Boss DS-1 Distortion

It has three controls so you don't really need instructions for this thing.

I got this pedal in an old box at home. I think I put it there sometime about 10 years ago. The thing souns very harsh for me. Dodgy tone control. Transistor sounding distortion. After doing some research I bought a mod kit from pedaldoc and the pedal sings now. The sound is very similar to Eric Clapton's sound with the Cream.

Well it is ten years old and still works.

Never have to contact them.

I play funky music at the moment but have played almost everything from hardcore to blues. I use the pedal to give an extra edge to my solos, being a Vintage rat my main distortion.

I use a Fender Blues Deville (4x10), a SRV Stratocaster and lots of pedals (I just love them).

I wouldn't buy another Ds1 really (I would if they came with the pedaldoc kit installed though).

Though it has just three knobs it's not too easy to get a decent tone from this baby. Mine is a made in Taiwan model. The manual is unnecessary for this sort of a pedal.

I play a Fender MIA standard strat retrofitted with Seymour duncan humbuckers in a H-H-H configuration (yeah, hot rodded). It's also played with an older MIM Fender strat with the standard stock pickups (S-S-S). The amp is a Fender blues jr.

Though many people rave about this pedal, it honestly and truly sounds like a fart. Weird, but the tone control sort of acts like a high pass filter when cranked up. Distort needs to be between min and 12 o'clock. Anything higher and it's really farty and noisy. You can't get a mild overdrive with this pedal, the controls only allow you to play between moderate distort and heavy distort.

With my single coil S-S-S strat, it sounds like utter shite, unuseable.

Overall, I'm less than impressed with the DS-1. My super overdrive is far better.

I guess so, it's a boss. I've never had a boss fail on me.

Never needed any. It's never died on me.

I play everything from jazz rock to hard/heavy rock such as black sabbath, zep, etc. Nope, this pedal simply doesn't cut it. The tone is a bit too 'dry' and characterless. I wouldn't recommend this.

Plug in and play can't be any easier. The manual comes with recomendations for settings which is very useful.

This pedal gives me all the sounds i need ranging from Nirvana to System of a Down. Its amazing especially with my amp. My setup is Epiphone 1965 reissue > DS-1 > Vox Ad30VT. THANK YOU BOSS!!!

Boss pedals are built like tanks don't even need a backup.

Never needed yet.

I lay anything from metal to grunge to emo to punk it can play it all. It is such a great piece of kit. Best #30 I've spent yet.

After you adjust the Level, Distortion and Tone to your taste, just step on it! Easy.

My setup is from an Ibanez Rg350 > Boss DS-1 > Boss CH-1 > Marshall Combo.

The thing sounds great, I can get a very close Joe Satriani and Steve Vai tone with the right settings.
(The settings are as followed: Steve Vai: Tone 9 oclock, Level 12 oclock, Distortion 3 oclock. Joe Satriani: Tone 9 oclock, level 3 oclock, Distortion Max.)

I'm giving it an 8 as it gives out quite alot of noise (crackle).

I would definatly gig without a backup, nothing has broken so far (touch wood) and the battery life is quite long, around a month.

I havnt dealt with Boss before.

I play instrumental rock and shred, the DS-1 definatly suits my tastes and I can get the distortion i've always dreamt about.
Im 14 and been playing for 3 years and this is the best distortion ive heard. If it were stolen or lost i would definatly buy another one, infact i would probably buy a modded keeley version. I compared this with the Metal Zone, and the DS-1 completly wipes the floor with it.

Excellent tone, excellent value. If your thinking of buying a Boss Metal Zone, consider this beast insted! Great tone to suit every style of music.

It's really easy to get a good sound out of it, the editing patches who uses them?? all you need is you ear.

Gibson Sg Junior>Boss Tu-2>Boss Ds-1>Boss MZ-2>Boss DD-6>Marshall VS102R. I found when using the DS-1 with your amp,if you just turn down the mids all the way on your amp unless you like using them, you get a great tone of distortion, with this pedal you can't just plug it in and play, to get a great tone & sound you have to play with it. Unless your not picky, but i am and im alway looking for that unique tone.

Yes it's built like a tank. I would definitly use it with no backup.

Never dealt with them, why should i anyways

I play Punk,Hard-Core,Alternative,post-hardcore,emo. Been play the guitar for 9 years. If it were stolen or lost i would try to find it used i probably wouldn't buy it new again. I compared it to Digitech distortion pedals and some other Boss pedals. This one was good for its price and more versatile then the digitechs like with the digitechs the gain already starts up reallly so their is really no way to turn it down but with the Ds-1 you can make it almost clean to as much as gain as you can handle. If you want something thats just classic and something thats not digital this or the metal zone would be the way to go.

easy to use, gain, level and tone.

mine is a new one from 2003. i think it sounds awfull. unless i turn the tone conntrol all the way off it just sounds harsh and blurred. but when you do that, you're closing your whole sound. i couldnt dial a sound inbetween.

i guess so, but it's in no real danger sitting in the closet.

i play rock, im not a metal player but sometimes i like to play with distortion full on. been playing 20 years. i would suggest listening to it before buying and not justr do it coz nirvana or satriani has/d one. i heard that the old ones that were made in japan were a whole different story.

very simply to use, only three knobs, tone, distortion and level, all you need really. I find boss to be brilliant stompboxes for not sliding around on the ground like those cheap plastic stompboxes, great point. (You know what im on about). This is as i said one of the simpler units, it was straight out of the box and plugged in for me. No problems atall. Takes a while to get to grip with the sounds, but as is with any effect unit with controlls.

My current pedal line up is as follows.

Boss cs-3 (compression Sustainer)>>>Boss Ds-1 (distortion>>>Jim Dunlop Cry Baby (wah-wah).

I play these pedals into a carlsbro GLX100 amp (some good sounds) and through my pedal line-up into my Washburn bt-4 (i cannot stress how good that guitar is, i have played Fenders not as good as this little devil). i get everything i need from this lineup.
I have had some great sounds out of this little orange beast. I mostly play a mixture of punk rock and some other types of rock style music. Green Day, Queens Of The Stone Age, Placebo (listen to the new album it rocks). This pedal has given me all the distortion sounds i have ever needed, and has never set me wrong, it can give practically no distortion to screeching metal sounds. The tone controll gives you full controll over the bass, middle and treble frequencys all in the same Knob, a simpler feature but works well, some guitar players would require more tone controlls but im happy. The level knob gives a tiny whimper of volume to full drive. When using this pedal with volume on full you can actually get more from your amp.

I don't know why i am even writing in this section. Every review i read on Boss units is the same. Absolutly no problems. perfect as ever, hasnt gone wrong yet, don't think it ever will. You Boss users out there will know what im on about. This pedal i garuntee will last a lifetime and perhaps someone elses.

Hasent ever happened yet. Dont think the dam thing will ever go wrong. It's like a tank.

As i have said countless times before this pedal is really built to last, i mean it. im not sure i would ever switch to anything other than a boss they are just so reliable. This stompbox may not be top of the price list but it still stands up to units twice it's price. If you are just getting into guitar effects (which i have to say not only helps your band sounds out but it is so fun, will give hours of endless joy)you should deffinatly consider giving this thing a go. i have tried out lots of distortion units and the Ds-1 is my first and only choice for distortion.

3 knobs...does it get any easier? what do you want 2 knobs?

If you can't use this pedal you most likley can't put your own pants on.

GREAT! BUT! I have a 1970's made in japan model. A lot of people reference like steve vai or joe satriani or one of those *&^%$@' camaro players who use this pedal...or they reference Cobain using it. Here's a hint, they all used old japanese pedals...kurt had about 10 of them at any given time on tour. The japanese ones are more expensive and harder to find, but its worth it. The taiwan pedals aren't bad. Also....stop complaining about how this pedal sounds with your squier strat and 5 watt solid state gorilla amp...any pedal sounds like crap with that setup. Through a cranked tube amp its awesome...i reccomend a high output humbucker as well.

I use it with a 68 twin reverb with 5881 tubes and celestion G12-65 speakers, and with either a Epiphone Sheraton, or a Les Paul junior with an EMG-81 pickup.

Take a guess on my rating here..its over twenty years old and it still works perfect.

Not an issue with Boss

Awesome....i suggest spending the extra time and money to find a Japanese version...silver screw (70's) if you can!

I collect vintage Boss pedals..i have a huge collection so if you want to know anything about them i've tried every models and own most of them.

It easy too use.....

This little mother&^%$#@ smells Rock and roll like nothing else. With my custom les paul and every amp i play this pedal get classic, noisless rock sound. You can have every sound you needed - blues, punk, hardcore, metal or cock rock( if u like to played heheh ). If you want use transistors pedal this is no.1 since 1978 and nothing change that.

bulid like tank.... survive a nuckler explosion

I have every pedal which was worth my attention. Some i sold , some i broke. Since i start to play , use this pedal and it is this same i bay with my first guitar.

Very easy to use. Very versatile controls (the tone knob has a large range of sounds on it)

It's worth noteing that this pedal is better as a boost pedal IMO then a pure distortion. On clean channels with this, i find the pedal to sound a little bit muddy and more like a smooth fuzzy sound, but when used as a boost on lead channels it sounds beautiful :P

As i said before, this pedal is better as a booster. It's pretty terrible on it's own. I use the pedal with a Marshall TSL100 stack and use it to boost the lead channel. It just sounds great and makes pinch harmonics screem.

I have the Tone knob set to around 10 o'clock ish, Distortion to 9 o'clock and level to 1 o'clock and it sounds brilliant on a distorted mid-scooped Marshall. It is pretty noisey, but that's too be expected because i'm using it with the distortion on my Marshall at around 9 and no noise supressor. It's very noiseless anyway.

This pedal can do a range of sounds because the tone control is very responsive. I tend to find the tone control set to around 9-11 o'clock sounds best.

All in all, a brilliant pedal, but not in use by itself i find. For that reason i've given it a 9.

For the people who rate this lowly expecting it to be a distortion monster, at least consider that this is more of a boost pedal in many people's opinions and many famous guitarists that use this use it as a boost, not as a main sound (although some do) - Vai, Satriani etc etc.

I've only had it a while, but they're bloody sturdy and none of my Boss pedals have broken.

It's also very cheap (not cheap as in rubbish, but affordable)

Never dealt with them

Brilliant pedal. I use it as a boost but i end up using it more and more just full-on rather then occasionally because it sounds so great.

I've only had this pedal a while but it's done wonders for my sound. I prefer the sound of Mesa's, but with my Marshall this gives a whole different tone pallet.

I don't own many other amps. Only some Line6 stuff and older Marshall stacks (A superbass, various super leads and my recent TSL100) but i'm going to buy a Mesa Triaxis/2:90 in the future which i guess will leave this pedal redundant. It's still a great pedal to carry around in a bag just incase!


On another note, check out Keeley and other mods to these pedals. I haven't tried them yet but they're held quite high in opinions. I still think the basic models is great and affordable.

Very easy to use. The manual is correct.

The reason for many problems: a good guitar & a good amplifier! I use it with a '96 Fender Strato and an '83 Yamaha G100. We have no problems... Sounds great!
I play from oldschool blues to hard rock everything, and the DS-1 is a great pedal. But be careful: it's not an overdrive! It's THE distortion.

No problems.

Never needed.

Remember: it's not an overdrive. But it's a good choice for your money. Try it, and if you like that sound, buy and use it.
I've been playing since 1992. I play Clapton, SRV, Santana, sometimes jazz and a lot of rock.

FIrst of All it's Unfair to give this pedal A rating of : 1
there's a simple rule in all the effects pedals : U DON"T KNOW HOW TO USE IT...IT"LL SOUND LIKE A BROKEN CAR ENGINE!!
I'ts not that easy to use even if it Got only 3 Knobs...
for me to get the sound that i want I Tweek the 3 knobs in the pedal and the Volume control of my guitar.. so do not say it's crapy cos u don't know how to use it!

I use this Pedal with a Les-Paul 100 With 496R/500T pickups on a Avt-100 Marshall Amp, sometimes i play this pedal alone and sometimes thru a set of single pedals..and in both way it sounds Great.
alone it's not noisy at all..but when u turn the gain at Max Levels with high volumes u can get lot's of feedbacks, the distotion in it is Unique,u can't find it in an other pedal..and it blows away the Most High Tech multi effects distortiion pedals..it sounds Simple..it's the real distortion u are the master of ur tone with this pedal..u can get a screaming Distorion for solos and hard Rock stuff,and a warm Mild one for rythms.. i owne this pedal since 2 years and i never thaught of changing it..If ur good enough u'll get The reall thing from it.. If not then Buy A multi effects.

It's Boss,It's metal..it never break..it's like an Orange Little Tank!

This pedal fits my style,i play Mostly Blues/Classic Rock ..never thaught of changin it and never will replace it cos im sure that there will be no other pedal that will deliver the sound of this unit. if it were stolen or lost defenitly i'll buy another one, cos u can't compare it to other products..it's unique.

3 knobs, hella easy!

oooo god, like many past reviews say, it blows! if you want it just because lots of big names use it, you must be eatin psycheshrooms. it is THE worst distortion ive ever owned, once i stepped on it to turn it on, it cut the volume BIGTIME!!!!i owned it for about a month before giving it to my friend, who plays bass, but it does sound suprisingly good for a bass distortion, (so for bass, id give it an 8, but this is a guitar player's review soooo.................it sucks major ass!!!!!) dont get it cause you read kurdt used it, dont be another kurt wannabe!!!(this is in my opinion, of course)

its a boss, its the best.

totally useless to me and my needs.

Easy, what could be easier, 3 knobs

I had this pedal for about two years before I sold it. I say that to let you know that I tried to lik ethe tone, but couldn't.
I use a Yamaha Pacifica into a fender deluxe 90. The sound of the DS-1 was so 'tinny' that it was unsable. I tried it in several situations with several different settings but never got anything really useable out of it.

Yeah, it worked fine. Dropped it out the window once. Two stories down....still worked fine. I take a point off though because the on off swith was hooked up backwards...it would automatically come on when I plugged in.

Never dealt with it

Wouldn't buy it again...completely useless....sold it to some punk kid for twenty bucks(with the 20 dollar power supply).

It,s to easy! Which makes it more difficult to dial in. It needs more tone knobs

I don,t understand why someone would give this only a "1". I was impressed with the sound of this pedal due to the old bd-2 I have. I just bought it, brand new, it's a Taiwan pedal. Its actually has a decent amount of bottom end. this thing can gain up pretty good. the tone sounds best around 9-11 O'clock. thats the problem with boss pedals, the narrow range of usable sounds on these tone knobs. although the OD-3 was very good with a full bodied sound and more range of the tone knob thats usable. I modded my bd-2 with a keeley phat mod to alleviate this problem.I A/B'd the bd-2 against the DS-1
and it held its own. it actually has a more desirable distortion tone. It's not as transparent, but for 40 bucks this is well worth it. So the fool who gave this thing a "1" must have had the tone turned all the way up, a crappy amp, a p.o.s. guitar and no sense of dialing in guitar equipment!

It's a Boss! it will still work even when you get sick of it 20 years from now!

Never needed support

I wanted to give an honest appraisal of this pedal and I think it sounds pretty good through a tube amp. This is a distortion, not an overdrive. It's for high gain work with a classic vibe. You know 70's/80's stuff. thats when marshall ruled and every rock band had a good to killer guitarist. Unlike todays modern guitarists(Pathetic!)
I would replace if it got swiped because there is no cheaper distortion thats not plastic. Besides you can mod it for 50-75 bucks and have the best of the best for about $100

Been playin since 1972, can play styles from John fogerty to John petrucci, have and have had mesa, fender, traynor, strats, pauls, ibanez, parker, and a alot of pedals.

Nic prostrzego, bardzo łatwo i przyjemnie się z niego korzysta...

Efekt brzmi fajnie, zaskakujące jest to, że można uzyskać na nim nawet fuzz, szybko podsumowując efekt jest w 100% wart swojej ceny i raczej jest to podstawowe wyposarzenie. Jak ktoś potrzebuje dobrego efektu, to bardzo polecam. Efekt nie jest przeznaczony do łupania, ale można wydobyć z niego trochę ciężaru, ale bez przesady. Myślę, że nadaje się do grania stylow od Blusa na Hard Rocku kończąc (przynajmniej na moim sprzęcie Squier Affinity Strat + Boss DS-1 + Laney MXD30).

Wiadomo BOSS... nie probowałem jeszcze żucać nim o ściane ale chuba nie będe, i tak by się nie rozleciał.

nie miałem okazji z nimi handlować

gram wszystko co mi się podoba i co uwazem za choc trochę wartosciowe...

The easiest pedal ever made, surely? Distortion, tone, volume. And the on/off stomp. That's it. Sorry, but only a total idiot couldn't operate this unit.

Its a distortion, so naturally there are a few strange (albeit quiet) noises going on. Show me a distortion of any real calibre that doesn't have 'em...

Its THE distortion. There is no other distortion. If its good enough for Johnny Ramone... But seriously, I know there are a lot of fun pedals. But there aren't many classicx. The Big Muff, the Guv'nor, the Rat, and this one. None of the others matter, not really. If you can't do it with one of these four then you shouldn't even be playing the guitar as far as I'm concerned.

What does everyone say about Boss pedals? Nothing... NOTHING is ever going to stop this mother...

Roland are OK, but I've never needed to call 'em about anything in the Boss range.

The only reason I don't give it a 10 is because this is the most emulated and ripped off distortion in the business. The plastic Behringer is a decent knock-off and a lot cheaper, the Marshall Jackhammer can accomplish a similar sonic range, and it does a lot more for the money. But the DS1 is the #1 distortion in the history of the electric guitar, and that's not a bad way to judge an effects pedal.

I can always get sound suitable for me. I play punk, rock, grunge and it isn't problem to get all this kind of distortion from it.

Manual is very good and easy. The preset sounds are all great!

I use copy of Fender stratocaster and Peavey bandit 112 amp. It sounds really great with it. I can get Nirvana, Ramones, Sex Pistols, Pixies sound. I use a lot of settings, but my most favourite is: TONE 10-11 o'clock, DIST 4-5 o'clock its really good for punk such as Ramones etc..

No problems!

I have never needed it.

Its great for PUNK, GRUNGE and ROCK music. So if you like this kinds of music, its good choice. I have played 1,5 year and this is my 1st effect. I'm really satisfied with it. Its much better than my amp distortion I can get all kind of distortion. If it were stolen or lost I would buy it again. So I recommend it all guitarists who need distortion, but it isn't for metal and hard playing.

three knobs

don't be fooled by the other reviews, this is not a good pedal. the tone is horrable, yes kurt cobain and many other famous guitar players used this pedal, that was partly why i got it. but even if you're tone deaf, and don't care about clarity, still don't buy it. the review some guy wrote about the tone knob being a joke(and old man coughing into cheap speakers) is the truth, i won't even use this thing just to get feedback durring a section of one of our songs anymore. i turn on a reverb pedal and drone on a note instead.
buy something with tone.

3 Knobs. You would have to be an idiot to have dificulty using it. As far as getting a GOOD sound out of it...no way...impossible. I realize some of these guys are having orgasms over this pedal, but it sucks and there is no other way to describe it. Sucks, I tells ya!
Forget the manual.

I use a Crate VFX5112 modded by Bob @ Eurotubes. It is the best sounding amp, period. I play a Fender Custom Shop Telecaster with DiMarzio X2N and Fender Black Canyon humbuckers. The pedal adds NO useful tones for me. I am an Electronics Design Engineer, so I modded the pedal myself. That helped a little and at ONLY one setting can I get a useful tone. As the useless box comes from the factory, it has an electronic, phony, gritty sound. I cannot imagine what they were thinking when they made this thing (must have gotten some good pot that day). It is a simple 2-stage overdrive unit with a 4558 op amp doing the honors. The capacitors are the cheapest I have ever seen, they are sub-standard and that may be why it sounds like crap. It is made on a phenolic board. NOBODY uses phenolic boards, that is stone-age. I cannot imitate any sound I have ever heard at all with this unit. You would do much better with a REAL tube overdrive unit. The odd-order harmonics bite, even-order are too hard edged and synthetic sounding. Obviously, whoever designed this was deaf from listening at high volume levels. No audiophile could have agreed to make and sell this thing. It has an electronic bypass, not a true hard-wire bypass, so it will load the signal.

Typical Boss. Last forever.
I think you could gig with it without a back up and have no worries.
That has always been a Boss characteristic.

No idea, never used them.

I play Country Rock and Southern Rock (used to play metal). I use overdrive all the time. This thing is useless for me or anyone looking for a good sound. I have been playing 34 years, so I know a little about music. I own a slew of tube amps and one solidstate amp. I have a collection of Stratocasters (my favorite weapon). If it were stolen, I would be glad. The guy would be SO disappointed. I would NEVER buy one again. Love the physical quality, hate the sound. Anything I wish it had? Good sound and wider tone controls. The passive tone controls suck. If you used it to crack walnuts, I would give it a 7. If you used it to achieve an "overdrive" sound, I give it a 1.
If you MUST have one, contact me and, if I still have it, I will send you mine. It has the dual hi-gain mod. Hi-quality caps in the signal circuit, and, yes, a blue LED (I like blue).
I reviewed a Behringer OD pedal and it, along with this pedal tie for crappiest sounding pedals of all time. They are stinkers.
Don't waste your money. These guys who have wet dreams using it, must REALLY be deaf. Or 12 years old.

Could it possibly be easier?
Tone, Level, Distortion... plug guitar, plug to amp, press to ON.

I find this pedal a building block for any pedalboard. It is very versatile.
It has almost that "tubey" vibe and dynamics to it.

I own quite a few types of guitars, and the damn thing goes perfectly with every single one of them!

It also goes great before rack systems and hi gain amps to add some more juice to the sound.
Oh... and no noise! ;-)

No problems whatsoever. These pedals are tanks!!!
Careful when using external DC power instead of battery: it might make noise. However, the noise is produced by the power supply, not the pedal. Make sure to use a regulated 9VDC power supply.

It suits every single style: from mild blues to really heavy Metal.
It is a bit expensive. Not so much as a Tubescreamer, though.
The price difference might not be worthwhile to most ears, so subltle are the differences.

I'd defenitely buy another DS-1 if something happened to this pedal.

As I write this there are already something like 35 reviews of this pedal on here already, so I'm not sure that anything I have to say will make that much difference--but since this is my first review here, maybe that's so much the better.

I like this pedal a lot and use it constantly. For the use that I put it to it's very close to perfection. Although it's not absolutely perfect, it's certainly good enough for the girls I go with.

As to ease of use, it has Level, Tone and Distortion knobs and a footswitch to turn it on and off. One jack to send your signal in and one to send your signal out. I can't think of any way to make it easier...

First a note on how I use this thing--my rig goes something like this: Guitar (usually humbucker-equipped) --> Boss noise gate pedal --> Ibanez TS-808 re-issue Tube Screamer set as a boost only (sometimes I'll dial in just a hair of distortion on it, but very seldom) --> Boss DS-1 set as a boost only --> any other pedals (GE-7 graphic EQ, Time Machine Boost, etc.) --> Marshall 100-watt Plexi re-issue with the bright channel on 10 and the "normal" channel on about 3 or 4 with the channels jumpered --> Homemade oak plywood 4X12 cab with Weber 35-watt ceramic-magnet Blue Dog speakers in it. So I use the Tube Screamer to boost my guitar's signal into the front end of my amp. This gives a bright, upfront, crispy sound. That's how I like my heavy rhythms. Think Starship's "Jane" or Ozzy-era Jake E. Lee. But when I go for a solo, I like to have more bass in the sound. That's what the DS-1 is good for. It adds warmth back into the tone for that nice, contralto, lower-midrangey kind of tone. More David Gilmour.

I vacillated a bit between giving this pedal an 8 or a 9 for sound quality. It does add a bit of hiss and hum if you're not careful and leave it on when it's not being used. But, hey, what's perfect in this world? Especially for less than forty bucks?

I've had mine for a few years now and never had any sort of issue with it at all. I doubt I ever will unless it gets damaged by being dropped out of a sixth story window onto concrete, flooded, run over by a pickup or some such...

As for gigging with it without a backup, well, I have other distortion/boost pedals; I'd probably go to one of those if this one took a crap during a gig.

I've never dealt directly with Boss or Roland. I doubt I ever will have to with this particular pedal.

If this got stolen, broken, lost, dropped overboard, confiscated, whatever, I'd mosey right on down to my local Sam Ash, Guitar Center, Musician's Fiend or other musical instrument retailer and replace it. It's just to great a pedal not to, especially at the price.

As you can tell from my review, I really like having this pedal. It's just about the perfect tool for my purpose. However, I don't really use it as a distortion pedal, just as a boost. If you think that you'll buy one of these, plug your guitar into it and plug into a Fender Sidekick practice amp and sound like you're playing a Marshall stack, you're doubtless mistaken. Used to extract just a bit more crunch/distortion out of an already nice-sounding rig, this thing is aces. Trying to use it to create a good basic tone into a clean amp would almost certainly be far more problematic. So I give it a 9 instead of a 10 for that reason. Used the way I use it, it'd get a 10.

Really easy. My drummer could use this!

Boss pedals will always sound great no matter what. Here's my setup: Epiphone Les Paul - Dunlop Original Crybaby - Boss DS-1 - Rocktron Vertigo Vibe - Boss CH-1 Super Chorus - Crate XT65R. With the Vertigo Vibe it sounds like a flange almost. With the CH-1 I get a good grungy Kurt Cobain-esqe sound. Sounds awesome with the Crybaby. I use this on the clean channel of my amp and it sounds fine. Really brings out the character in my Les Paul's humbuckers. I listen to alot of Led Zeppelin and Social Distortion and this little stomp box is great for those types of sounds. Good distorted Beatle sounds too!

Two things will survive a nuclear apocalypse: Cockroachs and Boss Pedals. I don't think I would need a backup.

I play Classic Rock, Hard Rock, Punk, Blues, Grunge, Country, Rockabilly, Jazz, Psychobilly and this pedal is a God send. If I could make a heist on the Boss factory, I would. And then I would come out of the factory, running around with an AK-47 and yell "Where is the f*** is the van?" To quote the great comedian Dane Cook. If this were stolen I would beat that person with a Louisville Slugger! I know everyone else is saying "If your thinking about it, just get it!" Well listen to us! You will be completely satisfied. I play in a Punk band and I depend on this motherf***er!

Really easy to use...if you can't tweak 3 knobs you're an idiot. To get a good sound, now that's the hard part. I've had this pedal for over a year now, and now own a Keeley modded one. Check out www.robertkeeley.com for upgrades and sound clips on a bunch of pedals.

From the factory, this pedal sucks. It's great for a beginner, but that's it. Really though...what should we expect from a pedal that costs $40? Now that I have the one modded by Keeley, I couldn't be any happier. By the way, everyone that says Steve Vai uses this pedal is right, but his surely isn't stock. It's a Keeley too. :-) It sounds like a marshall through my fender amp. So sweet.

Before the mods, it has a buzzsaw kind of sound and is too harsh and tinny...

Yeah yeah...Boss. We all know

Never dealt with the company, but I've heard they're amazing...they'll fix your pedal for free if it breaks, which I doubt will ever happen.

I play a lot of different styles, mainly rock or indie. I have this run before my Ibanez TS-9, as well as a slew of other pedals and it really makes a good mate to them all. I still give it a 7 because if you want any kind of a good tone you HAVE to have it modified, or if you're against that just buy a Fulltone or something of the sort. It's good for the cost - cheaper than ANY of my other pedals, and it's always gotten the most use, even when unmodified.

Great DISTORTION tones from this pedal. I use this pedal only with a clean amp. Either Solid State or Vintage Tube. If I wanna punch an already OVERDRIVEN amp I use a BOOST, OVERDRIVE pedal or FUZZ pedal. My ds-1 works well with my other pedal types and sounds good with humbuckers and single coils.

I have the MIJ version. I A-B'd it with the MIT version and to my ears there is a difference. My MIJ isnt as harsh in the high end and has more low-mid capabilities than the MIT. Both cross paths within some ranges and with amp EQ tweaking I could approximate the ranges I like with the MIJ on the MIT. I prefer the MIJ over the MIT for what I consider a better more "musical" tonal range, but I have jammed with both and had just as much fun with either.