The Boss SUPER OverDrive SD-1 gives you the warm, smooth distortion of an overdriven tube amp without blurring the nuances of your picking technique. The unique symmetric drive circuit delivers a more rich, authentic-sounding overdrive effect. Here's an overdrive pedal that has Level, Drive, and Tone controls that make it easy to go from mild to hard, or even use the SD-1 as a signal booster.
Warm, smooth distortion
Unique symmetrical gain circuit
Dial in a 'drive sound all your own. Order now.
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SOUND: Man. Let me start off by saying that I'm a 'professiona'l guitar player who plays quite a bit. I'm 31 years old and have been playing for 26 years. I have worked in Music Stores before and being a tone snob have played everything and anything that caught my attention over the years tailoring my sound/tone. I've had many overdrives in the past and always felt they were mediocre, and in the end thought that I'd truly never find any pedal I'm happy with.
I'm not one to waste time reviewing but the Boss SD-1 has me doing just that. This pedal is actually a 10/10 for me!
DRIVE: The gain control doesn't change much in terms of gain from 9 o'clock-full, it's only barely noticeable with a Strat (I use vintage Marshall cabs and tops too by the way) which is great! because it does the job so well. It 'colours' the tone more than anything and I use the gain at around noon so it doesn't get too grainy and play anything between light blues to all out Iron Maiden! I was unsure this thing would have enough gain for heavier styles but it does, and it just KILLS tone wise. I've never had so many people compliment me on tone before in my life.. It just sounds so right.
I would never mod it. Many say there is a bass cut, but there certainly is NOT. My OD-1 has a perceived 'cut', but thats because it didn't have a tyone knob. FWIW I currently have the OD-1 on Ebay because A/B ing the two yielded indestinguishable results, apart from the SD-1 having more tonal options. I will NEVER mod it because any more bass would sound boomy, and more gain would render the pedal faceless, just like every other overdrive out there. Pick attack is fantastic with this thing, too. And touch responsiveness? Man.. Second to none.
Tone knob is fantastic. I do notice a slight suffering/sparkle compromise in clean when the pedal is off, but it's so good that I won't even pick on it.
The volume pot would serve great as a booster as so many people use it like that.
In terms of the perfect overdrive being: Responsive, natural, toneful, tubey, this thinbg is IT.
I remember years ago searching for the right pickup, thinking that only boutique would suffice. It turned out that Fender standards were the tone I was chasing and the same goes here. Don't believe the hype. What makes a boutique pedal any better than the boss?
I was going to replace some of my pedals with a distortion but because this pedal works so well for everything I just can't turn it off when playing live. I'd never use anything else on my board! So I dumped that idea and will only ever use the SD-1. Search over, well done BOSS!
The old 3 knobs is all thats needed. Any more parameters and you've got yourself too much room for error and a pedal thats not at all tailored.
It's a Boss.. Haven't you heard?
It's a no brainer.
Boss SUPER OverDrive SD-1 Pedal
.I bought the SD-1 for my main board when my Bad Monkey wonked out on me. I thought it would be a transparent boost with gain on tap. It pretty much does that, but it colors your tone in a certain way that I didn't care for. I still put this through its paces before I bought a new BM. It has some killer shred to it. Something about the way it sounds just screams 'Boss Overdrive.' I can't say I hate it, but I like the tones I get between a BD-2 and a Bad Monkey much better. The BM is almost a flawless clean boost with a little bit of dirt if you want it. In the end, I can't give up that pure clean boost. The little bit of color and overdriven sound of this pedal even with the gain all the way off make it not my bag to replace a BM. If I could extend my board space by one pedal, maybe the SD-1 would say on, but I get all the 'Boss Overdrive' I need from the BD-2. I feel similarly about the DS-1. Some of Boss' pedals just scream in such a way that I personally don't want more than one on my board, and BD-2 is still the best.
Boss SUPER OverDrive SD-1 Pedal
.It's great like it is. Only thing is I wish boss would start using brighter leds.It's hard to see outside if it is on or off and I will be installing a brighter one soon.
I have been playing for 16 years and in a band the last couple years, and tried out a lot of pedals along the way. I recently picked up one of these and really have been happy with it. I built some of my own tube amps and slightly mod some of my pedals but this one I like the way it is.
Gives you a thicker gain structure when the amp is somewhat overdriven and lights up the front end on a tube amp real nice. It really get the tubes singing to the point pinch harmonics are great for an overdrive.
I like to use it in a lot of ways, also turn the gain down and the output up to make a clean tube amp get raw and bluesy. It goes well with all of my tube amps and I have a variety.
This is one of the best OD pedals I have tried and I think a lot of people overlook it as I had in the past becasue no one expects a pedal in this price range to work so well. It does.
It is boss so I expect it to last.
I got mine used in great condition so the value was good but a new one is a great value as well.
Boss SUPER OverDrive SD-1 Pedal
.I bought this pedal and a Celestion G12H-75 speaker for my Marshall Haze 40 amplifier because the amp gets muddy in the drive channel when the gain is up high and the boost is engaged. However I returned the speaker because the Boss sd-1 increased the gain in the drive channel and enhanced the boost by switching the boost frequencies from the lower midrange to the upper midrange which pretty much eliminated the muddiness from the amp. This pedal, however, is not a cure all do all overdrive, if you need that than look at some of the other overdrive pedals available. This pedal works great with an amp that is pretty hot, let's say, "HAS GOOD CRUNCH" but just not enough drive to allow your notes to sing!!!
Boss SUPER OverDrive SD-1 Pedal
.If your situation is that you could get 3 'entry-level' effects for the price of a really good, versatile, hardwire-bypass OD--and that's all you have to spend, then this isn't a bad choice for your OD. You'd have enough left over to get a reverb/delay or something. If you're going to leave your OD on all the time, you might not mind that it adulterates your straight tone while 'off'.
I was given mine in trade for a couple of 6" cords, so I tried it out. I used a VHT Super6 Ultra w/ a 16ohm closed-back 10", and a 50w Carvin w/ EL84s and a open-backed 1x12" Celestion V30. With the gain down it's OK as a boost after your Distortion, or pushing your already-on-the-edge preamp tubes. The OD sound as you turn up the Gain is annoyingly ~smooth~ through most of it's range; with gain all the way up and your amp already a little dirty, it sounds just fine for 'solo-tone', or rhythm 'crunch'. If all you need is Rock rhythm-tone, and solo-push above that, you can do that with this (Gain dimed), and an OD/Boost after for the solo sound (I used a Lovepedal Amp50 Boost after this unit for that)...just don't switch it off; your tone will be gone.
I play a lot more than 2 sounds myself, so this pedal will never go on my pedal board--but, like I said, it sounds rock-and-roll enough that I bet a lot of people will fondly remember these one day as their 'Favorite First Pedal'....
Hope this helps; if you're looking for inexpensive-yet-decent gear, you could probably use one of these.
Boss SUPER OverDrive SD-1 Pedal
.I use this pedal as a boost putting it behind my distortion. It really give me a nice boost and smooth sound for solos. But using stand alone can give a really nice light distortion for just about anything you need.
With a basic Volume, Gain and Tone it doesn't get much easier to use.
It's your basic Boss pedal. Metal case, solid and can take about anything you can throw at it.
Boss SUPER OverDrive SD-1 Pedal
.First noticed this pedal on a famous guitarists board eighteen years ago. When I bought it, and the price was more expensive then, I hooked it to my Marshall jcm 800 2x12. Needless to say, the amp already had the beefiness i wanted, but went I stomped on this overdrive it pushed the signal precisely to get a harmonically rich, sizzle drive which made any thought of modifying out of the question. The quality of this combination, to this day, places other new heads and pedals down a notch. After several years I have yet to find a driver/booster that even compares in tone and price. I still have both and they go together like salt and pepper.
Boss SUPER OverDrive SD-1 Pedal
.I use a mix of boutique and cheap pedals on my board, including gear from Earthquaker Devices, Blackout Effectors, Boss, Electro-Harmonix, and Behringer, interestingly enough. I use an isolated power supply. My amp is a Vox AC4TV, and my guitar is a Fender American Standard Strat. All of my equipment is stock.
To approach this review, I use the pedal in different genre contexts:
Metal. Through a clean amp, this pedal will not work for metal (take note, beginners: overdrive pedals are not intended to make a clean tone sound heavy). If you already have a distorted signal, though, you can get an EXCELLENT signal boost from this pedal for soloing. You can dial the pedal to add some gain and compression without it getting too muddy, and increasing the treble using the tone knob gives you very clear pick attack. It will cut through the mix very well if dialed properly. The pedal adds a fair amount of noise--this likely isn't a problem for high-gain players, since most of you are using noise suppressors anyway. Take it into consideration though.
Classic Rock: You can drive an amp that's just starting to break up with this pedal and get some great tones that cut through the mix. I used this through a cranked Super Reverb back when I owned one, and I got Clash tones (unexpected, but cool!). When I play through my cranked Vox, I get Stooges tones. Digging it.
Jazz/Fusion: There are pros and cons to using this pedal in these genres. If you need pristine cleans, this pedal affects the tone noticeably when bypassed. Keep that in mind. The pedal is VERY responsive to picking attack and cleans up pretty well with the guitar volume rolled off. Less trebly tone settings can smooth out and warm up bright amps. Medium gain settings compress the signal nicely, but the highest gain settings will sound too compressed. Plus there's some background noise. Your mileage may vary.
Blues: This pedal is very similar to a Tube Screamer, although I find it to be more raunchy sounding. Personally I love it for this context. One thing that hurts this pedal's stock for blues is that you can't dial in a big clean boost. You have to turn up the gain or the treble to really boost the signal, which could be a turn-off if you want a SUPER-transparent boost. But the overdrive sounds natural enough, and most importantly, it sounds good, so I don't care if it doesn't preserve my original guitar tone 100%.
Country: I LOVE this pedal for chicken pickin' rockabilly riffs. It compresses just a smidge on lower gain settings, and when you turn up the treble just an eensy bit, you get a nice, quick attack and a satisfying pop. Put on a little analog slapback delay and you're rocking.
Pros:
-Easy to dial in good tones on most amps
-Sounds natural and dynamic on lower gain settings
-Usable EQ range
-Cleans up well
-Fabulous dirty boost
-Usable for many genres
Cons:
-Not much clean headroom for boosting
-High-gain settings sound compressed
-Noisy
-Messes with clean tone
A good pedal regardless of the price. An AMAZING pedal considering how cheap it is. I play mine stock, but these pedals are so easily modded that even if you don't like the stock sound, you can upgrade its internal bits and pieces until you do.
Boss SUPER OverDrive SD-1 Pedal
.I've been through so much gear!! I'm always trading stuff in because I'm picky. But this one is a keeper. Unless you're only into boutique gear or something, do yourself a favor - buy one and just glue it down to your pedalboard.
Boss SUPER OverDrive SD-1 Pedal
.Well, it may sound funny but when I had to decide whether to choose between this or the Ibanez TS, the SD-1 immediately caught my attention. I wouldn't have had any problem about paying more for the TS9 but this pedal, the SD-1, sounded better to me.
I use it with Fender Stratocaster and Gibson SG, as you may know, both single and humbucking pickups, through a very good quality solid state amp. Its function is basically a booster to add more gain to a Seymour Duncan Twin Tube Mayhem stomp box. Well, it does not alter the overall tone at all, it only gives more gain and a little bit of volume, ideal for your solos, specially if you are a legato-runs boy.
Of course, you can use it alone and it behaves differently with singles and humbuckers. It's very subtle with single coils but gives you that spark we love from tube saturation. On the other hand, with humbuckers it becomes more aggressive so you can get a very smooth distortion but keeping the sound of your guitar and amplifier.
Boss SUPER OverDrive SD-1 Pedal
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