Boss OD-3

all said before, it cannot get easier...

I haven't found a distortion/overdrive pedal that I liked enough, until I got this one. It won't do very high gain, but it's perfect for classic rock and blues etc. Smoother overdrive than other pedals, either in front of an amp (Electar Century 60RD, with a Celestion Century speaker, very under-rated solid state amp with valve preamp), or even in front of my V-Amp for headphone practice and recording!
It respects the tone of the guitar like no other pedal... and switches on/off smoothly without clicks.
If you want mainly heavy metal sounds, this will not be to your liking. But if you want a more warm, less overdriven, classic rock sound, this is the best I've listened to. And at this price you cannot hesitate, unlike those "boutique" pedals...
I give it a 9 for sound.

Never had a problem with a Boss pedal, other than the battery terminal breaking eventually (after much abuse over the years!) but that's more to do with the treatment I give it than the construction. Boss pedals last forever. If there's a nuclear world war, afterwards there'd only be cockroaches... and Boss pedals.

For classic rock, blues etc... if you want a smooth overdrive sound and don't care for tons of gain, this pedal may be for you. It certainly does it for me, but your ears may tell you otherwise... everybody's idea of good tone is a bit different.
I have a rackmount Boss GX700 (preamp/fx) that includes a number of distortions/overdrives based on Boss' own models. I had previously own a Metal Zone MT-2 (good metal pedal, but no good for any other style) and a Distortion DS-1, which I found too harsh. The sounds of the GX700 matched well those of the pedals. Among the overdrives in the Boss there was an "Vintage OD" that was very very nice. It sounds very much like the Boss OD-3, but the OD-3 is a bit smoother. I'd get another one if I lost it, without a doubt.
The sounds, with the price, makes this pedal very good value, hence the top marks. The fact that I can use it in front of my V-Amp and still sounds good was an unexpected bonus... Best od pedal I've heard.. It approximates very well the ideal sound I have in my head, which for #35 is fantastic.

three knobs, a switch, nice and simple, as it should be. Hell, doesn't even need the tone knob.

This is an excellent pedal for signal boosting, and as I've found out, for either tube or tranny amps(much better for tubes though). The first thing that got my attention was the transparency of the sound. It doesn't color the tone from the original, only adding overdrive. I mainly use it to slam the signal down the front of the amp, usually switching off and on DURING a lead to accentuate certain parts. The amp I'm using is a Marshall JCM 800 2210 (100 watt brutal MONSTER of an amp that I've reviewed elsewhere) and the guitars I'm using are an Ibanez RG 7-string, USA old bolt-neck BC Rich Bich, and Fender strat. In the last few years I've gotten away from using Hot-as-Hell pickups because they (a) don't work well for clean tones and (b) usually have no bite, definition, or clarity. Both the Ibanez and Bich are running Duncan JB's, slightly lowered, with the front pickups wired as singles. The Strat is stock. I've found that using this setup, while backing off the gain a bit on the Marshall and using the OD-3 still retains that "bite" with a good punchy articulate tone.

This thing was used, beat up, and old when I got it. Sounds good. So does my Boss Chorus (it looks even worse!). I think you would have to intentionally destroy it. I wouldn't need a back up because, quite frankly, I don't depend on effects too much. I most often just plug straight into the Marshall, 'nuff said.

Never dealt, probably won't need to.

I've played a little bit of everything in the past, mainly rock, blues, metal, etc. My current band is Death Metal, and yes, I'm a shredder. I've found that when playing at such high speeds, it's best for me to back off the distortion a bit and not use high-output pickups (I know I'm going to catch hell for this!). It creates good definition when picking at stupid fast speeds, and keeps you honest (in other words, lets you know right away when you're making a mistake). The OD-3 provides me with a good signal boost (all the knobs are at around noon, by the way) when I need it, and breaks up the clean channel when I need a good classic rock/blues sound. I'm about to get a DOD 250 for the hell of it, just to compare the two. However, this particular pedal does exactly what I wanted it to do as it is.

volume, Drive, Tone. Only minus point is that i like to turn the knobs with my feet, and the tone gets tricky, but still no marks off for that!

Roland Spirit 30 > zoom505II (for temporary modulation) > TU-2 > RAT II > OD-3 > MXR Phase 100 > USA Strat

Noise: doesnt make a noise when off, but when on, makes more buzzing the higher the gain/tone which is expected

I like to utrn the gain low down sometimes, to dirty up my clean tone a bit for Nirvana songs, and higher gain setting sound dirty but clear - beautiful

note: this is definnitley not a distortion. i wouldnt try to get away with this as distortion

Like all boss pedals, heavy handling wont damage the shell or affect it.

Ive never had any internal problems with it, or any other boss pedals

(i wish i could say the same for electro-harmonix!)

I use without backup. I try to chose pedals in wihc i dont need a back up

never needed to

I play blues, metal, grunge, indie rock and other styles. This is not a metal pedal, however, when paired with fuzz or distortion can suit your needs.
Ive been electric guitar for over 3 years and this pedal inspired me to start getting pedals whose quality can match it.

Very easy. No explanation required.

I use this pedal with bass. I have always been very unhappy with the quality of most bass overdrive pedals. They compensate for crap tonality by adding extra eq (see Boss Bass Overdrive). This pedal is excellent in terms of creating a natural, full-frequency overdrive sound for bass. There is no bass drop, and the unit can be used as a subtle level or tone lift, through to a barking grunty sound. I searched long and hard for a pedal that would sound this natural - imagine my surprise when I discovered that the Boss Overdrive would give me joy.

I would rely on it always. Boss has that one advantage in its favour; in the case of most of its pedals, that's the only advantage.

I imagine Boss would be excellent. They're sold everywhere, aren't they?

With this pedal years of searching came to an end. It's a great subtle overdrive that can be a little boost or a lot of very musical dirt. I use other pedals for other functions, but the Boss OD-3 is ideal for a basic, strong overdrive.

3 knobs, with pretty obvious functions. no secrets, no need for tinkering with it

I use a single coil Fender American Standard Strat and it produces little noise, even on the highest drive setting. Sounds almost perfect, it has some anoying highs with the tone knob turned up, but i guess that's what it's for. Otherwise, perfect overdrive sound, with good dynamc response, turn down the volume and it cleans up just like a tube amp

Awesome pedal, use it for some twangy rock 'n roll sound or as a booster pedal. I also like for adding some mids to my MD-2 Mega distiotion pedal, i use the overdrive before the md-2, with both turned on the distortion gets punkish, with it off it goes back to metal.

3 knobs. Not too tough. The crazy thing is, when I first plugged it in, straight out of the box, the thing sounded amazing... I didn't even have to putz around with it. It's got a manual, but really, there's no need to read it, the pedal tells you what everything does.

I primarily use a Fender Telecaster -> Rotosphere -> TU-2 -> DD-3 -> FZ-2 -> OD-3 -> Fender Ultimate Chorus. Frankly, you don't need a tube amp, it doesn't need to be a booster, this pedal sounds amazing on its own. I originally bought it for a signal booster, but when I cranked it up and started playing I practially pooped. It was so clear, and yet so awesomely raunchy. Mind you, I play a lot of classic rock like The Stones, Clapton, but with an extra gain boost you could use this thing to play Nirvana tunes if you wanna... I know, I've tried. It's incredibly versitile.

I own a ton of Boss distortion style pedals including the OS-2 and the DS-2. To this day I have no idea why I bought them, I could never get a good sound out of them. I had almost given up on Boss' distortion units until I bought this pedal. You play chords and you hear every note. You lead, and your picking doesn't get lost in mud. I run the FZ-2 in gain boost mode, and with OD-3 cranked up you get the smoothest rock and roll tone ever. I've never been happier with a distortion unit.

I own TONS of boss pedals. The ones I bought back with I was 13 still work. Amazing.

Never had to call them

For stright up rock and roll, you'll never find a better pedal. It's got great warmth to it, and as stated above, it's clear as a bell. Don't buy this pedal expecting to play Limp Bizkit tunes, you'll get pissed.

I've been playing for quite a while now, and I'll say this, if this pedal were lost and or stolen, I would cry myself to sleep every night until I could get a new one.

This is my new favorite pedal. Pure and simple.

I think I'm going to go use it right now.

Same controls as all the others. Nothing new here, dead simple. However, the Level control is very sensitive around 9 o'clock, and it can quickly get too loud for me.

This is currently my favorite overdrive pedal. Although I am not as much of a expert as some who have written here (I have not owned any of the famous boutique pedals, except the Tonebone Classic, which I hated) I have been playing at a professional level long enough to know what I like. As others have noticed, this pedal sounds better with some amps than with others. This is true of all pedals. When I first got this pedal, my intention was to use it as a boost/slight dirt injector into my tube amps/preamps. With my HRDlx, not very good results (preamp distortion only, I don't play that loudly), with my Tech21 Trademark 60, also disappointing. With my Hughes and Kettner Tubeman, wow! GREAT combination! In contrast, a cheap Carvin TO1 (a Tubescreamer ripoff) sounded MUCH better with both the Fender and the Tech21. This is precisely because of the bass rolloff that Tubescreamer clones introduce. That EQ curve is no accident, folks. Trimmed bass usually helps an overdrive pedal cut through when used to drive an already distoring tube amp. The OD3 does NOT cut off your bass, so in these situations it may not be the right tool for the job. I believe Boss designed the OD3 to have a flat EQ in order to contrast it with its many other overdrive pedal which DID have this built-in curve (OD1, SD1, OD2, etc)
Where the OD3 has really come to shine for me, though, has been as a primary distortion generator, not as a booster. With the gain up to 3 o'clock, tone at about 12 noon, running into a clean amp (solid state or tube) I find the OD3 has an absolutely beautiful character. My biggest criteria: pickup transparency. Does my guitar still sound like my guitar, and do my pickup settings still sound distinctive, yet do I have sustain and a singing quality? With the OD3, the answer is YES for me. This simply was not true of so many overdrive pedals and tube preamps I have tried over the last 25 years, including the $225 Tonebone Classic. Once that pedal saturated, I literally could not tell the difference between different guitars or pickup settings, regardless of where I set the EQ controls on the pedal.
Oh, and the OD3 really rips if you hit it with another overdrive set to slight boost/slight dirt. My Carvin works OK in that roll for now (I'm looking for something less noisy). This combination still gives me pickup transparency, but with mondo sustain and harmonics. GREAT controllable feedback (but use a volume pedal after the OD3).

It's a Boss. I've never broken one before. It's a time-tested, classic chassi.

NA

I highly recomment this pedal for players of blues, jazz, classic rock, country, and for anyone who wants a lead sound that is just like their clean sound, but with sustain and a singing quality, but without fuzz. Not for metal or nu-rock.

Easy to use, three knobs, in out, switch, a basic od box.

This is my rig, B-bender teles, boss BWah, ross phaser, two Od3's, first with gain on 0, as a boost, second with gain on 6, akai phaser, maxon chorus, ibanez sd9 modded, carl martin delayluh, sometimes zfex seek wah, into a boomerang, then boss volume, finally into a fender 75 combo with a boogie 1x12 cab. Let me say that the od3's are one of the best od boxes out there. I have owned fulltones, keely's, and many others, and the od3 just sounds more musical to me. I hear people bashing "cheap" pedals all the time, but this one's a keeper. With two of these, I can get almost any sound I need. The only reason I need the sd9 is for scott henderson like grit, and that's only once in a while. The key is using two of these together. You can have a nearly clean boost, and a light to moderate od, and then run them together and get a singing lead sound that's very Robben Fordlike. With the fender amp and guitars, I can get a very warm blues sound that makes spectators seem to enjouy themselves.

I've played over 200 gigs with these pedals, and they still work fine.

I just want to urge people to stop beleiving the hype of all the overpriced boxes out there, and go back to judging woith your ears. The greats bought their fx because they sounded good, not because someone else told them the only way to sound good is to buy $300 boxes. I love the fulltone, barber and analogman units, but I don't have the cash, and I don't think I need it. The od3's are a close aproximation to any of the aforemensioned pedals, and they make me feel musical every time I plug them in. The only real way to sound like an individual is to find a rig that fits you, and the od3 fits me. Check it out!!

Very easy to use. Three knobs (level, tone and drive) and no more.

I use it with an American Standard Strato and a Tech 21 Trademark 60 amplifier.
It' s very loud (much more than SD1 or TS9) and it's very good as booster as overdrive. You can regulate in very sharp and progressive way the level of driving turning the drive knob after fixing the level one or vv.

No problems. It'a a tank like other boss pedals.

Never needed it.

I play blues and classic rock. I've been playing 'bout 20 years but I'm not a prof musician. I use some Boss effect like CH1 Super Chorus, DD3 Digital Delay and a Dunlop Wha Cry Baby. What I love of it is the warm sound which is never too dry (medium-high) and it's perfect for create vintage sound like '70 and '80.

easy. manual useless as is all manuals for pedals this simple

if you're looking for something to take a good overdriven amp over the top this is the pedal to get. no noticeable bass drop like the SD-1 and awesome as a boost [and much louder than my Maxon OD-9]. don't see any need to get this modded. less noisy than the SD-1

I play raunchy overdriven stuff [Marshall, Hiwatt, Orange, humbuckers] Get this pedal if you want to push you're already sweet overdriven tone.