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

The manual is actually good! Editing patches is simple, as is saving them. The patches are also fairly easily accessed.

Setup: Cort G290 (EMG SAs and 85)>TU-2>Digitech Whammy>Cry Baby 535Q>NS-2>OD-20>Zoom Power Drive>CH-1>PH-3>BF-3>DD-6>Marshall MG100DFX
On the whole, the models are pretty accurate, often improving on the originals, due to enhanced tonal control. For example, I use the DS-1 setting for my alternative rock distortion, my Satch-style solo distortion and my metal setting, just all with different EQ. The supplied metal settings lack mids in my opinion, but then again I don't love metal tone. To be honest this pedal will work a lot better if you just look at each of the settings not as models but just different, distinct distortions. Everything on this pedal is definately usable, even the heavy octave, if only for fun. I don't quite understand what the problem with noise is, it's definately not much noisier than any other distortion pedals I've used and if it bothers you that much get a noise suppressor.
I will only give the pedal a high rating in this category because I use it in conjunction with my Zoom Power Drive. I use it to boost the highs and lows and this REALLY makes the pedal shine. It sounds a bit "flat" without it. So I definately reccommend getting an EQ with this pedal to hear it's full potential.

Very dependable, mine actually got beer on it, I opened it up and gave it a quick wipe, still works perfectly. I've had mine for nearly a year now.

N/A

I play alternative rock, along with a bit of classic stuff and metal. This pedal fits my need perfectly, the convinience of having a solo setting on the manual patch and any other distortion on 1, 2, 3 or 4 is fantastic, I don'tneed to press this pedal on or this other pedal off, just one click and it's done. The sounds are great, I just feel that a lot of people are missing out on so much with this pedal if they aren't using an EQ. With, it surpasses almost every other distortion pedal out there. Without, it's still a hell of a lot better than Digitech, Zoom and Line 6's digital stompbox efforts. Only Boss seems to have actually captured some kind of analog warmth and feel, and it's all the better for it.

In terms of plug and play (manual mode), this pedal is a 10. Very straightforward and easy to figure out what all the knobs do.

In terms of memory saving, it's a 9. You can save memories the same way you save them on most twin pedals.

In terms of getting a GOOD sound out of it, it's a 7. This is a real knob-tweaker. You've really gotta know your gear and EQ-ing to work with it.

I use a humbuckered Les Paul into this into a Marshall AVT275 on the clean setting. I have a rather large pedalboard, and bought this hoping it can serve me as a backup rig (Od-20 into a Catalinbread Super Chile Picoso Boost) for rehearsals and practise. I got it about a month ago, btw.

I do not find this pedal noisy at all. I generally don't have the gain knob turned past 1:00 except on the Klon model, and I don't find it noisy there either.

As mentioned, you've gotta tweak and tweak and tweak some more to find your optimal sound. Then take a break for a few hours, come back, and keep on tweaking! If you're like me, you find this a lot of fun, the constant discovery.

Now, not every setting on the pedal is good. I found the dist+ and marshall guvnor settings completely unuseable. The proco RAT setting is borderline useable. I'm also not too confident using the metal setting in a band mix. But the vast majority of the different distortion types leave me with a bucketful of goodies to choose from.

The trick is to not turn to the Tubescreamer model and go "WTF THIS DOES NOT SOUND LIKE A TS WHAT A RIPOFF MOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM". It is to take the names with a grain of salt, and compare all of them to each other. For my purposes, I found the Klon model to have an excellent OD sound, the HM-2 for a best all around distortion, the Muff for a great fuzz sound (with the octave knob at 9:00), and the Lead setting for a sweet distorted lead sound.

And I'm still tweaking!

What I got was a versatile pedal that sounds great and I can play in a wealth of styles. All jammed into one pedal! The term "Jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none" applies extremely well to this pedal. I can take it to rehearsals and smaller gigs and know I can rely on it to serve me well. I love this thing!

It's a boss. C'mon

blah blah

I play a variety of styles, from rock to pop to blues. I have been playing for 10 years and own about 15 other pedals, most of which make up my main board. My main distortion and OD come from a Tonebone Hot British and a TC Jauernig DGTM pedal. I bought this to use as a backup.

This pedal kicked a number of other pedals out the door, including 2 modded DS-1s and a modded MT-2, all of which I really liked and were my previous backup rig.

I am a tone freak. I know I own a solid state amp, but it would knock you out of your shoes if you could hear the tone I get. I've had guitarists of all stripes, including professionals, compliment me on my tone. I do not throw my weight behind any ol' pedal.

What I love about this pedal is the absolute variety of great tones I can get out of this. Switching from a distortion to a fuzz is simple!
What I dislike about this pedal is the fact that you can't see your settings! Being that you have to tweak to get optimal tones, it can become very confusing if you want to recreate a tone you once had. The user diagrams in the back of the manual go someways towards rectifying this, but it's still very frustrating. I wish it had a little digital display like the EQ-20 has to tell you what your settings are.

I chose this pedal because I was watching a professional guitarist play, and was surprised he was using a Boss ME-50. He said it was a great unit, and a lot of the sounds in the OD-20 are in the ME-50. I also spoke to a number of people who own the OD-20 that I respect, and most were very satisfied with it.

I highly recommend this to anyone who loves their guitar pedals! Make sure you've got a good amp as well, or else don't come crying when you sound like crap ;)

I use this for a Bass. Few pedals have the ability to give low end distortion that I seek. Having had a truck load of Boss gear in the late 80's I considered Boss again when picking up again in 2005.

I looked at all of the multi effect processors, and was not interested in becoming a nuclear physicist in order to learn how to get some tone. Had hoped to find rack mounted analogs that I could string together, kind of like what Adrian Belew and Robert Fripp were doing in King Crimson in the 80's.

Alas, they did not exist, in all of my searching, at least the things I saw did not give me any comfort in their ideas.

So it was back to stomp boxes! Very happy with ths choice for it is easy to use and easy to program!

I do not ahve to switch parameters in order to adjust my sound to find what I want and then get lost wondering where I was a moment before.

Turn this knob turn that knob, oh no a little less of the one before.... It is what effect creation was in the begining but now with multiple memory settings and a manual setting.

Again, I am a Bassist. Jackson Concert, Ibanez BTB405, 405, 455, 456, 10006 Fretless, and a Warrior Studio 5.

I use a Genz Benz NeoX400 Combo and extension 1x12 NeoX Cabinet.

The amp does exceptionally well at reproducing anything given to it. Thus clarity of sound is important to me...no bagage noise. Did I mention it is small and light?

My fear of noisy boxes has not panned out with this pedal and its 7 other syblings that I have accompanying it.

When with a rehersal band last year the guys were stunned at what I did with it.

Sure it makes the gain on the signal so strong that you can hear your breath on the strings, but that is the nature of the beast.

The Octaver built in is an EXCELLENT idea even for the Bassist. It kept me from getting yet another pedal. I use the Octaver with distortion when I played "Locomotive Breath" with a rehersal band.

I did it once, with the Pitch Shifter on the front end doing the upper Octive.

After the song was over the guys just looked at me as I apologized and told them that I was bored and it will never happen again. They screamed to do it again. Sounded like a NASCAR engine being throttled in the rehersal hall.

Have never doubted Boss Products.
Just shocked that they do not make them in rack mountable units with a patch bay and switch pedal system.
I have never seen a Boss Pedal fail. Period.
Must be because they are of such good quality that nobody I have ever seen fails to appreciate them and care for them.

Not needed

I Play everything. Played off an on for 31 years.
I needed a pedal that could do everything.
I knew that the prior Boss OD's I had were not good enough for the bass in the 80's (HM-1, OD-1, OD for Bass, DS-1) but looking at this the controls gave me the feeling that we were together on this distored bass thing.
I was not disappointed, nor were the guys I played with.
This is massively powerful stuff here. If you want to redefine a peice and give yourself freedom with your palate of sounds, you will not be uninpired.
Just try the locomotive breath idea.

Very easy to get many good sounds.

G&L ASAT -> OD-20 -> Reverend Kingsnake

The key here is to plug into a good tube amp. Don't waste your time reviewing with a solid state or mini practice amp.

There are many very useful excellent sounds. It isn't packed with those weird useless sounds. Of course, having a string of every single box the OD-20 emulates would be impractical and would not sound as good because of the signal loss.

Boss is a high quality product.

Don't need it.

This can match any style of music and was voiced for plugging into a good tube amp - not a PA. This is by far the best box with multi OD I have used in 20 years of playing. Since this is OD only, Boss has concentrated on specifically getting all the OD sounds right. Many multifx boxes cover modulation, delay, etc also and the manufacturer doesn't spend the time dialing in the ODs correctly. This is an awesome value and gets a 10.

Just like the old distortion box you bought when you first got into electric guitar, not any more complicated, unless you think an extra 'mode change' knob is alien, well then....you are the alien.

It's definitely nice sounding, and does a lot of gain/distortion range that goes from the classical OD-1 growl to the MT-2 scream. You can't really say that it sounds limited because of the lack of a tube sound, since it's just a basic overdrive distortion box. But it'll sound marvelous if you patch it into a tube amp (like duh). Authenticity wise, it sounds good enough, and won't sound bad, provided that your playing is good and you're not a tone deaf idiot.

Please pay attention that the Drive knob adds A LOT of gain to the sound, and surprisingly, turing it to one o'clock will already sound distorted enough for most usage purposes.

I prefer to play it into a clean, nice souding tube amp with very sensitive EQ controls, since if you use a distortion pedal, you would'nt need amp gain anymore, right?

Tank like and indestructable, yawn....typical Boss....

Never dealt with them with this pedal....

I noticed that ALL guitarist are in a way divided and separated from each other regarding their responses to sound modelling from different effects brands. Thus, you'll definitely see a lot of lets say Digitech worshippers (more like mindless pawns, really) critisising about the OD-20 and insisting that the Digitech's DF-2 sounds better than the OD-20.

What I have to say is, if you don't like Roland's COSM, then don't post a nonsense review full of personal negative criticism here (you all who do this are beginning to sound like idiots who can't appreciate something and thus can only think of ways to criticise it).

So, if you don't like Boss products, then why buy them and complain about them being well, Boss? Also, why buy the OD-20 if you prefer a Digitech DF-2? BE SENSIBLE!!!! AND STOP OVERCROWDING THE SPACES HERE WITH PERSONAL VENDETTA!!!!

Damn! I got this box for Xmas from my brother-in-law. I gave him a list of 5 pedals I thought might be cool to have but I couldn't necessarily afford (he picked my name in the gift exchange). The OD-20 happened to be at the bottom of the list but somehow was the only one available from the quaint but surprisingly interesting guitar shop in North Bend, WA (where my in-laws live). I was pretty stoked come Xmas morning when I opened this baby up! I've been using an Original EH Deluxe Big Muff (the one with a compressor) as my only distortion/fuzz box for 9 years. So the sheer variety of distortion flavors was very exciting from a tonal standpoint. I mean the OD-20 is seriously the stompbox equivalent of Baskin Robbins 31 flavors! It'll not only model Boss' flagship fuzz boxes (DS/OD/Blues Driver/and those strange black "Metal" boxes) but you can essentially tour the abridged history of cool-ass fuzz boxes of the last 40 years! To get to the point of this category, the OD-20 couldn't be any easier to use. The six knobs across the top are pretty self-explanatory: Drive/Bottom/Tone/Level/Attack Shape/Heavy Octave. In addition to the above, there is a knob (Type) that selects the desired stompbox patch. And this is where the OD-20 shines. Like I mentioned above, you have access to all the good signature BOSS sounds plus you'll have emulations of EH Big Muff, MXR Distortion+, Tubescreamer, RAT, Centaur overdrive, Marshall Guv'ner, and other kick-ass sounds. You'll have a hard time running out of options.

Everyone has their opinions about digital modeling. But I think most discerning listeners could agree that Roland's COSM technology is definitely the front-runner. Prefering analog stompboxes to their digital counterparts, I have to admit I was rather skeptical about the OD-20 (considering the first time I ever plugged one in was on Xmas day)... Man! This box is fantastic! How the hell those crazy engineers at Roland made this thing so convincing I'll never know. Just the other afternoon I A/B tested against my Deluxe Muff and came away feeling they were equivalent in terms of creating the signature Big Muff sound. I really want to test it next to an original Tubescreamer to see how it holds up (I use the Tubescreamer sound more than anything else). One thing worth mentioning is you can save 4 patches to the OD-20's internal memory. There is also a manual mode so you can experiment before you feel you need to save anything. I pretty much have this thing on all the time, switching between very subtle overdrive tones and slightly more overdriven tones. Don't get me wrong this box runs the gamut of distortion and fuzz tones. You won't be disappointed if you love to experiment. Plus you won't have to deal with the sometimes annoying aural baggage associated with vintage fuzz boxes.

Hey man it's a BOSS. Made to be abused. If the nuclear fall-out ever happens, there will be two things left: Twinkies and Boss pedals.

I repair my own stuff. And read the manual.

Fuzz box experimentalists rejoice! The motherload of distortion tones has landed. So many applications for the OD-20 both live and in the studio and not necessarily just for guitar. I've always tended to play with a number of pedals in my signal chain. Lately I've been plugging my Tele into the OD-20 then straight into my '75 Vibro Champ. No reverb or delay (which would shock my friends). It just sounds good to me! The OD-20 will not disappoint.

I`m a professional player with many years experience,& I bought this to possibly replace my Line 6 distortion modeler-it has footswitch issues(also bought the Boss DD-20 gigadelay before almost getting the Line 6 Delay.Whew!....averted THAT nightmare!....) I needed a similar box for sessions & live gigs that I could use on my small pedalboard rig that will give me all the sounds I would need. Well,this box does it & then some.
Here`s what I auditioned it with: Fender strat with PAF-type humbucker in the bridge(not overwound or HOT,just 'traditional'sounding) and Peavey 1x10 solid-state combo,`71 Fender Deluxe Reverb,& Line 6 flextone 2x12 combo.I also ran it thru a lot of the usual effects I would be using it with,TC SCF,Tremolo,delay,etc...
It`s very easy to use;writing sounds to memory is fast.I didn`t notice any other reviewers mention about the pedal MODES,so I thought I`d mention it: The left pedal is effect on/off & the right pedal lets you select your sounds,but you can program HOW you want to select the sounds.PEDAL MODE 1 means each tap of the footswitch will scroll thru MANUAL,MEM 1,MEM 2,....MEM 4,MANUAL,...etc & PEDAL MODEs 2 & 3 let you switch between MANUAL and a select MEMORY patch.(MANUAL just means whatever settings the knobs are currently set at).This is a great idea because you can set the MANUAL mode for your basic crunch/rhythm overdrive sound,and have different lead sounds in the memory locations.The manual is also very easy to understand.

I`ve had this unit for at least 6 months now putting it thru it`s paces,& I have to say that I`m very happy with it.I can dial in everything from a gentle clean boost for a solo to heavy thrash metal tones.I have to agree with one reviewer that said "Take time to dial it in!!".The Eq controls on this unit are powerful;the Bottom control doesn`t just control Bass,it controls 'Resonance'-it made my little Peavey 1x10 sound like a bigger cabinet.The Attack Shape control is subtle yet very effective.The Tone control seems to mimic the knob of the original pedal it models: on the Rat,it acts like the Filter control.On the Fulldrive model,turning it up not only increases highs but also Mids.The Amp Ctrl is a very smart feature-you can program a patch to switch your amp to it`s lead channel while simultaneously adding a bit of Tube Screamer overdrive,or Boost,or whatever.As far as authenticity of the models is concerned,I have to agree with Guitar Player magazine,they are very authentic.I have either owned and/or played thru most of the pedals it models.Also,these sounds really are DYNAMICALLY RESPONSIVE! You can roll back the guitar`s volume to clean it up a bit,..play lightly & it`s clean,dig in more & it starts to break up...fantastic.The only reason I didn`t give it a 10 was because of the Rockman model;it`s been a million years since I played thru a real one,but I don`t remember it sounding like that 'cocked wah' kind of sound...maybe it was the particular EQ setting they had it on when they modeled it,I don`t know...but even still,this is a MINOR complaint.And about the noise...It seems just as quiet as any other high quality distortion I`ve used.If you balance your Drive,Tone,& Level controls with your amp`s volume,you shouldn`t have any problems.My amps were set at 'medium', small-club levels,and it was very quiet.

Built like all the other Boss pedals-indestructable.I`ve never ever had a problem with a Boss pedal,& I don`t expect to.

These people must be lonelier than the Maytag repairman....who would ever need to contact them? There was a brochure in the box with the support phone # and 24 hour Faxback #,so it`s good to know it`s there if I need it.

I put a lot of thought into this rating...I really would`ve given it a 10,but I`m being super critical.The only things I didn`t like about it are the Rockman model(still useable though in a recording situation if you need a 'different' kind of part to sit in the mix)& the Line Out cabinet sim was only satisfactory.But having said that,even THAT is a useful function;I once did a gig where the sound guy actually said to me that he didn`t have any more microphones,so he couldn`t mic-up my amp! He had to D.I. it from my pedalboard with no amp or speaker sim at all! Wish I had this pedal THEN....If this pedal were lost or stolen,I would definitely get another one.

Distortion,like other effects,is a very subjective thing.My advice is to buy it & try it on your regular rig; most major music retailers give you some time to return things for a full refund,so I would take advantage of that.If you do,really spend as much time as you can dialing in the different sounds,& see if it works for you with your particular combination of guitar & amp.
In my humble opinion, if you`re a working player like me who needs to cover a whole spectrum of overdrive tones,this pedal is a no-brainer.Thumbs Up!

I recently bought one and it is working great for me.
It is very easy to make great tones.
It is really cool to have footswitch access to 5 different patches.
I wish there was a way to see the parameters on stored patches.

I'm using it with a PRS and strat into 2 tube amps.
People have commented about the pedal being noisy.
In extreme settings, it is noisy, but no more than the pedals it is modeling if they were set to same amount of gain.
I am loving the tones and possibilities.
I've got 4 great tones stored and use the manual settings for on the gig adjustment.
It takes some experimentation and tweaking, but if you are patient, I believe you will find gold.

Boss stuff doesn't break.
It's built like a tank

Never a problem with Boss, I don't know.

I'm freelancing and having to do all styles.
This pedal is a great solution for covering all the overdrive tones.
I've been playing for 40 years (Yikes!)
Yes, I would buy it again if it were to vanish.
I love the tremendous variety of sounds and the very musical parameters that can be adjusted.
I wish it had a way to see the numbers on the parameters.
It beats a closetfull of distortion stompboxes from Mesa V-twin to MXR.
It definitely makes playing music more fun for me.

Read previous reviews or go to www.rolandus.com for full details.

This pedal is 50% useless. The reason is that it is so noisy that you cannot take full advantage of it. I have a DS-1 (not great either, but better), a Digitech Tone Zone (very good overdrive overall), Zoom 510 dual driver (this is by far better and even with its almost digital distortion sounds), a RP2000 (better distortions, but also digital), Behringer VAMP2 (better distortions than all the previous pedals and also warm and non-expensive $99) and a Digitech Distortion Factory DF-7 (this one is really good to keep things simple, flexible and clear. also it is $99).
The only thing that the OD-20 has that is good in terms of it sounds is the octaver and you can purchase a similar one from Arion or any other non-expensive brand with the same performance.
Bottom line, this pedal sucks, it is too noisy (I also have noise suppresors and still with good settings noise is there), I can recommend that you give a try to the VAMP2, DF-1, Uber Metal (I do not have it, but it is good) or any other pedals.

They have a considerable amount of time of warranty, these electronics (stompboxes) are quite robust and simple, then I can say this criterion is not very important, unless you are purchasing something expensive.

Boss even does not have the manuals for easy download, their website is very difficult to locate things (www.rolandus.com) and this is a reflection of their company.

This pedal sucks. I was always wondering why people say "Boss Sucks", after purchasing several Boss pedals (Chorus, DS-1, PW-10 and OD-20) I can now also say "Boss really sucks".
The only Boss pedal that I can recommend so far is the PW-10 which is excellent. All the other Boss pedals could be remmoved from space and time without major consecuences to our current music.

Real easy, if you can work a regular stompbox it's a piece of..

So far I have only used this with my Fender Sidekick a 15w practice amp, but through the years I come to know how diffent boxes
will sound in my other amps jut by listening this little crappy one.
The eq. filters respons very well and the models are all good as far as I can hear, the tubescreamer was very through to the original, the fulltone is smoother, when I use my old one on stage I often have problems with some sharp freq. which I can't kill.
The new models sounded very fat.
The Octawider was a lot of fun and usefull for acoustic guitar playin.
Over all an very versatile pedal.

Yepp it's a BOSS

Never got in contact with them.

I play mostly rock and blues and this is a good solution for me.
My opinion bout what a good overdrive sound is changes all the time and with this little box seems I don't have to worry about that.

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.