Boss OD-3

my setup is LP thru od3 and a mimic man delay thru a marshall mini halfstack.

this sounds like a ts9 but without the mid hump.using the tone knob gives you compression when turned counter clockwise, and gives more bite when turned counterclockwise.

doesnt cleans out very well but is a good booster.

not as transparent as the dano cto-1 or the timy od but gives a rawk rock n roll sound

3 knobs... very easy to dial in sounds

OK... here's my tuppence worth.... Over the years I've owned and tried loads of overdrives, and have settled on three: the SD-1 Super Overdrive, the OD-3 Overdrive, and the Ibanez TS9. The first thing to say is that I see the main purpose of an OD pedal is to boost and distort the guitar sound going into a valve amp, for soloing. From reading some reviews here, some people seem to think that an OD pedal is something that you can plug into the clean channel of a tranny amp and make it sound like a Marshall stack.... it's not.... to do that, you need to get a distortion, or heavy metal pedal, or (ideally) and amp modeller like a POD. Sorry that sounds patronising, I'm just trying to help clear any confusion :)

IMO, the OD-3 works really well for driving into a fairly clean amp, for blues-style soloing. I noticed that a lot of the positive reviews for the OD3 here seem to be from blues-based players. The OD3 can boost the guitar volume a LOT, with the Level control, and has a moderate amount of distortion available on the Drive knob. The overall sound is fairly neutral; it doesn't have the mid-hump and slight bass reduction of pedals like the SD-1 and TS9, and so by comparison sounds a bit more bottom and top heavy. As a simple boost, it's excellent, and I like it with single-coil pickups particularly.

Where it falls down for me is when driving an amp which already has some distortion in the sound... i.e. doing rock or metal soloing. The OD-3's bass frequencies make the sound a little indistinct and slightly 'farty' when compared to the SD-1. And the top is a little too bright - in pretentious terms (!) notes seem to 'cut' rather than 'soar' or 'scream' as they do with the SD-1. The SD-1 and TS9 sound smoother to me, probably because of the mid-boost. The OD-3 brightness can be reduced by turning the level down and the drive up... but then you're relying on more pedal distortion rather than amp input-stage distortion, which sounds a little fuzzy to my ears. Overall, for the screaming 'rock' solos with humbuckers, I prefer the SD-1 with the level on max, the drive on half-way, and the tone down low.... very 'Slash'. With tweaks to the Tone and Drive, depending on the amp, you get into Zak Wylde or EVH territory. The OD-3 can do a fairly good job of it... but I always seem to sound (and play) better with the SD-1 for this style of music.

rock solid

Best for the blues, and/or as a volume boost.

OK for rock solos.... but the SD-1 Super Overdrive beats it (and the TS9.... and the excellent-for-the-money Digitech Bad Monkey, IMO)

Very easy to use. Smooth - not finicky.

This pedal is head and shoulders above the TS-9 family for me, those I can not use. It is far more natural sounding. I have to compare it to my Zvex Box of Rock. It is very much like the Zvex with a flatter front to the sound and a more squashed bass. This can be a good thing. The Zvex BOR is more clangy, dynamic and open. The OD-3 is more planer, flat and compressed. The OD-3 is a must-have in my chain. It gives me a distinct sound that will sometimes work when the BOR or valveboy (my woman-tone) is not the thing and vice-versa. Looking at the circuit, it has 7 FETs and 2 bipolar transistors, and 1 IC. It looks like the distortion is not done with the IC. 3 sets of diodes are all on the transistor side of things. This seems unusual and may be why it is in league with the Zvex - another FET circuit. The OD-3 preserves the natural characteristics of the guitar. I have 3 distinct distortion voices in my rig and could not have it without a box like the OD-3. One of those voices is going to work. Sold it to a friend to be a better front-end for his Fender Cyber-something amp. What a mistake! Was fortunate and relieved to get it back by trading an SD Power Grid to him. I am giving it a "10" based on the fact that it does what it is supposed to do. It is not Jimmy Page or Eric Johnson in a box. I really like it.

No problems so far - have owned it for years.

I fix my own stuff - so I don't know about customer support.

Using mostly a Strat with stacked Dimarzios these days. Always through a Fender black or silverface reverb amp. Playing since '69. My hands are not always loosey-goosey, so I depend on some help from a stomp to get me flowing sometimes. Pedal board: Zvex Box Of Rock to Modded Crybaby to Boss OD-3 to Valveboy to Boss OC-3 to MXR Phase 100 to MXR Stereo Chorus to puple Ibanez Delay to BBE Sonic Stomp. No Noise problem here with the OD-3. I play classic rock and some pop (it's on the set-list you know) some Motown/Stax stuff etc. Influences are Stones, Beatles, Zeppelin, Yes, ZZ Top, Derringer, Winters Brothers, Cream, Hendrix, etc. The OD-3 is useful for crunch rhythm and smooth leads for me. It helps with the Fender amps I use. It does not produce my woman-tone at home, but at a gig, in the middle of the frey it can, 'cause things change there. I want the front of the note to be strong with some air, but I want some silk too. Next best thing to your favorite botique stomp box.

Stupid simple, almost no point talking about it, but I will say that part of what makes it easy to use is that most of the settings sound reasonably good. It's hard to screw up.

I play a few different guitars though this pedal and run them into a 65 Fender Deluxe Reverb, but mostly I use Strats and Tele's. I am no tone connoisseur and think that many subtleties of tone are lost when you bring in the rest of the band and therefore don't get to worried about it.

Recently I decided that I needed another distortion or OD pedal to go with this one so that I could set different levels of distortion mid song. I can't screw around too much on stage as I do all the lead vocals, operate a harmony machine and run the PA.

I have to say that shopping for another pedal really made me appreciate how good this little Boss OD3 is. I find the sound to be very pleasing. Just a straight ahead smooth overdrive. That's what it is. I don't find it too shrill or too bassy. It holds together very well at lower drive settings and the bass only comes apart with extreme settings of the drive.

In my search I first tried a bunch of other Boss pedals, Blues Driver, SD1, DS1, DS2, none sounded as good as the BD3. Next I tried several more expensive pedals, Fulltone Fulldrive 2, GT500 and an Ibanez TS9. I thought these were sounding pretty good until I tried an OD3 at the end to compare. I ended up leaving without buying anything. The OD3 was just so smooth and pleasing that it made the others sound inferior. So it was back to the drawing board and time for more research.

Later I went back and tried our a Voodoo Labs Sparkle Drive, a Fulltone OCD, and a Z.Vex Box of Rock. I bought the OCD because it sounded good and the price was right. I took it home put it in my setup along with the OD3 and immediately found that it sounded pretty harsh compared to the OD3. Very shrill, ice pick sound. I took it back and got the Box of Rock which sounds much smoother like the OD3. My only complaint/comment with the BOR is that it adds a lot of bass when you pluck the thicker strings. That being said, having a slightly different sound makes it a good match to use with the OD3 and the BOR is a very versatile drive with a clean boost as a bonus.

One thing I did notice is that the OCD and BOR worked better with the signal hitting the OD3 first. When wired this way I was able to get another level of distortion by turning on both pedals. When the OD3 was second in line the increase in distortion was almost un-noticeable.

Bottom line, the OD3 is the best sounding Boss OD and competes very well with pedals two or three times the price......for my ears anyway.

It's a Boss. Never had a problem with a Boss.

Never dealt with them.

I play mostly Blues style music but am moving into some Radio Rock music like The Watchmen and Snow Patrol. I've been playing guitar for about 30 years but up until now I have mostly played bass, drums and sang in bands. Now I'm taking a run at playing guitar and singing in a band.

I own a 2007 Custom shop designed MIM Strat, a 1997 MIA Tele, A 2007 Les Paul Standard and a Godin SP90 from about 2000. I play through a 65 Reverb Deluxe, I sometimes use a Boss Compressor pedal, Pedal tuner, Chorus Pedal, and auto wah pedal and a Boss Line selector to access both sides of the Deluxe, using the non-reverb side as a boost for solo's.

As I said I have compared it to a handful of pedals that are 2 or 3 times the price and a bunch of other Boss pedals. This thing competes or kicks on all of them.

Very easy to use.
The manual is almost ok, but here's nothing special only three knobs.
Good to start at level around 9, tone and gain at 12 o'clock.

The setup is the following: BOSS CS-3 -> BOSS GE-7 -> BOSS OD-3 -> BOSS DD-20 -> Laney L20H or Meteoro Classic V8 (well built Brazilian tube amp). Guitars: Fender USA Tele, Fender EC USA Strat, Epiphone DOT (with Gibson pickups 1973).
I bought it for add some overdrive on my clean channel. It does the job very well. Every details can be heard but added some overdrive. I'd say almost amazing, this is the first overdrive pedal that doesn't screw-up the sound. And no noise at all.
Also very useful to use a booster just before the unit (I decided to use a GE-7 eq with flat settings only boosting the volume).
Regarding to the quality/price value, probably this is the best overdrive one can get. I suppose it's not a coincidence that this is BOSS's most expensive overdrive/distortion compact pedal.

It's a BOSS. Nothing else to say.

Fortunately never had to deal with them.

I had so many shit pedals, finally found out to run on BOSS stuffs.
I advise this pedal who's looking for some nice, crispy overdrive sound for backing and also soloing (might say Jeff Beck, Clapton from the 70s) without paying too much money for it.
I use it with tube amps but surely it does the job with solid states.
If you're planning to buy this type of stuff, don't hesitate. And also don't choose other, cheaper models from BOSS (like ds-1 etc...).

very simple

it's not good for me,harshness,wizened,plasticly.when the tone knob less than middle point the tone be numb,just like from other room.when over the 12',the tone be harshness.
other hand,allum's mod make it be fake , more plasticly.
i mod it by myself it's changed so good now,like sd1 a bit ,but more bass&midbass freq,warm and in front just like walk in the"other room"the sound face to me.
od3 has good base,go for dig out and mod it

that's my personal opinion only, goodluck guys!!

it's ok

i don't know

i feel not so good as other reviewer,but od3 has good base

It???s an uncomplicated effect pedal that???s very easy to use. There are tree knobs, level, tone and drive, and they do exactly what one might expect. The manual is straight forward but there???s no need to read it to operate an OD-3.

I use a Gibson Les Paul standard and mainly Peavey Revalver MKIII software amp(s). The OD-3 delivers transparent overdrive and sustain giving the virtual amps that extra bite for lovely blues and rock tones. (Works especially great with the virtual Peavey Classic 30 amp.)

On a side note; I???ve recently tried the Robert Keeley hack (mentioned in another review here) removing the D6 and D7 diodes but I didn???t like the result at all. In my humble opinion the end result was a harsh, fuzzy and scoped tone way to far from the original OD-3 sound.

I've heard they can withstand the blast from a nuclear bomb. (So if we ever manage to pull of a nuclear holocaust there will be over 10 million boss pedals scattered all over the place.)

I've had no need for any customer support.

The overall rating must be a 10. Compared to other pedals, both real and software effects, it???s got something special to it. If mine got stole I would buy one in a heartbeat.

This pedal gives a decent approximation of an overdriven valve amplifier; it is one of very few inexpensive pedals that actually does.
If you already own a great sounding valve amplifier, you'd want to do the Robert Keeley modification on this pedal: Simply remove the diodes marked D6 and D7 on the PCB, and voila! another gain stage, surprisingly smooth and transparent. This very simple modification removes that familiar Boss harshness, gives you greater range and a much more musical, open and dynamic sound. With drive on full, it takes on an almost fuzzy character, while retaining clarity and dynamics. With drive on zero, level up high and tone backed down a bit, you have a marvelous boost pedal, making your valves sing in exultation.
Stock, I'd say the pedal deserve an 8, modded in this fashion, it's a 10.

Stock, this is a really good pedal. With the free, Robert Keeley-suggested modification http://www.premierguitar.com/education/200601_educationcenter_pedalpower.asp, it's brilliant, but only with a good valve amplifier.

This pedal is simple enough 1 tone 1 level 1 gain easy enough it would have been cool to have a 3 band eq

i use an aria pro XR series guitar SSH setup 1 volume on tone.And a fender blues junior amp.This pedal is very responsive to the preexisting gain on the amp.i get a good smooth blues thing with a little gain and the level to taste. when i crank the gain i get i very 80s overdrive if thats your thing.With the master set low on my fender and the volume cranked i can boost my it into a cool mild overdrive not very bluesy. usaully set everything at 12 that gives me a great od thats completely original and very transparent it rest gentely over the drive the amp creates it does this well.Though if i want a gritty blues or mid heavy od i use the ts-9 if.the od 3 is incredibly sooth sounding i have not had not had a chance to try it cranked with blues junior cant wait till i do the bluesjunior sounds awsome cranked.this pedal does suit all styles including metal but its not a very gritty sound but ive got a gritty amp.i also do not like the way it sound with both mt pedal and amp cranked its losses its defintion and i dont get the classic shred thing like i do with everything on 12. my advice to you is to get both this and the ts-9 you will be a happy camper especially if you run them together its heaven

its awsome i would totaly use it with out a backup though the casing does seem a little weaker than my ts 9

its boss no problems here

its and awsome pedal gut if you like really gritty midly kinds of tones and you have a smooth or scooped amp maybe you should reconsider and get a ts9 or 808 they are great pedals in there own right

Three knobs: vol, tone, gain. Easy enough...

This pedal pretty much serves one purpose for me: to drive my Peavey Classic 30. After trying three other pedals (MI Audio Blues Pro, Digitech Bad Monkey, and EHX LPB-1), I have to say that the OD-3 best suits my needs. Why? It is the most transparent OD pedal I have ever had the pleasure of playing. With the tone at 12:00, and the gain at 0, it does an amazing job of maintaining the tonal integrity of my amp. Most other OD's I have played have a boost in midrange frequencies, and since the C30 is a naturally midrangy amp, they just muddy up my sound..but not with the OD-3. While we are on the subject of tone, this pedal does a great job of maintaining low end, even with the tone knob cranked a bit. When using this pedal with the volume at 12:00 or above, the gain at 0, and the tone at 12:00, it sounds beautiful for boosting my amp's dirty channel. I really believe that it is about as close as I will get to a hot-rodded Marshall tone, without selling/modifying my amp. If you crank the OD-3's tone toward the treble side, it gives the amp so much more presence (which it needs, IMO), as well as tightening up the low-end nicely. I have always longed after that brittle, responsive VHII tone, and the Boss gets me very close- its as if my Classic 30 has been resurrected, and is now better than ever. Highly Recommended

I have never had a Boss fail on me, so yes.

Never needed it :)

If you are looking for a pedal that will push your amp hard, without destroying the original character of the amp, you can't go wrong with this pedal (especially for the money). The OD-3 offers LOADS of volume, and the tone knob is very flexible (while retaining low end, and not having ear-piercing highs). Of course, your amp may be different than mine, so results may vary.