All user reviews of 3/5 for the Boss SD-1 SUPER OverDrive

I bought the sd-1 for 49.99 at musicians friend. 49.99 is a pretty good deal for a pedal this versitile.

The sd-1 is a great overdrive pedal for any musician who wants great sounding overdrive. It has controls for level, tone and drive. Using these three controls in combination can create a variety of different overdrive sounds, from mildly driven to a heavily overdriven sound. It makes this pedal very practical.

The overdrive effect is a fairly accurate sound but to a professional, I would reccomend a higher quality pedal, because the drive knob will not shift the tone to clean or to a wildly overdriven sound, but if you need anything in between it should be fine.

It is very high quality and could survive just about anything. But I would advise against plugging the wrong adapter into the back. I did that and now there is an awful buzz that i can't get rid of unless i run it on batteries.

I kind of think that the unit is a bit overpriced for its performance. If you don't play perfessionally this is the pedal for you.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

The Boss SD-1 is a very basic overdrive pedal. It has familiar settings, one tone knob to adjust the EQ of the pedal, one knob for overall volume, and one knob for the amount of gain. The pedal can be powered by 9 volt batter or external AC adapter. Dimensions of the pedal are Boss’s typical 2.4" x 5.1" x 2.9" and it weighs about a pound.

UTILIZATION

It’s a Boss, reliability is a given. The pedal is built very sturdy, with a nice stomp plate switch exactly like every other Boss pedal that has been beaten to death over the past 20 years. I have never heard any issues with quality control on these pedals. I wouldn’t worry about any Boss pedals breaking on you. Boss may not always have the best tone, but it won’t let you down. It’s a very straightforward layout and the knobs seem sturdy and hold your settings well. The housing and jacks are metal and seem like they would hold up to a good amount of abuse.

SOUND QUALITY

Some people would consider this an Ibanez Tubescreamer clone, while it does sit pretty close to it; there is a little bit of a difference. The insides are similar to an old Tube Screamer circuit, but Boss adds an additional diode in the clipping section. This results in an asymmetrical wave that produces a little more low end response than that of the Tubescreamer’s symmetrical clipping. The SD-1 doesn’t have as much of a midrange honk to it as the Tubescreamer either. I would much rather use this as an overdrive or a boost, where the Tubescreamer I find only usable as a boost into an already driven amp. I wish Boss had split the tone into high and low control knobs.

OVERALL OPINION

Overall this pedal is a decent basic overdrive. I prefer it to the famous Ibanez Tubescreamer, but I would probably look at other pedals to fill the same tone requirements as the SD1. I like the Digitech Bad Monkey because it splits the tone into two separate knobs, allowing for more tweaking. The Transparent Overdrive from Danelectro is also above this in my book, not only for the split EQ section like the Bad Monkey, but for overall quality of sound and for the fact that this pedal is in the same price range and it is true bypass. Boss isn’t known for having the best drives, they are more famous for their delays and modulations, but this one isn’t too bad really. While not very natural sounding, it’s worth the price and very reliable if the sound is what you’re going for.

One input, one output, a volume, drive, and tone knob. How much easier could it be? It also has a standard BOSS style center negative 9V DC jack. It uses a buffer bypass (and not a good one).


UTILIZATION

Plug in, set the knobs where you want 'em and get playin'. It couldn't be easier to use. Wanna use it as a boost? Volume dimed, gain low, and set the tone to your personal taste. The TONE knob isn't that responsive though. It takes a big turn to get any noticeable change in tone, which can be annoying because you can't get a large selection of tones from it, but it's still workable.

SOUND QUALITY

This is a decent pedal stock. It can go from thin, crunchy, trebly gain, to thick, smooth OD. when used as a boost, it is somewhat transparent, but still colors the tone. I keep the tone around 1 o'clock, and the gain around 9 o'clock. This gives me a nice, crunchy, style OD. A bit like Don't Fear the Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult. This is not a true bypass pedal. It connects the input jack to the output jack using a buffer. The buffer isn't a very good one though. It causes some somewhat noticeable tone suck, which causes some treble to be lost. It's too dynamic either. It's more dynamic than some pedals, but it's nothing like a Honey Bee Over Drive by BJFE, which could be one of the most Dynamic Overdrives out there.


OVERALL OPINION

This is a good OD pedal. The tone knob is not very responsive, but with a quick, no soldering needed mod, it opens up and becomes a better pedal. This is a great pedal to mod. a few mods and it goes from a decent pedal to awesome. Stock, It's a decent OD for a good price.