Boss DS-1 Distortion

This stompbox has the usual features: Three knobs for tone, level and gain. So it doesn't differ from other classic distortion pedals. This makes it much easier. Though the level knob makes the sound more fat it doesn't really increase the volume. But I think that's not a problem at all. The tone knob gives you a wide range of sound. In comparison to other pedals (for example the mxr zack wylde)it gives some nice deep bottom sounds.

The sound can only be described a classic a heavy metal sound. I've been told many famous guitarists as steve vai and joe satriani would play it live. Believe it or not. I play the boss ds-1 with a jcm-800 and a 80's sqier strat and i must say it sounds really great. I recommend to use it only with tube amp that has'nt too much gain. Together with my jcm-800 it gives me a high gain distortion that is still soft and warm. But before buying it remember that the sound you receive depends very much on your amp.

I have for 3 weeks so I can't make some serious statements. But BOSS gave me a 5 years warrenty.

I'm a big fan of King's X and Ty Tabor. The sound I get from this piece of gear is perfect for melodic heavy metal. It doesn't sound aggressive at all. It isn't too noisy and allows you to play fast notes because of its high gain sustain.

Easy to use. As manual says, set your distortion, then tone, then level. Key thing here - rolling tone to left adds bass punch and cuts highs. Rolling right does opposite. This makes for a wide variety of tones. I think this pedal does a pretty good overdrive sound as well at lower drive settings.

I've AB'd this pedal against the Proco Vintage Rat extensively - my conclusions were as follows: (1) The DS-1 has more bottom end punch and crunch with a less compressed sound than the RAT. (2) The Rat is a bit smoother in attack (except with the DS-1 at low tone and drive settings - it's smooth as well). (3) The DS-1 works better/is more musical at lower drive settings with the Rat sounding a bit squashed due to the onboard compression. (4) DS-1 was far more articulate at very high gain settings with the RAT descending into a gurgling mush of fuzz that was unuseable. The filter control on the RAT is different than the tone knob on the DS-1. To my ears, the filter knob on the Rat only raises or lowers highs, but does not impact the bass side much. The conclusion, while there are certain tones out of the Rat I really like, if I had to run out of the door to a gig with one distortion pedal, I'd grab the DS-1.

Boss O.K.

I've been playing a long time (20+ years) and have tried many different OD/DS pedals including the TS-9 class of pedals. I play into a high powered clean amp through humbuckers on a Paul and depend on pedals solely for distortion. This pedal is already a great value even if it wasn't currently discounted so much ($40). It's got a satisfying tone IF you sit down and read the manual (don't laugh) to really understand how the knobs interact with each other. There's no reasonable distortion/overdrive tone you can't get out of this one.

A simple pedal with only three knobs, but the average american guitar palyer will set all the values at 10 and leave it. It's a single button and the hardest thing to detect is a dead battery, so, I guess it's gonna get an 8.

This is probably the closest you can get to a Marshal tone without a Marshall tube amp, you could probably use this in the effects loop of the MG line to make it sound even Marshallier. I love the way this one sounds, using custom fat-strats and a '73 Kustom III Bass amp and guiitar very gigable tone. Unfortunately, it can't take the place of a good 'ole british JCM.

Never broke, never didn't turn on with a push and the battery's got hella good life.

I say, go for it, what have you got to loose? It's a great pedal all around.

I don't think any one will argue that this is a simple pedal. I gave it a nine insted of a ten only because it is not as easy knowing how to use it well. I've used a DS-1 for about three years and i'm still finding ways to get new tones out off it.

Ok this is my slightly sad set up.

Obscure 70 guitar->cry baby wah->Electro-Harmonix Worm->E.H Big Muff
->DS-1 Distortion->Fender 25 watt frontman

This set up is not loud and it is totaly unaceptable if I play with a drummer in which case I would use another amp. Volume weekness aside I get good tone. In my oppinion this effect can be weak but the distortion i would call weak some one else may call hardcore. That is very often the case with this effect. The tone varies a lot with how you use it. I get great tone out of it.

It is a Boss they don't break. One time my basement flooded and it sat in a puddle for 2 days. I pulled it out, said a prayer, plugged in and played. It was perfect. It's not a tank. Tanks break. It's an M16. It's your best friend

Never delt with them.

As i said i've had it for 3 years. I love it. I play Blues, Jazz, and crazy trippy rock. Compared to the other basic distortions on the market this is a god. If your trying to play the pop music you hear on the radio i don't know if this is good for you. I'm trying to write things like Mars Volta and Fugazi. I find it very effective for this. Try turning the tone down and turning the ditortion all the way up than turn the volume on your guitar down to about 1 or 2. This gives me a great warm commpressed blues sound. Learn to use the pedal before you write it off. It will reward you. I gave it a 9 caus i hated it at first untill a figured out what to do with it. I now find it to be versitile and effective.

It's easy... too easy.. but...

Some guys said that it sucks and some guys said it's nice. Well, here is my opinion. If you use it with a solid state amp, it probably sounds so bad and ugly. If you use it with a tube amp, also maybe you would not be satisfied with it. I tried it with my Crate solid state amp, it sounded really aweful and I repented my choice. Also when I tried it with my Mesa Boogie Subway Rocket in clean channel, I disapointed a little, too.
Finally, I tried it in lead channel with low gain, I started the volumes up. And I realized some tips and the reason why some guys complain and some guys praise this little orange box.
Because THERE ARE SO MANY WAYS TO TRY IT! I'm not a defender of DS-1. But hey guys that don't like this box at all! Think! DS-1 has been produced since 1979! Why? Because it sounds nice! Of course, with some specific gears... though... Try DS-1 with many ways as possible you can... with tube amp in clean channel, with lead channel, or with clean channel... or with low gain, or high gain... with low volume, or with very high volume... or use FX loop! Tweak the knobs! Abuse them! I think this is the only way to find out the right sound...
The most difficult thing is to find out the right gears for you. I know also ther are some uncool gears out there. But all the brandmakers are investing their money for producing new gears in every day and month and year!
It's so hard to find out your right gear in a short time.
But I think this is worthy... finding my sound through my gears...
Good luck!

It's Boss!!! No doubt!!!

I also have GE-7 and the LED didn't work. And they changed it for free. But it took very long time about 1 month for doing that... which very sucks...

It's very cool and one of the best dist. pedal on the planet and no one can deny it!!!

This unit is pretty easy to setup. 3 knbos for Tone, Distortion and Gain levels. The LED for ON/OFF isn't very big though.

I am using an older Kramer Baretta into an older Randalll amp/stack. Like a few other reveiwers have mentioned, apparently Joe Satriani and Steve Vai use this pedal for their main sound and that's the reason why I picked one up. They are either using modded pedals or amping it up somehow because the sound I got out of this pedal (Japanese version) was weak, flat and what I call 'blatty'. I like in your face guitar tone, like Joe's sounds anyway or Randy Rhoads. This pedal didn't even approach that, in my opinion. If you're looking for a softer rock tone, it'll do the trick.

The pedal I bought was used and obviously seen it's share of use. It worked fine however and Boss does have a good reputation for quality. I don't think I'd have this pedal anywhere near me when I was out trying to rock the house, however.

I didn't need to contact Boss about this pedal.

I like to play alot of 80's rock or some amped-up blues i.e. ZZ Top. This pedal would suit the bill for softer rock tones, but not for the heavy rock sound of the 80's. I've been playing guitar for about 16 years and I haven't used alot of effects pedals. I was trying to find a little less edgier tone than my DigiTech Metal Master, but this pedal is on the LOW end of that scale. As noted, I bought it used and will probably be trying to recoup some of my money because I don't see myself using this that much. If you go to certain guitar sites like www.guitargeek.com and punch in a players name, you'll see most of them are using an enourmous amount of effects besides their main distortion pedal and it's assumed most of us don't have thousands of bucks to dump into this kind of extensive setup, therefore the 'sound' we're looking for is gonna be a far cry from what our heros sound like. I personally like to plug in to as little possible and PLAY! My suggestion is before you are swooned by anyones list of effects, take your guitar to a dealer that sells what you're looking to buy and try it out first. Might save ya some time and money!

I don't normally write reviews, but in the case of this pedal, I felt obliged to spread the word of its shittiness. I tried it on a limb because I heard Vai and Satch used it. I thought I could tweak around for it a bit and maybe replace my beloved SD-1. I am aware that Vai and Satch have used modded ones, or the older Japanese models. I thought of getting mine modded, but for all the hassle and cost on a pedal that I despise the stock tone of, why bother piss away any more cash? Besides, distortion pedal on top of a gain channel? What the hell was I thinking. If you're planning on using this pedal the same way...what the hell are you thinking?

I'm using an Ibanez RG550 with Dimarzio Paf Pros, and a Fender Stratocaster with maple neck and Dimarzio heavy blues in the neck and solo in the bridge. My amp is a Carvin MTS halfstack. Other pedals I use are a Dunlop 535q wah and a Digitech XDD for delay in the loop.

Putting the Leval or Tone knobs anywhere over half results in a harsh, unusable tone. When you use extreme settings on the clean channel, you can get a pretty heavy distortion out of it, but every note you play has a nasal and buzzy quality.

I initially hoped to use this pedal to boost solos, and replace my SD-1. It does have more bass than the SD-1, but picking just sounds not so great with this pedal. It's very harsh on high notes. It hurts my ears, no matter how I set it up.

I did not achieve any tones similar to those of Satch or Vai. I tried using it with my SD-1 and while it was an improvement, I said to myself "Hey asshole, you've got a great tube amp, why the fuck are you using two boss pedals to achieve all of your tone?!" I couldn't justify that, or keeping the DS-1 when I obviously liked the SD-1 more.

I'm sure it's dependable, but I wouldn't use it in a gig in the first place.

Never contacted Boss.

I play a variety of music. I like clean tone jammin', I like high gain metal and shred. I like bustin' out some good old fashioned rock 'n' roll.
I've been playing for nine years. If it were lost or stolen, the theif would probably return it to me after about 25 minutes. My favourite feature is when I step on it when it's on, it goes off. As mentioned earlier, I bought this on a limb because it was inexpensive and I have read some good things about it. When I tried it out at the store I felt I didn't give it a fair chance because I really wanted to try it on my set up at home...so I bought it, and after I tried it on my set-up, I returned it. It astounds me that some of these other reviews talk to highly of this pedal. I guess the other gear that these kids are using is a good indication of their conception of tone.

You know the Deal

Understand what this pedal is for. I didn't when I purchased it (not that I didn't play it before I bought it, but I hadn't played it with my gear and in my songs). I play mostly atmospheric folk-rock (?), and just couldn't find a slight enough sound from this device. I love all boss products (have had many throughout my 27+ years of playing) because of their construction-to-cost ratio, but this one was a bit too extreme for what I needed. I may start looking for a tubed distortion (please don't say "boutique" as I refuse to pay the money). Great sound, just not what I was looking for...

The reason for buying boss products.

Never needed to.

Many well respected and talented people have used this effect, and these are people who could afford anything, so what does this tell you about it? It's just that, for what I do, it was the wrong choice.

As any other distortion

Man! I got this Moded DS-1 called Liys Pro Mod and is ain't kelley or Brian, tried them both! OK keeley is nice but I need more kinda sweet harmonic in it and brian is away to fat is just not for me, suit more those ppl who still lives in the 80s. And this piece is the one that kicked ass. I like the look too, visit it's site at www.diokay.com and look where the switch and LED placed. Sweet! it's neat, Man! I just love the guy who design this Mod. I'm ordering the SD-1 Liys Pro Mod as well it looks kinda creamy overdrive too and wonder what the hi Freq switch is mmm...

I trust on BOSS pedals otherwise they won't serve 5 year warranty :)

Never dealt with them and hope I won't need them in the future

I play for 20 years, and play Vai, Satriani, Cyrka kinda stuff. Used to use original DS-1 japan, before getting keeley and brian, man! so thin! Couldn't remember how could I stand that all those time. With this Liys DS-1 through my DHP-55 and G-Force sounds away better than others and best to my setup. I also have SansAmp GT-2, OD808, they are great but I still prefer this DS-1 Liys Moded.

3 knobs. How hard can it be? You can easily achieve anything from modern rock, to punk, to britrock, or grunge.

I used this with a Godin SDxt and a Peavey Blazer 158. This distortion blows away most distortions on amps.

However the type of distortion is a bit limited. In order to get a wider range of sounds from it you might need to buy a boss equalizer. But thats only if you are really picky about tone.

I could light it on fire and throw it off my roof and it would still work.

Never talked to boss. It has a 5 year warranty though

Personally i'm a Nirvana fanboy. The DS-1 is the pedal Kurt used(tone at at 11 o'clock, level and distortion at the max) and after tuning my guitar to drop-d I could get the exact sound of any Nirvana song. I now have a Line 6 Spider II so I don't need the pedal. However, I've found that by turning the tone all the way up, level all the way up, and distortion all the way down, you can get a strange kind of clean tone that seems to sustain forever.

3 knobs how can u get confused

I have a washburn bt-2 and a mrshall solid state. this pedal sounds awsome through this setuup. i cant beleave ppl are giving it anytin lower than an 8. u can get a real classic sound or u can play grunge or punk (great punk sound if u play real punk, like the ramones) u can get a nice smooth distortion or a hard grinding distortion and everthing in between. i play clapton (when he was with cream) ac/dc led zeppelin nirvana the ramones and the who with this pedal (just to name a few) i also have a boss metal zone wich i bought just to mess around with and the ds-1 is alot cheaper and it still is deffinatly the better pedal the metal zone sounds very synthetic and thin.

hell yeah if u look up reliable or indistructable in the dictionary theres a picture of aboss next to it. bosses never fail.

never had to probly never will

awsome sounds great dont listen to people who say its bad they probly listen to kusic that is like a fusion of ska and death metal (wouldnt the be weird) but anyway awsome pedal esp. comsidering the price i couldnt beleave how cheap it was amazing.

Easy as hell...just turn the 2 knobs to get anyhting from a nice clip to a gritty tone. Anyone could figure it out, thats the great thing about BOSS pedals.

Guitars: 1999 Gibson Les Paul Std./ 2000 Gibson Explorer/ 2000 Gibson SG Std./ 1997 Epiphone Sheradon/ 2003 Fender Stratocaster US Deluxe/ 2003 Schecter Classic/ 2002 Fender US Std. Telecaster.

Amps: Peavey Classic 50 (head w/ Marshall 1960 cab), Marshall JCM 800 on 1960 as well.

One thing must be understood: I am a high school aged guitar player, about 18 and a half. I play a lot of shows with my band, and whenever we play a battle of the bands, we always go up against bands where kids have solid state amps with a Metal Zone or Zoom multieffects processor supplying distortion. It sounds like someone ripping paper to a beat - just grindy, shitty tone. I can't believe people on here rip on this petal when they have a 65-watt Crate solidstate. Dont blame the petal, blame the amp. Go try this petal out in a local music store on a AC30 or a Peavey Classic 30 - I will garantee you it will make your day. This petal sounds great on a tube amp - a good 9. There are only a couple of petals that can beat it, but those are about 4-6 times the price. If you want a nice SRV-like tone, run it through the clean channel on an all-tube amp...its just sweet. Also, it makes obtaining that grunge tone a lot easier for you Kurt fans.

Boss petals have never broken on me and they last forever.

Never dealt but I hear they are good as far as warrentee repairs

I play almost any kind of music and this petal gives the Classic 50 a nice little boost

I highly suggest it for tube amps...if you have a solid state, save the money for a tube amp.

3 knobs and a manual.Easy.

Not the most radical distortion but doesn't compromise my tone.I can play effective rhythm and/or lead with this.I play hard-pop rock like Spoon,Built to Spill,Mogwai...etc.The DS-1 is perfect.My main guitars are a USA Fender strat and an 80's Japanese strat with EMGs.I play through a Fender Ultimate chorus 2x12 combo.The overdrive on the combo is limited but the ds-1 really helps crank it when needed.

It is a Boss.Drop it from a skyscraper and it will damage the sidewalk.

I don't know.I never need support from Boss.

Like most all Boss pedals this thing is "dead-on"--not as extreme as some more expensive hand made boxes but totally useful and practical and cheap.

Three Knobs, and it's made by BOSS. Not much else to say.

I love this pedal! I play a Squire Series 24 M-50(surprisingly good guitar)> DS-1>Ibanez FZ7>Dunlop Crybaby Wah> Early 1970's solid state 80watt Gibson Amp. This pedal is all I ever need. I play a lot of punk(the real shit, no pop punk) and hardcore music, and I sometimes jam out Hendrix or Cream, and this pedal is the shit.Heavy Grind, Light overdrive, Fuzz, even screaming leads are all there with the DS-1.

The main reason I bought this pedal is that I was tired of the overly saturated sound of the the Boss Metal Zone, and because my amp doesn't have OVERDRIVE, I went out and bought a DS-1. It's perfect for heavy chords or light Dist. So I can play TOOL and SONIC YOUTH with the same pedal. If I had to choose on pedal out of a million, It would be the DS-1.

It is made of metal(mine has a lot of wear and tear on it) and it has good battery life. I can honestly say that I have never had a battery go dead in my DS-1

Didn't need any.

This pedal is a great Distortion for almost all types of music. The only Thing I would not recomend it for is REALLY HEAVY METAL. With the right amp, maybe, but It's not really ment for that.

Other than that, I have no warnings about this gem. It can be used as a Overdrive, Gain boost, Rock, Punk, Classic rock or hardcore Dist. and even as a Feedback machine. Every song I've ever written had the DS-1 in there somewhere. It is good with both Single coil pick-ups and humbuckers(sucked ass through a '62 FENDER JAGUAR once)and is about a versitile as they come.

For all those who dont like the DS-1, fuck off. Im sorry It's not a pussy ass Tube Screamer, or Nu metal and cock rock METAL ZONE, but it's not supposed to be. The DS-1 is supposed to be a raw sounding Distortion, and that's what it should be.

Easy to learn.I got mine used with no instructions but I had no problems figure it out.

Nice sounding distortion.I had a Danelectro Fab-tone distortion but lost it at a gig.I got the Boss as a temporary replacement but have grown to really like it more than the Fab.It isn't as rough as other distortion pedals but it blends better and comes more alive with my guitar tones.I play blues and classic rock and my axes are a Fender American strat,an Epiphone Casino and a Tokai Les paul copy.I play these through a Sunn Beta lead 2x12 combo and sometimes through a borrowed Bassman head and whatever cab is around.

100% I also have a Boss chorus and delay from the mid 80s and have never had a problem.

I have never called or dealt with Boss.

This is a great little box.I have gone through the boutique pedal phase but keep coming back to Boss.The Ds-1 is simply the perfect distortion as far as I am concerned.Go to guitargeek.com and check to see what the pros use on their pedalboards.Just because somebody shells out 2 or 3 hundred bucks for a high-end Z-vex or Budda or Fulltone or whatever does not make you a pro.Real touring and recording musicians use what they know is good and reliable.

It's not as easy as a two knob compressor, so it takes a few minutes to find your sweet spots.

Many years ago (late '70's), I had a MIJ unit. Used it with a Fender Harvard, retubed with American tubes, cranked to ten. It had the sound, played with it for years. Then I got bored with it, gave it away (ouch, who knew?) and moved on to a MXR Distortion +, that got tired, the amp got tired, and I was making some $$$, so I puckered up and bought a Mesa Mark IV stack, the whole full tilt with the EVM's. Don't really need distortion pedals with this rig, but something was missing. Then I discovered the power of boosts to tighten things up, provide a little more clarity, and generally make things go to 13.

So, I bought a new DS-1 (MIT, of course) to see what kind of boost it would make. Well, it pretty much sucked. But for $39, you win some, you lose some. You can always give it away to some beginner, would sound better than the distortion on some Crate.

But then I found Robert Keeley's website for modding pedals and he does a mod for the DS-1. I'll send mine over to him for a mod and see what happens.

There's nothing wrong with Boss reliability, and I'm one of those that likes the buffering when they're off. No bleeding, I only get that on my MT-2.

Never had to deal with Boss, their products don't require too much CS as far as I can tell.

Stock, it sucks as a boost. Compared to a Mark IV, the distortion doesn't do much for me, either. We'll see if Robert Keeley can do something with it.

Simple.3 knobs.Mild or wild all the sounds are great and quite useful.

I love this box.The distortion is creamy and musical.I currently have an old Ibanez Roadstar Solid body electric with twin humbuckers and a Japanese Fender Tele Re-issue.I play my guitars through a Roland JC-120(mellow solid-state)and the distortion on the JC-120 is rather light.The ds-1 is an awesome asset.Major improvement over the Rolands's onboard distortion.If both are combined it gets really gritty.

So far 3 years and going strong.I can honestly assert that I have never heard anything negative abous BOSS reliability.

Don't need support when all the products are perfect.

I mostly play Jazz in my original band and play straight through my JC-120 but I recently got a gig playing in a party/covers type band that pays really well.I needed more "fuzz" for some hard-rock and metal songs that we do so I opted for the dS-1.I have in the past had an Electro Harmonix Big Muff that was really savage but totally unreliable.I also had a proco Rat but it was too "80s" sounding for me.I think the boss suits my very well.

Very easy to use.Dial in what you want and your set!

Ok.I hate people that come on hear and talk crap about pedals.I went pedal shopping one day. I was looking to get a metal-zone. I've read all of the reviews on this site about how amazing metal-zones are.But the truth is, when it came down to it, then metal-zone failed me.The metal-zone is only good if you play power chords only! Even then the metal-zone can still be very muddy at times.I play a lot of heavy melodic-hardcore and melodic-rock.I play mostly Deftones,Thursday, Evergreen Terrace.Anyways, this is where the DS-1 comes in.At first i played the DS-1 alone and though it was crap.But if you just plus it in and crank the TOne,Level, and Drive all the way up(which is what most in-experienced guitar players do) of course its gonna be crap.So what I did was dial in a good solid musical distortion.Then I went about and purchased a Boss EQ.HOLY SH*T!!!!!!THis pedal came alive!This is probably the best distortion I have ever gottan out of a pedal!! The key is to run the EQ in front of the DS-1 and crank the level knob on the EQ all the way.Now I can get great chunck for my power chords, but then when I play a nice melodic chorus,people can still tell whats going on!

its a boss...nuff said...

Here is the deal.Buy the boss DS-1 for 40 bux.Grab an EQ and crank the level all the way on the EQ.From there, dial in ur sound and I PROMISE, you wont be dissapointed!

very easy to use.

godin radiator into a mdx1400-ns2-ph1r-ls2-(1)>fz2-hm3-(2)>ds1-sd1-H&K ats120 valve head-fxloop-mdx1400-hf2-smallclone-pds1002 into a 2/vintage30 cab.
I really like this pedal, it can go from warm fuzzy distortion to hard crunch. i have the mij version. i use this effect with the small clone to get nivana type sounds. this is also a great distortion to use on my amps lead channel. i can dial in a very lush fuzz distortion with lots of mids. this pedal can also do nice dinosaur jr sounds when combined with the sd1. however it is not as good as the sd1 for pristine sound quality. if you want a really contemporary heavy crunch distortion then i would recommend the hm-3

very realiable. i have owned for 10 years now.

no need for support.

this is a great effect. it is not as usefull as the sd1 but it produces warm fuzz distortion for grunge and 80's guitar sounds.
i play grunge and alternative rock. gotta love the ds-1

The Boss DS01 distortion pedal is great, probably the best distortion pedal out. It is very easy to use, it has 3 knobs, tone, level, and distortion. Produces a great distortion, not an overdone distortion that sounds fuzzy and trebly. The ds-1 can even be used as a volume boost pedal, but better as distortion.

I use a Fender Strat and an Epiphone Elitist Les Paul Standard Plus through a Peavey head and Behringer cabinet. The DS-1 is my favorite distortion pedal, it sounds great. It doesn't give you a stupid trebly or fuzzy distortion, it produces a distortion that is perfect for most types of music. The Boss DS-1 distortion pedal is the best distortion pedal, and the way you know it is, is that all the best use it, like Vai and Satriani.

Boss always makes great, long lasting pedals. The only problem you would have with it might be some scratches or paint chips if you are careless or don't take care of your stuff. I use the DS-1 on gigs every time, I use that and the dist. I get from my Peavey head. Boss pedals are built to last, they are made of metal.

Never had to deal with them, no problems.

If my DS-1 happened to get stolen, lost, or broken, I would definitly have to buy another. I did think about gettin a Digitech hot rod pedal, but the Boss DS-1 sounded a lot better. You can get the best distortions out of it, but it is not a pedal for heavey metal, for heavey metal stuff buy the Boss metal zone pedal, insane pedal, I got a ton of pedals, mainly boss. I have wahs, volume, digitech whammy, compressors, distortions, overdrives, delays, chorus, easily, I got just about every kinda pedal out. I do have a few distortion pedals, but the Boss DS-1 distortion pedal is the best. I also have the DS-2, do not buy that over the DS-1, trust me. DS-2 is not a good distortion pedal, it is ok, but the Ds-1 is a lot better.

Any idiot can use 3 knobs

I have been playing for around 7 years. I needed more distortion to play my solo's. I bought it for my crate GX-30. First I thought that my Crate GX-30 and Crate GX-60 didnt take to the pedal well, as the distortion sounded like crap. Then I tried it on my buddies Marshalls and I couldnt get any descent sounds out of it. Its a garbage pedal. I play blues classic rock and metal and not one sound that comes out of the distortion pedal sounds half descent. DONT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS PEDAL. I would say it is getting good review on this post because people dont know what they are talking about. If you play punk im sure you can get away with using this pedal, but dont expect to play any sort of good solo out. Its Garbage.

I have not gotten a descent sound out of this pedal therefor i dont use it. and dont know about reliability

SHIT DONT BUY. I HATE IT. I WILL PROBOBLY GIVE IT TO MY BUD FOR FREE.

3 KNOBS... IDIOT PROOF

SET UP AS FOLLOWS //FENDER HI WAY 1 STRAT(SWEET)//BOSS COMPRESSION..SUSTAINER//BOSS DS-1///DOD EQ/// DANELECTRO CHORUS//FENDER HOT ROD DELUXE <--- GOTTA USE A TUBE AMP... GREAT PEDAL VERY VERSITALE FROM HEAVEY ROCK TO GRINDING BLUES SRV SOUND CAN BE ACHEIVED BUT I'M NO SRV..LOL

ONE WORD BOSS OF COURSE WITH SOME BOSS PEDALS THAT STANDS FOR
B: BATTERIES
O: OBLITERATED
S: SPLIT
S: SECOND......... BESIDES THAT TOUGH AS HELL NO BACK UP NEEDED

NEVER DEALT WITH

I HAVE BEEN PLAYING FOR 25 YEARS.. RIGHT NOW IM IN A CLASSIC ROCK BAND. THIS PEDAL IS FUN TO USE I PLAY IT THOUGH THE CLEAN CHANNEL FOR RYTHYM PLAYING BUT WHEN I NEED TO KICK IN A SOLO I HAVE MY OVERDRIVE CHANNEL UP FOR JUST A SLIGHT EDGE AND I9 KICK THAT AND THE SOLOS SCREAM THIS PEDAL IS SO SMOOTH AND IT DOESN'T MAKE THE SOUND BLURR IN TO A WALL OF MUD IT .... I LOVE IT

Unless you're a retarded or brain damaged..
this unit is very easy to use..
3 knobs...what can go wrong/.?

Okay...im sick of ppl complaining this and that bout this lil' orange pedal...u pay for what you get...and some guys even listed their highly sophisticated equipment which i doubt they've any one of them mentioned....

Okay coming back to this pedal.... U can get an awesome sound from this pedal... From grunge like [ think of nirvana, smashing pumpkins ] to punk like [ green day, ramones ] type of crunch/distortion....its not THAT versatile like what other ppl said it is....so if you're looking for those modern mid scoop like distortion....stay away from this pedal....Good for solo boost too..
Sounds nice thru a solid state amp [ as opposed by many ppl ] and shines thru a tube amp...

Newayz im playing a Yamaha EG303 > Digitech Whammy > Snarling Dogs wah > Boss DS-1 > Pro co Rat vintage > MXR distortion > E-H small clone > BOSS BF-2 flanger > MXR phase 90 > LINE 6 delay > Rocktron noise supprassor > Peavey Blazer 20 watts / Fender twin reverb..

Btw i play ala Green day mix Sonic youth mix radiohead mix My bloody valentine mix smashing pumpkins .......and i think this pedal is perfect for all of it....

I can strap this pedal onto some suicide bomber body....
and the pedal will still outlast that guy...:P

Why should i deal wif them..?
the pedal is working perfectly..~

All in all is a d3cent pedal if you want crunchy type of distortion
Altough is not as good as my proco rat and mxr...i still like this pedal cuz the crunch is awesome and ballsy....

Good for the sttuff that i play.....Green Day, Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana, Sonic youth, Radiohead, My bloody valentine etc..

Very simple to use with only 3 knobs: tone, volume, gain. Comes with a manual for the dumb.

Ok, running this through a BC Rich Platinum Beast (sweeet!!!!) into a Kustom 65kga.I picked up this pedal because the amps distortion has a decent overdrive but doesnt have enuf chunk. This pedal provides wicked chunk!. Can get a bit noisy when the tone is put past 11 o'clock, so i just tweak my settings on the amp to perfect my own sound. Solos sound awsome with reverb+chorus effect.

Built like a tank.

Never dealt with boss before.

Well i used to own the Boss mt-2 metal zone, but i find this pedal to be MUCH better! Doesnt suck the tone like the mt-2. If you need a little extra chunk, i would recommend this pedal.

There are only 3 knobs that you use, a tone, a distortion and a level. You dont need to worry about too many knobs because every sound that comes out of here is good. The only problem is it is hard to understand how to get the tones you want without fiddling around with the controls. Certain settings can yield a fuzzy tone while others can have a lead tone. The lack of a 3 band eq makes it hard to fine tune your sound. This still gets a 10 because I have found that the best way to use it is to keep the tone at 12:00, set the eq on my amp and then adjust the distortion... QUite simple!

Awesome! Doesnt sound good with my ss crate combo, but it is awesome on my marshall dsl. It really adds depth and clarity to distorted sounds. It can also be used as a type of solo booster but thats not what I use it for. You can get any sound out of it and it is really warm and tubey at all settings, not like the mt-2 piece of junk for death metal kids.

Never had a problem with a Boss and has a 5 year warranty.

Never had to deal with them which shows how reliable their pedals are.

Awesome, the best thing you can buy for 40 bucks (although I saw some places bumped it up to 60 recently.) and just because it isnt expensive doesnt mean it isnt good. Steve Vai uses one and I can see why.

extremely easy to use. three knobs, and its quite simple to find a good sound.

used with a squier telecaster and a 68 bandmaster, i can get a good ballsy distortion, with lots of bottom end. it can be a bit noisy and trebly with that setup, so its usually necessary to set the tone way down. also, this pedal is good for only a couple different distortion sounds. i find it pretty useful though.

its pretty dependable. i've never had a problem with it, and its my main distortion when i gig. like anything else Boss produces, it's pretty solid.

This pedal is very easy to use, 3 knobs thats all. Really easy to find settings you want. Manual is alright has some settings i never reallly used them though

My set up is Gibson Les Paul Studio ( sometime I use my old squire strat) into vox wah, boss cs-2, ds-1, ge-7, ibanez ts-9, mxr 90, line 6 dl4 - into Fender hot rod deluxe. The pedal is very quiet. Now, the sound that u will get from this pedal depends on the equipment you use. Before i had a small solid state crate amp, and this pedal sounded alright kinda classic rock fuzz, now i use it with the all tube Fender hot rod, and i use it for more heavy gain and this pedal sounds amazing. On my setting it sounds like a nice old Marshall (zeppelin) if you put a little more gain its a little heavier sound like jane's addiction. The only thing i dont like about it is that after the tone is about at 2 oclock the sound is pretty much the same very fuzzy. Works good with other effects. If used with an equalizer its even better, u can pretty my get any sound you want.

Boss is pretty dam reliable

N/A

It's a great pedal if used with good equipment. Very versatile and inexpenisve. I wouldnt try playin death metal with it though.

you have got to be kidding.this unit has to be one of the easiest pedals to use in the world .sure lots of experience helps but PLEASE use somne common sense.

my set up goes like this....'71 strat w/stock pickups,'00 american tele > tu-2>oc-2>sd-1>ds-1>tr-2>ph-2>dd-6>ce-5>2 fender stage 100 1x12 combos.most everything sets in a bcb-6 pedalboard.to start with i have a pretty awesome sound. i play straight ahead r&r, none of this modern day wimpy shit.i still believe in the doobie bros.,ccr,eagles,santana etc.i could go on about the real bands forever but...... i guess what i'm trying to say is that i wish that some of you guys who are shitting on these pedals would just grow up and buy some good equipment and then maybe you would see just how good the ds-1 really sounds.and stop bitching about batteries and buy a FUCKING POWER SUPPLY.AND ANOTHER THING I AM GETTING SO SICK OF HEARING I WANT TO SOUND LIKE KURT F#$*KING COBAIN,SATCH,VAI,VAN HALEN AND SO ON.get my drift? i've been playing guitars for almost 40 years and i've been playing in bands for 33 years.i have a quite a few recordings to my credit.what i'm trying to say is grow the hell up get your own sound be yourself and maybe then you'll understand what these pedals are all about.be a goddamn man .....get your own sound .don't expect someone else to make it for you.sorry for the ranting but it's about time that someone did it.oh and by the way these pedals are not noisy.i have no noise at all.

JUST LIKE EVERYONE SAYS IT'S A BOSS.WHAT ELSE CAN YOU SAY ABOUT PERFECTION.

i have never dealt with the company,and don't expect i'll ever have to.

if any of my boss pedals we're stolen,i would hunt the bastard down,break both of his arms,and give him an enema with a grease gun,and then fill his asshole with bondo.i love boss products because they work well and last forever.i give them a 10 for everything.i've been using their stomp boxes for probably 25 years.

This is the easiest pedal I have ever used, if your a begginer you can basically teach yourself how to use is.

The setup i use for the DS-1 is just a Yamaha EG 112C and Yamaha yg15 amp. It is kinda noisy, but thats what you want when you use a distortion pedal, atleast thats what i think. This pedal sounds excelent when you play it either in a band situation or even just playing in your room. I think if you wanted you could get the exact sound of your fav. artist, you just have to search around a little! But i think all effects are good, it just depends on the kind of music you wanna play

I would use this pedal anywhere!

EXCELENT!!!!

If you can't use this pedal without the instruction manual, you probably can't make toast....

I needed a little extra "omph" to my distortion. My rig is a Mesa Dual Rec (triple channel), with BBE SMM, Hush IIc, multieffects unit, etc. My main guitar is the Ernie Ball Axis (smoking!) I wanted a bit more "bite" from the amp, and this worked great. It can certainly be used as a boost for solos as well. My style is 80's rock (Lynch, Nuno, etc...), and the Boogie is very different in sound from the Marshall, but both need a bit more distortion (which is why a lot of the pro players actually use this exact pedal...Zakk for one). I use it not only for soloing, but rhythm as well. The only problem is I need to shut it off before switching to the clean channel (Boogie has a great clean channel..). The unit is unbelievably quiet for what it's use is. No crazy, uncontrolled feedback.....If you want more treble, turn the tone knob to the right...I have the tone at 11 o'clock, the distortion at about 10 o'clock, and the level dead center (12 o' clock). It may not have enough distortion for someone who wants to only use this pedal with a clean sound (i.e. step on pedal for distortion, step again for clean).

It's Boss.....I say no more....It's cheap enough (40 bucks US brand new) that if I lost it I would just buy another one.

Never had to call them..

This is a great pedal to push the amp for a little more distortion, but maybe not for a straight up distortion pedal. Been playinf for 18 years, had one, lost it, and just recently got another. Great to add even for a solo boost. I would defintately replace it if I lost it. Boss effects are better than any other I have toyed with (DOD, Arion, Ibanez, etc.)

Well...3 knobs pretty easy I think. No need for the manual. The manual is useless.

Ibanez RG (Tone Zone + Air Norton) -> true bypass with multipleloops
-> and then in one loop I have DS-1 -> Carvin Legacy -> Marshall 1982A cabinet with G12-80 celestions. Is it noisy? Yes, it is noisy. It could be covered with noisegate, but since Im only using this for solos (and the od-channel in Legacy itself aint so noisy) little noise doesn`t bother me. Besides it makes the feedback come out easy which can sometimes be a good thing:).

Distortion itself. I tried to use this as a rhythm od by plugging it into the clean channel of legacy. Absolutely horrible in my opinion.
The I tried it for rhythm playing by plugging it into the od channel, it got muddy (I had pretty much drive from the amp though).
But for solos this thing is pretty damn good. Some other guys said here that this you should not turn the tone and drive knobs over 12.
They seriously knew what they are talkin about. I never turn those knobs over 10, neither of them. Level can be turned up all the way for more boost and sustain (although it adds the noise I was talkin about earlier).

So finally, I would give this unit simething like 4 for rhythm playing. But I think this was designed as a boosterpedal for leads to be used with allready driven tubeamp (havent tried this with solidstate amp, propably wouldnt sound good with one). And for that purpose I would give it 9. Finally I give the 9 for it, because I think gear should reviewed in that category they were ment to be used.

Well...if ever tried any Boss pedal, you know what are we talking about.

No idea about this.

Hard Rock (Skid Row, GN`R, Vai etc.)
If it was stolen, I would propably buy it again since its cheap. Or then I would try TS-9 which isn`t so cheap. I like the saturation and sustain it gives to my solosound.

Haven`t compared it to TS-9, I chose this because it`s alot cheaper to buy used.

plug. step on switch. repeat.

very decent pedal, but not great. "full" distortion is about as heavy as about 7 on my 15 watt marshall, and the tone knob has one major fault: if you put it on the bass side, it cuts out treble, and vice versa. this means that to get good tone you have to add a lot more of both on your amp, which depending on your setup might screw up your clean.

i bought it used but almost scratchless, and the only thing wrong with it is that the jack on the output side doesnt detect whether youre plugged in or not (sometimes you have to fiddle with it to get it to turn on or off, but then its fine for quite some time).

i play rock and metal, and its more than good enough for hacking around, but i wouldnt recommend it to someone who's planning on a metal gig. if it breaks/i lose it/i get a summer job, im probably going to buy a more serious pedal (dititech metal distortion or boss metalzone probably). good first pedal or as a backup/light distortion.

Getting an good sound out of this could not be easier! Even with both the knobs at 12 o'clock the sound is good! It doesn't take long to get your own customized sound out of it either, coz there's only 3 knobs. The manual really just says that you need to plug it in and depress it for it to work, and really thats all you have to do!

I'm running this from a H.S.Anderson SG to a Fender Frontman 15G. So far I havent found it to be noisy at all, the drive circuit on the amp is way more noisier than it is.

Like all Boss pedals it is like a little brick! The manual does say that you shouldn't stand on it or anything like that, and to be on the safe side I wouldn't. I think the only thing i'd be careful about would be the swicth under the pedal, coz its only plastic.

I play mild rock and alternative, this is good for what I want it for. If i lost it i would probably buy another, or i might spend a bit more and buy an Electro-Harmonix Big Muff. I really love the colour of this pedal (as strange as that sounds), and the tone switch i really handy. Really, it has everything it needs.

Too easy almost.

I started off on this pedal. It does a job, i.e. a not very heavy distortion, but it is far too flat.

You quite simply can't get any range on it. I want something hard and aggressive for punk/post rock, and this doesn't cut it.

(My equipment = Squire Tele, Epiphone Firebird, with a Fender 100watt valve amp)

Volume reduces a lot towards the end of a battery. I found one minute it would be fine then it would whimper.

Once a new battery was in you'd be safe for a reasonable time, just carry a back up if at gigs.

It's an average pedal, but certainly not cut out for Sonic Youth/Fugazi type stuff.

However if you're trying to find your first distortion pedal, then this isn't bad. Easy to use and fairly cheap I guess.

Pretty basic. Not hard to figure out.

Not a heavy distortion. Great for blues of classic rock. Use it through a Hiwatt 1x12 and a strat type guitar. Not noisy. Great sound for what it is.

Seems rugged enough.

Never dealt with.

Very good as I've said for blues or classic rock. Won't get a Zeppelin sound or a heavy metal sound, but good for a sound similiar to SRV. Not exactly, but close enough to fake it.

Very simple, not much to say here

I love it; unlike most people who say it sounds best with all of the knobs near 12 o'clock, I like to have the tone around 9'oclock and turn the treble on my amp almost all the way up.

Don't see this thing ever breaking.

n/a

I love this pedal, it's the only one I use anymore. I used to have 2 dod pedals but now I just use this one. If you love to play grungy metal sounding rock then this fits the bill like no other

Unless you're dead, you will find this unit as easy to us as a pencil.

I can't fault the sound quality, although i haven't got the most experience in the workd with this sort of thing, i can tell what sounds good and what sounds crappy and this is definately not crappy.

Ists like a solid chunk of metal! It would take a huge effort to stop this thing. And the electrical sid eof things hasn;t gone wrong with mine and i doubt it will.

Not had to deal with them.

I'm borowing this pedal off my guitar teacher and i may have to give it back soon. Unless i find something completely amazing (or enough money for some huge clever thing) i'm probably going to buy one of these for myself. I play quite heavy rock (my main influences are Avenged Sevenfold and Thrice) and this covers everything i need. Ir you're considering buying one of these DON'T HESITATE. don't listen to any reviews that say this sounds 'trebly' or doesn't sound distorted enough (this pedal only EVER loses its amount of distortion if you turn the 'dist' knob down or if the battery is running low) and if you can work out the terribly complicated 'tone', 'level' and 'dist' knobs (notice the sarcasm) then you will have no problem with treble OR anything else. Bottom line is, this pedal is great.

Three knobs - Distortion, Tone, Volume. What can I say?

It's good for getting a nice hard distorted sound, more natural sounding than the Metal Zone, at least. However I find that it's extremely limited. Perhaps it's because I run it through the clean channel of my amp, but I use a 15W practice amp so I don't really use the amp distortion.

I find that it pretty much takes away a lot of your guitar tone and replaces it with it's own set distortion. Not bad if you have lousy gear to start with, but otherwise you might find it takes away the soul of your guitar tone.

It'll outlive you. Built like a tank. I bought mine used and it still works perfectly.

It's good if you want a nice, hard distortion. Good for nirvana, stuff like that. If you want overdrive from this pedal you'll be better off looking elsewhere, however. Ditto if you're trying to get a humbucker sound from single coils.

If it was stolen, I'd get a Proco Rat if I could afford it, or else I would use the Marshall pedals.

Very easy to use. Plug and play action. I bought mine used w/o a manual but you really don't need one.

I play this behind a crybaby wah and in front of a boss bf-2 flanger and an mxr phase 90. When I add distortion to the flanger it actually boosts the volume(which is good). I bought a used Tawainese model of the boss ds-1 distortion. It has very good distortion sound and doesn't sound digitized at all. very clean sound. That is why I stopped using multieffects because of the "cheesy" sound.

I use this all the time. Gigs, at home practice . everywhere. I would use it without a backup. i would just make sure I had extra batteries or an extra ac adapter(if it goes bad)

Never dealt with Boss.

Great for rock. Depending on what settings you put the tone on, you can get your guitar to sound like Carlos Santana's tone. If you are just converting to single effects like me Boss is the way to go. The price isn't cheap which is a good thing because cheap pedals usually have cheap quality, but it isn't expensive either. It has midrange price.

the basic distortion pedal controls

doesn't take long to find a good sound... then it's easy to find more good sounds... a great sounding pedal depending on the guitar used

the switch on mine has gone iffy but i have never had a bad experience using a boss pedal... never heard of many problems

never dealt with the company

if you don't have one try one you might just like it

Its a distortion pedal. It has 3 knobs and footswitch. Its easy to use

Ah.... the DS-1. This pedal is almost always on in my setup. I mainly use my ESP/LTD SC500 (Stephen Carpenter) into the DS-1 directly into my Crate Blue Voodoo half stack. (The amp is 50 watts tuuube.) I don't use this pedal as a stand-alone distortion most of the time. When I do, it sounds like your run-of-the-mill distortion, and I'm not complaining. I use this more as a signal boost for my overdrive channel. With the tone at about 9 o'clock (a little above), level and distortion cranked, and then the mids scooped on my amp, master volume dimed and the gain at like... 7 o'clock... this pedal makes my amp sound wicked. I know that is probably a weird setup, but it rules. I rarely use this pedal alone.

This is my 3rd Boss pedal, and I have never had an issue with anything not working.

Never dealt with them

As a booster for your decent tube amp, I give the pedal a 10. But for a stand-alone distortion, it gets a 9. If you want a good sounding distortion for not too much money, buy this. DO NOT waste your time with anything cheaper.

As simple as it gets....3 knobs. Mine is stock but I've heard good things about Keeley mods.

My setup is cheap and usual...I play it in front of a Johnson J-Station set to the "J Crunch" amp model. Personally, I think this pedal SHINES in front of a tube amp to push it a little harder for more sustain, like a Marshall JCM 800. I would ONLY use this pedal in front of an already distorted tone with all knobs at 12 o'clock, the EXACT same way I would use an Ibanez tubescreamer. For me, those 2 serve the same purpose (added sustain in front of a good distortion) but each has its own 'flavor' - the tubescreamer gives a warmer midrangey tone where the DS-1 has a little more bite and treble, but not too harsh.

I chose this pedal because one of my favorites, George Lynch, alternates between a DS-1 and a tubescreamer for his lead tone, and now I know why. I talked to George recently and found out that his lead tone on the 2nd Lynchmob album was the following setup: "Boss DS-1 (Keeley modified) in front of 50 watt marshall plexi through 2x12" cabinet with sm57 in a small room." I think this pedal sucks A$$ as a stand alone distortion, but can make a tube amp cry and scream. Want Lynch's harmonics and sustain? simple....put THIS pedal or a tubescreamer in front of an overdriven tube amp. In my case, I currently don't have the money or room for a tube amp. If I could, I'd probably put this DS-1 in front of a Soldano SLO 100, or a Marshall Plexi.

If you like to HEAR your own playing dynamics in an exaggerated way, I highly suggest this pedal. Pick on up on eBay for $25-$30 like me.

Looks pretty solid to me.

I play old school 80's melodic hard rock. My influences are George Lynch, Greg Howe, Blues Saraceno, + most of the 80's Shrapnel guys.

3 knobs. Level, drive and tone. Have we got that covered? It takes some playing with the box to get a good sound out of it - it's very 80s and on the scratchy side. I have settled on running it with the level at about 3 o'clock, the drive at about 2, and the tone at about 10 - that way I get a nice fat sound, but eliminate some of the tinny, "boxy" sound. I'm primarily using it as a lead boost.

For many years I've used this with an Ibanez Roadstar, and a Peavey Special 130, and for the last couple of years, a Fender Princeton 65. I've also played through a Marshall 5212, though not as much as the others. I've also played a Squier Fat Tele and an Epiphone Bully SG. This pedal works well with the Ibanez and the SG, but the Tele seems to emphasize the "scratchy" sound that the box produces.

Well, it's a Boss, so it's never failed. I also use an Ibanez TS-9, but usually to get a different distortion effect than what I use the DS-1 for.

Never needed it.

It's far, far from perfect, and very 80s sounding. It works pretty well for the bluesy, psychedelicized hard rock that I play, though I alternate it with amp distortion and the TS-9. I've been playing for 25 years, and I've had this for aout 12 (not bad for a freebie!). I probably would not replace it - I'd probably get another TS-9 and run them on different settings, or look for something else.

easy to use, only 3 knobs, and thats why u cant get too many different sounds from it. although the tone switch pissed me off sometimes.

im using this with an epiphone SG special, and it sounds like crap. no, not the guitar. you can hear a buzz in the amp which is really annoying. you can only get 1-2 decent distortion effects from this, well you get what you pay for

NO. it will fail on you! the pedal kept coming off in practices and i never used it on a gig. i dont trust this piece of s**t

this pedal is the s**tiest pedal i ever played with. i use built in distortion instead its way better. dont buy this !!!

Extremely easy to use from a feature standpoint but not a tonal standpoint. I don't use this as my main distortion. I use it as a lead boost like vai and it works great.

I run this through various marshall and laney amps with much success. I set the tone and dist levels pretty low around 9'clock and dime the level for a volume and grit boost for solos. It works great. I set my amps distortion levels to give me a good rythm sound and use this for leads. It also works well the same way on clean channel for some great blues solos. I originally bought it for distortion and didn't like it but after I read that steve vai uses it as a boost for leads I tried it in similar fashion and what do you know. It's awesome. It does have somewhat of a fuzzy character to it but that can be tamed with manipulation of the tone control. It really gives leads a thick sound while cutting through and making your amp scream.

I've had it for years and years and it has never broken on me. Since I could do without this pedal for one gig if it were to break I think I could gig without it. But then again it's only 30 or 40 bucks so I might as well buy a backup.

Don't know never tried to contact them.

This pedal does everything I need it to. It makes a 1 or 2 channel amp way more versatile. It gives me some really great lead sounds. The only thing I might try would maybe be a fulltone fatboost because that would probably suit my needs better. Then again that pedal is about 4 times the price of this pedal. If it's good enough for steve vai it's good enough for me. When I kick this on at a show I always know it's going to provide me with huge, searing guitar solos.

it's a very simple pedal to operate. c'mon, 3 knobs. i bought it from a crackhead who needed the money for drugs. i ripped him off, and only paid $5 for it.

i'm using it with a 1972 bassman ten and various guitars - some single coil equipped, some humbucker equipped. it's not very noisy. the distortion is very lo-gain. some people say that it's too trebly, but turn any distortion's tone knob up past the 12 o'clock postion and it'll be trebly. there are a couple of mods, usually involving the replacement of the diodes.

it's boss, it'll always work. when i get around to modding it, i'll probably use it as a counter-voice to my modded EH russian big muff. i occasionally need a more metal-type distortion, something that has chunk when you palm mut, as opposed to the big wooly wall of sound we all know and love.

i play some heavy indie rock. i've been a musician for 12 years, a guitarist for four. i own an ibanez talman, a fender jag-stang, a harmony from the 60s, a guitar i built myself, and a pink moridira bass. oh yeah, and a pearl export drum kit. my pedals consist of an ibanez DE7 delay/echo and a modified Russian EH Big Muff. if i hadn't gotten it for $5, i wouldn't own it. it's not that great of a pedal. way too low gain. i'd have either gotten a Proco Rat, or a Boss Metalzone.

This was a made in Taiwan unit that I purchased yesterday afternoon at Guitar Center. It was a spur of the momment purchase, while I was picking up a few other things. I had owned one a few years ago, but got rid of it due to it's harshness and felt I needed to give it another chance. As far as ease of use, it doesn't get much simpler, one tone, a level and gain knobs. Set to taste. As far as getting a good sound out of it? that's quite subjective and depends totally on your setup. I had a horendous time getting a good sound out of it.

Like I said above, I got this pedal in a spur of the momment decission. I had owned this pedal before, but couldn't make it work for me the way I wanted. Since I now own a different amplifier (Carvin Legacy) I thought it would work better, so I tried it again. Being that Steve Vai uses one with his Legacys, I thought getting a good sound would be a snap. I was dead wrong. I couldn't set it up as a semi-clean boost (drop tone and gain, dime level)...it was too muddy. Using that same setting in front of a Marshall DSL results in truly godlike tone. So next I tried using the DS-1 like Joe Satriani uses, i.e. set tone & distortion to taste and play into clean channel. This resulted in that notoriously harsh DS-1 tone that everyone complains about. Very unusable sound....so next, I set up the DS-1 like Steve Vai does (tone at 10 oclock, gain at 10 oclock and level at 1 oclock)...and put the pedal infront of my Legacy's gain channel, with a little grit. The result was just as bad as the semi-clean boost attempt in the beggining....I half considered that I might ship the pedal right off to Robert Keeley for modification, but decided against it. If I hate the way the pedal sounds now, what kind of chance will I like it after a few minor modifications...no matter how good the mod sounds, if I dont like the inherent sound of the DS-1, the mod wont make me like it.

It's a Boss. Most of these things are made like tanks. I would easily gig without a backup and I wouldn't worry in the slightest.

Hard to say...they never break, hense there's no reason to call Boss. I've never talked to em....but I can say this. There website sucks ass. They need lots of soundbytes, tech specs and more useful info on their site....whatever soundbytes they have are hard to find.

I play covers. Everything from the beatles to good charlotte. When I'm not doing that, I'm playing aor/guitar rock. This pedal was NOT a good match for me. I want to make it work for me...but it just doesn't....

Easy i didn't get a manual but I can read and hear so tone, Dist and level seemed pretty straight forward and I was not surprised when I pluged it in.

I have a few single coil guitars I've played through it and a bunch of other effects along with it, haven't put it in an effects loop yet though maybe I should try that I just plug guitar-effects-amp. I can get the sounds I like out of it pretty basic workhorse distortion. A little noisy at high volumes with feedback but besides that not much worth noting in the noise department. Some setting should just not be used on this thing though, like tone at 10 unless you want to become deaf. I'm using a peavy transtube at the moment and it works nicely

I have never encounterd any problems with a boss product, except they seem to eat up batteries at an insane rate so I use adaptors. I have a chorus that I maybe had plugged in for maybe an hour max and the battery was drained. I like to get carried away and really stomp on effects that I know can take it no problems yet. I have a Nobels DT-1 that is basically the same sound but the adapter broke so I bought this one. I gig with batteries though so I' don't have to worry about all the adapters so I have a backup ready if needed.

I bought this thing pretty much new, only used a couple times and it was a pretty good deal. I play everything that catches my attention. I haven't been playing too long but I got really good really fast so i upgraded equipment pretty quickly but haven't sold off much. I'd buy another one of these if I could find another deal which isn't that hard, i think these are the most popular effects pedals in the world. I wish it had an 11 on the drive

3 knobs, easy to use. Remember to set the level knob last.

It sounds GREAT. I'm not a very experienced guitar player, but i'm not concidering trying out other distortion pedals after getting my hands on the good ol' orange. If you're looking for that nirvana "in utero"-like stomach-turning grunge sound, this is it. Lots of tone. Sounds best with the tone knob between 10 and 2, and distortion knob on no more than 12.

I think my boss pedals have evil plans on outliving me. I've not abused mine, but by looking on it, I believe what they say; boss pedals don't break.

When I plug the input in it, it sometimes turns on and sometimes don't. It's not a problem since it has a LED. Also, remember to unplug when not using, since the battery drains if it's plugged in, even if it's off.

If I gigged, I wouldn't feel the need to bring a backup, just make sure you've got a new battery.

Never dealt with them.

I play mostly garage/punk, and with low distortion and high tone it gives me that hard edge i'm looking for. I use it all the time, and even though I've tried very few other distortions, I can't picture myself replacing it with anything else.

Very easy to use....3 knobs, tone, level, and distortion. Doesn't get much simpler than that. I would suggest getting the adapter from Boss as this thing seemed to eat batteries pretty quickly.

This is one of the all-time classic distortion pedals. I own quite a few but always seem to come back to this one. I use a variety of Fender guitars through an all tube Laney half-stack. This pedal sounds thin and weak on solid state amps but comes alive on a tube amp. I set the level and distortion knobs on 10 and adjust the tone to taste. I get a nice mid-rangey crunch with plenty of sustain. I play everything from CCR to Metallica and this pedal suits me just fine. I wish it had just a little more gain for the Metallica stuff, sort of a Spinal Tap knob that goes to 11, but otherwise this pedal is a fantastic product for the money.

I've used Boss pedals for years and they hold up very well, even under heavy use. The switch under the footpedal is made of plastic and I suspect it would not hold up if one were to stomp the crap out of it but I've not had one fail on me as of yet.

Never had to deal with Boss yet.

I've been playing for about 15 years or so playing classic rock and metal. I own other distortion pedals...ProCo, Electro-Harmonix, DOD, Ibanez but this one is my main weapon of choice. It's simple to use and gets you a fair amount of crunch and sustain. It's a generic mid-rangey distortion and works well for me playing covers. It won't do the scooped mid thing, so if you're into the nu-metal scene, you might want to try something else. Overall this is a great product.