Boss DS-1 Distortion Guitar Effect Pedal

I love to play the old classic rock tunes of the 60's through the 70's. It was an era of revolution against the establishment that is coming to a climax in the world today. The Boss DS-1 Effect Pedal makes that hard rock sound happen!

The Boss DS-1 Guitar Effect Pedal serves a dual purpose of being a keyboard pedal as well as a guitar distortion pedal. It helps customize all common distortions to adapt to one's own sound. The Boss DS-1 Guitar Effect Pedal is a versatile guitar distortion pedal catering to soft as well as hard sounds.

Being the most commonly used pedal by bands from the 60s to the 80s, it's the primary classic rock guitar pedal to play covers. The onboard tone control in the Boss DS-1 Guitar Effect Pedal allows you to tailor the overall sound as per your requirements. In addition, this Boss DS-1 Guitar Effect Pedal is very easy to use. This is an essential unit for an old rocker like me.

the boss DS-1 is designed to emulate the famous "orange box " distortion pedal that became famous in the 70's, which itself tried to sound like a marshall fifty watt small box or even with a bit of ac-30 top boost, only warmer. Not a modern insane overdriven tone, but even with single coils it delivered a thick warmer sounding crunch. I would use this to give me a good crunchy rhythm, when you cant push your own amp to breakup because of volume issues, or to add a boost when taking a solo, to help cut through the mix. The DS-1 also is a blast practicing at low volume, Nice singing sustain at living room levels. Oh, did I mention you can find one on e-bay for at least half the price of the other orange distortion box! My good friend plays an older silverface deluxe, and I bought a DS-1 to give to him so he can get some gritty tone when the amps on two or so as we are often told to TURN DOWN!

Highly Underrated!

Many people think this is a low-grade Boss effect pedal, but with proper settings and usage, it stands up to the quality and fidelity you have come to expect from Boss "Built like a Tank" pedals.

The reason many people give this pedal low marks is because the Tone Knob is crazy!
Similar to the Fender Reverb Tanks, this knob goes from just about right to way out of control in a hurry! - lol.
Set fully left/counter-clockwise (7 o'clock), it is dark and muddy, around 8 o'clock it will sound good for a Strat lead tone, around 9 o'clock and a little beyond is good for fat Gibson humbuckers to cut through any mix, and anything beyond that is way too thin, harsh and God knows what you would use it for outside of a specialized high freq-type notch filter effect or laying heavy on a low string. This is what people don't like about this pedal...the Tone control is too wide - lol.

Find the right spot and you are there tone-wise.
This is Distortion, not Overdrive and it is made to provide searing lead tones and carefully voiced rock chords.
It holds a strong distortion without going into feedback as easily as other pedals. There is even a video on YouTube that shows one coupled up with a Boss OD-3 Overdrive...I do it too. It's nice to have one set for crunchy rock and the other set for searing leads and sustain...but I am also guilty of engaging both of them at the same time!

As with just about any distortion pedal out there, the higher the gain, the more the noise, but all in all, this pedal holds the noise level down while keeping a strong tone that if need be, any noise gate could easily manage...I don't use one.

The Level control can act as a lead boost if you cut back on the Drive. You really can't get rid of the distortion effect, but you can minimize it to a point that it will behave like a boost with a little grit behind it and most times this works just fine, especially live.

As of July 2012 the average price for the Boss DS-1, used, in good condition is nineteen to thirty dollars. The higher being free shipping and original factory box.
The other factor are the older models made in Japan go for a significantly higher price (sixty to one hundred dollars) to people who collect vintage gear or have discriminating tastes.

With the abundance and affordability of these pedals I say, "Why not have it in your arsenal?" If you set your unity gain and tone to be "seamless", it is worth twenty bucks to have it there & ready to kick in when you need to hold a high note (or any note) extra long without worry...and if nasty is your thing, this pedal can get really nasty set to anything past 11 o'clock. (Which is only 1/3rd of the way "up".)

This pedal also doubles as a great little gift for a budding rock star. It is cheap and it provides good distortion, which is what they are most likely looking for, until they get good enough to deserve a two hundred & fifty dollar pedal.

I, myself have many expensive pedals, play professionally (26 years) through a large rig and have this pedal at home in my "Boss Chain."

Be conservative and use micro adjustments and you will find a great usable pedal at a terrific price.

Boss pedals are constructed well and look professional (I don't like cartoon figures or silly phrases on pedals like you find on other makes). Input & output cables connections fit tight. Gain adjustments seem to have significant range of adjustment. Unwanted internal circuit noise seems low or unnoticeable. You'll find several "well used" Boss pedals on ebay, so that has something to say about how durable they are. My current favorite is the Super Chorus CH-1 pedal. Some are hungry for 9 volt batteries, but that could be resolved with a wall power supply.

I'm 43 years old and have been playing for many years and have used assorted pedals through those years along with processors from ART to Digitech I've found going with single pedals has been my better bet for more control over my sound.
I purchased the DS-1 to get that extra edge to carry sustain on my three channel tube amplifier which it does well when I turn the pedal its self down using this pedal with a compressor sustainer pedal it will give me un-Godly tone in my clean channel and in the third channel it gives my notes or chords that extra life and sustain.
There is a mixing chart that comes with the directions that are helpful and I'm sure that anyone wanting a tone from overdrive blues to 80's or 90's hard rock will find the perfect mix with this pedal.
Boss seems to be the last of of the great effects pedal manufacturers left one of the draw backs to them is that their pedals or some of them are quite pricey though the sound and the quality of their pedals makes up for the price.
And at $39.00 which is what I payed for the DS-1 you can't go wrong with this pedal its well built and very versatile distortion pedal and has stood the test of time being introduced in 1978 and it seems to still be a sought after pedal.
And for those who want even more out of a distortion pedal there are several different MOD kits for this pedal as well.