Customer Reviews

Boss DS1 Distortion Guitar Pedal

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Alright, so you want to get a good (if somewhat "basic") distortion sound for less than $100? This is your deal. If, on the other hand, you're a tone snob who believes that anything other than overhyped and overpriced boutique pedals is garbage, you're probably not looking at this page to begin with. Don't get me wrong, I have some nice boutique pedals and mods (like the Cusack Screamer and the Keeley MT-2) that I would never part with. But here's the thing...the stock DS-1 stands proud even in such company. Why? A few simple observations:

1) Boss has been selling this pedal with great success since 1978, regardless of the fact that...

2) Due to the toughness, you'll likely never need to replace one of these tanks.
2a) There is a profusion of overdrive and distortion pedals on the market, both corporate and boutique varieties.

3) Many outstanding guitar players have used this pedal in the studio and on the road, including Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, John Petrucci, etc... Sure, some are using "modified" versions now, like Vai's Keeley edition. But you don't tamper with what you don't like. If the foundation isn't solid, you replace it. I also own the Ibanez Vai Jemini pedal and what they basically did (in my opinion) was take his tube screamer and DS-1 pedals and put them into one box for convenience. Same thing with Satriani's Vox Satchurator pedal. You know someone really loves a pedal when they use it as a template in designing their own signature line. I don't have any proof that they did this, but it does sound like it in a side-by-side comparison.

4) Now consider that the Jemini and Satchurator are $199 and $129, respectively. Nice pedals? Yes. Worth up to four times the DS-1? After using both for a few months, I'm not entirely convinced of that. Since I'm a pedal collector, they're staying put in my house. But I don't see a whole lot in them that really blows away the core DS-1 sound.

Seriously, if you're looking for a simple, set and forget distortion that has a good basic tone for rock and metal, the Boss DS-1 is a great value. If you simply must have crystalline tone purity in a box, why are you still reading this? Get outta here already ;-)

Alright, allow me to forego any kind of thesis statement or introduction and simply get down to the point. What you get with this pedal is simple, classic, basic distortion. It's not exteme, and it's not too weak. It's probably what you would sort of call a baseline to compare other pedals to.

If you need just simply distortion; a little overdrive to your sound, then you found it. However, if you want something more indepth, look for something more specific to what you want (Metal Zone, Blues Drive, Tube Screamer, etc), because this pedal is very generic sounding due to it being a pedal that a large fraction of musicians own. It's like the McDonald's of pedals: cheap, easy, and well known.

Bottom Line: Good to use for simple distortion effects, otherwise look elsewhere.

From Greg Abrams review, entitled "For all but the tone snobs," the first review you read on this product's page:

"Alright, so you want to get a good (if somewhat "basic") distortion sound for less than $100? This is your deal."

I strongly disagree. You can find MUCH BETTER distortions for $100 or less, even a few near or under the $40 mark the DS-1 is currently priced at.

I've played guitar for over 8 years. Like many people one of my first pedal purchases was the DS-1. Afterall, everyone talks about them, they're available at any given music store in the nation, you hear about all these famous musicians using them, plus a DS-1 is actually pretty cheap! So I snapped one up just like everyone else. Come to find out that just because something is POPULAR, that doesn't always mean its GOOD (see: Nickelback, the Transformers movie franchise, the Kardashian family, etc...).

So I plugged it in and didn't really care for it. The distortion was harsh, thin, artificial sounding and always noisy. I tried it on both my amps (My practic amp: a solid state Fender Frontman 25R, and my big amp, the B-52 AT100, which is a 100w tube halfstack) It was was not very diverse, and the basic sound was not very likeable to me. I've read the Japanese made DS-1's are better in sound than the newer, made in Taiwan models but, either way, the DS-1 is just not a great pedal in my mind.

But, like many newer players, I didn't know any better at the time. Fast forward a few years and I've bought and sold literally dozens of pedals. There is a whole world of great tones to be found out there if you keep your eyes open.

So here are some pedals I currently own that I like much better than the DS-1. All of them are great general purpose distortions, easy enough to find new and used in most guitar shops, can currently be bought brand new for $75 or less here on good ol' Amazon.com, and are rugged enough to last for years:

Boss DS-2: Lest I catch any flames from people thinking I'm a Boss hater (I'm certainly not, I loved the TU-3, the ODB-3, the MD-2, and the XT-2, among others) I'll start with the DS-1's big brother. This pedal has a much nicer tone to it, not to mention 2 distinct distortion modes. The I setting is pretty much a higher quality DS-1, the II setting is a brighter, richer tone. As the DS-1 completely overshadows the DS-2 in popularity, you can find DS-2's all over ebay for very cheap prices. A very worthy pedal, unfortunately overlooked by many.

ProCo RAT2: Great dirty distortion pedal. One of my personal favorites. You've heard this box used on literally hundreds if not thousands of songs in the last 30 years, its used by just a ridiculous amount of guitarists. Its a rich, full distortion that at higher gains gets slightly fuzzy. I've never heard a bad tone out of mine. Its great for getting a "big amp" kind of sound out of a small practice amp. Its also great for pushing a big amp with too much headroom into the overdriven sweet spot without having to crank the amp volume. A truly excellent pedal.

EHX Little Big Muff: The Big muff is another pedal you've heard on hundreds of songs. Its kind of a fuzz, kind of a distortion, but definitely owns its own sonic territory. Very big, saturated and warm. Used heavily in the 70's for classic rock tones, also in the 90's and beyond for tons of grunge and garage. Used by everyone from Carlos Santana and David Gilmour to the Smashing Pumpkins and Jack White. I personally reccomend the Little Big Muff, not only is it a touch creamier in tone than the recent NYC reissue, its smaller, uses a regular 9v adapter and its CHEAPER! A great pedal.

MXR Distortion +: The Distortion + is a great first distortion, and can usually be found pretty cheap. Whats nice about the Distortion + is that it sounds great on anything, and the lack of a tone knob helps keep it somewhat transparent, i.e. you can more easily hear the natural tone of your guitar and amp, it doesn't cover over your equipments sound. Used by quite a few famous folks, including the Greatful Deads Jerry Garcia, Randy Rhoads (Ozzy's famous guitarist) and Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols.

Danelectro Cool Cat Metal CM-1: Make sure you get the Cool Cat Metal, NOT the Metal II. That's a fine pedal as well, but its definitely more of a traditional metal pedal. The Cool Cat Metal, or CM-1, is actually a very very different pedal from most metal pedals. Basically, its a pre-amp that sits on the floor. It has a fully adjustable EQ with tons of volume and gain through the roof. So you can do anything from a clean boost (with the gain at minimum there is virtually NO coloration to your tone) to high gain metal stuff, with plenty of great overdrive and rock tones in between. It works well with any amp I've tried it on, and you can find tons of great sounds. Its an unbelievably versatile pedal, and its even true bypass. The best part is, Danelectro seems to have made way too many of them, so you can easily find one used or even new for under $30. A true hidden gem that's actually CHEAPER than a DS-1.

Ibanez DS7 Distortion: Many people know about (and speak highly of) Ibanez's famous Tube Screamer. What many people DON'T know about is that Ibanez uses some of the same parts for their other lesser known (and less expensive) Overdrive and Distortion pedals. Case in point, the DS7 from Ibanez has some of the same parts as the famed Tube Screamer, including the JRC4558 opamp. Obviously, being a distortion pedal, it sounds different than their Tube Screamer, but its a great general purpose distortion that gives a good, rich crunch. Like the Screamer, however, it reacts VERY well to your picking attack and guitar volume, which are not qualities one expects to find in a $30 pedal (yes, you read that correctly, real TS parts in a THIRTY DOLLAR PEDAL) What impresses me about it even further is how tight the notes stay; when you play full chords the notes don't bleed into each other as easily as on many other distortions. It has excellent tone, great range, fantastic dynamics, and a very durable (though admittedly kinda ugly) metal shell, all a surprisingly cheap price point. Another hidden gem, and its ALSO gonna cost you LESS than a DS-1.

Hopefully these suggestions give you something to look for. Also, if you can't actually try a pedal out at the store, YouTube is great place to hear demos of what different pedals can do.

I should also mention that if you try and love the DS-1 and it suits your needs, than more power to you. Tone is subjective, every pedal sounds different running through different guitars and amps, and just because I may share different opinions on something that you love, that's okay. My main reason for posting this lengthy review is to give newer players some information. You have PLENTY of options for distortion pedals, the DS-1 is NOT the only thing out there that's affordable. Find something you truly love and buy that. If its the DS-1, one of the pedals I've mentioned here, or anything else, the important part is that it sounds right to YOU.

This is a classic Boss pedal, it's been around for awhile. Boss is known for their great sounding effects and rugged construction of their products, this one is no different. The distortion from this pedal is simple, very smooth, and very versatile. It's not too noisy, allowing single notes played to be heard with clarity. If you'd like to hear it, you can probably find some sound clips of it being used on Boss's website.

I have researched Boss and all of the kind of pedals it has to offer. Even though this little inexpensive pedal (compared to other BOSS products) does not look like much, IT PACKS A PUNCH. I seriously was blown away by the quality sound that it drives out. I felt like my epiphone firebird transformed into a metal machine! If you are new to effects pedals, this product is definitely worth your time.

I bought this pedal for $20.00 used from Guitar Center. I tried it out in their amps department and loved what I heard. It has that classic Van Halen, Marshall distortion sound from like the late 70's and early 80's. I love the tone knob. I usually leave it around the 11-1 oclock position. It really depends what kind of amp you're running this through. I ran it through a line 6 amp and it sounded terrible. So, then I tried my all tube Fender Twin and Peavey 5150 stack. Way better sounding...almost as good as the distortion coming from my 5150 head...way better than any multi-effects process distortions. I absolutlely believe that any multi-effects processor distortions especially the new pedal board AKA Line 6, Boss, or Korg stink. They sound way too digital and lifeless/one dimentional. The great thing about this pedal is that you can add a equilizer to make it heavy sounding like Metallica, etc. and add a overdrive if you need more gain but I think it is great the way it is especially for Led Zep to Van Halen, Vai Music. Now, I know where Steve Vai's distortion sound comes from along with the Dimarzio pickups he uses.

So if you're in the market for a pedal that can do mostly everything in rock except for maybe hardcore metal/thrash/death metal than here is your pedal at an affordable price. There are other pedals that cost over $100.00 which may be better but not by much. I've tried many and this isn't really too far from the boutique pedals in terms of sound quality. But, you really need to get a good tube amp to play it through to get a good sound. Oh and if you mode it out...its the best thing out there.

this pedal is great weather your a beginner or an expert guitar player. the BOSS DS-1 give a good amount of distortion for a verity of different genres of music. although it does not give as much distortion as the BOSS DS-2 or MD-1, the BOSS DS-1 give you a great sound with small amounts of feedback for the cheap price of about 40 dollars where the DS-2 and MD-1 cost 80+. this is the kinda of pedal that a guitarist could buy when there a beginner and keep for the rest of there music career. I recommend the BOSS DS-1 from a beginner to expert guitarists who proform.

I have had this pedal for about 15 years, just replaced the old one a month ago. It distorts sound, not quite the way you would imagine though. This effect sounds really good through a fat cab or a larger amp that can let the cabinet give the tone a little color. I use it through a Epiphone Valve Jr and a Marshall 2x12 stack with JTM45 on top and its fine. This thing through a Champ or smaller amp will not give you the meat you are probably looking for without a EQ pedal.

This does just what it says it does. One Volume knob, one tone, and one distortion knob. CRANK IT.

I am laughing to myself reading some of these reviews - I have been playing for 47 years and survived the Arbiter Fuzz Face, (yes, I had one) which to me sounded a lot like an amp with a blown speaker. Anything the industry has come out with since then has been an improvement.

As a general rule, I don't really use sound effects these days (mostly because I like the sound of my amp - crazy, huh?) but every now and then I like a little reverb and when practicing it's nice to have some distortion to get a little more sustain at lower volumes. I wasn't expecting much for the price but in this particular case I thought the pedal went very well with the rig I plugged it into (in this case, a Fender Champ 600 and a Squire Jazzmaster).

To me, Fender style guitars and pickups have a tendency to sound a bit thin played through distortion pedals and solid state amps. Pickups like P-90's are a bit better for this, but for the best sound, a hum canceling pickup like the Gibson PAF (insert your own favorite here) works best when playing with distortion, so in my opinion, if you have a solid state amp you will want to put some thought into what guitar and pedal you want to use with it (assuming you have a selection of them, like I do), or, to put it another way, if you only have one guitar (and know how to use it!) you may want to put a little more thought into your amp when pairing it with your guitar of choice. I say this because I have seen a lot of young players who buy gear based more on their budget than with an eye to getting the sound they want.

That said, depending on what you ended up with, this pedal may not work for you. On the other hand, as someone noted, if you have a tube amp, or, as I said above, a Gibson or Epiphone style guitar you might like the sound of this one.

I thought the pedal was a fair approximation of an overdriven tube sound (again, when used with a tube amp!) but keep in mind that comparisons like this never survive side by side comparisons (I mean, really, combo modeling amps don't REALLY sound like a Marshall stack when played next to a Marshall stack) so when I say it approximates an overdriven tube sound, that's as accurate as I can be about it - it sounds enough like an overdriven tube amp to my ear that I am happy with it. Your results may vary. One thing for sure is that the price is hard to beat, and as others have noted, Boss sound effects pedals will last long after you have gotten tired of them and sold them at the garage sale.

Comparisons with other pedals, whether more or less expensive, are really of no value, this is going to be YOUR pedal, and it's what you think that matters. If possible, try a friend's, or go to a music store and try it first, although if it was me I would just buy the pedal there after having tried it.

That said, if you have a tube amp or play guitars with humbucking style pickups through decent solid state amps, you may like it. If anybody says anything, just tell them an old fart on the internet who has played through just about everything said so. And remember: 90% of happiness in life is the ability to manage your expectations.

This thing can be had for as little as $20 used if you shop around a bit. That's basically zero dollars, in my book. That's a pizza. It works as advertised. It distorts. Subtle it ain't. But honestly, it's quite a bit of fun to play around on. There are some better pedals out there (I prefer my Big Muff) but all of them cost more. And honestly, most of them require you to have a good handle on what you want. Whereas this? It's...just distortion. It's what you use until you can figure out what you're really looking for.

I'll never bother to sell mine. It's got a certain charm to it.