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.

Doesn't get much easier than 3 knobs

I have to say this is one of my favorite Boss pedals I purchased it from a music store that was going out of business never having even heard what the thing sounded like. It hasn't left my board since. It's not a metalheads type of drive though you can get a lot of gain out of this thing. For me it just really sings with the tone at 10:00 and the drive at about 2:00 at that point it says "Hello I'm Stevie Ray Vaughns illegitimate love child" It has a real nice midrange to it Of course I'm using a Strat into a Mesa Rectoverb Combo If your running an Ibanez into a Line6 solid state amp or something your results may vary

Boss stuff just seams to last. I have about 16 of there pedals all still working nicely. I love this "Would you gig without a backup" Question Uhh...YES at 40 years old If I have to start dragging backup gear for my gear thats it! At this point I don't want to lift anything heavier than a ham sandwich let alone 2 of everything sheesh.

Never called them not sure how they are.

Got to give it an A+ I have been playing 22 years I play a wide range of stuff with the exception of screaming metal. So for the stuff that needs a good OD this thing is great. If someone stole it I'd make them sit in a small room and listen to Wam cranked to 11. Well thats wake me up before you go go;)

Three knobs. Very simple.

With my Mesa Boogie Subway Rocket combo, it sounds fantastic.
With Laney VC15 combo, it sounds great.
With VOX AD50 212, it cannot produce the sound I like.
With LINE6 Vetta II combo, it cannot produce the sound I like.
What??s the point?
Use OD-3 with a decent tube amp and it produces naturally overdriven tone to valvet lead tone.
With my Boogie, I give 9 ??cos 10 means perfect and there is no perfect thing in the world, only God is perfect...

It??s Boss!

The Boss site is nice but I??ve never got answers whenever I e-mailed them.

I think it depends on your gears.
Like I said before, if you have any good or great tube amps, OD-3 sounds fantastic.
Otherwise, don??t bother...
I mean... normaly, overdrive pedals work well with tube amps in my experience
I use OD-3 only with my Boogie combo now.
I also had TS-9 and I prefer OD-3 ??cos it has more gain than TS-9 IMO.
So if you are looking for some great booster pedal or overdrive pedal, you have to try this one and you??ll not be disappointed.

Please excuse my english since i'm not a native speaker!

Nice yellow pedal with three knobs: Level, Tone and Drive. Very ease to use. Spend a little time on it and you'll get the sound you want. No need for a manual, just trust your ears and turn the knobs.

Like many said: Its an OD, no Distortion. But WHAT an OD! If there's one non-tube pedal that really gets you a classic tube sound for an exceptable price, it's the OD-3! I used to play it through a fender solid state and now im using it with my hot rod deluxe. basically im using it for a sharp funk-rock bridge-pu sound or with my singing neck-PU for a great solo sound. It's not noisy at all, only thing is: I haven't found out how to get it along with my cry baby, don't like the sound that they produce together.
Just put it in front of a ss-amp and you'll get a taste of what a tube could sound like. Put it in front of your tube amp in push it to a higher level.

You cannot break a boss!

I've compared this pedal in the music store to nearly all other boss od/ds pedals. This one really stood out, no kidding. I've tried them all and then kicked one after another. In the end, there was just the od-3. It even beats the bd-2!
I'm playin only strat, so i cant tell you about humbuckers!

Quite simple 3-knob format: Overdrive, Level and Tone.

Depending on what you run into it, it rates exceptionally good to somewhat dissappointing. If you're looking for an overdrive effect rather than a distortion box and your ultimate target aim is an OD that "simulates the sound of an overdriven tube amp", well, go for the OD-3, but ONLY if you play single coils. The OD-3 has a rather scooped midrange "heavy metal" character to it which means if you play humbuckers through it, it ceases to sound like overdrive and a lot more like distortion. Furthermore,it's a distortion with a solid state flavor to it.
My Les Paul and the OD-3 make a good match for Metallica but for tube driven blues and classic rock the OD-3 is far from the best choice. My single coil Tele and Strat work surprisingly well though. Rather warm and natural sounding through a Blues Junior, Hot Rod Deluxe and Blues Deluxe amp. Even through a solid state Crate 1x12" 60watter it retained a tube-overdriven tone.
So, when coupled with single coils, the OD-3 is exceptional in faking the overdriven tube sound. In fact, it seems to produce the SRV tone far better than my TS808 or TS9 can. This is surprising because SRV got his tone from using the TS9/808.
Some food for thought if you are considering the OD-3. I should mention that it offers A LOT more drive/crunch than your average overdrive unit - a TS9 or 808 on max drive requires 1/2 to 2/3 of the OD-3's maximum. As far as "level" is concerned, it pushes a good deal of volume out of your amp and makes a phenomenal although not perfectly transparent booster.
All told, a very good OD umit but not in all instances. Unlike many other overdrives it maintains a fat heavy bottom end rather than sucking it out as many do.

Seems robust enough, never had a Boss fail yet, although it does feel less substantially built than most other brand offerings (Ibanez, Digitech, BBE, MXR, etc...).

Unknown

The OD-3 is a bit of a "jack of all trades, near master of some" as far the crunch factor goes. Its strengths are maintaining a big bottom end while engaged, better than average performance as a booster and sounding like an overdriven tube amp with single coils. Weaknesses, or strengths depending on your preferences is that it also can sound like a very hot and solid state like distortion when driven with humbuckers once the drive is dialed in beyond a mere third. I don't know why but it just doesn't sound natural to me no matter how I dial it in when playing an LP through it. For my Strat,Tele and SRV tones it is a winner though.
If lost or stolen I think my TS808 would take over as my primary OD and I wouldn't purchase another OD-3. Tough call, I know there would be things I'd miss about it, especially the fat bottom end the TS808/9 lacks. Try it before you buy it. One thing is for sure, the OD-3 is better than your average overdrive on the market today - especially for under a hundred bucks. Cheers!

Piece of cake. :)

10 and only 10 as many said good right off the box.
My setup: Strat plus with Dimarzio HS3 setup - Dunlop Wah - Boss Autowah - Boss OD3 - In send/return loop (DOD Ice Box Chorus - Boss Delay DD-20 - Boss reverb RV5) amp Carvin Nomand (all tube). The sound is unreal warm, blusely, cream... I was looking for it so long.

100% Boos never let me down. (But I always have backup:)

Never dealed with them.

Blues, rock, hard rock...

Three knobs. Easy.

I just sold my Fulltone Custom Shop Mosfet Fulldrive 2 to get the OD-3. Yes, in my opinion, the OD-3 is that good. The OD-3 is so simple, and sounds fantastic right out of the box. Very little coloration in the sound, very natural. The bass is retained, and there is no mid-hump. This pedal has just enough mid range and compression to sound right. The OD-3 is not fuzzy, or fizzy sounding like my Fulldrive 2 was. I have used the OD-3 as a booster, and as a stand alone overdrive and have had great results from both applications. This pedal is not true bypass, but I have noticed no ill effects from it in my signal chain. Im using it with a 74 Fender Deluxe Reverb amp with an Eminence Governor speaker, and a 1985 Red Stripe Boogie Mark III. Guitars are a Gretsch Chet Atkins Tennessean, and Gibson Les Paul Standards. The bass can get a little boomy with the neck pickups on the Pauls, but is easily tamed by rolling off the volume and adjusting technique. I get nice, crunchy rock tones from the bridge humbuckers. Pedal sounds great with the Gretsch, which has large single coil pickups. I play blues, classic rock, 80's metal, and am trying to learn some jazz/fusion. This pedal covers all of my low-gain and booster needs. Its not a tube amp, so I cant give it a 10, but its a solid 9. I would have given my $210 Fulldrive 2 a 6 by comparison.

Boss pedals dont break, and if they do, its probably your fault, not theirs.

To make a long story short, I needed an overdrive pedal for my vintage Deluxe Reverb amp, and I have tried almost everything, modded pedals, boutique pedals, and most of the Tube Screamer clones/variants. I thought that the Fulldrive 2 would be the ultimate overdrive pedal. I used it both live and at home for almost a year, and it just never sounded right. The OD-3 is much simpler, and sounds more natural. I used to snub the OD-3 because it wasnt a Tube Screamer, and it doesnt cost $200. After paying the money for Tube Screamers, modded pedals, and boutique pedals, I have come to realize that tone matters the MOST. The OD-3 has the tone, dont let the $80 price tag and Boss name fool you. For the money, there is nothing better. Great tone, and the famous Boss reliability. Remember, just because something costs more and has all of the "bells and whistles" doesnt mean that it will sound good to YOU. Before you spend big money on a vintage, modded, or boutique pedal, try the OD-3, you may be impressed.

Easy: plug in, dial, and go.

Great. I went to a music store and tried out 5 or 6 overdrives with my Epiphone Casino and its 2 P-90 single coils. This one sounded the best by far.

I've had Boss products for years. They're tough.

Escellent Overdrive. Much better than the old ones.

This pedal is incredibly easy to use. I was suprised to see that the tone and level controls were in the opposite positions than my DS1 though.

I use this pedal for all of my light to medium gain needs. This means everything but metal. I get amazing rock, classic rock and blues tones out of it. This pedal sounds so bloody awesome. Period. Chords sound huge, and my solos and fills never get lost in the rest of the band. This pedal is a perfect match for a Strat. I think that it sounds better with single coils than humbuckers, but thats just my opinion. With single coils there is a little more "bite" in the top end. It's kind of hard to describe, but it sounds a little less smooth, and compressed? More "explosive" is the way I hear it in my head anyway. This pedal also sounds fantastic with solid state amps. I did a small gig with a Fender FM 65, and took the OD-3 and a wah. I got a lot of compliments from the people there about my tone that night. This pedal is a little bit noisy if the gain is cranked, but when I say a little, I mean a LITTLE. There's not enough to even consider saying, "this is a noisy pedal". This pedal is effective as a boost to an amp's distortion but I use it solely as the only source of grit with my Strat. I really can't say how much I love this pedal.

I own 4 boss pedals, and something tells me I will always own those same 4 pedals (MIJ PH-2 and DS-1, and MIT GE-7 and OD-3). This pedal seems indestructable, and none of the controls are noisy or anything.

I play blues, rock, punk, hardcore, metal, and a little country/folk. For Blues, this pedal is fantastic, and you can crank the volume and keep the gain down and get a sweet singing tone.

For Classic Rock and Rock, this pedal is unmatched. I've never tried a punk, hardcore or metal gig with it, but I doubt it would shine as much as it does for rock. It doesn't sound aggressive enough to my ears.

I was looking on the market for an OD, and I chose this over an MIJ SD-1, a TS-7, a Subdecay Overdrive, and a Maxon OD-9 (the original tube screamer). I thought that this pedal was hands down the best OD I've ever used, or even heard. I have owned this pedal for almost a year now, and I absolutely love this amazing yellow box. If this pedal got stolen, I would jigatize the person that took it.

I've been playing for 9 years, and I have 5 guitars, 3 amps, and a myriad of effects pedals. This is one pedal I could never part with. I left it at home when I visited my folks over christmas, and I actually missed playing with it. It's that good. You, and everyone else that has picked up a guitar needs to own one.

tone, level, gain
on / off switch ?!
easy battery change, input, output, acdc !!

It is a good, allround Overdrive, with a big, ballsy and chrunchy sound.
Ther is no tone suck in bypass mode and no noize when on.
I need it for light chrunch sounds ( when a open chord is sound good and not muddy ), so i set the gain at 9 o clock and leave level and tone near 12 o clock. When the gain is full open, it sounds a bit buzzy, fuzzy. But everything till 4 oclock is usabel for Blues, Rock, Jazz, Grunge sounds. No Metal, its still a Overdrive and no Distortion box.
I using it mainly with a Engl screamer Combo and a Gibson Paula, from the amp input in the Od 3 in a Dunlop classic Wah and Guitar, the only other effect i use everytime is a digitech delay in the effect loop and the channel switcher. I play it sometimes as a booster and it is just ok for that, not bad and not good but enough for me...
But I also have test it with my Marshall Plexi, 4x12 cab and a Fender Stratocaster and its sounds a littel "too big" so I dont use it that much here.
I never had test it with batterys, so I can not say if this change the tone ?? I use it with a Visual Sound-one Spot, 500 mA adapter.
And use only Koltz TM. Stevens cables. ( hes a Bass player and maybe ther is a bit extra Bass response from the cables to the Od3 ??
I dont know.

It is a 9 for me because I have buyed too many Overdrives like the Sd1, Ibanez 808, Maxon od9, Jekyll and Hyde, Guvnor,....and ther are all sold because there are nice for a while but fast I was boared with them so..ebay...
The od 3 is the only overdrive i still have, because the sound I need is always ther, its very reliabl, everywher to get, simple in using, not to big or small and of cours sounds good... So a 9.
Ohh and in my oppinion it is the only good overdrive and distortion Pedal the Boss guys have ever made and I have played them all in the last years....

I depend on it !!
The reability of single Boss effects is still great.
For the price and experience, I must give it a 10.

Never dealt with them !

I play in the style of Joe Bonamasa meets Bob Marley and plays with Pearl Jam and Foo Fighters some early Guns n Roses stuff ??!!
and that since 15 years. I see studios from the inside, stages from the top and still playing as my main life spirit ! But I dont get rich with that. So I have a solid main work.
If its stolen or just died, I defenetly get the same again.
Like I say, I love every point at it,...ok, the yellow colour let it look sometimes like a childrens toy, but thats all.
In fact it helps me to make music, because my amp has not the chrunch channel that I wish to had.
My mind ; a good guitar, a good amp and cables, brain and soul
is everthing that is realy needed for good music.
So this littel helper gets a 10 overall.

Extremely easy to get good sounds. The pedal is SIMPLE in design and use, which is all this type of device should be. These dam pedals with all sorts of knobs, switches, and so on, are just trying to market themselves as "jack-of-all-trades" devices, and end up just producing MORE useless sounds. The OD-3 is a clear winner ... just play it through a good clean channel (tube, valvestate OR SS ... works great for me in any environment), with appropriate external EQ'ing, and you're good-to-go.

" Ilya-V " reviewed this pedal, and i basically second everything that he/she said. This is an EXCELLENT, in-expensive pedal that gives the player a full-bodied, transparent overdrive that maintains the guitar's character. The "Gain" comes on gently and smoothly as the dial is rotated. The OD-3 compliments my setup perfectly, as i play with external compression & graphic EQ boxes to shape and color my sound. I'll tell you, you can try OD boxes that cost 2, 3, 4 times as much and don't sound as good. Boss obviously offers a variety of pedals as well in this category, and this is IMO the best at giving the player a high-quality overdrive that maintains the sound and feel of the guitar & amp. I've returned several pedals that i've been experimenting with, incl. the likes of high-priced Sansamp and Fulltone products, because they're just TOO DAM expensive, and didn't give me a usable, high-quality OD to boost and color my sound in a natural way, without sounding "processed." The OD-3 is a winner.

Not quite as "heavy" as some pedals (ala Digitech), but good enough.

No opinion. (The Boss website isn't friendly for communicating directly....hopefully i'll never want to, so that's no blotch to me. Hell, this pedal is only $70 ... if it breaks one day, i'll get another one.)

Said it all above. If you're looking for an OD boost that does it with a minimum of fuss and a maximum of quality, the OD-3 IS IT.

3 KNOBS - That's a technological innovation !!!!!

This little unit is a marvelous thing... it retains all your guitars characteristics and frequency, not coloring the tone in any way (no bass loss, no treble 12K clipping hiss from the diodes/transistors/opamps, and no mids coloration) in my opinion.
I've tried it in the FX loop as well as in front of the amp, in a full-range pa system and a set of headphones. I can tell you that in the FX loop it operated the best in my SS amp because the preamp EQ of the clean section didn't color the OD-3's natural sound and was used as Pre-Distortion Equalizer. In-front of the amp it sounded good as well, considered by its not boosting or driving any tube section afterwards, its frequency response very depends on the pre-amps EQ section and your guitar. In the full-range PA system and headphones it sounded huge!!! this is where the real "exam" is. you have to listen to every pedal that you buy through a full-range speakers or headphones AND as many guitar amp you can try to really hear the flaws of the unit. This one has NONE, plain and simple DISTORTION no hiss fuss buzz etc... pretty close to a tube being driven, well... EVEN BETTER. why? ever listened to a tube preamp or a tube DIST box through full-range??? That's right guys it sounds thin nazzely grainy (Tuby) and shitty and coloring your tone. try to listen to your metal zone or DS-1 through a full-range or super clean amp like JC-120 you got the idea. well my personal opinion this is the best distortion generating unit I have ever had for low-mid gain setup.

That section need to be eliminated from BOSS pedals.

Cool stuff guys... Cool Stuff.

Very easy.

Yeah, wow. Did not like this one at all. I've been using an SD-1 a lot lately and read great things about this OD-3. I use my overdrives as boosts to amps that are already overdriving, not as stand alone drive pedals. So this might work in that application for some. As a boost I hated it. Way too flubby in the low end and some sort of squashed sizzle sound in the middle. Compression I guess. It reminded me somewhat of my Tech 21 XXL, which also retains the low frequencies (rather than cutting them like a TS9 or SD1).

I should add I use high output humbuckers in super strat style guitars. Marshall tube, Peavey tube, Randall SS amps. I am going to stick with the SD-1. It's the only Boss drive pedal I've liked out of their whole line. This OD-3 fell flat.

Dead simple, three controls like the SD1

Out of the box, it's a 8 by comparison with the SD1. No compression at all (a trait of the stock SD1). I've bought another and modded one with the Monte Allums kit, improving things still further (he admits it's the best sounding unit out of the box that Boss have produced)

I've never been let down by anothing Boss - superb reliability.

Roland UK are always helpful, most of the manusls are online too. Lots of websites and cheap mods available for this model too.

There is a reason why Boss price this one slightly higher, yes you might spend ?20 on a Behringer/Dano/Line 6 but you will eventually buy something like this if you are not a bedroom player and want the reliability. People knock Boss stuff but they are the only ones to have never let me down. OK, they make some complex stuff too (e.g. the PW10, still this is the cheapest Trower sound with speed control around) but look at the users of even their good old basic (modded) products - Vai and Satriani, for example, both use DS1's.

this pedal sounds great. its easy to get a nice overdriven sound from it. the tone control isnt bad either.

this is my setup:

fender telecaster > korg dt-10 tuner > boss ns-2 > (ns-2 loop: od-3 > bad monkey > tunamelt tremolo > ge-7 > end loop) dan echo > echo park > 1978 fender bassman ten or peavey classic 50 4x10

i play indie/ambint rock, also some spazzier jazz rock, kinda like the fall of troy with lots of jazzy stuff, or maybe like explosions in the sky. i dunno. i also have a blues trio.

this pedal works great with everything. i used to have a voodoo lab overdrive but it was way too bassy and sounded crappy. this pedal was traded for the voodoo lab. im so glad i did it! i use it sometimes as a clean boost, with the drive all the way down and the level all the way up. it works really great for that. but it really shines when you dail in some gain. great smooth overdrive sound.

boss pedals mean reliablility. ive got a boss pedal story:

i used to play in a heavier like hardcore band. my other guitarist and i where arguing in the practice space one night ( we had a very large practice space). i was standing next to my amp and i had a boss acoustic simulator pedal on top. the argument got very heated, i lost it and decided it would be best to throw that pedal accross the room (not in the direction of my friend). i accidentally threw it through the front grill of my bassists 8x10 and straight through the cone. whoops! i broke the led on the pedal, but it continued to work for a year until i sold it. wow. thats pretty tough.

i've never dealt with them, but i heard good things.

ive been playing for about 8 years. i have had a bunch of different gear. up until a month ago my main effects consisted of a boss me50 and the bad monkey. not i have a full board and still adding. the od-3 is a sweet addition to my board.

ill probably be using this as my main dirt box, with a little gain dailed in. im getting a dod 250 so i think ill be using that as a boost. or maybe an sd-1, as im picking one of those up too. bottom line, i really like this pedal and it will probably stay on my board for a long time.

if it died or got lost or stolen, id want to replace it. its a solid pedal. it doenst hurt my tone at all. i think it adds a little something extra to make my tone that much better. boss rules.

Easy like the others boss pedals.

I use a 1957 reissue stratocaster and a Fender Blues Junior amp. With this setup the OD3 is the best overdrive that I have tried, best of BD2 and of the Ibanez TS9.

It's a boss.

I play rock-blues and fusion, my pedals are OD3 - Keeley RAT 3Way - CH1 - DD6 - RV5. With this gear I have find all the soun that I need for my guitar.

its a pretty basic 3 knob setup.. doesnt get much easier to adjust this thing. hard to get a bad sound out of it...

i play a fender strat, a hamer, and a gibson les paul through a fender hot rod deluxe amp. the od-3 sounds great with all of my guitars. the pedal isnt real noisy either, like some are. the only time the sound weakens is at the very end of the battery life, but otherwise it sounds great. i mainly use it in front of my fuzz pedals as a booster and to help shape the sound a little bit- the od-3 gives my fuzz a little more bite. but it sounds great by itself too. turn the level knob to 9 oclock, the tone all the way up and the drive knob all the way down and you can get a good clean sound. the od-3 and the fulltone 69 are my two main pedals when it comes to a lot of the hendrix tones i like.

ive had this thing for about 8 months and it hasnt screwed up yet. but it does eat batteries pretty fast... id only gig it without backup if i had to. its not terribly expensive to just buy another one for backup and also you dont want to risk the battery dying on you. but overall its pretty dependable to me.

ive never needed suport on my od-3

i play blues-influence rock, jazz-influence rock, psychedelia, and classic rock in general. od-3 suits my needs all around the board here. im 15 and ive been playing for about 4 years now. if i lost this pedal id get another right away. some of my other pedals include a fulltone 69, a russian big muff pi, a fulltone octafuzz, a vox v847 wah, and a fulltone deja vibe. i compared it to the digitech bad monkey and the boss sd-1, but those sounded a little too thick and heavy for my tastes. the od-3 has a nicer, clearer sound i think. but overall it definitely helps me get good tones.

It's a snap to get the kind of sound you want. The high EQ knob is almost always below 9 o'clock.

Good crunchy tone. Good if you're looking for something that doesn't completely take over your tone. Wished it was a little heavier, though.

Good so far. Only have owned it a couple months. BOSS has always been good to me.

Three knobs. Idiot's guide to this box not especially necessary... But be aware: every knob has it's "art of setting".

My setup: Fender Blues Junior with Celestion Vintage 30 and JJ tubes, Gibson ES335, Fender Deluxe Strat (customized with Kent Armstrong Vintage pickups), vintage EH Deluxe memory Man and Small Stone.
I have been looking for a good box nearly 10 years (playing guitar more than 30 years). Have a Vintage Rat, TS9, Distortion+ and Seymour Duncan Pick-up Booster. The BOSS were for me until now cheap sounding mass production boxes from Taiwan... (and the rest of these pedals really is a garbage)BUT the OD-3 is a big surprise. Sweet, slightly compressed, transparent, harmonical tone... Excellent both for singlecoils and humbuckers. My Fender Blues Junior simply sings through the Celestion! I have spent a lot of bucks to buy and mod the Ibanez TS9... and believe me: the holy way, where all these modifications tend to push the Tubescreamers is in that yellow OD-3. Suffering from short sustain, over-the-top flat midrange, cold harmonics, non-transparency, dead dynamics???!!! Stop modifying - try the OD3. For this time beeing I am satisfied. I give it a 10 because it is what I needed. (P.S: I cant believe to anybody who lives nearly 25 years from simulating the tubes (BOSS... Roland) - but this is a great exception!

O.K.

Do not need indeed...

Godd for any music except brutal metal and such kind of "artofnoise".

No brainer.

80's Japanese Fender Strat -> Russian Big Muff -> Boss OD-3 -> MXR Blue Box -> DOD 250 -> EH Bass Balls -> Boss CE-3 -> MusicMan 115 65.
This is the biggest and best sounding overdrive I have ever played. I've had a Boss Super Overdrive, one of those cheap Dano od's, and a DOD 250, but the OD-3 surpasses them all. The SD-1 lacked substance, I got what I paid for with the Danelectro pedal, and I still use and love my DOD 250, but none of them sound as BIG as the OD-3. The DOD gets too brittle at higher levels of gain, but sounds beautiful at mild settings. The OD-3 flat out soars at all levels. This pedal keeps the low end and still retains vibrance on the high end. Not enough has been said about the sustain that this unit cranks out. No matter how much you crank the drive, you get a rich, long-sustaining tone that gave my amp's natural overdrive a run for it's money. In some situations I think it sounds better. It's well worth the $80 sticker although I was lucky enough to get it for much less. It's a little noisey when I turn it on, but with my strat almost any od/distortion unit is.

I have no worries about this pedal at all. I plan to keep it and keep using it for a very long time.

N/A.

Aside from being the best sounding od (to my ears atleast) that I've played, it has become my favorite pedal in my collection. I enjoy a lot of down and dirty rock and roll, surf, and some blues and this pedal can more than cover whatever I want to play. If you're like me at all and were on a search for a good OD sound, this pedal is definitely worth checking out.

Couldn't be much easier. Pedal is full of good settings, try getting a bad sound out of this!

The sound quality is great. Its really smooth and creamy. I have a modded Blues Driver also, and its different for sure. The blues driver is more buzz-saw like, more uneven and biting. This is the other side of that, thick, sustained, easy on the ears rather than grating. You can spend a lot of $$ on overdrives, but the OD-3 is a great lower-cost pedal. It sounds as good as many a fancy, modded pedal right out of the box. I'll be using this for a long time.

very solid, no backup necessary

???

Overall its great, boss really designed a nice, no frills overdrive here. I'm going to use it as a main od/distortion, and as a boost with my amp's distortion. Very capable of both of these tasks. Very smooth, even sound, no complaints!

Very simple and down to earth. Three knobs: level, tone, gain. Compared to other distortion and other overdrive pedals I have tried, Boss OD-3 is by far the pedal that requires the least effort to produce good sound.

My setup when I had this pedal was Epiphone Les Paul> Boss OD-3> Marshall amp 30 watt.

This gem always gave me a warm, rich full tone with solid sustain if i dial the knobs to the correct setting. It can also produce a crispy raunchy sound.
this pedal was never noisy. At the setting that i used the sound it produced was always clear and sharp.
I can easily produce the sound of eric clapton, ritchie blackmore (Deep Purple), Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin) and Slash (Guns N' Roses) with this pedal. I have to agree with the manufacturer, this pedal is the most versatile overdrive pedal ever, it can give you a laid-back bluesy tones to a raunchy tone or even agressive hard rock tones

Two thumbs up for the sound quality

Use and Abuse it and it still gives you its best!!! no kidding. I once dropped this pedal and it still works producing the same warm rich tones it had always had. If there is one bad thing about this pedal is its energy consumption. I have to keep replacinng the battery every six hours of constant use to get the best out of it. I have to give it a 9 because I would never go to a gig without another one of this product in case it runs out of power while im on stage.

Never Have... Never needed to

I play rock, but mostly its hard rock and blues rock. I play Guns N Roses, Led Zep, Deep Purple, and Eric Clapton. This product would always be there whenever i plug up to an amp, be it a jamming session, a gig, or a private practice session. the sound quality it gives is truly wonderful. I would recommend players to get this product if they are into hard rock.

Very easy to dial in a good sound. Didn't have a manual & didn't need one. Don't know how well it'd do the trick with a tranny amp though.

Used through the front end of an Ashdown Peacemaker 60 to boost the clean channel and also through a Sovtek Mig 100H, using an 80's Burny Les Paul Custom & Tokai Love Rock Junior TV. Bought the Boss OD-3 for that "boosted singing tubes" sound without the inconvenience of making myself deafer than I already am. This it does magnificently. I generally have the tone at 11 o'clock, level at 1 o'clock & drive at 3 o'clock. I've never come across another overdrive that stays so true to the sound of the amp, while giving you more of it. Those snarling old Heartbreakers/Dead Boys riffs sound as mean as they were meant to with this thing!
As other reviewers have stated, this pedal cuts absolutely NO low end or volume. In fact, it's loud as all hell (maybe I will go deaf after all....ah, well). Gonna have to be a 10, folks!

Any day o' the week

No idea. Don't expect to need them either.

I play rock'n'roll, garage etc. Faves include Johnny Thunders, Ron Asheton, Johnny Ramone, Wayne Kramer, Chuck Berry, Link Wray, Angus etc. Been playing for about 17 years. For most of those years I was a purist who never used any pedals, but got progressively bored-and deaf-as a result of this austerity. I also have a DS-1 which I like too (an unfairly maligned pedal IMO), a knackered old plastic MXR & an early 80's Tokai TOD-1 (also underrated). The OD-3 beats 'em all though. Who says older is better? As for all the boutique overdrives: *sigh* a fool and his money are easily parted & deservedly so. I'd grab another of these in a heartbeat if this one was lost/stolen.
Fan-the-tastic!

There are 3 knobs. It's a no brainer to use and is even easier to get a good sound. I didn't get a manual because I bought it second hand

I run an Ibanez S > Boss OD-3 > MXR Phase 90 > Boss Noise Suppressor > Marhsall AVT275. I wanted a pedal that could boost the distorted marhsall without overpowering the sound. I tried the Boss DS-1 but it sucked when going into the dirty marshall. The overdrive is a great boost for your sound. It works well with other effects and has a great sound

I bought this pedal with a few scratches and a dodgy spring. The pedal is still reliable and Boss's reputation would give me confidence to gig without a backup.

I haven't dealt with them

This pedal is extremely versatile. I mainly use it for guns n roses or van halen stuff. It is a great way to boost your sound. Pedal does create a bit of noise but the ns-2 fixes that up.

Pretty simple. Level, tone, gain.

Gibson LP, JC-120, Marshall 4x12. Not much noise at all. Not much gain either though. Sounds very dynamic, but it was before the mods too. increased fullness without any mud. Just enough to take out the thinness of the original od-3. The tone makes me want to strum with single coils, that seems to be the biggest strength of this pedal, it's great for low-gain chording.

boss

brina's awesome, but it's getting harder for him to answer everyone's questions as quickly as he used to. There was a time when I could email him a question and get an answer within an hour. But his mods sound great, and I guess he has a lot more customers to deal with now.

I play lots of hard rock and power pop, alternative, great noisemaker stuff too. But the OD-3 would really be best suited for blues and country, or as a clean boost. Not really for myself.

Very easy to get great sounds out of this pedal. In fact, it might be more of a chore getting a bad sound out of it. The tone control is especially useful and sensitive. Not one of these tones that is either trebly or not, it has a very useful range.

Start with all three knobs at 12 o'clock and go from there. Piece of cake to get useful overdrive sounds with this baby. The manual gets you started with 3 settings. Go to their website to hear a demo of three more: www.bosscorp.co.jp

I play a Mexican Strat w/Vintage Noiseless pups or a Tele w/Rio Grandes through a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe or a Behringer GM108 practice a mp. The OD-3 sounds great through both amps, but through the tube amp, it really shines. Obviously the better the tube amp sounds, the better the overdrive will sound.

Very good overdrive for SRV type sound. In fact, it's better than tubescreamers at the SRV sound IMO. This is just a straight up rock and blues overdrive. The word "transparent" is used to describe this pedal quite a bit, and I can't think of a better word myself. This is one of those overdrives that will almost make you forget the pedal and start thinking "amp" again. I don't pass out 10s normally, but since this is the best I've heard, it gets one.

Boss makes some of the most solid compact pedals there are. Their reputation and complany size make me pretty confident. The 5 year warranty helps a lot too. But fortunately I've never had to contact them.

Like I said, never had to contact them.

I play rock and blues like SRV, Tom Petty, Wilco, etc. Also some country, which the OD-3 helps with by being only a clean boost. Add a little compressor (CS-3 and Ross clone) and Bob's your uncle. I also use a Visual Sound H2O chorus to my sound. Check one of those out if you're in the market for an analog chorus and echo.

This is one of the most useful, great-sounding, and pain free pedals I've ever owned. There was always something about other overdrives that I didn't like, but not this one. This is THE sound I was looking for. You can go find some $250 boutique pedal and fiddle with it or you can spend less than $90 and get a simple and effective overdrive that many pros use. Try a bunch and you'll probably end up where I did.

Boss would sell a lot more of these if they gave it a colorful name (or paintjob, like others have suggested). If the Blues Driver (which I haven't used so I'm not knocking it) were called the OD-5 and the OD-3 was called the Karma Overdrive or Perfect Overdrive or something showy, the sales would probably be reversed. I think the OD-3 is mainly still a hidden gem. Unfortunate for everyone except us owners.

3 nobs, drive, tone, level. How could you mistake anything here?

I wouldn't normally give anything a 10 but this little gem is really worth it. I'm using a J.J. Retro and a Cornford Harlequin Class A amp. I thought that this was all I would ever need, but the OD-3 gives me that extra push into saturated lead, I use it as a booster. The way it makes my amp scream is just cosmic, it also brings out the clean tone and quality of my guitar pickups and overall tone colour. The Boss OD-3 is also the most powerfull overdrive I've ever heard, It will punch through any mix with it's ballsy bass and articulate midrange. I can literally get a sound as good as Santana 'Smooth' or Zappa's 'Guitar' albums. Unbelievable sustain, quality and rich tone!

I've played over 50 gigs with the Boss OD-3, It has not let me down once, Satriani uses them on world tours! They are built to last.

I haven't needed to use it as yet.

I play a lot of Blues, Jazz, Modern Rock, Grunge and Sleeze. I'm really a Rock player at heart though, you can't beat an A5 chord, through a Boss OD-3. The Boss OD-3 is the most important part of my tone. It brings out the rich tone of my humbuckers and guitar. I've been playing in bands on and off for 8 years and I've always used Boss pedals. The best thing about this Overdrive pedal is the Tone control you can have over your sound, it's sonically limitless. I can't fault the Boss OD-3 in any way whatsoever apart from, it should be Red instead of Yellow! In my setup all I need is a J.J Retro guitar, Boss OD-3 and Cornford Harlequin amp. I can get ANY sound!

Three knobs and no dial-up menu - heaven! I've been using a Tubescreamer for years and it's basically the same except the Drive and Level knobs are on opposite sides - sneaky!

I've got a Nord Electro and a G&L Asat. I A/B this with an original unmodded Ibanez TS9 through a Blues Junior (latest model) and, with the Electro only, through a Peavey solid state amp. With both at 12 o'clock on all settings the Boss is by far the most powerful - I had to turn down the 'level' quite a bit to get parity. With lots of tweaking and an urge to believe the Tubescreamer legend I have to say the Boss won hands down. The Boss is truer to the tone of both instruments and adds a pleasing crunch that doesn't outstay its welcome. It's also a bit quieter than the TS9. I'm only giving it a 9 because I haven't tried everything else out there, and frankly my dear, I don't give a damn.

It looks like the same build quality as my old Boss Flanger and Chorus which means it'll be dancing on my grave. i doubt I'll need a backup but if I do I'll use the TS9 begrudgingly.

Never had to.

I play blues, soul and jazz. I've been playing keyboards and guitar for 30 years. I've got too much stuff to mention but this pedal is like a missing link. This is better than the ORIGINAL, OVERHYPED Tubescreamer for which I nonetheless feel a degree of affection - it's done great service over the years.

Extremely easy to use, I can even work it out when I'm really drunk. lol.

For me it's the perfect pedal for all my sounds. I have a Fender Hot Rod 1x12 cabinet with a Jensen G-12 speaker in the amp. It sounds beautifull to me and all my friends agree also! You can use it almost like a powerbrake if you set it on quiet and then crank the amp up. I'm a very staightforward man, so I only need a Boss OD-3, Boss DS-1 and a Cry Baby GCB 535Q wha wha. I used to be into all this multi effects stuff but at the end of the day who needs it? You're not a sound designer your a guitar player right? STOP MESSING ABOUT! I realised that it's all about the playing and technique! I always get the sound engineer to add delay and any silly effects like reverse flanging phase shifts. I can't be botherd with reverbs and delays, I like it RAW, FRESH AND SEXY! lol.

You can never go wrong with it! I've even thrown mine on a concrete floor to see if it'll break and it's fine.

They don't need customer support, Boss are legends.

I play neo death jazz fusion but as long as the music is systemitized properly! I've been playing since I couldn't get a girlfriend in school at the age of 13, I'm 21, crazy and women do like me now!(years of regection) I love the way you can get bluesy sounds through to Hard rock, you can get some really creamy thick sounds through to smooth sustained feedback tones. I hands down think the Boss OD-3 is the best overdive pedal I've ever heard by far! It beats the crap out of any other makes including the Ibanez TS808, Vox, Digitech, Voodoo Lab. Line 6, Rodger Mayer and Electro Harmonix are other alterative makes that are just as good but they all sound different. Hell, Line 6 even have the OD-3 and DS-1 pedals modelled on their DM4 distortion modeller pedal! It's got the balls and attitude and simplicity that I need in my music. I'd recommend investing in a hell of a lot of time trying out different pedals until you find the right one for you! The Boss
OD-3 has saved my life! Maybe it could save yours?

Easy to use, dead reliable and a funky yellow color to boot. Three knobs, drive, volume and tone. The tone control really works to fine tune your sound.

I've used this as a clean boost and as a crunch and it works well for both. This pedal does NOT LOSE YOUR LOW END like most other distortion pedals that just throw everything into the midrange. It has huge gain in the volume. I keep it way down. Turn the volume up and the OD to low or even nothing at all and you get a nice round edge to everything. Adds sustain and tames the twang on a Fender. Presently, I have an OD channel on my Crate VFX2112 so I have four sounds available, clean, boosted clean (Boss), the Crate's distortion and both on for ultimate crunch. Lovely.

It's a Boss so its reliable.

Calling a company for a pedal? Nope. But I've heard their customer service is good. I called them for a Roland product and they were right there.

I haven't tried every pedal so there may be better ones out there. And maybe not. I find many ODs and distortion pedals too harsh and raspy. I hate that. This is great for bluesy tube-like overdrive. It keeps the definition without getting mushy. It might not be ideal for nu metal. But with the drive and treble way up maybe it would do the trick.

An undiscoverd gem. You gotta get one on e-bay. They don't make these anymore.

Simple as ABC!

I use this through all kinds of amps with many different types of guitars. (Marshall,Magnatone,Fender,Ampeg,Hiwatt, all the way to Thordarson, Newcomb and Voice of Music!) I also have too many guitars and effects to brag about in this opine ;p
This is by far the most transparent overdrive pedal I know of. I don't use it as much as others, but can't use another when
I need the transparent, clean (tight distortion) overdrive this pedal delivers.

'Never had a problem with ANY of my Boss pedals.

Have NO idea. Never needed them!

This pedal is a plus for blues players. It really allows the original guitar tone and nuances to get through when effect is on. And also really sounds VERY ballsy when set high. Also pretty clean as far as background noise is concerned. 'Has me amazed as to why I don't see more guitar players with one!!!

Very intuitive, classic three-knob arrangement.

I use either a 57'Reissue Strat or a 61'Reissue SG into the following signal chain: Boss CS-2 compressor, Boss OD-3, Fulltone 69' Fuzz, Voodoo Lab Analog Chorus, EH Deluxe Memory Man, Vox AC30HW. Pretty quiet. A bit different than the SD-1. Not as much gain, much less raspy and more crunchy in comparison. More available bass. The tone control is effective at all points of rotation. Also, unlike the SD-1, there is no residual bleed through when the unit is bypassed.

Never had a boss effect go south on me.

N/A

Overall this is a very versatile overdrive. Not as instantly distinguishable like a Tube Screamer or SD-1, but in a good way. I can't see how you can go wrong with this unless you're looking for massive amounts of gain. Also, as some have said, this unit sounds great right out of the box without any modifications, with single coil or Humbuckers.
This is a true go to pedal. Buy it and fix you attention on something else.

How hard can it be?? 3 knobs, pretty basic stuff.

Gotta give it a 10 on this one, guys!! I use this little guy on 3 different amps w/ a Gibson 355 and it works great on all of them. It seems to calm down my Mesa and smooth it out nicely. My Fender sounds more Marshally now, and my Marshall just is a lot more controlled on the grind side. Really a great effect, I've run straight into the amp for years (like 30, man), and been really happy. Now I'm like a little kid w/ a new toy; it's all I want to do!!

It's a Boss.....if it's even close to it's reputation...fuhgedaboutit!!

Don't know

I don't know what else I could speak about. It's a great pedal and I'll use it from here on out. I mean really, when you find something that works....USE it!!

Three knobs: tone, level, gain. They turn left and right. Rocket science stuff.

I'm using a Mexi-Strat w/ Duncan Hot-Rails into a modded Crybaby Wah -> OD-3 -> Danelectro FAB D-1 -> Danelectro Cool Cat -> Ibanez DE7 Delay -> Peavey Heritage tube amp. The OD-3 is a phenomenal pedal. A lot of the Boss pedals absolutely need modded before they are usable, but not this one. It's great right out of the box. It doesn't color your tone and gives you everything from a clean boost to some high gain overdrive. If you want some nice grit, pick up this pedal. If you want hard distortion, look elsewhere.

It's a Boss.

If you want to add a little fuzz to your sound or you want to drive your amp into overdrive, get this pedal. It's easy to use, and nearly impossible to get a bad sound out of it. The only issue is that the tone control could be upgraded a little bit, but it's not a huge deal. I would recommend this pedal to anyone.

3 knobs, start twiddling.

Easy to set up & adjust

Im hanging a ten on here too! Like so many other reviewers, this pedal really does stand out as one of the best mass produced overdrives i've used.

Mainly i've been sticking with a modded boss SD-1, however i was looking for something a bit different - this overdrive has more a of a flat eq response which retains the bass in your signal, even when you turn the tone knob past 12 o'clock. It also has allot more volume than the regular TS type pedals & can really punch a tube amp up a notch!

Sticking it in front of a clean channel will give you a very impressive crunch too

Boss needs no words in this dept

The boss sales over here back up their product

This is a great alternative if you are looking for something different to the usual TS clones available today - it has a nice range of overdriven tones & works great as a boost too

Everyone knows the classic three-knob setup... level, tone, and drive. The main reason that I give it a ten, however, is because it is hard to find a BAD sound in it! The manual shows settings for the three basic uses of the pedal... a powerful boost, a light crunchy transparent overdrive, and a creamier high gain overdrive for leads.

I hate Boss distortions and overdrives. I have never had a good experience with any of them until the Blues Driver, and that was just OK (I sold it). Finally, though, I think they really pulled something worth while off with the OD-3... not just worth while but incredible.

A play an SG through a Traynor YCV20WR (dear god this amp rocks). I run my guitar through an Ernie Ball VPjr (with a TU-2 in the tuner out), a CS-2 compressor, the OD-3, a USA Small Stone, and a Voodoo Lab Tremolo. In the effects loop I have a Giga-Delay and a Maxon CS550 chorus.

Incredible sound quality. I own a Maxon OD-9, and the Boss blows it away... I A/B compare them all the time! I keep them both around because they have their own beautiful unique sounds. The Boss has crisp harmonics and compression, and just enough mid range to make my neck humbucker cry with tone! Such beautiful bass response as well! With my bridge humbucker it has awesome bite and grit to it without losing the tone, it doesn't get much better than this!

The Maxon, in comparison, has much more midrange as your typical tubescreamer would, but it is lacking in the bass response. The Boss is just more crisp and clear, but somehow it does this without sacrificing the mids or the bass! The Maxon is not nearly as the Boss. When comparing the two pedals I have the Maxon's volume at 12:00 and the Boss's at 9:00... this puts them at the same volume. In other words, the Boss is a MUCH more powerful boost (a very good thing for me).

I love it with the gain maxed... great for neck pickup leads with a compressor in front of it! Also, with the gain at 0 and the level maxed (as a boost), this pedal brings my amp to life! Awesome for cutting through the band using your bridge pickup! Keep in mind I have always used humbuckers, I have never tried this pedal using single coils. My favorite setting, however, is gain at 12:00 with the tone rolled back a little, maybe 10:30 or 11:00. When left at this setting, it sounds great both as an overdrive on the clean channel as well as a boost on the drive channel.

I also had a Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive and a Boss SD-1. There is a reason that the SD-1 is always getting modified and the OD-3 never needs to be modded, I personally think the SD-1 sounds cheap and weak. The Sparkle Drive was honestly an amazing pedal. I sold it recently, however, and kept the OD-3 just because I like the simplicity of the Boss... I can get multiple uses out of it without changing the setting, and the sounds are outstanding. Together my Small Stone it really shines... Wilco? Radiohead? Floyd?!

My CS-2 compressor is from the early 80's... It sounds better than the new ones and it works perfectly. I expect the same quality out of my OD-3.

Never dealt with them, but I assume it is not the best. Maxon has incredible customer service though and I actually talked to them about the Boss OD-3! They explained the different clipping methods between the two pedals to me and told me in which cases the Boss would outperform the Maxon and vica-versa... Very honest and kind.

Earlier this month I turned on my OD-3, chorus, and delay. When I struck a hard chord, I instantly thought "holy shit that sounds just like track #5 on gilmour's solo album from the seventies!" i put on the cd, and sure enough!

also, don't get caught up in the whole true-bypass thing. i did about a year ago, and i regret it. it is just not worth it, true bypass is way over rated and also has its own problems. i have never been more impressed with my tone than i am now, and only two of my pedals are T.B. Proper volume control, amps, and your hands control your tone, not the switches on your stomp boxes.

This is the best OD I have owned, and I would buy it again over the Sparkle Drive, Maxon OD-9, or any other Tubescreamer copy. This is cheaper too! If this is still too expensive, check out the Guyatone overdrive (the orange one).

3 knobs, no problems. As long as you're not looking to melt paint off the walls, there should be no problem dialing in a usable sound.

Normally I don't like to hand out 10's like cookies, but this will do something even a TS-9 or Bad Monkey won't - sound good even with a solid state amp. I read it all the time "this pedal needs a tube amp to really shine". With the way this makes my Peavey Bandit II sound (WOW), I can only imagine what a tube amp would pull out of it. I frequently combine it with an MXR Phase 90, a Yamaha Chorus, and a DanEcho. Simply put, it sings. I was always of the opinion that Boss Dist/OD pedals sounded a bit thin. Here's a BIG exception. I could go on, but you get the idea.

Whatever else can be said about Boss, they take a knockin' and keep on
rockin'.

Geez, what DON'T I play? I gigged funk, R&B, Motown last nite, and I'll be playing in church in the morning. I do carry a Digitech Grunge for a few over-the-top selections, but for the most part I need to blend in rather than stand out. (No, I'm NOT out to be the next.....well, name your guy) This pedal does it. I've had it 3 months and it's become my workhorse. I borrowed one to use while my turbo-rat was fixed. I bought one with the $$ I got from the Rat. Stolen? Better run fast 'cause I just let my dog off his leash.

Very easy to use! No problem for anybody!

I use Hughes&Kettner Tube 20 combo (2xECC83, 2xEL84) with MAXXAS MX-3 CUSTOM!!!! guitar. OD-3 is sound great. I use that for booster with this settings: Tone:~3 Level:~4.5 Drive:~5
This setting add to my amp brilliant overdrive sound at Clean channel and "screaming" sound on my amp's Drive channel (Drive knob about at 7)

I use at gig....and is greatful!

I've no problem with...

I play Santana, Gary Moore any other classics at blues/rocky style...I play since 3-4 years in guitar...
When I lost it, I buy another OD-3 in few days/weeks! This is a fantastic overdrive pedal! I had a TS-9 Tubescreamer (Santana used this type), but OD-3 is real fatter sound!

Three knobs one footswitch, level, drive and tone, just like many other boss pedals, nothing more simple.

The guitar was my telecaster copy through a fender deluxe 90 (transistor, dsp technology).
The pedal is not noisy at all, the thing that impressed me immediately was the amazing output level, similar to a blues driver but with less trasparency, in my opinion. The pedal delivery a kind of midrangey overdrive tone that i didn't like, but it's my taste, if you want a good booster you can get out it from this, but the overdrive itself is not so good for classic sounds. It reminds me a metal distortion pedal with gain setting around 3 or 4.

I play blues basically, i use an sd-1 with a bd-2 as booster to get killer tone with a custom made tele & stratocaster, the sd-1 is good for old r'n'r stuff, i found it more classic sounding, maybe this od-3 is better for modern overdrive sounds like radiohead stuff.
Compared with the blues driver this pedal seems to have more "balls" without that sparkle high end, the bd-2 is more responsive on touch, more versatile.

This is my first review, i hope it'll be useful.
apologies for my english i'm italian!
Bye...

Read the other reviews for an exhaustive description of this pedal.

It's very easy to use and the knobs respond very well to any changes.

The manual contains some "presets" for particular sounds, just to give you an idea of what this pedal can do.

This pedal is one of the best pedals I ever had. The reason is that it "blends" so well with ANY amp, from a heavy Marshall to a clean Fender + it preserves the tonal character of your amp. If you push this pedal you will NOT loose bass, mids or treble compared to your original, unmodified sound. That's what makes this pedal so great.

Another nice feature is its warmth : the overdrive produced by this yellow little case is never harsh bu atlways will sound full and warm, with just the right amount of overdrive. For soloing you'll just have to raise the volume (on the guitar or with a volume pedal)and the od-3 will make the tubes of your amp sing with great tube-tone and sustain.

I have always been looking for that SRV-like type of overdrive / crunch and had modded and unmodded TS-9's, real and re-issue ts-808's, custom-made ts-808 clones etc before ... but none of them got me close to SRV's sound, mainly because they lacked bottom-end and did not have enough gain. (SRV did never use much gain on his pedals but he had TONS of amps and pushed all his amps to the limit to get huge bottom-end and tube-distortion).
But if you're just a mortal, unknown guitarist (and I bet you are ...) you don't have the chance and opportunity to play on Dumble amps, vintage ender amps, you don't have 10 '60s strats to choose from, etc ...

So you still want to get close to SRV's sound with one good strat and one good fender amp ? Do yourself a favor and buy an od-3 ... it will blow away all your tubescreamers and boutique pedals.

I only wish I had known all this ten years earlier, it would have saved me a lot of money !

I give it a 9 because I think the best distortion is only produced by pushing your amp's tubes into distortion.

It's BOSS so it will not let you down. These pedals are built like tanks.

If you need customer support to learn how to use this pedal ... your IQ is below zero.

I play mostly blues, pop and rock. I've been playing for 14 years now and played together with very good musicians.

Guitars : I have a vintage '72 stratocaster, a 2002 SRV stratocaster and a Gibson SG Standard.
Amps : a 1967 Fender Super Reverb and a Marshall JCM 900 halfstack with 4x12 greenback cab.
Effects : Boss line selector ls-2, Vox Wah, Boss tuner tu-2, Boss od-3.

The od-3 is a great pedal and I think the only sound-shaping Boss pedal I really like. My other Boss pedals are only a line selector (for volume boosts) and a pedal tuner.

I think the od-3 does what so many guitarist are looking for : warm and full overdrive, no EQ-loss, plenty of sustain, not expensive at all, very reliable, easy to use ... and they have i.m.h.o. A VERY NICE BANANA COLOR !!! ;-)

I think these pedals will become the "tubescreamers" of the new millennium ! My advice : get one before they are discontinued.

Just like any typical overdrive stompbox: turn the knobs to ur liking, stomp on it &....u're done w/ a great sound!

Way good....maybe the best overdrive ever,IMO. The sound is thick & juicy w/ plenty of sustain that could even go over the top & reach infinite feedback-sustain if u run it through a good amp distortion. BTW it also produces NO NOISE even if u crank all of the knobs, like the MT-2, just plain whispery quite....(some ppl who got noise w/ this pedal must have had that problem originating from their amp). And ya, if u run this pedal through tube amp overdrive, ala Zakk Wylde (he used the SD-1, now the Wylde OD), u're bound to get THAT kind of brutal distortion w/ all the Bass frequencies intact even w/ Tone @ 5 o'clock. IMO, it's way better than the Tubescreamer in terms of sustain & bass response, smoother than the SD-1 & crunchier than the BD-2. 1 thing though....for ppl who thinks this pedal sucks....THIS IS AN OVERDRIVE PEDAL, MORON, U DON'T GET BRUTAL DISTORTION THRU JUST THIS!!!!

Yup, of course. It doesn't need a backup, but does need good amp distortion to boost.

Not needed, just plain durable & excellent.

The best overdrive-booster pedal ever found in the market, though it doesn't sound exactly like a tube driven one, but is already very good if plain sustain & a boost is needed when playing solos, especially those w/ long bends in the middle.