Maxon D & S II Distortion/Sustainer

Easy to use.

sound is ok. just know that it doesnt have anywhere near the level boost that an 808 has. This is due to the germanium clipping diodes. you do get a fuzzier tone though. Thats the reason the pedal is called a Distortion and Sustainer II as opposed to an Overdrive.
The biggest problem with this pedal is the bleed through of the effect when switched in bypass. When the distortion is turned up I hear slight distortion coming through when in bypass. This is enough to make the pedal unusable unless you have the pedal always switched on and dont have a need to switch to bypass. NOTE: This pedal is NOT true bypass as others have said. It has a SPDT footswitch which operates electronic switching. If it was true bypass there would be no issue with effect bleedthrough. Also, another reviewer said something about germanium based effects being first in the effect chain to avoid bleed through: that sounds incorrect to me. In any case, the bleedthrough problem occurs when I only have the D&S II in the chain on its own, and it occurs whether its going into a valve or solid state amp. I expected more from a pedal in this price range.

1. Bleedthrough problem
2. Status led stopped working

Pedal has only ever had light use at home and has always been looked after.

Once again, expected more from a manufacturer that claims quality of construction and design as its point of difference from other manufacturers. My experience with this pedal has not encouraged me to try others in maxons range.

bought it in the states when I was over there on holiday about three years ago. any warranty would be void now and Im not sure if I would have been able to claim anyway, given I bought it in the US and live in Australia

Would not recommend maxon products as a result of this experience.
A pedal like this should be true bypass and the status led should not have failed. Maybe I just got a bad one...

Nice raw vintage sound, just like the 60's

Maxon stuff is a 10

To anyone who has experiance the effect causing distortion when it is turned off. Germanium based distortions must be first in the chain (not following a buffered effect).

I had this unit for about two weeks, i loved it. Played it through a Standard Strat going through Fender Hot Rod Deluxe; pretty modest setup.

It would give me awesome tones and this pedal made guitar playing much more enjoyable.

It sounded very tight, never lost focus and was very responsive.

I didn't find it very noisy.

I could definitely dial in some raw sounding metal tones and also some good overdriven tones.

Very treble focused, and i would had loved it even more if it had a little more gain.

But then again, i really can't remember the details... It was half a year ago, i believe. I can't remember especially if the pedal had insufficient gain levels.

However, it sounded very good and I was very happy with it, until i noticed...

When it was triggered into the bypass mode i could hear very noticeable overdriven tones; that was totally unacceptable.

Additionally, the controls would still work in bypass mode.

I took the pedal to the shop, they were one of the most recognized shops here in Vancouver. They could not figure out the problem, maybe they just wanted me to sell it to them cheap, who knows.

So i guess it was just a faulty design, or it was just a bad pedal. But i was told that it was new, and looked like new.

In the end, i had to ship it back to the previous owner.

I hate to do this but, i have to give a low rating.

They were very helpful, but they added me into their mailing list which i really did not appreciate.

The guy from the customer service was very helpful but at the same time very... strange, but i won't get into that.

Fast replies.

I play all kinds of music except for the newer styles of rock, world, flamenco and country, which i should learn to play some day.

This pedal would have been really good for everything that i play, except classical :)

I'm willing to try this pedal again, or maybe a MAXON SD-9.

I've owned and have over 10 gain pedals, some very well-known and some very cheap. This was one of my favorite pedals.

Too bad it had to screw up.

I can't give a honest or correct rating, because i'm pretty sure none of the reviewers had the same problem as mine.

super, super easy. three knobs, but "balance" is really more of a volume knob, adjusts the ratio between dist & tone somewhat but not too noticeable

THIS IS AN AMAZING PEDAL! Totally a sleeper. I got it b/c of good reviews on this forum & I wasn't disappointed! great, close-to-TS808 sounds for overdrive, but you can get some serious fuzztone action out of it with everything cranked. also, singing sustain with just the distortion & balance knobs & the tone rolled off (less treble). i have the reissue of the mxr-enclsure pedal, it is just awesome. i use it with a strat w. custom pick ups & a treble booster & i get SiCK tony iommi tones!

seems totally reliable. have used it for gigging non-stop since i got it, & recording leads as well. killer!

it's out of warranty, but both godlyke (us rep) & maxon japan got back to me quickly with answers & factsheets about the difference between the vintage/originals & the reissues

think this is a great, underrated pedal for any 60s & 70s sounds, great as an OD & in conjunction with other drive, boost, & fuzz pedals. i love it!

Turning knobs is something I find very easy to do.

I got this recently, so I haven't tried it out in every possible setting yet. Played it though a small practice amp, and then got to really open it up at band rehearsal on a larger 100 watt tube combo. Wow! I've been buying distortions and overdrives, one after the other, for a couple of years now. This is the sound I wanted that whole time! I tried a Rat II, then got it modded by Keeley, close but not quite, too muddy even after the mods. I used a cheap DOD Corrosion, a very good pedal for what it is, but a little too shrill. I tried the Guyatone TZ-2, just too much sheer noise! I used an SD-1, DS-1, etc. Nothing quite right. I liked the old-school MXR Distorition + that I borrowed at one point, but wanted something a little closer to the instrument's original tone. And that's what I've got now with the D&S II. The comments about it having a lot of low end are totally right on! This is the main thing lacking from all of the other pedals I tried. I don't do drop tuning at all, but I play a lot of lower notes on guitar. My style incorporates soloing and noisemaking with power chords, low octaves, and palm-muting. This is perfect, just what I wanted. True it doesn't have a huge range of sounds, but I've never found that very useful in a distortion or overdrive. I want a good sound, not a ton of different blah sounds. I am playing an SG Special with 490s through a large chain of effects (Maxon Compressor -> D&S II -> Boss BD-2 modded to act as a tube screamer -> DeArmond Weeper -> Maxon CS-01 -> Guyatone FL-3 -> Marshall Vibra/Trem -> Boss DD-20, with the Guyatone MT-3 mini tuner somewhere in there as well. This didn't add any noticeable or intolerable noise to the setup at all. This will be my main distortion when I play through my Sunn Concert Lead head, as its own internal distortion doesn't function. I am very happy to have found this pedal, and I'm giving it a very high rating since over time, to my ears, it beat out a lot of other very good pedals for a spot on my pedalboard.

Seems very solid, but I've only had it for a short while.

??? Never tried, but I've heard good things.

Overall I love it! It has a great sound all its own. I LOVE germanium diodes - I want this tattooed on my forehead!!! I don't know what else to say. Its a fairly rich sound, but it goes a long way towards preserving the original tone. Just adds meat and bite in all the right places. Its cute too. Not really for metal heads I would say, unless you have it combined with other things to increase overall gain. But for what I do, which is in the realm of pvement, my bloody valentine, mercury rev, cure, etc., it is just perfect.

Very simple to use, mostly because there are only three knobs (one for gain, one for volume, and one for tone), and the character of the gain remains pretty similar and transparent no matter what the application.

VERY transparent and retains an impressive amount of bass frequencies for an overdrive/booster. I'm currently running a stereo/ab setup with a Fender Twin (which I recently bought used and received this pedal as an extra incentive to buy) and a Peavey Triple XXX on top of a Mesa Recto 4x12 w/ V30's. However, because of the pedal's transparency, the character of the gain remains very similar throughout the sweep of the gain knob in conjunction with the other two knobs. I don't think you can fault Maxon for this, though, since I think this is a largely desirable characteristic for a booster such as this. However, due to the types of amps I'm running right now, I'm better suited to sticking to my old SD-1 I've been using for years, since I'm not really a fan of super-saturated 6L6 clipping (via the Twin), and the power amp clipping of the Triple XXX sounds like ass (I'm more of a preamp gain kind of guy).

Very quiet, silent switching. Impressive!

I'll refrain from commenting here, as I've only had it several days.

Never dealt.

If I had a direct application for a light, dynamic overdrive such as this, I would certainly be hanging onto this pedal -- it's beautifully constructed, very transparent, and altogether BALLSY. However, I come from the world of high gain preamp distortion and ultra-clean cleans, so to eBay it goes.

Very easy. It has only 3 knobs on it and one on/off switch.

Set up: Yamaha AES620 (www.yamaha.com) - D & S II - Fender '59 Bassman reissue. The pedal is not noisy. It's basic an OD808 with more gain, but it doesn't have the same sustain, which was kinda disappointing. However, it has tube amp-like dynamics, responding well to pick attack. Single notes and open chords sound very good with it, better than any other pedal I've ever tried. The controls offer a wide range of tones, and the pedal tends more to the trebly side, but nothing that can compromise its value. I compared it with a Boss Metal Zone, a Boss Turbo Distortion and my Ibanez TS9 reissue. The D & S II has a whole lot more tube amp feel than the Boss ones, but not the same sustain as the TS9, although the former is a distortion and the latter just an ovedrive.

The most negative point, for my applications, is that it gets a little fuzzy when palm-muting, and I need a more focused distortion to do just that, in addition to having clarity for open chords.

Maxon pedals aren't cheap and it's said they're hand-buit, true by-passed and all that stuff. I'm a bedroom player and I cannot tell whether it can stand to the stage application. Overall, it looks reliable.

Never had to deal with them. I got the pedal two months prior to writing this, in an exchange for store credit.

I play several types of rock, some Metal, some brit-pop and some old-school punk, some "alterantive" (Stooges, David Bowie, Oasis, Sex Pistols, Aerosmith etc.). I've been playing for 15 years now, and, although I'm not a virtuoso or anything, I'm very picky. My gear is the following: '67 Gibson Flying V, Gretsch Duo Jet, Fender Jazzmaster, Yamaha AES620, Fender '59 Bassman reissue, Boss Tremolo, RV-3, Super Chorus Big Muff, and Ibanez TS9. I'm trying to sell my D & S II because it just can't do palm-muting the way I need.

If you don't play Metal AT ALL, and does the Neil Young type of rock, this pedal might be of some help. It could be used as a good lead boost too.

This pedal is very easy to use. Three knobs: gain, tone and balance. Gain is the amount of distortion, tone is tone, and balance (?) is the volume or boost of the pedal. I'll take off a point for the misnamed boost knob.

The sound of this pedal is amazing. Distortion is a matter of taste I suppose, but I think the D&S II rocks The pedal is unique and very transparent. I play a Strat thru a Sunn Solarus combo. I set my amp on just about break up and then use the D&S II for solos it produces a very thick and juicy distortion. Raspy but still warm. Additionally, it responds amazingly to my dynamics. My old MXR Distortion+ flattened everything.

I have not had any problems yet. I thought I did but, it was my Boss power supply (see below). Seems solid, but I have owned a year...I'm optimistic, but I feel funny giving it a ten as my MXR is almost 20 years old. I'll let you know in 19 years.

When I thought my pedal had a problem I called thinking I would have to send it back. The guy who answered the phone helped me trouble shoot my set up and lo and behold it was the 9v power supply. Very cool.

I love this pedal. I play in a Jesus Lizard type post punk band, and this pedal is perfect. I need a tight bottom when I play riffs, but when I solo this pedal gives me enough boost, bite, and snarl to do the job. I can cut through the band a get upfront no problem and it definately sustains. It is pricey (so I'll drop it a point), but is unlike any other distortion pedal I've ever played...I would buy another if I had to. Check it out!

It's easy enough figuring out what the three knobs does, but it's actually not that easy setting the controls for 'the good sound'. It took some time for me and for once I actually found the manual useful to give me some ideas.

I use it with Fender single coil guitars (Jazzmaster, Jaguar and Telecaster) playing thru small Fender combos (Champ, Bronco, Princeton and Princeton Reverb). All the amps are highly maintenanced and equipped with N.O.S. tubes and Weber speakers.
I have been using a RAT distortion for 10 years and I was beginning to get bored with the sound and getting hungry for something new. I got a Maxon OD-808 recently that I really liked and thought I would give the D&S II a go. It is definately something very diffenrent from the RAT and I find it really inspiring to play with. The effect of the D&S II is very raw, crisp and gritty and dirty and not as thick and even and 'nice' as the RAT. But it's in a very warm and musical way that the pedal is raw and gritty. It can be very trebly and for high distortion setting you need to back the tone knob almost all the way down, but for medium distortion levels you can turn the tone to 11 o'clock for a very cool, crisp and warm distortion. The tone of the pedal is very retro and in my opinion and the perfect pedal for a tone to set you apart from the 90's grunge/alternative mainstream sound. The D&S II is perfect for a cool, raw, dirty, f***ed up rock'n'roll sound. The pedal is told to be identical to the old Ibanez OD-855 Overdrive II and the circuit features retro electronics components such as a real JRC4558 IC chip (like in original Ibanez TS-808 and early TS-9) and rare germanium transistors.
I'll give the sound quality a 9 because of the excess treble that I have no use for (a humbucker player would probably not complain, though)

It's a unique sounding distortion that I personally find really cool, but for most of today's players it's probably too difficult to get a useful sound from. It's definately not very versatile and not suitable for nu metal. But for a retro r'n'r' sound or for the new garage rock it's great. It's still new to me, but I can feel that this pedal will really grow on me and could become a vital part of my guitar sound. I am totally in love with it. It's probably more demanding and difficult to get to sound good from than the RAT that it is replacing at my pedal board, but it gives me a more original and unique sound. I find it's pretty much like my beloved Jazzmaster guitar. It took some work and effort and getting-used-to to get a good sound from it, but when you are there, it's very rewarding because it has so much character and because you can achieve a more personal sound. And a sound that you wouldn't get from any mainstream guitar like a stratocaster or a les paul. I love the D&S II and gives it an overall rating of 10.

now I know my abc's...next time wont you sing with me?
Just remember that the balance knob is important..you probably dont want all pedal tone..half way sounds...well....balanced.

Im using a 70's hand picked after much deliberation usa fender strat with duncan rails (sim to singles but little double coils inside)Maple neck. Tone king comet 40a 6v6 amp(yet to try)will run stereo with a peavey classic 30 watt el84 tweed amp.
Ive also tried it with a fender pro reverb.
Its nice and quiet.What I most like about this is that you can get that just broken up sound+ with a touch of 3d barbed wire fence thrown in when you want it. I tried everything the local stores around here had.(big city) I tried snarling dogs,some of the boss stuff,an old mxr that sounded like pin needles in a blender-I tried vintage-new
everything the stores in town had .I dont want you to buy it. Yes the tube screamer is a great pedal...but everyone and their next of kin "gots" one.
That breeds similarity..similarity breeds familiarity..which over time breeds lack of interest.I wanted something similar to a tube screamer but with a little extra twist of lime(what tone is that?) thrown in..without drastically altering my original straight tone which is sparkly with warmth and a bit of edge to it.

seems solid enough-good reputation.

probably o.k?

I plugged it in to my peavey classic(if yu never played one you might be skeptical) If you have you get it....I bought it for its el84 distortion sound which I like alot..I put it on the clean channel
and punched in some overdrive...it pushed the little amp into a nicer breakup..I had to turn it down as the neighbors would soon be filing greivances and trying to get out of there leases.Im mostly going to use it on smaller gigs with the toneking comet which on the 40 watt channel supposedly takes alot of sound to get to breakup(although it cuts 2 20 watts on the lead)heres what I noticed...I really liked the overdrive sound until I heard my amps natural overdriven power tube section.
So heres what i sum this pedal up as. its a pedal...not a tube amp..
It does enhance an already good sound...and for those amps which just need a little edge to dirty up there clean sounds this gets real close to true tube distortion.I think the price is good too.125 new.
I would not buy it if I were looking for hard rock sounds. I would consider the tech 21 gt-2.(INcredible)
If your looking for rock/jazz fusion or 90's type rock YOu may want to try this and see what your ears tell you.

Not easy to get good sound because the sound sucks. Manual perfunctory.

Fender Strat w/noiseless single-coils into Marshall Combo (run totally clean). Very noisy especially at high gain, or rather gain at maximum which isn't really alot. Where this pedal really blows is that the volume control doesn't boost the signal but rather seems to weaken it. At full the volume isn't very loud. Cannot use as a booster for solos due to the poor volume output. Is a very trebly pedal and has medium gain. At low gain you can get a decent tone but versatility ain't its middle name. The tone control has little variety also. It doesn't help to get rid of the treble. Not a lot of sustain either. Wonder why it has the name?????

Appears to be well made and would probably last awhile but I'll never know since I got rid of it the day after I got it.

Have no idea.

I play classic rock. This pedal was a disappointment; I returned it the very next day. If the tone control was more varied and the tone of the pedal less trebly it would help. The volum control is no good at all. Not a very good distortion pedal. Hate to say it , but almost any distortion pedal I can think of (for the price) sounds better and is more versatile than the Maxon D & S II Distortion Sustainer (examples-Ibanez Tone Lok, Tube Screamer, DS-1, etc). Maxon pedals are supposed to be the Holy Grail of tone, but this one was a Holy Turd!!!!!!!!!

Very easy to use. The box has controls for the amount of distortion you want, the overall output volume, and the tone.

I am currently using this pedal with a Lace-sensor equipped stratocaster and several Seymour Duncan JB pickup-equipped guitars (including a beat to S*#@ 1974 Gibson Les Paul). The pedal has a really fat sound, with way more bottom end than most other pedals. The tone is really smooth, and it blends in nicely with the sound of a cranked tube amp.

Its a regular no-frills looking stomp box (made out of metal).
Looks solid; I haven't had a problem yet!

I currently play in a cover band where we do all sorts of '90's alternative stuff. This pedal is really handy for getting that old "Tube screamer" sound you here on all the Pearl Jam records. It's a lot cheaper than those vintage fuzzboxes that everyone and their mother seems to be raving about. It has a real natural tone that is neither brittle or booming. I recommend it to anyone who is unsatisfied with the generic Boss pedal tone that seems so prevalent today.

Ease of use? Three knobs - that can't be difficult, although the TONE knob is placed where the BALANCE control usually is and vice versa. After two seconds or so of bafflement, you should be OK... Manual is comprehensive and supplies several settings for different tones, that actually do sound different...

Tell you what: I REALLY LIKE THIS PEDAL! This one is a TOTAL sleeper! The Maxon website describes the D&S II thusly: "If you like the 808's bark but could use a little more bite, the D&S II is the pedal for you." This thing is like some Star Trek parallel universe evil counterpart to the OD808 - if you're one of those that complain of too much midrange in the OD808 and/or no bass (or Tube Screamers for that matter); if you complain that you'd like an overdrive that doesn't muddy your sound with humbuckers, you seriously owe it to yourself to check this out! I was looking for a different overdrive pedal with a different overdrive timbre for my pedalboard and bought this one. I'd say that more than half the time now, I'm using the D&S II.

The D&S II has some serious clang to it; there's really no mid hump ala the TS series to speak of. It can sound pretty bright, but backing off the TONE control can rein that in. That said, the D&S II has TONS of bass, NO bass roll-off here. Also, clipping diodes are Germanium type diodes, which impart a smoother sound to the overdrive than silicon diodes found in the TS series and many other overdrives and distortions. If anything, this pedal also will help your technique as its pristine and clear tone forces one to refine one's technique. If you've got the chops, this one will bring all your notes out with razor-sharp precision.

Noisy? Nah. Lately, my D&S II has been doing most of its duty in front of an old Fender Champ and a '73 Marshall Super Lead. Guitar I've been using with it is usually a Mexican '60s Reissue Fender Strat with Schaller tuners and Seymour Duncan SSL-5L pickups. Think early Outlaws' guitar tone, it's a lot like that.

Reliability? Well, it turns the overdrive on when I depress the footswitch, each and every time, unlike say, my old Ibanez AD9 pedal which has to be hit about ten times before the delay kicks in.

I've mentioned that customer support from Maxon in Japan is great; haven't dealt with Godlyke yet, but heard good things about them as well.

I mentioned the Outlaw's reference, obviously I play some Southern Rock. This pedal also does time with Metal and Shred stuff that I do, as well as country finger-picking etc. Across the board, it's great and works well in a lot of different musical situations. Paradoxically, for all its clang, it's also rather smooth. Nice work.

As I mentioned, the clipping diode section utilizes germanium diodes - ala the elusive '70s-era Ibanez OD-855 Overdrive II (which Maxon also designed). It sports the same chartreuse yellow-green paint job and a similar screened logo. The circuit itself seems to depart from the Overdrive II in some notable respects, the original Overdrive IIs utilized the Texas Instruments RC4558P chip, the D&S II packs the desirable JRC4558D chip. The other most notable difference is the input capacitor in the D&S II: it's a whopping 1 microfarad (the Overdrive II has a .022 capacitor) which accounts for the bass response of the pedal. I don't believe I've ever heard an overdrive pedal that has the bass response that the D&S II has.

Three knobs and a footswitch. A knob for distortion, a knob for tone, and a knob for level/gain. If you can't use it, I don't know how you got here to read this review.

Single coil pu guitars so far (Epi Casino and Fender Strat and Tele), for Revolver/Sgt. Pepper Beatle sounds, through either a Brown or Blackface Princeton or a Korg Vox AC15TBX. It is not noisy, at least with the distortion level I use, which really doesn't get over about 9:00 or 10:00. Also, I go very top end/treble, so the tone knob is all the way over to 5:00, and I still get as much bottom as I want, which I think is rare for such pedals, which often suck the bottom away. I can get the Taxman, Dr. Robert, Fixing A Hole, Good Morning Good Morning sound I'm looking for with this pedal and setup.

I'm not sure it's in the Boss pedal tank catagory. The switch is quiet and doesn't pop, but at the same time it doesn't seem as sturdy as some. It will be used alternately with a Vox Valvetone, which I love but worry about wearing out, I use it so much, and this one comes close to the same sound quality.

Unknown, although I've read great things about Godlyke.

I'm very pleased with the sound, which is what matters, isn't it? Like I said, it doesn't suck all the bottom out, but with the tone knob all the way over it's still got the sharp bite to the treble that I like. In some ways it may be a better sound than the Valvetone; certainly better to my ears than my Boss SD-1, but at a much higher price, too. And at the price, the fact that the distortion knob has a bit of noise (very slightly scratchy, unfortunately in the range that I use it most....from off to about 9:00) pisses me off a bit. But it's not so bad that it's unuseable, and with some pot cleaner it may disappear. Anyway, I'm glad I got it, I like it, and I'd recommend it. And it would have a lot of potential for players who want even more distortion than me, since I get plenty out of it and don't go past 10:00. I'd recommend it.