Boss OD-20 Drive Zone

Very easy. I purchased this unit in the morning, set it up in the afternoon, and gigged with it that night. Boss makes set-up a snap, I love the knobs as opposed to buttons. The manual is clear and easy to read.

So far, so good. Plenty of different tones to choose from. The Blues Driver (BD-2), Marshall Gov'ner and Proco Rat have some killer tones. I haven't messed around too much with some of the metal sounds, as I don't need them. No extraneous noise, at least not any more than anyone else's box, and much better than most.

Well, it's a Boss. One of the reasons I bought it. Built like a tank, basically a triple wide stompbox with 2 pedals. I have to assume some here that it is reliable, so I'm not going to give it a killer mark.

No idea. That's good. I'd rather not have to find out how customer support is for any company.

I'm a 44 year old semi-professional musician who has 25+ years on the stage. I have NEVER been a stompbox user, (although I've had my share, I never could love them)preffering the simplicity of switching channels on my amp. My main amp until recently has been a Fender Hot Rod DeVille 4-10. A few months ago I bought a Peavey Delta Blues 2-10. The tone is close to my HRD, but the amp is significantly lighter and has plenty of power. After a few gigs, I found myself wishing I had that third channel that the HRD provides, so I decided to look for a box to give me just a touch more drive when needed. My current project is an 8-piece horn band playing primarily Big-City Blues. My primary guitar is a Gibson ES-135, with a Strat or Tele thrown in once in a while. I needed something that would give me a smooth drive and some singing distortion without getting nasty, just a nice blues crunch. Another concern is that with many pedals the distortion gets lost in the mix. Competing with 3 horns isn't easy, they're loud and the frequencies compete stringly with guitar. With so many sounds and parameters to choose from, this pedal provides the chance to set up tones that work with the horns. I have no idea how close the emulated sounds are, and I don't care. As long as they sound good, it doesn't matter. The pedal provides me with the opportunity to dial in the tone I'm looking for and store it, so I don't have to worry about knobs getting turned while traveling.

Another issue with stompboxes and switching guitars, the sound you dial in for a 135 doesn't always compliment a guitar equipped with single coils. I can set up 2 stored sounds to favor the Gibby, and the other 2 for the Fenders. Nice.
The ability to set up the LEDs to have 1 LED lit for effect 1, 2 lit for effect 2, etc. is a great feature. It's a lot easier to look down and tell which effect is on when in-between tunes on a dark stage. I don't have time to lean down and try to figure out which LED is on when working a segue. This makes it easy.

I have no use for the low octave note, but I'm sure many do. I'd prefer to see the space used for a built in compressor. That would go hand-in-hand with the various drives.

The cost is a no-brainer. You can't buy 2 decent pedals for any less.

Very easy to use. The manual was a jump start.

Here's the list of ACTUAL pedals I have: TS-10 Tubescreamer, Marshall Bluesbreaker old style, Boss DS-1, DOD OD/Preamp, DanElectro Pastrami OD, Snarling Dogs Black Dog. Guess what all you reviewers who slammed this thing? I nailed the tone of the DS-1, DOD OD and the pastrami. And I got a 90% same tone as the TS-10 and the BluesBreaker. The only thing missing in the last 2 was that 'tonal presence' that only those pedals have.
So quitecherbitchin' about this unit sounding like crap. If you took the time to work with it and dial in the subtlties, then you'd get the tone of the pedals it's modeling.
I was using a '62 Reissue Strat into a '92 Fender Blues DeVille. As far as I can tell, the Attack knob interacts with the Tone knob and different models it will be slightly different.
If anyone would like the knob charts for those pedals, I'd be glad to email them to you. Email me: sam_ash3@yahoo.com. I also have a bunch of pedals for sale... if you're interested... Wonder why???

I haven't owned much Boss stuff. More than likely you can use it for a truck wheel chuck and then gig with it that night.

Not ever delt with them,... yet.

I just got it and have been tweaking with it for the last 2 hours before I checked what others have said about it and did this review. I play mostly blues so I can't comment on the rock or metal models of this unit. I don't have the other actual pedals to A/B them or dial the tone in. All I know is that this is as close to the overpriced vintage real things that you can get. It beats the Line6 modeler to death. Don't even go there. Get this unit. Work with it and you'll be glad you did. I did and I might even get a 2nd one since you only get 4 memory slots plus manual. Imagine,... 2 tubescreams in line with each other... into a Marshall half stack! YeeHaw!!!

Controls: Gain,Bottom,Tone,Lvel,Attack,Octave, Model Type&Variation, Memory Write & Select, Two foot switches.

There's a lot of control here and it's all clearly labeled and easy to
use. More stuff than a standard Stompbox, but well laid out and easy to use. I was able to fully understand the controls while demoing the unit in the store without asking for a manual.

So, why a 7? The Manual. The manual sucks. It gives no indication as to how the models interact with the controls and how they vary other than a one line description naming the product it's based on.

Contrast this with competitor Line 6's modeling product manuals' detailed discussion of the models and the variations among the original products being modeled. They describe the reasons the product was selected for modeling and lovingly describe the tone of the original that they were shooting for.... They'll point out nuances to look for in the various models, they'll describe how they modeled the extra controls on the device that were not present on the device being modeled. They'll tell you whether the additional controls are modeled pre or post gain. They'll tell you how to set the controls to get their closest modeling of the original. This is how a modeling product manual should be written. Boss reduces this information down to: "R-Man - Modeled after Rockman". I think the manual issue is the one reason some people have found this device difficult/overwhelming.

Thankfully, Boss did not screw up the actual implementation as far as the tone goes. The OD-20 kicks in the tone department. I really don't see how any reviewers who have panned the tone on this thing could have really worked with it much or used it with decent gear. With a nice amp and axe, this thing can really take your tone over the top. People who dismiss this unit simply because it is a digital modeler are fools.

The controls seem pretty darn sensitive. At first this really threw me and made me think the tones were too similar. It can also be a pain with only four presets (you end up writing down a lot of 'patches'). But the upside is you do get a lot of control over the sound. I think some of the folks who gave negative reviews may have not realized this... With this box, if you just start torquing the knobs from one extreme to the other it's not going to be apparent how wide and subtle the range is... It can definitely do "smooth", "warm", and "meaty" tones when setup properly and feeding a decent piece of gear.

The extra drive of the turbo is nice, but you have to look at the gain control when tweaking it because the turbo mode kicks in early (like 3 o'clock or so) I would have preferred a separate control for Turbo to give the gain control more range (however, I guess if the choice is how they did implement it or no turbo at all, I'd keep it as is due to the added versatility of having it).

I specifically decided to buy this unit when looking for an overdrive. I wanted something to work with my ADA MP-1 Tube Preamp, Peavey Classic 30 Tube Combo, and POD 2.0. I like a lot of heavy tones and wanted an overdrive that could be used with all of the above to juice the tone going into the amp/simulator. After playing various units, this one really stood out due to the quality and range of overdrives available.

I've basically found four models in the OD-20 to be fantastic as boosters/overdrives for high gain tones: the TS808, OD-1, BD-2, and Boost (an OD-20 original and the best of the bunch! Sounds even better than the emulation of the high $$$ Klon, even plays well with the POD which normally hates stompboxes).

Model Accuracy: I can't speak 100% to the model accuracy, since I have not played all of the originals modeled. Here are those I know about:

1. The DS-1 is virtually perfect.
2. The Rockman model definitely has that shitty, boxy sound that a real Rockman has. :)
3. The BD-2 and OD-1 were A/Bd against their OD-20 models in the store. As with DS-1, it seems that the OD-20 is *very* accurate for the Boss emu's.
4. The TS-808 sounds smoother than the cheapo TS-7, never played a real 808.

Standouts (in addition to the overdrives mentioned above):
MT-2 - Finally! The other sound my rig was missing: a kick ass, unflinchingly solid state high gain distortion. The emu is slightly 'smoother' than the original MT-2 and not as flexible due to the unmodeled mid EQ. But the basic tone is probably better than the original. Awesome.
MXR DIST+ - More subtle than I expected. Very cool for gain stacking when you want more grit than the dedicated overdrive models.
Rat - Provides a lot of range without being mushy or overly harsh/bright. Mids have some balls to them. Note: Tone Control works in reverse for this model. I wonder if some of the people who didn't like this model caught that in the docs.
DS-1 - Can you say Nirvana? Gets that raw, biting, love it or hate it DS-1 distortion sound.
Big Muff - Wow. I'm not a huge Fuzz fan, but I can see a lot of
applications for this. Rough and smooth at the same time (It's a dessert topping and a floor wax!). Great to have such a nice Fuzz for 'free', even if I'm not a heavy fuzz user.
OD-20 Crunch - Cool Vintage Marshall Style Crunch sound with a lot of oomph.
OD-20 Stack - This is what I expected the Guvnor sim to sound like.

Do not like:
Guvnor - Eww Gross. Sounds like a lot of people here dig it but it
didn't do much at all for me. Sounds too 'thumpy'

Umm... uh... Boss.

I hear they suck. Fortunately, their products are pretty reliable. I'm pissed that they don't make manuals available on-line as PDF. ALL BOSS CUSTOMERS SHOULD E-MAIL BOSS URGING THEM TO MAKE MANUALS AVAILABLE ONLINE!! Virtually every other major manufacturer is doing this nowadays.

For $150, I got everything my rig was missing (a slew of overdrive tones for my MP-1 and POD and a solid state metal distortion) plus the bonus of a number of cool 'free' distortions and fuzzes. If you can't find something in the 22 models presented here, you must either be using it with terrible gear or not really giving the unit the time and tweaking it deserves.

Only major downsides are lack of a gate (which is a minor issue) and only FOUR presets! C'mon BOSS there are WAY more than Five (4presets + 1 manual setting) usable tones in this thing!!

Even given these minor problems, the superb tone and amazing versatility make this the ATOM BOMB of Stompbox Overdrive/Distortion tone. At $150 less than the cost of one 'vintage' or boutique overdrive) it's a supreme value given the cost of the pedals I would have to buy to replace this thing. Definitely a ten.

This unit is easy to use and the manual is self-explanitory!

I've been using this pedal for about a year. I play a LesPaul thru a Marshall halfstack, I've also used it with a Crate 2X12 combo. So listen people, if youre trying to develop your signature sound, I don't think this pedal is for you. It's really been a disappointment for me and listen to the other reviews on this same page. This pedal is not worth the money because you're probably not going to like the overall sound. It does offer many different sounds and its fun to experiment, so maybe if you are a beginning player, you might can have fun with it. But as someone else said on this page, it's not going to give you a professional sound, even with EQ's, would bring on way too much heartache and time to tweak these sounds. They're too fake. I don't really review many products but I thought I owed it too you guys, who are considering this product, that I don't think it is worth it, and like I said,its obvious some people on this site no what they are talking about.

Its dependable

Too easy LOL.

Only 4 memory locations, hey Boss......what's that give us more...100 or so!

Sounds good,all DS and OD's are different,I rather question the emulation quality,I got a TS9 and it doesn't come close.

What matters if you like the sounds I don't care if it's a 101 copy of the "real thing".

Built like a tank,I got a SE-50 as well...and it keeps working!

Never dealt with em

Good DS and OD.
4 programs
affordable (cheaper then one Boss pedal and a TS9 together!)

Good product if you like the sounds,check it before you buy it,some people might be disapointed...wich I don't understand.

This is an update since my last review. The on/off LED light on my OD20 died after 1 week of use! So I returned it and got another only to find out that the "write" button (which stores presets) didn't work at all! So I returned it and gave up on the OD20. I don't trust their reliability anymore. It's a shame because I loved the sounds I could get out of the pedal. I didn't want to replace it with another OD20 just to have that one die some time in the future.

Didn't deal with Boss. Luckily the store (Daddys Junky Music) took both pedals back and credited my account and gave me a few sets of strings for my trouble and gas mileage to get there!

I got some good sounds right away. After a few minutes I got some GREAT sounds! The manual was clear. One knob to control which model overdrive you want and a button to select from a different list. Then there are 6 knobs to tweak your ideal sound in. One button to "write" (save) your setting. One stompbox to turn it on and one to change between the 5 saved presets.

This thing is GREAT and so underrated. I can't believe it isn't more popular. I've spent the past year trying out different overdrives and distortions looking for my ideal sound and setup. This thing does it! I especially like the models of the Tubescreamer, Fulldrive2, Rat, Guvnor, and OD2. It's not noisy. And with 6 knobs you can tweak your exact tone for each preset. You can have multiple gain stages or boost stages. I have it setup to have a Light OD, Medium OD, Hendrix-fuzz, Rock Distortion, and Octave induced Insane Distortion!

My setup:
Seiwa Jazzmaster->Qtron->Morley PWA wah->TU2 tuner->Boss OD20->Nobels ODR1->Visual Sound H20->Ibanez PH7->Akai Headrush->Carvin Vintage 33 tube amp.

I gig without a backup. It's Boss and built very sturdy! If I needed to I could use my amp's OD channel but I trust this OD20!

Last time my Boss SD1 died, I mailed it to them and they sent me a brand new one 2 weeks later!

I play lead and rhythm guitar in a jamband. We play funk, blues, rock, jazz, reggae, improv, etc... This pedal is what I've been looking for for awhile! It gives me so many sounds and they are quality sounds. Been playing guitar 10 years and keep up to date on new products and consider myself tone-conscious. I recommend this OD20. It even has an octave knob! If it were stolen I would buy it again definitely.

This is a simple and self explanatory pedal, but it has so many options and sounds that it can become a little difficult to find a good sound at first, and even later on too. However, there is not much penalty for options because this thing is so intuitive.

I am in an emo/punk/reggae/grunge/pop punk/something completely new/ band and I need a good clean and a good distortion. Both with clarity, dynamics, and an organic sound. I play a gibson les paul with emg 85's into this box and then into a sovtek mig 50, and an avatar cab with 2 v30's. Now, this should be a great sounding setup, but the Drive Zone completely ruins it. First, it is a robotic piece of shit. All you get is this completely terrible thin ratty buzz that has no definition, dynamics, or warmth. The drive zone sounds like a chainsaw, and not in a good way. I am even really into shitty guitar sounds as a sound such as operation ivy, or the stooges, but the problem with this box is that it is trying to sound good. A good analogy is probably song lyrics. When weezer writes a song about a sweater unraveling it is the simple appeal of it that makes it creative and unique, and ultimately, artistic. However, when the band Gob writes, "and we will grow on, like a tree", it is the wannabe poetry that makes it so rediculously bad. The Drive Zone is trying for fake poetry. It "copies" some really great pedals and through its synthesis of these sounds into a boss format, all of these things sound like 1)they are the same thing with more or less buzz 2)complete shit. Never buy this pedal. Never buy this pedal. Never buy this pedal. I would suggest that because the average audience (and more importantly, groupie, hehe) does not know the difference between a big muff, rat, and MXR distortion plus just buy one solid pedal. It will sound better than this computer.

Yeah, its reliable. Very relieable.

Never had to deal with them. Maybe I will call up and complain about how bad this and every other on of their distortion pedals sound. But I have a delay from them and it sounds really good.

This is a really bad pedal. There is no reason to buy a box with so many sounds in it, especially when they all suck. I almost wish its reliablilty weren't so great so that I could break it and set its electronics on fire, because even that might make it sound better. You will never get a good tone out of this pedal, and you should pay alot less for a 1 channel distortion, or maybe 2 good distortions. This thing is really really bad.

This is a follow up to my last review as a couple of things have come to light. First, Boss manuals always leave a lot to be desired, especially when it comes to technical information and achieving certain sound qualities for various overdrive/distortion channels. OD-20 itself is simple to use, however, sound quality varies for certain reasons.

Here are a few new things I have discovered using this pedal on certain set-ups. I use this pedal very often on my Randall RG75 and it sounds very, very good on these distortions: MT-2 & Guvnor. There is no low end thump or "farting". However, I it does fart a lot on the "loud" & "metal" settings. I believe I know why this is. These two channels (load & metal) really offer some heavy and brutal distortion, but it's simply too much gain for my RG75's 1x12 celestation speaker to process easily, so it farts and hums a lot.
O.k., so I tried these 2 distortion channels on my RG100SC (which has 2x12 speakers) and the sound is a way lot smoother and virtually all of the farting and hum is elimanated (tweak those knobs), and the sound quality is much, much better. I can also tell you that the MT-2 simulation sounds wonderful & heavy (like that old school metal sound I've loved so much), especially with chorus, so does the Guvnor simulation.
Now here is something as well. I used my RG75 to power a 4x12 speaker cabinet, and the OD-20's metal and loud settings will not fart or hum (by hum, I mean the hum that sometimes occurs just after you've stopped playing rythem or lead on the bass strings of your guitar). Now, I'm not a tech whiz, but I'm assuming, the better your amp or cab speaker arrangements, the better your sound. I assume that 2 speakers or more can handle heavy (especially bottom heavy, i.e., lots of bass) distortion distribution better without degrading sound quality.
It basically makes sense, I can crank the natural distortion and master volumn on my RG75 and avoid farting and most of the hum, but pushing heavier distortions (from an OD-20) through that 1 12" speaker, will muddy the sound up more than normal and cause more unpleasent feedback. I guess that single "12 speaker gets overloaded. MY RG100's 2 12" speakers can handle these heavier distortions much better. I suppose that's because it spreads the sound out much better.
Now here is also a big deal in making my rig sound better. E.Q. I use a Boss GE-7 E.Q. pedal to boost the OD-20 (and my GP-20 amp factory). Believe it or not (and I generally hate pedals) this thing is bloody great. It does work (forget the manual's settings). I also use noise gates, but that's a different topic.

It still works, just make sure the power is always off before you connect anything to this pedal or else you risk some serious ear or pedal, or amp damage.

Don't want to know.

Like I said at the beginning, the manual leaves much to be desired in the way of technical information. For that reason, I suspect many people have found this pedal to be a bad investment, because their rig is not optimized to take atvantage of this pedal's abilities (which I think are damn good). This pedal is not great, but it's pretty good for what it offers because it's versatile, but needs lots of attention when switching between simulations. However, I'll admit that some distortion simulations I dont like (like the P-rat, R-man, Full-D, or that terrible HM-2 simulation). But I love the the MT-2 simulation (sounds a whole lot better than the actual pedal itself), the Guvnor, Loud, Lead, Metal (this one needs a lot more personal tweaking, though to come through), and even the warm sounding Tube-screamer.
I have not tested this pedal with a mixing board or for direct recording, so if that's what you want to do, don't take my word for it. Like I said in my previous review, your sound rig is main factor (next to your playing ability). I only tested this on amps and my Randall 4x12 cab, and it likes my Randalls. Obviously, I am a Randall kind of man. I Really don't like playing any other amps.
I also own a Warhead head (which I referred to mistakenly in my last review as a "Warlock". I was actually thinking about a B.C. Rich Warlock guitar-the one that Slayer's Kerry King uses as a back-up to his flying Vs'-when I wrote that review).
One other thing, if you're going to use this pedal with a 15 or 30 watt practise amp, I don't know what kind of sound quality you'll get because I only used this on fairly powerful rigs, and really a 15 or 30 watt wont do justice to this pedal.
In the end, this is a pretty good value buy. If it breaks I'd be very unhappy (I don't want to have to deal with Boss customer service, which is notoriously bad). Another thing-if off topic-unless you have to, never order pedals online. I would hate to think of what conditions this pedal would be subject to in transit to you when the UPS guy just chucks it in the back of his truck willy-nilly. I have heard to many people tell me thier stuff arrived broken or had something lose inside. Rule of thumb-if possible-never order an amplifier online unless you have to. Because after moving around for 2 weeks from here to there, I bet you it will be busted (especially if it is a tube amp) when you get it.

This product is very easy to use, you have to be more or less an idiot not to get it to work, the manual is easy enough allthough you don't really need it

I tried this pedal with a Tech 21 amp and a Gibson Les Paul 2002.
I only have one pedal myself and that is the Boss MT2, which I don't really care for, so I thought that hey here is a new pedal which will give me 16 dists. Well, i play everything from singer/songwriter to punk rock. The only reason that I would buy this pedal would be if I had a mortal enemy. There just isn't any distortion at all in this box, in fact the only modelled box or amp that worked and was able to deliver was the MT2. On the gain knob there is something called "Turbo" well i had the knob turned to max all the time and the tube screamer sounded like a poor overdrive pedal (my VOX amp delivers more and far superior dist.) So don't buy this pedal, spend your money on something that acctually works, unless you'r out to get a bunch of overdrive pedals.

It's a boss, need i say more

Don't know