Boss OD-3

Very easy to control. Has a volume (boost) knob, a tone knob, and a distortion level knob. Manual is simple but effective. Yellow is a great colour for a floor pedal - easy to spot down there in the dark. Takes a 9-volt battery, which is easy to install, and/or an external
power transformer. One thing I don't like is that the battery power is
engaged when you plug cable into the input jack, whether the effect is
switched on or not. I'm not sure why this is, but what could it have
cost to engineer this so as to avoid unnecessarily draining battery
power? The manual says that you may expect a battery to last up to
30 hours, depending on settings.

Just what I was looking for. I tried a BD-2 first (and reviewed it here) because everyone I talked to recommended it. The BD-2 filtered
out bass end and gave a grainy chunky distortion. I wanted boost and
smooth 'warm' distortion, which the OD-3 delivers without serious tone
filtering. I use it with a '58 Stratocaster (original pickups and
switches) and a newer Les Paul studio into a Fender Hotrod Deluxe (Sovtek tubes). If I want crunchy distortion I use the overdrive channel on the amp. The OD-3 gives me a generic effect to work with
and doesn't take away anything from the rest of my rig. I'm very happy
with it. The distortion is not super heavy even when maxed out, by the
way, but gives me the sizzle and boost I wanted. If really looking for
dominating dist, I combine it with the OD channel on the amp.

No problems at all to date, but after only a few months of use I
won't give a rating. Does impress me as being very solidly constructed. If it has a weak point it I'd expect it to be the
on/off switch inside, which is made of pastic or nylon.

No need yet.

I'm a professional cellist who loves to play electric guitar to bust loose, so my concept of 'tone' comes from a different place. I like Hendrix, Dimeola, Joni Mitchell, Ed Bickert, Billy Gibbons, Collin James, Clapton, swing, jazz, and play a lot of blues as well. I haven't gigged with electric guitar since the mid 70s, but may again. I wanted an overdrive that would give me the kind of sizzle that Al DiMeola gets on his "Tour De Force - Live" album, without tampering with the luscious sound of my Fender amp. I don't need really heavy distortion. The Boss OD-3 fits the bill perfectly. It does amplify hum from my Strat when set to full distortion and with the pedal's tone knob turned right up, but that could reasonably be expected. This is
the overdrive pedal I was looking for, and came at a very decent price
as well.

How hard can it be to use with 3 knobs?... level, drive, and tone. When using it for the first time, it will yield and excellent tone with all knobs at 12 o clock. This is a rather new overdrive box (I think 98).

I use this between a jackson kelly with dunkan design humbuckers, and a Fender Performer 1000. Great for adding some drive to that Fender Clean, very transparent and bluesy. SRV is not far away from this sucker. In the drive channel, I use it as a booster for sustain and width of tone. This is the only case where you will notice some noise. Overall it's a very quiet pedal with a realitiveley flat frequency responce.... it'll add some high-mids, but will also leave all of your bass there!!! That's something no other overdrive or distortion pedal has done.
Overall a very good sounding overdrive pedal. Better than tube-screamer, and certainly better than any other OD pedal from BOSS (in case you're deciding between Blues Driver or OD3, the OD3 offers more diversity and flexibility, while still sounding as tubelike as the Blues Driver).

I don't know, I have yet to drop it from a plane, but anything less than that, it has survived flawlessly. It's a BOSS!!

never done it

I play anything from jazz-country-progressive rock (a la Dream Theater). My setup (though limited and unexpensive) is now satifyingly complete. Along with my other Boss pedals (delay, flange, chorus) I can cover all the bases. Great thing about this sucker is, with level and tone set to 12 o clock, and drive to minimum on the clean channel of a fender amp, add some reverb and a little delay, and you start playing out of pure inspiration from the beatiful tone. It's that good. It actually helps you make music. It does what I want it to, acording to my pick attack and needs. Great tool, not just an overdrive one trick pony. It's an indispensable tool for any electric guitarist. Great because of it's simplicity, versatility, and frequency responce. I'm convinced it's the best overdrive pedal out there now... the tube screamer and such are old and overrated, not bad sounding, but limited and, lets face it, worth only for their vintage character not actual full tone and versatility.

Three knobs. Way simple. What more can you ask for.

I'm using a Fender Strat Plus with Dimarzio Virtual Vintage pickups in all positions. The amp I mainly use with the OD-3 is a Marshall Valvestate combo. The combo only has two channels which I'm running as clean and heavy rhythm. I needed a slightly dirty rock sound for some songs so I decided to try running the OD-3 on the clean channel. What do I think? Plain and simple, it's great. Not a 100% tube sound but close. It even has the same dynamics and feel. It goes from way clean to a dirty rock without any real noise. One important thing is that it doesn't mess with your tone when bypassed either. Great choice for a warm blues or rock sound. Definitely better than the other pedals out there claiming to have tube tone.

Don't expect any problems here. It's built like a tank.

Never had a problem with anything BOSS yet.

Get, use it and stop wasting money on all the other junk out there.

Three knobs: Level, tone and drive. I crank the drive, keep tone pretty low and the level stays somewhere around 1/3.

Manual is quite useless, but looks ok.

It sounds pretty good. There's a lot of bass in this yellow monster. The walls in my room are shaking whenever I use it. Smooth highs, a little compression. I was afraid it wuld sound just like my bluesdriver (which sounds great too)but the tone is quite different. More woody, i guess. Maybe cleaner.

I play a strat trough a rotovibe, jh-1 wah, bluesdriver, od-3 and a fz-3 fuzz plugged into a Fender DeVille 2x12. It sounds very good with wah or rotovibe.

..........

I dunno.

I mostly play blues, which is what this thing was build for. I read another review which said this thing could not be used for palmmuting.

Say what?

This pedal is heavier than a metalzone...
Tons of bass. Just crank your amp for some extra distortion.

3 knobs, could it be easier?

that's kind of funny, by itself, cranked, it's awfull, but, if you mix it with your amp distortion with the gain on about 4, turn the overdrive all the way down and leave the level and tone all the way up, it's amazingly -T-O-O-L- sounding. i use a crate gx-140c and this pedal mixed for all of my tool covers.

it's a Boss, they don't break. i've had mine about 6 years and all i've had to do was replace the battery holder thingy. once, i got mad and kicked mine out into a field, two weeks later, (after it had rained twice), i found it and it worked perfectly!!! and that's used!!

never needed any help with mine

as i said, by itself, it's useless, but to boost amp distortion, it's completely amazing. there's so much treble without being shrill and awfull. amazing tool tone mixed with my crate gx-140c. it's also great for bass!!!

It's very easy to use. It's got three knobs: Level, Tone and Gain. It's not hard to get the sound that you want.

I'm using it with a MKII 100W Marshall from '73 and a Gibson Les Paul from '81. It isn't noisy at all. It's not far from the Malmsteen sound. It's very round and bluesy. Very good for rock rhythm and great on fat guitar solos. If you decide to play some heavier stuff and using a technuiqe like heavy muting it doesn't quite handle the lows. It still sounds good though.

Like all BOSS pedals, it's very reliable. And there would be no problem using it without a backup as long as you got batteries in it.

I play a wide range of stuff. This pedal would be great for blues, rock and some heavy metal. The lead tones are great. It's when playing really chunky rhythms that this pedal don't quite do it. It's great for rock rhythm and just a bit of overdriven crude sound. I love the round sweetness in the tone but you can't really hate anything about this pedal.

Very simple. Three controls: level, tone, and drive.

I play a Fender American Standard Strat (H/H/S) into a Fender Princeton Chorus. I've never been happy with the overdrive channel on the Princeton - too crunchy,too distorted, and fake sounding. I'm now using the OD-3 through the overdrive channel with the gain on the Princeton set very low (about 2 or 3). The OD-3 sounds GREAT! With the drive set at about 11:00 the sustain is great and the overdrive is smooth and clear. I compared the OD-3 side by side with the Ibanez Tube Screamer Turbo in the music store and the OD-3 completely blew the TS away. But remember, this is through a solid state amp overdrive channel. I haven't played either of them through a tube amp.

I've only had it a week. I'm hoping that this pedal lives up to the Boss reputation.

I've never dealt with Boss

This is a GREAT overdrive pedal for a solid state amp (not to be confused with a metal pedal - I use the Boss MT-2 for metal). This is one pedal I would not be without.

Three knobs,very simple.

I use my Fender Custom Strat and my Pignose G-40V.It's not very noisy. Very easy to get a great sound. Puts my Ibanez TS-10(Mod 808) to shame,it's now retired. I think Stevie Ray Vaughan might have liked it. It kicks my Boss OD-1 ass!!!!!

It's a Boss(the best)

Don't waste you time buy a Boss. The Ibanez Tubescreamer is way overrated . By the way Ibanez People are ASSHOLES they don't care about you only the sale ,they don't back their products!!!!!!!!!!

It has 3 knobs: Level, Tone, and Drive, plus a red check LED. The Tone knob is smaller than the two others, and is a little bit more difficult to access. There's no problem whatsoever to find a good sound to start out with (everything at 12:00). The manual suggests 3 different settings: Normal overdrive, hard overdrive and clean boost. Battery change and in/out jacks are std. Boss (1st class).

I played the OD-3 through a '74 4-input 50w Marshall JMP head (mod.#1987) with a Greenback-loaded Marshall 4x12 cab. I used a Hamer Special w. P-90 pickups. The OD-3 does not add much noise at the setting I prefer. (Level 12:00, Tone 12:00, Drive 9:00, -i.e. set to clean boost with a hint of overdrive). Compared to my old Boss OD-1 (and an Ibanez TS-9 RI that I tested earlier) the OD-3 has a fatter low end. It's overall sound is marginally tighter and more defined than the OD-1's, and it's smoother/rounder and has a slightly hotter output. It also seems to "cut through" better in a band situation. The OD-1 seems to have a more tube-like, refined attack though (it's like breaking a thin vs. a thicker piece of glass), but the difference is hardly noticeable. I'd like the OD-3's Tone control to have a wider range too. (Dark to piercing instead of round to sharp).

Yes.Yes.YES!

Haven't been in contact with Boss or Roland. Bought it at Hagstrom Music (Bergen, Norway) which is a 10+ shop.

I play blues/rock/hard rock. I use OD pedals to push the Marshall further into overdrive, and for that this one's VERY good in the blues- and rock-lead/riffs depts. But it's not evil enough for more extreme styles. It would be nice if it had a polite/rude mode switch. Great value for money.

Very easy to use.

I'm running a strat plus, a peavey generation and a Jacson Kelly into a valvestate 100W head and a 4x12 cabinet. I have tried every thing and also have the v-twin. The OD-3 really is the best overdrive I have heard and equal to if not better than the blues channel on the v-twin. Iyt has a better warmth than the valvestate distortion. For blues, classic rock and even hard rock you may not do better unless you go fork over almost 2K for a new mesa boogie. For solos you will have to drive it with something. I use a marshall shred master for soloing.

I'm not going to say it.

Haven't been there

For rock, classic rock and blues you might not find a better pedal. I am going to buy another to have them at 2 settings. It has a very warm character yet does not make your low end sound flappy. The low end is very defined.
No other overdrive (boss or other) was in the same category in my opinion

This pedal has the ideal simple setup: Level, Tone, and Drive. The controls are smooth in transition from low to high. The tone is voiced just right. Goes from smooth to clean...no shrill. The drive will give me from clean boost to nice compressed, sustained heavy overdrive. The level goes from off to plenty of clear volume boost. Great for tube amps like my Blues Jr. I love the fact that Boss pedals have one thumb screw between you and a quick battery change. Very easy to dial up whatever you want.

I am using a 1997 Ibanez Artist Reissue (basically a Les Paul double cutaway with more wood and better pickups). I go through the OD-3 to a Fender Blues Jr. amp with Groove tubes. This setup is simple yet versatile. Think bluesey cruch to smooth leads. I always wanted fat smooth leads a chords with a little bite. No problem with this setup. The OD-3 blew away every pedal in the store as far as smoothness, tone and quiet operation. I tried the other BOSS overdrives, distortions, Ibanez TS-5, TS-9DX (the new Turbo tubescreamer, which isn't very turbo), and other popular pedals, the OD-3 won hands down. I'm sold. I will keep it for life. The sustain, compression and tube tone are amazing even without any fuzz or bone-crushing gain. Would make a solid stated amp sound better, made a Marshall Valvestated sound a lot better. No loss of bass as advertized. Perfectly natural EQ. Can get smooth saturated Eric Johson type leads to fat creamy rock tones like ZZTOP, or basically any 70's rock. Not really an ultra-crunchy pedal like say a tube-king or Marshall Valvestate sound. But I didn't need that.

It's a BOSS...it will probably outlive me. I take good care of things, so I know it will.

Won't ever need it...unless it breaks in a hundred years

This won't do everything, but if you like Rock, blues, swing or country you need this to get the kind of smooth gain that pleases the ears all in a pedal. I'd say it is probably one of BOSS's top 3 pedals of all time. If only it were a little less expensive

3 knobs. Every cat knows how to set this up. Not much really you can say....very easy to use. However, I don't remember getting a manual with it....

Here is exactly what I was looking for. I play mostly prog rock. I wanted something where I could set up my fender amp (an awesome sounding clean amp. A Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. Very warm) for a clean sound and use this for the overdrive on the clean channel. I wanted the characteristics of the clean channel - just with overdrive on top of it. This pedal does a great job in this respect. Boss has done a wonderful job getting the voicing right on this pedal. Sounds ALOT like an overdrivin Marshall. Naturally, it doesn't have all the characteristics of a good overdrivin tube amp, but does put you in the same ballpark. Great, slightly heavier than Jimmy Page tones in this box. I dig the level knob (oddly enough) - the pedal gets loud. I find this important in this type of pedal. The unit is very responsive to the guitar's volume knob - turn it down and I get an even warmer clean sound from the guitar. Cool. The unit is not overly noisy. I am using the knobs as follows: Level - 11 o'clock...Tone - 10 o'clock...Drive - all the way up.

This is the place where reviewers tell little funny stories about their boss pedals. Naturally, we all know how Boss pedals are made....so - hell yeah it's dependable. I dropped mine out of a plane and whada'ya'know...plugged in and it worked perfect. No need for a backup.

I have never had to deal with ANY pedal company.

Great for classic rock, moderate drivin amp tones. I have been playing for about 10 years and this is the best overdrive pedal I have owned. I use this with a choice of PRS Standard or PRS CE-BOLT On through (in order) the OD-3, a TS-5 Soundtank Tubescreamer, an Ibanez Tueb King (for hard rock tones), a Boss chorus ensemble, an Ibanez Analog Delay, and finally a DOD Digital Delay. For what I use it for...it is the best I have found (there are prob better out there - I just have not been able to get/find them. It's really cool to go from a clean Fender, chorus, lightly-echoed tone to a dry overdrivin Marshall type sound. VERY responsive to the guitar's volume knob. Feel free to E-mail if you want more info.....

Three knobs is as easy as it's going to get.

How many times have you set up your amp sound perfect, and when you stepped on your overdrive pedal it sounded like someone turned all the lows OFF? This is your cure. The bandwidth on the od-3 is one of the best I've heard in my 20 years of playing. I've had first generation tube screamers, MXR, you name it, but they all affected the low end in an undesireable way.. BOSS has finally gotten RIGHT. THANKS.

It's a BOSS , come on now.

Excellent company. Just had a rack unit repaired with them. Very helpful.

Once again, this thing rocks. This pedal will be the new standard for overdrives, not the thin, squashed TS-9 Ibanez. Check one out. If tone is what you're after, this is your baby... What's the deal with the two separate power adaptors though.( PSA and ACA ) Why can't you just use one adaptor for all the effects..PAIN

3 knobs - level, tone, drive

My setup is an Am Std Strat w/ Dimarzio Fast Track 2 in bridge into low input on a Marshall JCM800 half stack. I'd say that this pedal is very similar to the SD-1 but with more gain. It's not as nasal and crunchy as my TS-5, but has more gain. It has a very round distortion with no rough edges and absolutely no harsh grittiness. You probably can't use this for anything but classic rock or blues. Heavier music like punk or hard rock/metal is out the question because you can't palm mute with this pedal at all. With the gain maxed, you can hear a cutting pervasive jangliness that is evident no matter where you have the gain knob set. Contrary to Boss' sales pitch, this is not a do-it-all pedal. Even though it has tons of sustain, it's a very jangly pedal with no grit or crunch. The tone is way too bright and thin with the tone anywhere past 10 o'clock. I bought this pedal basically to add sustain to my clean sounds and it does the job. With the tone on 10:00 and gain at 10:00, it adds the right amount of compression and sustain to add articulation to my clean arpeggios. For what I use it for, it does a great job but I wish it wasn't so cutting. Since it doesn't work exactly as advertised, I'll give it an 8.

BOSS!

I play mostly power-pop and for the janglier songs, this does the job. I have an SD-2 and a BD-2 for my heavier songs. I wish it had a slightly beefier EQ like a TS-5, but other than that, I think it's a great pedal.

3 knobs. Duh.

Weak. Very, very weak. Not for anything but maybe blues, at least that's how it sounded through a Fender deluxe 112 and a Tele. I don't know how it would sound through my setup, but with that one it sounds like crap. You have to max the Tone to get anything but mild dirt out of it. I prefer my OD-2, it's much more versatile.

I don't even have to own it to tell you it'll never, ever break. It's a boss.

Not for anything but blues. Maybe even too weak for that. No matter what, this thing is just weak. Even with everything maxed. It's like a tubescreamer, but weaker, if you can imagine.

Gain, tone, and volume. It's pretty friggin' simple.

I have always hated Boss overdrive/distortion pedals. They have all had a thin, buzzy overtone. The OD-3 is the new pedal from Boss although it looks like their old OD pedals (yellow). Well, they finally got it right. This thing kicks! At low gain settings, it's a Tube Screamer, but richer. Crank the gain and the tone and you'll get a fat, creamy AC/DC tone. The overdrive is not brutal, yet it has tons of sustain, and it's practically noiseless. I've never run it through a solid state amp (I use a Groove Tubes Soul-O 75), but it really makes tubes sing.

I've had 20 or so Boss pedals over the years. The only one that ever went bad was a Digital Reverb pedal. Boss pedals generally do not go bad.

Never had to use them - my local shop always takes care of me.

For rock and blues, this is it. I swear, it sounds as good (or better) than those boutique $200 pedals (Centaur, Fulldrive, etc.). This thing will NOT do Pantera or Manson sounds, but it can handle classic metal sounds (Priest, Maiden, etc.). I have a Tube Screamer, but this makes it obsolete. I also have a Tube King, which is a great pedal (and more versatile, actually) however the Boss sounds better with my current setup. This is a very musical pedal, and the fact that's it's a Boss and not some trendy overpriced pedal should not discourage you from checking it out.