Boss OD-20 Drive Zone

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.

I think this unit is very easy to use, very straight forward.
If you can't program this, your an idiot. This unit will give you more distorsion than you will ever desire. The manual is ok, nothing great. i give it a 10, because its so easy to program.

ok, i know equipment pretty well !, i've had every effect known to man ! and i must say i like this unit. why you ask ? well, the trick here is to stick with one guitar and one amp. then, dial in and save your favorite, and don't forget to write down the settings. anyway, i set my amp to neutral settings ie. 5(1/2 way) then keep the volume on one level also. then go to work dialing in the favorites. The EQ, and Presence and the Ocatave really play a part in the shaping of the tones. I was able to get some great tones out of this thing, but when changing to another guitar, the tone changed and changes in the settings was required. so, just stick to one guitar for this unit. I wish there were more banks to save more tones, i could save at least 10 great tones instead of 3 or 4. I for sure think this unit is worth buying. The unit is quiet. i don't think you get the greatest tones in the world, but that subjective anyway, but for $150 i don't think you can complain. I'll give it a 8 for sound.

well, been playen it for 1 year almost every weekend with no problems.
i even hucked it as a heckler in the audience when he told me to take guitar lesson, that SOB.

don't know

for the $$$ you can't go wrong. it offers 30 or so different OD's
and with one guitar you can dial in pretty much anything.
add some delay and reverb and your set !
i love that its a all in one.......

quite easy, really... if you know what the parameters are supposed to do(they are marked, so if that helps, grab a dictionary....

i dont like All of the "types" i like the screamies, the crunchies, and the fuzzies(im not really one for fauxverdrive, i like to push amp for those sounds, it has two different gain voicings{marshally and mesa-like} so it is versatile)its a Randall RG200... i have even found a great little trashy fuzz setting on it. it sounds like your amp is an old transistor radio and your speker is a rusted through trash can(i enjoy unique sounds, especially when "purists" do not)... i am using this with all of the dano mini modulations and delays, fabtone and black coffee with various modded/customised stratlike geeters... it is very applicible to any style of music, from "blues" to ambient trash folk... all of the settings sound good, but not all are to my taste.. you can definitely acheive any distortion/clipping sound..

it is a boss, so i am hoping it will last atleast a year... and from what i here, it most likely will. the 10 is assumption.

dont know, dont care to know, if it breaks ill take it back to Zone music and throw it at the guys head...

i love it, no more stage full of distortions and clippers and boosters and what have you, just one that cn act as all of them, but i will probably still keep some various ones around as back up and boredom relievers...

There was no manual with mine... if you have any experience with these things then you really don't need the manual anyway; it's pretty self explanitory. Easy to change and save things... and the save option for four separate settings is a pretty cool feature on a distortion pedal.

I use a Schecter C1 elite with a fender princeton chorus also running through a digitech quad-4 and a digitech gsp 21. I'm all about versatility and experimenting and this pedal gives one a lot of canvas to paint on, which is a lot of the reason I bought it. You've got to be willing to take some time to play with the dials and your equipment in order to get what you want from this. You cannot just throw it in with your stuff and then flip through the preset distortions on this thing and expect what you're looking for to just hit you in the face. It is noisy but you'll have that with distortion pedals. If you've got a break in a song it's just best to switch it off and on as needed... which would be obvious to most. If you're in a wheelchair or just too lazy to press down on this device a second time then you might want to get a noise suppresser.

It doesnt always sound great... you can make this pedal suck... it won't change your life or do your dishes either... the point is you might have to actually work with it.

The sounds I've got out of this are weird and not metal or bluesy. The octave thing is cool but it only works on pitches below the f# on the 4th string. I have other pitch shifters on my stuff as well but it is still kinda cool just to have and you can make it feedback and get some weird sounds out of that along with other effects.

You can use this to play metal sounding stuff or to "shred" and the attack shape dial is really helpful for this. I've got some eric johnson and steve vai type tones just playing around with it but that's not really the style of music I play.

I know this is the age of ebay and shopping online but if it is possible (as it is with this pedal) always go to a music store and try this stuff out before you buy it... people used to do that all the time. You don't have to get it at the music store but at least you'll know what you're getting into.

so far so good. I'd use it w/o a back up. I still have the distortion on my processor but it isnt nearly as flexable as the OD-20

haven't used the customer support

I mostly play Darkwave/goth/alternative... (like: my bloody valentine, cocteau twins, curve, cure, LYCIA, the sisters of mercy, alien sex fiend etc..) This pedal is a good match for a lot of different stuff if you know how to work your gear. I was looking for a distortion pedal I could get the most from over all and this is above and beyond what most offer.
I've been playing for 14 years and my main guitar now is a Schecter C1-elite. I mainly use the fender princeton chorus amp through the two effects processors I listed earlier and sometimes boss and digitech pedals.

If I could find this pedal used and in the condition I got this one in then I'd get it again.

I love that I can get so many kinds of distortion out of this and that it allows me to play around with some of the more contemporary kinds of distorted sounds. The noise, as on other distortion pedals, sucks but when you're playing it isnt noticeable.
The Schecter I use has humbuckers and a ton of sustain and these things work fantastic with this pedal. I use a lot of effects and I've found that this pedal works great with the other boss effects I have as well.

If you like to be able to change and experiment with your sound then this is the pedal for you. If you're hung up on producing a certain type of sound(or sounds) and just sticking with that then you shouldn't get this; you'll be wasting both your money and the capacity of this pedal.

There are so many things you can do in the realm of overdrive/distortion with the OD-20 if you take the time to get to know it and use it. It is simple to use but that doesnt mean it's simple.

Very easy to use except the pedal mode maybe. A bit non-sensicle on the options with that.

Quite simplly, I had the obligatory TS-9 pedal and needed more gain for certain tunes in performances. Besides, the TS-9 had a somewhat mushy attack that always left me need more punch. This pedal delivers the goods - great punch. I like the Bottom control, which makes it tremendously warm. The TS-9 model on this is, for me, an idealized TS-9 sound with all the warmth + better punch using the Attack setting. This pedal allows me to cover vintage to modern and all points in between. Man, has Boss come a long way in the tone dept. since the GT-3 (which I have and probably will selwon't use much anymore).

Can't say but it's likely to last a while.

Don't know.

I play many styles of music and have been playing for 26 years. Get this pedal.

This babies easy to use just dial in your tone level botom drive and mode and your set

it sounds great to me

its very tough and made to last (mine was a blem but what the hell its BOSS not even a truck could bust this one)

I have never had to service it or any of my BOSS pedals(whats the phone # anyways)

I play mostly rock Ive got a line6 spider II 2x10 amp and the FBV4 footcontroller and a modulizer pro rack mount fx proseser I have octave, flanger, digital reverb, super overdrive, advanced EQ, and drive zone I am going to have the best distortion setup when I get a compresion sustainer I am going to put compression sustaner first for the sustain then super overdrive and Drive Zone then my advanced EQ

It is very easy to use, knobs to dial in the setting you want, and dual peddles to turn distortion off/on, then another for your own presets (four) where you push it until you want it on the preset, or your manual tweaking. I love it. The manual is great for me, and has great outputs, amp control, line out/headphones, input, output. Great for studio work.

Right now I use either a Fender Cyclone I (not the second one), or a 1985-88 Fender Mustang 1969 Reissue through a Peavy Butcher 120w tube head amp outputting to a Sonic 4x12. Works fine, I love the mustang. The sound quality is great, and you can tune in to get the sound of just about any artist with all 20 (21?) effects for distortion. I love the blues driver, the DS-1, and all the "fuzz" settings. I find the Big Muff modeler works great if you want to play Bush. The DS-1 or Blues Driver (BD-1), works great for Nirvana. Great for studio work to crank out the exact distortion you want. You can say if its a rough distortion, or edgey, the drive level, bottem level, tone, everything, it all works great.

I can really depend on it, I'd use it without a backup in a second. Very sturdy,

It's a boss product, I havent needed to repair it, and never had to contact the company.

Since I play Grunge, Punk, to whatever you want to think of as Alternative; I love this peddle. It works great, and helps when I'm learning a song because I can dial in the exact distortion I want. Havent used a better peddle for distortion.

Not hard to use. It's a stomp-box, isn't it?

Found this unit used. Did my homework and had decent expectations before trying it out. Tried it with a Tele Thin-Line through a Fender Silverface Twin at the store--a good test. Bottom line is: if it sounds better in bypass mode through a decent amp--don't buy it! Well, this thing didn't quite pass the test--it's sad when a stompbox makes a good amp sound shitty. It might be me, but I found that every single emulation emitted a shrill, paper-thin buzz that increased as the gain was turned up--like a deranged mosquito. I've found this to be true for many Boss COSM products.

I doubt I would have been so interested in this product if it didn't claim to emulate certain famous stomp-boxes, i.e., scratch off that little bit of paint surrounding the settings knob, and you have a whole bunch of BOSS sounds--nothing more, nothing less. Of course, if you like that buzzy COSM sound, then maybe this is for you.

It's obviously not for me!

Sure, you could depend on it--no cheap plastic used here.

N/A

I like to tinker and tweak as much as the next person--this pedal offers that opportunity at a very low cost. It does exactly what it says it will--attempt to model different pedals using Boss COSM technology--but it leaves something to be desired. I own a Roland Blues Cube, which is a fantastic clean sounding amp, but again, that awful paper-thin sound on the lead channel just drives me batty (you just can't use the bridge pickup without it sounding like a really cheap FX-processor). Oh well, I guess Boss/Roland just sounds the way it does within a certain price range, take it or leave it. No diamond in the rough here, though.

Ok let's take a look at this thing. It has a lot of knobs on it which is one of the reasons I bought it. I considered a multi-effect pedal (a.k.a RP-200, Me-33 etc.), but I decided I would rather have some good distortion before I start to get effects. I'll admit, you have to tweak the thing to get a good sound out of it. If you just plug in your guitar and play expecting to get the sound you want, it ain't gonna happen. You have to play around with a little, but when you do it, you get almost any sound out of it.

Right now I'm using this thing with a Godin SD and a 65-watt Kustom amp. It's not the best setup but it works for what I do. This thing is a NOISY unit when you turn the volume up, but ok people get this through your heads, ALMOST ALL DISTORTION PEDALS DO THIS! If you don't want it get a noise suppressor. I suggest getting a power cable with this, because it's just common sense to spend $25 dollars and get a power supply rather than spend $10 bucks a week getting batteries. You can definately get Kirk Hammett,Angus Young, Pettruci, and almost any other artist you can name out of this thing.

It's Boss, you know the saying. Built like a tank. Mine was a store demo, had a couple of scratches on it, but it's made of freakin' metal, so come on, it's not going to break.

I haven't dealt with them because it's so sturdy. I'm not sure anyone has dealt with them. Makes ya wonder if they really exist......

I play the good days of metal (Old Metallica, Pantera, Old Ozzy, Megadeth), a little blues now and then, and I'm going to get into some jazz soon. I'll admit I've only been playing for 1 1/2 years. But I practice a lot, and this has always been a reliable pedal. If it were stolen I'd go to the store immediately and shell out the $170 for a new one. Personally, I love the Metal setting on it (Not the MT-2, but the setting at 12 o'clock), just gives you a great overall sound. This thing has pretty much every boss distortion and overdrive pedal I can think of in it, and a few others to boot. If you want a good all around distortion pedal, you're winners right here.

Blindingly easy to use in comparison to most other Roland/Boss Products. Editing patches and putting thing together is a very simple process. The manual itself is VERY easy to read and understand. To me , this is a first for Roland/Boss. Normally they have absolutely terrible instructions that have absolutely no syntactical clarity of narrative. The are seemingly always direct, literal translations that make 0% sense. This is a massive leap forward for Roland/Boss.

I tend to use three differing amplifiers. There is a Soldano and a Crate VC 5112 2x12 combo that I use primarily for my band gigs in form or another. I am playing 2 Godin LGXT's and a Gibson Explorer through these amplifier. There is always a Boss GT 3 and a Line 6 Delay Modeler in the effects loop. The signal chain is an Ernie Ball Volume Pedal, in the Boss PW-10 V-Wah into the OD-20. Compared to the other distortion that I have used (DOD, Digitech, Danelectro) this pedal is very quiet and switches very smoothly. No pops. No clicks. No static. As far as distortions go, I have alot of different types I really like. I can very much like the whole Soundgarden/Metallica low end kind of chunk and it is right there. I am not a metal type guitarist, but I love having that right there as a possible piece of re-contextualization. The stack simulation is pretty convincing. The Tube Screamer and the Pro-Co Rat Simulations are to my ears, very close. They may lack a tad of the raspiness that those two pedals would individually have, but they are more than adequate to get the point across. The one that I love the most is the Muff Pie. I lovely that sustaining, smooth, Robert Fripp type of over drive and this delivers! Over all, it is a wonderful evocation of the pedals that it aims to ape.

The cliche goes "It's a Boss........... I am too stinking lazy to schlep around a back-up.

I have called Boss/Roland once. The phone menu was more convoluted than most International Political discourse. The site loads like my Grandmother drives, slowly and erratically.

I adore the reasonable ease of use that this pedals has. Should it disapper, I would definitely buy another . It is becoming a genuinely necessary part of my rig and sound. After almost 20 years of playing electric guitar, this by far the best combination of features, ease of use, tone and value, I have come across. It does more for a fraction of the cost and headache it would entail to own all of the pedals that the OD-20 evokes.

Very easy to use and the manual is helpful if you need it.
Sounds can be stored and accessed easily threw the 4 memory mode. If you need to tweek then just turn the real time knobs then press the write button to store

When your using distortion you'll have some hiss but this box isnt real noisy at all. Boss did a great job most all the drives and distortions are very usable
and imulate the actual stomp box very closely and good enough to use live or for recording. You'll find youre favorites and use them the most anyway. Some like the rockman really suck, but if you listen to the actual rockman it really sucks to, I think the stock ds-1 pedal sucks, so again boss immulated that pedal well too. Although with the deep and attack and tone knob you may tweek till you like it better. All in all this is a great box sound wise and user friendly.

Built well with the usual boss quality

Have never had any problems w/ boss pedals

I play all differant styles and this box suites them all well. I use a 57 strat and a les paul std. thru a Fender Deville. The GUV mode gives my amp great marshally tone, I like it better than the origional Marshall Guv pedal.

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