz ferdinand..
Ive tried other makes -mostly cheap stuff and multi effects (including boss) and didnt know what boss footpedals were about....let me just say that I am impressed by this pedal. Its a no nonsense decent sounding workable professional effect. Very usable and giggable. This will make you sound good -(as long as you know how to play!!) Oh...and for the price this is a bargain.

3 knobs what's so diffocult about it?, blend in your sound, great pedal a real leader in it's kind, a must have in every home

you want distorsion you got it , want overdrive you got it, want funk, you got it, your imagination is the limit

boss there built to survive nuclear war!! and they still live

boss there japanese what else is there to say but great!!!!

boss ds1 is a must have in every home, so what are you waiting for go and buy it!!!!!!

It's easy to get a good sound if you use this properly (like say with a TUBE amp.) The manual shows sample settings, so this should help steer you in the direction you are looking to go with this pedal (natural clip, crunch, american rock, etc.)

Ibanez SZ320/Hamer Vector Flametop Flying V -> Ibanez Weeping Demon Wah -> Boss DS-1 -> Rocktron Rampage dist -> Rocktron Metal Planet dist -> ART 451 and 442 EQ's -> Peavey Rockmaster 120w tube amp -> Laney 2x12" cab. The "excessive" distortion pedals are for different applications. Rampage is more for an edgy modern style dist from Queens Bohemian to Randalls famous a la Dimebag dist. The Metal Planet does more of an old school sound, also does raspy fuzz for black metal, and makes a good rhythm death metal tone. The Boss is great for everything else, playing Marshall-esque crunch, lighter dist for blues and lighter genres, clipping for Overdrive, or for sustain.

Boss is pretty dependable, and if it broke, I probably wouldnt gig with a backup, but I could tough it out. Maybe if I get my friends DS-2 fixed, I could set that up as a backup. Boss pedals are pretty simple to fix if they were to break anyways.

Mainly Metal, but I can also play blues, jazz, classical, etc and its good for everything. I love that its very enhancing to the sound dynamics without masking anything. I really like the improved articulation, like when I palm mute harmony lines, I can actually hear the notes, not muffled versions.

Three controls, how easy can it get? Got to be careful about the tone control, anything above the 10 o'clock position makes it thin, shrill and tinny sounding. The tone knob doesn't just control the tone, it kills bass when turned up beyond 11 o'clock.

I use an Ibanez RG with this pedal, and the effects loop is RG -> distortion -> delay or chorus -> amp.

It sounds so so. Turning the distortion knob from min to max gives you a moderately decent range of tones ranging from mild distort to hard raspy fuzzy distort. The tone is sub average, it sounds noisy and tinny. Every other distort pedal I've tried sounds better than this.

I've heard about mods for this pedal, but haven't experimented with them. Don't need to, when the stock SD-1 or even the MT-2 is soooo much better than this noise maker.

I've only had a boss fail on me once, in the past 16 years. Yes I'd depend on this baby, but I'd carry a backup just in case.

Never needed it.

It's a solidly made pedal. Too bad it sounds terrible. I would rather use a SD-1 or any of the bazillion other overdrives or distortion units around.

3 knobs..yeah that's really hard to use !

My setup is Epiphone LP > DS-1 > Line6 spider II 30W. There is no problem to get crunch tones, smooth overdrive, classic distortion or fuzzy sharp sounds. If you want to have mega-kickass-raw-drill-sulfur- mega-gain machine, you gonna need MT-2, Uber Metal,KM-03 , Metal Zone... but if you want an universal overdrive, distortion or fuzz good to everything except blues and metal, DS-1 will be excellent choice.

If you will hitting it with hammer or throwing it to the walls, you gonna destroy it!

I'm playing everything between light rock through grunge to nu-metal. I compared it with Boss DS-2, ProCo Dirty Rat, MD-2, MT-2, Marshall Guv'nor, Ibanez SH-7. DS-1 has been better and cheaper ;).

Very easy to get a usable sound. Very pleased. Manual is ok-but dont need it at all.

I use a strat with fat 50's into amarshall compressor then jd wah then peavy valve amp.
This effect is good. Im surprised cos I didnt think a 'distortion' pedal would be my thing really-but this pedal sounds great. It has a great crunch sound and when set on low distortion and tone does a passable overdrive ( though still with a bit of distortion present) then up the tone and distortion for a more modern sound through to fuzz type of 70's rock sound.It is a bit noisy but what do you expect!

will depend on it as its built like a tank.

Dont know.

I play all sorts of music but when gigging standard type of pop/rock stuff-some clasics and some modern.
Ive been playing 17yrs and had lots of gear-some good but mostly crap stuff(I keep being conned into buying cheap stuff in the hope of finding something that sounds good, like a line 6 or behringer etc!)Anyway I think I know what sounds crap and what sounds good. This is a definate good pedal. Its well made and has good usable sounds that are easy to get. I dont care for more tone controls but could see this as a problem for some, however dont let that put you off. This is a great little pedal and is definately giggable. Through my amp at gigging volume this pedal crunches fantastic and just sings when pushed-perfect for a solo. Probably need a good amp though and you also need to be able to play a bit as well.....!! Anyhows get one if you want some great sounds-you wont be dissapointed.