Boss SD-1 Distortion Guitar Effect Pedal

If you're looking for magic in a box, something that will transform you into the next great Guitar GOD, buy a lamp and start rubbing. But this baby can give you that screaming tone you've been hearing in your head but couldn't make come out of your amp's speakers. Although really an over drive unit (It says so on the unit itself)and not a distortion pedal as Boss's Metal Zone, it can add sustain and sounds you can't get ordinarily. I like it's straight forward design and classic Boss durability. Plug it in your chain of effects and turn a knob, all 3 of them if you wish. Even your lead singer can do that!!! It's classic weaponry for you 60's assault wanna be's.

Its great when using pedals like Big muff to centre the sound on solos otherwise it takes away the natural guitar sound away on your clean tone some people like it i dont.
Its great for specific use when needed for extra boost very usefull pedal for good price dont spend more money for pedals that do the same thing.

It’s a standard; it’s been around forever, like the DS-1. And it’s been around forever because it works. It sounds great and does its job well. You can buy all the boutique pedals in the world but they are almost all based on pedals that have been manufactured for years and this is one of them. Works fantastic as a boost, drop the drive down put the level up and wow, by its self it’s a classic distortion, run in front of your favorite distortion or drive channel in your amp for that extra edge, sustain and sensitivity while soloing. It’s just an all around reliable pedal that does exactly what it is designed to do, well. Can’t go wrong with an SD-1, it’s a classic. And remember it’s an overdrive, not a distortion. It will distort your signal; however it was designed to send your distortion into overdrive. And for those that cannot get a sound out that they are looking for, A: you don’t know what you’re looking for B: you don’t know how to use your amp, or your amp sucks tone (not the pedal) C: you thought it was something that it is not, like a distortion pedal.

Boss products are second to none. At least as far as pedals go. The SD-1 recreates great tones for the Stevie Ray Vaughan wannabe. It is almost as good as a tubescreamer. The SD1 is a glamourized boost pedal, but it provides just the right amount of gain to really give you that great blues sound. My advice to anyone thinking of buying a Blues Driver.......Don't. The SD1 is just as good if not better and is available for a fraction of the cost from the right vendors. I love the way it meshes so well with my Strat. If you are looking for a metal distortion pedal or even a distortion pedal, this is not it. Go with a DS1 or MT1. If you want to have a bit of gain and still be able to distinguish your playing style and picking then the SD1 is for you. Long Live the Blues.

The SD-1 has got to be one of the most underrated ODs on the market (second only to the Digitech Bad Monkey perhaps). At $35-$40 it is an absolute steal. Stock, the pedal dose suffer a few drawbacks (the reason for only giving it 4 stars). #1 is sounds a bit muffled, you know the olf cliche of a "blanket over the speaker"? That somewhat accurately describeds this pedal in stock form. As I understand it, if you are proficient with a soldering iron (which fortunately I am) this is pretty easily fixed by removing a capacitor which is the offending component in the tone circuit. #2 the bypass circuit allows a bit of bleed over from the gain circuit into your clean tone. I also understand that this varies a bit from pedal to pedal but it was precievable in mine. This too can be fixed with a relatively easy addition of a few readily avaliable components.

After doing a little research online and talking with my new favorite pedal modder, Mike from Modest Mike's Mods, I opted to have my SD-1 modded. Mike performed a mod developed by a friend of his that is essentially a mod of a mod. He performed his version of the Keeley 5 Star GE mod. The Keeley mod changes a number of components to improve the tone of the circuit, reduce noise and improve the bypass as well as adding a switch to select a Germanium Diode clipping stage. Additionaly, Mike installs a second switch that improves the bass response of the circuit (think BD-2 Phat mod). The added bass is subtle but noticable. With these mods, my humble little $35 pedal gives my modded TS9 and my Fulldrive 2 Mosfet a run for their money. I have a lot of dirt pedals and this is definately one of my favorites.

Give it a go. If you like it, great. For the money it is a steal. If you like it but want it to be a little better, call up Modest Mike. He will make it sing, and when it is all said and done, you will have a great pedal that is far less expensive then some of the "gold standards" out there.

Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with Modest Mike's Mods. I am just a guy that had him mod a few pedals and I think he does awesome work. He is my first choice in mod services now. I reconmmed him to anyone that wants to unlock the full potential of their stock pedals.