Boss OD-20 Drive Zone

Its easy to use. When you edit stored patches, you have to turn the knobs until it finds the old setting, like all modelers. Easy to write patches to memory.

My amps are fenders or fender clones and so are my guitars--Teles and Strats. Comparing the modeled sounds to the real boxes it tries to emulate, it does not duplicate the real effects. I have a Rat, a Full-Drive II and a Tube Screamer. The original stomp boxes are all better than this. After spending a LOT of time A/B ing between the real and the models, tweaking, comparing and listening, I could not match the real effects.

This particular pedal is not true bypass either. In many cases, thats not such a big deal, but this box adds a brittleness and harshness even when it is turned off but still in the effects chain. The very first time I used it on a gig, I knew that my tone was being messed with and I figured I just needed to tweak the patches. However, when I removed it from my effects chain, my whole rig sounded great again. It induces a quacky high end brittleness and removes the warmth and fatness at the same time. The "bottom" control won;t get it back either. This thing needs a three band parametric on it to dial in the timbres its trying to create.

In general, this unit is better at distortion timbres than overdrive. If you want balls to the wall distortion, a la heavy metal or maxed out Tube Screamer, its not so bad. But--if you are searching for the more subtle tones, they are hard to nail with this box. I'd much rather have one great overdrive and one great distortion unit than the plethora of cheesy COSM imitations in this poorly executed unit. Makes me wonder if the folks at Boss ever really listen to the products they make. If they did, they'd know they are making a dog.

It seems to be built well and should last a long time--unfortunately. The guitar world would be better off if they all self-destructed, as far as I'm concerned. While it might be a useful studio tool, I won't gig with it again. I need my tone back and this thing just sucked it all out.

Never dealt with the company. I have several of their pedals and they have lasted 20+ years.

I've been playing 40+ years. I love all styles of music. If it were stolen or lost, I'd probably celebrate, because I wouldn't try to find something useful in it anymore. Actually, I used it direct in the studio last year and got a killer slide guitar sound, but for live use, it wreaks havoc with the tone I have been developing for the last 20 years.

I bought this because it was an "Editor's Pick" in Guitar Player magazine. I usually trust their ears, but they missed the boat on this one. If it were true bypass, I could live with it and use it for mondo distortion once or twice a night, but, as is, I just want to sell the thing. After over 20 hours of tweaking and searching, I haven't found anything that I really need.

This pedal is relativley easy to use if you've used pedals with banks and multiple effects before.. if not, very easy to get used to..

Im using a marshall amp with a les paul,

ive never written a review before, but I have to agree with the few that agree that the sound sucks!

I checked out the reviews on here before buying it.. and everyone says its sounds sooo bad ass.. so I went and bought it.. only to be really dissapointed..

the gain sucks.. there is no crunch, it soudns fake, too much noise.. more than usual.. not acceptable for people that really pay attention to their sound. I gotta say.. on my experience its been better to have one dedicated effect in a pedal than having a chip trying to model 22 different types of pedals.. just dosent work as good as the original.. (not even close id say)

thumbs down all the way..

The day I had it.. it worked fine..

I play different types ranging from Tool sounds, to Pink Floyd leads..

Ive been plaing over 15 years..

I would get something else.. I am getting something else..

I hate everything about it..

i got it from my bro who said he paid about 100 for this thing new. but im not sure.

i was thinking about giving it less than a 10 because there is so much crap on this thing, but i think relatively speaking, you cant get so much out of a pedal unless it's a slight bit complex. so it deserves the 10 cuz of all the stuff it does.

i play:
-tool, opeth, deftones, zeplin, floyd...
on a
-Fender USA strat
-Peavy pro express 112 amp
-with like 8 pedals/racks inbetween my guitar and amp at the least.

I have been looking for good distortion for a LONG time. I have always used the DOD grunge pedal as long as i've played, and it has been the best ive found (compared even to boss dist pedals). However ive always had the problem with it that its very crunchy/tingy on the high end. It and every other pedal ive found has this high end cracklyness to it - not smooth.

Anyway this BOSS OD-20 actually has a smooth high end ! (if you want it to) it has been such an increase in sound quality for me. I usually play heavy deep distortion and ths thing does that very well. The original loud distortion, and even the metal zone mock are great. with the shape dial you can find how much tinnyness you want in the front end. plus the effects are very smooth and bassy anyway. personally i love it. plus the heavy octave thing sound pretty cool but its all about taste on that.

i got this pedal from my brother who said he DIDNT like it cuz it wasnt crisp enough and that he is looking for a crisp distortion pedal. I dont know what hes talking about, or why he wants that cuz i think it sounds bad and unnatural and kinda annoying to the ears. not smooth. however if you feel like him you might not like it.

one problem i find with this pedal is noise. its kinda noisey. i guess its pretty on par with other distortion pedals though, not really noticeably worse than other dist pedals. you just cant get away from noise when using distortion. however of course if you are playing notes you cant hear the noise.
One thing however is that the noise gets much worse when using 2 features 1)heavy octave 2)the turbo distortion. These things make the distortion noticeably worse than most dist pedals. if you dont want to use them you dont have to, or just turn off the pedal when not playing to compensate. its a trade off but im not sure anything slight of a 4000$ rack will be able to get around such problems, so i dont discount this pedal for having those options


so overall
PROS:
-every thinkable distortion, even the ones youll never use (but are still there!)
-very smooth sound, especially when using the shape dial
-heavy octave feature and turbo dist give neat options, but do cause noise so its a trade off, but its your choice so its not a must
-all that badass boss memory in the 20 pedals (4 memories, 1 manual, easy use, all those lights) - truly pro

CONS:
-just as noisey as your typical distortion pedal (varies with setting)
-hard to get a 'crisp' distortion, whatever that means
-noise gets noticeably worse with 'turbo dist' or 'heavy octave'

I think its a great pedal. this does not mean buy it. this means go try it out and see if you feel the same.

however just to say, the boss DD-20 delay pedal is the greatest ive ever bought. so think about that too when buying.

boss never ceases to amaze me in this catagory

who has ever had to contact boss cust support?

if anyone knows how to get
-smooth
-heavy
-substantial
-NOISELESS
distortion that is better than this box, PLEASE let me know:
ihatepokersomuch@yahoo.com

otherwise its just fantastic. the only really important thing in this whole rating is the sound quality and reliablilty - read those to figure out what i think. but after reading obviously i give it a 10

bloody simple! i picked it up, looked at it, and knew wat to do. cept for amp control, which i found out easily enough - btw i dont have a manuel, this is my mates

ok, i use a marhsall 100 mg, and i use the parallel fx loop in it, with all my pedals. i didnt notice ANY lack of tone using it in this method, although it doesnt quite have the warmth of a valve/analogue pedal. but my amp is sold state, so yeh. as to the pedals sounds, the rock! ok enough bout the gain and stuff, it happens, ppl dont care. i have gigged heaps, and most ppl dont even notice. all the sounds are great and usuable, cept when usin the heavy octave all the way aroung (max) the sounds start to get a bit muddy and yuk, but i wouldnt use that function much.

made out of the same stuff used to make tanks, actually make that a tank surrounded by a 4 meter thick concrete wall. indestructible

meh never used but always thought highly cause they r boss

i play mostly alt rock and punk rock - Muse are my band's main concentration, as well as an Aussie band The Living End. This pedal creates sounds that is usable for everything. looks mad too. and compared to the line6 distortion one - this is wayyy cheaper, and enough sounds for anyone.

This unit is truly a "play straight out of the box unit"! It has a manual mode which it enters into when plugged in and a memory mode with four memories accessed when the pedal is pressed. The owner's manual is very helpful if you want to take time to read it. But if you are like me you may only need to consult it when all else fails. Of course, this is based upon previous experience with pedals and gizmo's!

I am playing a American Standard "Big Apple Strat" through a Fender Hotrod Deluxe Tube Amp. The distortions sounds (22 in all) are all very useable in a wide array of applications. Everything from a lite Tube Screamer to a Bottom Heavy Metal sound is available at the push of a footswitch! The unit is very quiet and easy to edit and tweek. There are several 'real time editing knobs' accross the top of the unit and a small turn of any of them brings significant tonal changes. *Some effects and boxes have knobs that seem to do nothing when used. The factory presets in the four memory banks didn't do a thing for me but they were easily replaced with selections of my own making. My favorite setting is the BD-2 (Boss Blues Driver 2).

The unit is built to the standard "Boss Quality", meaning "Like a Tank". And would prove very 'road worthy'.

I haven't had to use the Customer Support.

I am a 'hobbyist' when it comes to playing guitar as I have been playing for only 4 years. And 99.9 % of my playing is sitting in my recliner in my own den. I like to play everything from Blues to Metal and, as stated, this is the pedal for that! I sould mention that this pedal works real good running it into my Digitech RP 200. I use the RP 200 mostly as a Volume Control and perhaps a Cabinet model (that really alters the sound of the Distortion!). I also use the RP 200 for the modulation effects such as Chorus, Flanger, Delay, etc... I chose this unit because of the price and reputation of the Company for their consistency. I have compared Boss pedals side by side with other brands, and for the money I find it hard to beat Boss.

Very easy to get many, many good sounds out of. The manual is good (especially true for a Boss manual) and very easy to use, illustrating how to change the functionality of the pedals as well as editing patches and so on. I have no problem with any of this at all.

The first thing I want to address is noise levels. I never understood how people ended up with too much noise. If there's too much, notch the gain down, you don't need it on full. I find that with this pedal I get all the distortion I need by 2/3 o'clock, and the noise generated is minimal to the point of not caring. I trim it out when recording but for stage use there's no need to bother, it's not that bad. Again, if you want to turn the gain up all the way it will yell at you, but really there's no need to.

I should note I did not buy this unit because it models any specifc pedal(s), but rather because I wanted flexibility at my feet for many types of distortion. From a mild bite through to a snarling metal vibe, I wanted it all. And I got it. I have been able to land a really nice blues lead through to the grinding metal I needed without a problem, and there are loads more sounds I will be experimenting with in the future. This is a fantastic pedal when it comes to versatility.

Regarding the amp simluator, the best I can say is that it works. It is nowhere near as good as I was hoping, but it does sound passable. My biggest suprise was finding out that you can't tweak or customize the amp like you can with other COSM products, so you get the sound and you either like it or you don't. For me it's passable, but far from the best. If you're trying to figure out why I didn't mark this a 10, you now know why.

The Heavy Octave feature is not needed at all on this pedal in my opinion. Sure it works well, but has limited use and in my opinion could have been replaced with a noise suppressor for those who want it...

I would definitely rely on this pedal. Very slick steel casing that will take a beating without question. The Boss chassis design is what has kept me buying their products for over a decade, and I've never been let down.

Never needed support from them.

If you're looking for a compact, flexible pedal to generate many distortion tones that you can use both live and for direct recording, this pedal will do the job for you. I've owned many distortion/overdrive stompers in my 14 years of playing, and would have killed for something this versatile when I was younger. I've used the Line 6 POD which was actually better for recording, but for the mix of stage and recording this pedal can't be beat. I suggest you give one a try if you're in the market, and take some time checking out the available sounds, there are so damn many of them!

Very easy to figure this one out, saves are a piece of cake. Tones are really excellent in my opinio, however, you do have to dial them in per guitar. Humbuckers vs. single coils....big difference in what you will hear, so TAKE TIME TO DIAL IT IN!!!! So many whiners below probably just plugged into this thing, flipped through the presets, and decided they didnt' like it. Children.....learn how to use your equipment!

Really excellent. I haven't found a distortion that I couldn't shape and use somehow....it's a phenomenal pedal. Wish I would have picked one up sooner rather than buying and returning (POD XT, Vox Tonelab, Korg Ampworks, Korg AX10G, plus many others). I came to the conclusion that if I wanted to get a really good direct recording tone I would have to build it up in components, rather than looking for that magic ALL IN ONE box. You know what I'm talking about. POD XT and the similar boxes are always lacking in some area, kind of like buying one of those cheap stereo systems like GPX or Emerson to save money. Well, the cardboard speakers and crappy plastic turntable and cheesy particle board cabinets really say it all. To me, this OD-20 is the first in a series of building blocks to create a great direct guitar recording tone. Next, I will look for some good processing like TC Electronics or the like.

Metal Boss casing, etc. Built like a truck.

No clue.

Really one of the better drive pedals I have tried for direct recording. It has both line output and amp outputs, so it is perfect for both scenarios. I bought it simply for direct recording of guitar overdrives. The Centaur, Fulltone and OD-1 settings are my favorites so far. Check these out! And remember to dial it in!!!!

It is pretty easy to use. The manual may or may not help you. It helped me out a bit. If you don't have it, you don't need it. On the bottom of the pedal, it tells you how to program the presets in case u don't have the manual. You'll probably have to mess around with it a bit to get the sound you want just like most pedals.

I use a Schector Omen6 or my hotrodded Squier. It's not really that noisy. In fact, I was suprised at how quiet it was when I first got it. Don't get me wrong, it will make some noise if u turn up the gain all the way. Duh! What do you expect?
This thing is so full of distortion, you wouldn't know what to do with them. 22 types!!! Besides having your normal knobs like gain, tone, and level, this also has a "bottom" knob, an "Attack Shape" contorl, and a "heavy octave". These are pretty self exlanatory. I love them so much. You can really get almost any distorted tone you need out of this thing. I was a little skeptical at first because it was DIGITAL. I didn't want it to sound thin or just plain old cheap like some digital effects. Well, it doesn't sound crappy. I went through a few of Boss's other single distortion pedals but since I would have had to buy more than one because of my versatile style I gave this a shot.

It seems reliable. I don't use backups. I can't afford them. I don't use batteries, because my guess is that I would be changing batteries like crazy. For a gigs I do use batteries though, not practice. It has a metal casing and rubber on the bottom so it doesn't slide. It looks strong.

never had to deal with them.

I've been playing for 4 and a half years. I really needed a versatile pedal and one that would give me my own tone. This pedal has a much versatility as you could ever want. I love it. I also have a Vox V48 wah pedal and I have a Crate FXT120 amp.

Poor manual, fairly easy controls.

I'm using a regular US Strat through a Laney tube amp and a Marshall 2x10 cab. I really think this unit sounds like crap, and I hope to be able to sell it to someone who will be able to enjoy it asap. The fx all suffer from the "Roland-syndrome", or what Boss like to refer to as COSM. Having had Roland recording equipment for a number of years (not now, thank god), I've had a lot of experience with this particular syndrome (or disease if you will), and the most common syptomes are overall tinny sound, noise (not the nice analog noise you will get from say; E-H pedals), and bad dynamics.

Very reliable: It sounds terrible no matter what you do to it. Actually, maybe I should try breaking it, it could only sound better.

Have not dealt with them, but if they are anywhere near as bad as their mother, Roland, I would rather stay away.

A disappointment.

You will likely need a manual to help you program this pedal's memory banks. Once you get a handle on what everything does, it is too easy. At first I was overwhelmed with distortion....I didn't want too much and I certainly didn't want it to take away from the natural tone of my amp. After playing for 25 years I have learned that you use these pedals in moderation. It is is easy enough to turn down the overdrive/saturation of the pedal.
You do have to play with it a bit though, but once you do, you're home free.
If anything, I found the manual to be a bit confusing.

I'm using a Strat and Telecaster through an early 70s Fender Deluxe Reverb (silverface). I wanted a pedal that would give me a bit more sustain out of my old amp...this pedal does....in droves. It seems to be noisy at times, but you usually experience some sort of hiss with these pedals anyhow. For me, I purchased it because it claimed to have a good number of sounds from classic and new pedals (including the Fulltone Fulldrive, Ibanez Tube Screamer, Big Muff etc.) I can't verify if these sounds are authentic or not, but they certainly sound like a variety of sounds. If you can't find a good overdrive/distortion sound from all these options, then you are a complete idiot.
The biggest surprise was finding the octave fuzz sound....whoa!!! Hendrix or what....I just love that tone so much. Newbies may recognize this as the tone from Kenny Wayne Shepherd's Black and Blue. It's the type of sound you don't want to overuse though, but it is a lot of fun.
My band plays everything from Zep to Allmans and Gary Moore. I need a variety of sounds. I haven't been able to find a good Brian May tone yet, which you usually require a treble booster for, but I think if I play around enough, I can find something suitable for that need.
The octave thing is alright. Not my cup of tea, but I'm sure there are a lot of guys who would get a lot more out of this sound. The good thing is, you can turn the octave sound right off and never bother with it. I am finding that you can dial in the octave sound ever so slightly and it does enhance your sound.

I would recommend getting a power adaptor to run this thing. I can't see batteries lasting long.
I have heard that Boss products are reliable. It seems to be built like a tank, so as long as you're not jumping up and down on it, I think you'll be alright.
I could get by on a gig without it (using just a tube screamer for instance) but I wouldn't want to.

Never had to deal with Boss.

I have used many pedals in my day. My favorite has been the Line 6 Pod, which I find a bit too hard to deal with at a gig and it colors my sound too much. I will continue to use that for recording and use the OD-20 at gigs.
There are so many sounds you can get out of this pedal. It is perfect for my band because we play a variety of songs. If anything, I think it does overdrive your sound too much, so I find a happy medium so my guitar still sounds like a guitar, not a chainsaw.
If it were lost of stolen, I would be irritated and I probably couldn't afford to go out and get another right away.