Boss OD-20 Drive Zone

The product is very easy to use... I got most of my work from it without going over the manual... Like a real man should..... Then, I reviewed the manual a saw a few more helpful bits of info... I was up and running in minutes....

I have two amps: Fender Cybertwin and a Mesa Boogie Express 5:50 212 Combo..... I use one or both amps depending on the gig. I play Paul Reed Smith Guitars exclusively. I have a 1988 Standard 24 with the sweet switch, a 2005 Custom 24 and a 20th Anniversary 24. Overall, all of the distortions sound great. There are a few that I don't see myself ever using, but I can see other people making use of them. It all depends on your style of playing. I noticed one post saying which sounds are no good and I totally disagree. It all depends on taste. This is a solid piece of gear and I highly recommend it. Since I do mostly cover, I have a full array of distortion sounds that fits my needs. I had a hard time deciding on which distortions I wanted to save in the presets because I like so many of them. I've been playing long enough to know what sounds I like, there is no guess work for me on what is best. I find it and use it. I am totally happy with this purchase

I feel very comfortable using this pedal as my only distortion. It is rock solid and has great features. I only wish it had more available presets :). I like many of the sounds it creates. I did not A/B the sounds against the actual stomboxes or amps it models. For me that's not the point. I want a good variety of usable distortions and that is exactly what is in this box.

Boss is the Boss.... Never dealt with the customer service and don't see me needing to.

I play a mix of covers primarily R&B, Dance/Top 40 and Jazz. This pedal will be a nice addition to my large rig setup of 2 amps and 15 pedals, and my small rig of 1 amp and just a few pedals. I've been playing for 21 years, I own a Fender Cybertwin, a Mesa Boogie Express 5:50 212 combo, 3 Paul Reed Smith Guitars. Stomboxes include: Fulltone Clyde Wah deluxe, Ernie Ball Volume, Boss AC-3 Acoustic Simulator, Boss DD-20 Delay, Fulltone OCD, ISP Decimator, Boss RT-20, Modded Boss Metal Zone, Carl Martin Compressor, Korg Pitchblack Tuner, Boss CE-2 Chorus, Rocktron All Access midi foot controller, and strongly considering the Toadworks Barracuda Flanger. I would definately buy another OD-20 if it was lost or stolen. I like the variety of distortions and how well 90% of them sound. However, beauty is in the eye of the beer holder, I understand some people won't like the tones, but that's the beauty of this pedal, it has so many to choose from everyone can find something they like and don't like. What I don't like is that it gets noisy. Especially if the gain setting is past 2:00. I wish it had a noise reduction built in and more presets... but the more presets thing is me being facetious. Some people posted negative things about certain distortion sounds and I think that is not fair. There are so many tastes and playing styles that what sounds bad to you may sound good to someone else. Basically you can go from the lightest of crunch, slightly overdriven sounds to the fullest heavy distorted, sustained soloing. No, I don't think anyone will like every distortion on here, but I do think that every distortion on this unit will be used by someone somewhere. I play through this and feel I can get very creative.

As noted in my prior review, it's got more controls than most dirt boxes and the manual is weak.

I just wanted to check in. I wrote a review below, circa 2003, when this was a brand new pedal. I figured I'd just note that six years later, I still love this thing. In that time I've had a chance to A/B it against more pedals, play with it more, and I've bought and sold a lot of other things but this thing has stood the test of time.

Really, I can't believe how well executed this dirt modeler is. It amazes me that it's a Boss product because, as much as I like Roland/Boss as an FX company I think most of their amp modeling and digital products outright suck. That's why I can't believe this thing is such a beast, it's really an incredible pedal. The OD's really sound like the pedals they model, and the basic distortions do too. I got a Rat and these things are indistinguishable on similar settings. Across the range, too. Not just on one setting. The Fuzzes are super solid, I'm not as picky a customer on the fuzz... anything goes in a Fuzz, IMHO, but really they're really good sounding, too.

As noted, I've owned it for six years now. No hint of a hardware or sound problem in years of almost daily use.

Dunno. I've never used them. LOL.

As noted, this thing has stood the test of time for me. I've heard many people bag on it since then, but I have really used the thing day in and out for years now and it has been one of the few products I would really not make many changes to. The more I've gotten to use it, the more I've come to rely on it. The more I've relied on it, the more faith I've got in it to deliver. Just an exceptional product. Haters have no clue on this one.

Relatively easy to use. A little thing affecting ease of use is that there is no LCD screen and, therefore, no way to look at the settings on your patches. This annoys me because some of the Boss double pedals, eg. the DD-20, have an LCD screen and you can clearly exactly what you're dealing with. If you've saved a patch that you liked 3 months ago, as I have, there is no way to find out what settings were used. Not a big deal but if it had an LCD, it would be practically perfect. It would take away from the vibe a little, but, let's face it, everyone knows that it's a digital pedal.

Fender Mustang, Jag, Strat. Boss limiter, auto wah, OD-20, MXR Phase 45, Yamaha FL-01 flanger, GE-7, and Marshall EchoHead. Laney LC-30 (AC-30 clone), Fender Super 210 valve combo and Vase 1970s Trendsetter valve head. It's the same old story: who has owned original versions (not re-issues) of all the pedfals it's meant to emulate? And I don't count 'I played a Fuzz Face in a shop once...' either. I have two DS-1s and they both sound different to each other and the OD-20. And I still don't understand why everyone wants to emulate old pedals perfectly anyway. There's so many variables in your setup. If it sounds good, I would strongly advise using it. But maybe I'm naive...

Anywho, I think the sounds are generally solid. The DS-1 is, in my opinion, unusably noisy (MUCH noisier than both my DS-1s), which is a shame and, in a digital emulation, Boss surely could have got rid of the noise. The Fuzz Face setting is fantastic. It's good that a lot of the pedals sound good on low gain as well- that's how I like it.

Boss...

Boss...

I play indie-ish, but I guess it can do a wide variety of tones. That's part of the idea. I've been playing for years but I'm still not very good. But I love it, and that's what (I think) is important. This is a solid pedal, no digital artefacts to speak of. Sounds good, except for the DS-1 being noisy. The lack of an LCD is a bit of a nuisance for me, in case you didn't pick that up before. But typical Boss quality and very usable sounds on the whole.

This pedal is very simple to use. Just tweak the knobs until you find a sound you like and store it in the presets.

THis pedal offers a wide variety of distortions and overdrives as well as octave. I didn't test it against any of the original pedals so I can't say how "authentic" the sounds are but it does offer a very wide pallet. I use it with an older Roland Cube 60 and a Jazzmaster copy as well as a Schecter Corsair and Samick Torino with a variety of other effects and it always sounds good. The variety of sounds is awesome.

I used it playing out numerous times and never had a problem. You can always rely on Boss.

Never had to.

I play experimental as well as ambient folk and it offers everything from Big Muff Fuzz to Ibanez TS overdrive to some crazy distortions I have never heard before as well as a cool octave that can do a pretty good imitation of a bass. If it were stolen I would get a another.
Dollar for dollar no distortion pedal offers more features .

It is very easy to use it.

I do not mind if it is close to the original pedals it models or not. I just mind what I hear there and at least 15 of the models present there are just mind blowing. Good thing about OD-20 is that whenever you switch a model you get something totally different. It is not like the same pedal equalized differently (like the amp models in amp modeler devices). When you try tweaking the model to your taste tone knobs react perfectly and give what you want easily. Heavy Octave knob is an extra feature there and it rocks when you keep it at level 1 or 2 just to get some extra bottom end overtones. Tweak it and it will make the distortion models sound closer to a real hi-gain amp on fire league (given that you are running it through a decent tube amp's clean channel).

The unit does respond to your pick attack and playing nuances and does not feel digital at all. Smooth/Edge knob lets you shape the attack characteristics and it does work perfectly. If you are not able to get the distortion sound in your mind from this unit (or at least %90 close to that), go see a psychiatrist. :)


All is there from the smooth as a butter singing distortion to a blade sharp sick one.

The only think I do not like (i'd better say HATE) about it is that you can only save 4 patches. That is like a torture where I have more than 30 sounds that I would like to save.

It is a Boss. So you can rely on it.

Dunno. Neber contacted them.

Just go buy it for $160. You cannot go wrong with it.

as all mentioned by previous review this thing is so simple its just point what sound you like ans shoot u hear it and u can save that into 4 patches in the memory mode which easily are able to dial up with the 2nd footswitch the first bypasses the effect.

real simple reading the manual will help but you can figure it out

not very noisy however it is an ovedrive pedal so there will be some small noise

the boss models are flawless and highly usable but however sum of the other models arent asd great the key to this thing is tweakng and finding your sound but the boss models are identical as i found and the heavy octave feature is a great sound and can add more versatility to this box

i play alot of different types of music mainly rock,blues,jazz,alternative,grunge,and a little metal. and this can do any of it with ease.

i play through epiphone sheraton and a fender telecaster american deluxe > vox wah>boss OD-20>line MM4> boss dd3 delay> boss noise suprssor> vox ac30 combo and i got a tu 2 tuning pedal and with this setup i have extremely versatile sound and makes this pedal sound great.

however this thing isnt perfect i find the home sounds (yellow writing) arnt that great and a few of the other models arnt very good but it is impossible to find at least half of the models you dont like.

its a boss the only thing left on earth after a nuclear attack would be keith richards,a few cockroches and this overdrive pedal.

never needed it you get 5 years warranty as mentioned IT IS A BOSS!!!!!

as i said i play alot of things which is why i chose this pedal its versatile ive been playing for 7 years now and im in a band and will be gigging with this baby very soon

if stolen or lost i would probably buy a proco rat ( old american model) but this would be highly debatable between this

favourite feature are the bioss overdrives the fuzzes and def the heavy octave

i compared it to many models it copies and with alot of them its spot on.

dont be afraid get it espcially if you had a varied sound and you want to consol;idate your other boss pedals it does all the boss drives identically

easy, but you have to tweak

sounds great

dude, its a boss. you play and play then your little bro ennoys you you unplug it, slap him a couple of times, plug it back, change your mind, go slap your brother again, clean it, plug it and its new

no need... why? look at the reliability

i dont say much because everyone already said it but i want to add that some distortions and overdrives are useless

really usefull

DS-1, MT-2, METAL, OCT-FUZZ, FACE

usefull

OD-1, HM-2, BOOST, STACK, T-SCREAM, DST+, MUFF FUZZ, R-MAN

useless

LEAD, LOUD, GUV'NOR

completely useless

OD-2, BD-2, CRUNCH, FULL-D, CENTA-OD, P-RAT

just so you know i play metal and stuff like that but still enjoys light overdrives and stuff

the useless part is because i dont use them a lot, even rarely but still have a nice sound but i just cant find inspiration to solo on them or just to find a song to play with...

the completely useless part to me is because the sound is already there (od 2 sounds like ds 1, bd 2 sounds like od 1, crunch sounds like bd 2, p rat sounds like od 2, full d and centa od sounds like the tube scream...)

still good sounds, i just cant find a song that suits them...

This thing has got a good manual and the basic operations are in a word: idiot-proof. There are some special cases (like used both pedals) where it's a little tricky, but you hardly use those options anyway. In manual mode, the knobs are easy to understand and explain themselves (Drive/Level/Tone/...) Programming the four patches is simple in itself, also the fact that on the bottom of the pedal there is a schematic summary of the necessary steps is handy, especially on stage when you need to do some quick changes. The AMP control, that's one I still haven't figured out, yet. I find it quite useless: why would you want to use the overdrive channel on your amp, when you've got 20 BOSS-pedals right at hand?

The sound is really good, but best to use a tube amp, to get more warmth. Otherwise you have to EQ it really well. Little noise. I mainly use the OD-2, BD-2 and the BOOST.
My setup: Fender with EMG-pickups-->crybaby-->OD-20-->ME-5
Before I had the ME-5, I used the 4 patches to get some volume boost during my solos. With the ME-5 in the chain, that is no longer necessary and now I have 4 different sounds programmed. You can get any distortion/overdrive sound, ranging from bluesy, over grunge, to plain old metal.
Some of the previous reviews have mentioned that the bypass is a killer for your clean sound, but I haven't had that problem. Probably because I have a tube amp. Gives it more warmth.

Highly dependable. Only the input for the power (when not using batteries) is a little weak. The inputs for the jacks are really solid. When you plug in or out, you have to use some force, since they are really tight in their sockets. Good for on the road and on stage. Just watch out for the power adaptor which might come loose.
It eats batteries, so it is best to use an adaptor. (9Volt)
Construction: it's Boss, it would come out the other end of a black whole in one piece.

Never had to use it.

I play for about 13 years and this one is my first stomp box. Before I simply used the OD-channel on my amps. But this things beats them all. The styles I play range from blues to classical rock to heavy metal, with some soft pop in between. The OD-20 gives me this range. It fits perfectly with my type of playing. Could'nt do without one.

It was actually pretty easy to use, even with the many knobs and buttons it comes with.

It is the jack of all trades for od/distortion. For basically any type of genre, this thing can blast out tones for you. Some of the models are pretty useless, but there are some good ones. It does have that "digital" sound for some of the models though.

Thing that dissapointed me the most was the bypass. It sucked all of my clean tone, all of the warmth just vanished. It thinned it to where it bugged the heck out of me. If you really like your clean tone, I would suggest you stay clear of this pedal. Because of this, I returned it.

I would recommend this pedal if your still experimenting. It gives you a wide variety of overdrives and distortions to play with. But remember, it takes away a good amount from your tone. Definitely not true bypass. I give it a 9 for the overdrives and distortions and a 5 for my clean tone. Thus, a 7.

It is built like a tank. BOSS makes good quality pedals.

Never had to deal with their customer service.

It is a good all around distortion pedal. I play mainly rock/ska/funk/blues. If it came with true bypass, I might buy it again, probably as a backup. I have a Boss GE-7, Electro Harmonix English Muff'n, and a Voodoo Labs Sparkle Drive. Tone-wise, the OD-20 is ok compared to them, but the EH and the Sparkle Drive are pricier specialty pedals and come with true bypass, a must for me.

Getting a good sound out of this thing is a breeze. Plug in, fiddle with the settings and your good to go...

This unit is dedicated to overdrive and distortion and excells at the letter. Being a digital unit I normally wouldn't touch it with a 7 foot pole, but once I plugged in (by accident, at a music store) I was floored by the high gain stuff (especially the "Metal"-setting) - super direct, brutal distortion, not hint of digital-ness. Wow!
My best analogue overdrives are a tad superior when it comes to slight crunch but the OD-20 sounds in this cathegorie are definitely workable an better than most of the cheaper analogue stuff available. I also like the fact that it has more gain on tap than I could possibly use (sporting a strat with a Jeff Beck humbucker) - no additional booster needed to get insane gain (yet it still sounds "tight"!)

Well it`s a boss... NEVER had a problem with their products. But of course I always take some backup unit to the gig.

Never dealt with 'em.

I play a lot of different stiles, mostly in the rock and pop vein though, studio jobs and cover band-stuff. Been playing 25 years by now and am in the lucky situation of making my living with music. Currently I'd definitely get another one if this unit got lost. Best distortion unit I ever owned. As stated above: very direct and fat. No hint of digitalness - very impressive!
Possible improvements would be:
a) MIDI input - making the four presets selectable via MIDI would be great
b) a built in noisgate. While the OD-20 is not noisy per s?? this would prove useful for staccato riffing a l?? pantera or fear factory
c) the speakersim on the headphone out is always on - if it would turn off when the unit is bypassed it would improve the usability of this feature