All user reviews for the Boss ODB-3 Bass OverDrive

Analog distortion pedals for bass with 5 knobs of rglages:
- LEVEL Knob (adjusts the sound effect. RULES To ensure that there is no
Difference in volume between the effect sound and direct sound of the bass
- HIGH EQ button (amplifies high or attnue frquences)
- LOW EQ button (or attnue amplifies the low frequencies)
- BALANCE knob (adjusts the balance between the direct sound and sound saturated)
- GAIN knob (adjusts the gain of its direct or saturated. With the direct sound, it adjusts
amplification without distortion and with a saturated adjusts the amplitude of
distortion)

Allows a multitude of sounds, be it a crunch or a fuzz, to a distortion or just an amplification.

Aluminum Casing trs bright yellow solid.
Battery and power adapter (battery included).

UTILIZATION

Configuring General for the pedals is very simple, the knobs are effective and the use is instinctive trs. In the manual are examples of fairly nice rglages, it must change according to the sr amp, bass and equalizeurs!
It is with Boss, so the handling is quick, however, we must tweak before finding his own sound as rglages are prcis! The hardware prcis ncessite use prcise!

Quickly found the so desired, juggling between frquences, the gain and the balance is easy and fun I'd say! But the sound is saturated image from clean! Be careful to have a well Dfine plain before starting rglages!

SOUND QUALITY

The sound sent by the pedals are just beautiful! It sends the robe, the beam hairy adcolle the walls, and all with class!
That is to be a dirty fuzz, crunch a lightweight, one disto heavy, smooth or od, After a few turns of the pedals rglages you book what you want!

I play a Cort B4 and a Trace Elliot 3 body (head GP7SM-250) and THE FIRST ds utilistation concquis I t! One branch, even all the knobs on the middle sounds a dj

OVERALL OPINION

I use the pedals for the past few days and I'm thrilled! In concert as RPET adpote, Boss is all fawn inpuisable and made to last!

Before that I played with pedals a Big Muff Electro-Harmonix .. See anything, she was eating the bass, I was lost in depth and gave her a dirty and greasy! I do not really regret not to have changed!

The price is reasonable for the pedals, so it is Boss of the quality and it's solid! I recently but would do without this choice hsiter!

It's an overdrive
analogue
effects are not ditables
of a jack, an output jack
um for me rack or rack is put in a 19 "so I would say that it's not because it is a rack-mount pedals, but nothing prevents you to fix on a pedalboard.
Four rglages: volume, bass eq / treble, balance and gain
A solid aluminum casing
intrupteur under a pile of pedals
A good look

UTILIZATION

Gnrale the config is pretty simple, examples are in the booklet
The knobs are effective
The manual is simple, clear, and the examples are nice if it is THE FIRST exprience with overdrive, they clairent a little about the standards of use of the overdrive.
APRS you to make your sound
Rglages the bass / treble are friendly and efficient, has permits to do its overdrive pedals not only on the bass fiddle or pramp.
It can be used as a boost for the slap by putting the drive to zero, or even small eq to play two sounds alternately DIFFERENT, but not really doing it for, say a service can make a case o.

SOUND QUALITY

The effect is trs effective, however, even when it has a small cot just synthetic, we feel that this is not the lamp, the small default is more or less strong according SETTING THE effect and bass.
I use this bass with Ibanez, the GIO base (my first love for beginners) and a SR505 BM.
My amp is a combo fender rumble 100 watt.
I put a good little while to find the sounds I really wanted, I pass the power crunch, has the overdrive "sweet". Must also say that I did evolve my bass sound for a year and a half, so my tastes have voludonc it's normal that took me a while to find my rglage.
T The last I had put up for sale because the overdrive do with my amp suited me better without his cot a little more "roots", but in the end I went back to buy it back (the one the m I am sold lol) because I realized that even when there silent no more Polyval the amp for overdrive.
This despite the pedals default, has to be MRIT gnraliste and adapts to all situations (my taste).
Of course we should not compare it with a valve drive, it's not the same range dutout.

OVERALL OPINION

It's been a year and a half that I use.
What I love is the versatility and 4 rglages, what I like least is the little breath a high volume (but hey I think it's normal, when all fawn we play we do not hear it), and the grain may be too synthetic / nasal.
Acqurir before I had my korg disto AX10B, thus forcing the ODB is a standard cot.
It cost me 94 euros in stores, it's expensive, especially since the store does not have concurrency in my city, so prices yay!
However the report quality price trs respectable boss is solid as well as the electronic box.
Exprience I would do with this choice, except for the lamp.
I put that 8 because the sound synthetic / nasal rglages complicated a bit, and the breath also, against a big applause for Polyval!
I will change the bass and amp in this t if all goes well, so j'diterai few months after the notice history to have a step back.

Last updated:
I have since sold this purpose, to invest in an EBS Valvèdre soundly beating all aspects of the diverse and Varis ODB3. I blamed the synthetic sound too ODB3 mainly.

The Boss ODB 3 Overdrive is a top quality pedal that you can use with your bass guitar. If you are familiar with pedals and especially with the pedals that Boss makes then this is no different. Meaning there is nothing outstanding about this pedal, its very basic but its great. Use the ¼ connection for input and output and it takes a 9 volt battery for the power supply. This is the old fashion box that goes on the floor that we grew up to understand, no mounting this. You will have to use your feet.

UTILIZATION

All of the Boss pedals are pretty much they same as far as their make up but im very excited with the sound of this pedal. You can control the sound of it extremely easy and change the parameters and see what you come up with. Everything is at hand with this pedal you will have full complete control with the Boss ODB 3 Bass Overdrive.

SOUND QUALITY

Sound is great on the Boss ODB 3 Overdrive pedal, it has a bunch of different bass tones as well as the distortion and or fuzz and overdrive, but most all pedals can do what the Boss ODB 3 Bass Overdrive can do. I have used this pedal with several different amps and bass guitars and it sounds great no matter what combination of different pieces of equipment it used with it will sound great.

OVERALL OPINION

Overall the Boss ODB 3 Bass Overdrive is one of the best on the market because of the price and quality of the pedal. But keep in mind there is nothing spectacular with this pedal and a downside is it can be a little strong on the gain. But besides that it worth the buy, but look in to some other pedals before making your purchase to make sure you are getting the most out of your money.

The Boss ODB-3 Bass Overdrive is a pedal designed for use with bass guitar. It's an analog pedal that has the standard make up for nearly all Boss pedals - 1/4" connections for input and output and both a battery compartment for a nine volt and a jack for a power supply of the same voltage. It's best to use the power supply if possible. It isn't rack mountable as it's a stomp box to be engaged with your feet.

UTILIZATION

The make up of the Boss ODB-3 Bass Overdrive is pretty easy to follow and at the same time there are a good amount of parameters to work with to control your sound. Included in this are knobs for level, balance (dry/wet mix), gain, both high and low EQ controls, and an overall gain parameter. That's all one will need to know, and it just takes so messing around with it to feel completely comfortable, so I don't think a manual is necessary.

SOUND QUALITY

The sound of the Boss ODB-3 Bass Overdrive is quite good overall and between the nice collection of controls it's possible to get a good amount of differing tones. It's a pretty fuzzy sounding overdrive that's not really any one of an overdrive, distortion, or fuzz, although I'd say it's more of a fuzz/overdrive than anything else. It's definitely possible to get a bunch of cool bass overdrive tones with the ODB-3 as it's versatile for a bass pedal. I've used the pedal with a Gallien-Kruger amplifier and a Fender Jazz bass with stellar results...

OVERALL OPINION

The Boss ODB-3 Bass Overdrive is definitely one that should be looked at for bass players looking for their first overdrive pedal. It's cheap enough where most will be able to afford it, but as is the case with most Boss pedals, they haven't sacrificed quality to bring this pedal to you at this price. I don't know if this is the best choice for those looking for something that will punch through more than anything, but it's a great overall overdrive for bass and at the very least a good starting point for those interested in fuzzing up their bass a bit.

For me I would much rather have an on board gain in my preamp of bass rather than use a bass OD pedal of some sort. This one isn't a bad one but it really isn't a good one either. I like Boss effects but their distortion boxes really don't live up to the standard IMHO. This pedal can sound a bit thin and metallic but used in a band situation then it can sound decent.

It is an analog pedal with basically four control operations. The layout as follows...

-Get mild overdrive to hard distortion, OverDrive pedal specifically designed for bass
-Works for four- and five-string basses
-Balance control lets you mix signals
-Can be used as a two-band EQ
-Onboard two-band equalizer
-Balance knob controls dry/overdriven sound
-One touch on/off
-AC adaptor or 9V battery operation

UTILIZATION

You are not going to find this pedal hard to use. It hooks up like all Boss pedals with a 9v plug in or battery. And it is a one touch foot switch.These Boss pedals to me sound best when not using the gain knob all that much. Use it to slam the front of your bass preamp and get a great pushed sound that naturally distorts the amp rather than the cheap pedal making the distortion.

The balance knob can be very helpful by either blending a full effected signal or just allowing some of the effected signal through. It acts like the volume knobs you would find on some effects loop on the back of high end boutique guitar amps. This enables you to blend the desired effected signal and creates a huge thick tone. Similar to a wet/dry set up you would see guitar players have.

SOUND QUALITY

Not a spectacular sound, but does give a decent push to your front end. The balance knob is a cool little feature that thickens up your tone without having to use much of the other dials. Not using the gain is a plus because it does more to harm your tone than help it in my opinion. Use the gain sparingly and dial in the EQ and balance to tailor your tone.

I used this with a Warick 4 string bass and a Raven Labs preamp with a QSC power amp going into a 4x10 Trace Elliot cab. I also had a Boss chorus pedal with this setup. I had a fantastic explosive bass rig that sounded a lot more expensive than it really was. I only used this pedal to push the front of my amp.

OVERALL OPINION

This is a decent pedal but I would try another pedal if I was not on a budget. It does the job in the band situation. It doesn't sound that great when you are only playing by yourself. I think the band and the drums really help to enhance the positives and cover up the negatives about this pedal.

It is were lost or stolen I would try something else and see if I come back to this pedal. I am not convinced that this is the end all be all of OD boxes for bass rigs. I think it did the job at that time for me when I was using it. However, at around $99 and about half that on the used market it will not be an expensive experiment to try it out.

I would recommend this to anyone try to figure out their bass tone. You may or may not stick with it but it can help you experiment on your tone.

Originally written by Chi Cheng on Audiofanzine FR.

Analog distortion bass pedal with five controls:
- LEVEL control (adjusts the effect's level). Use it to compensate
any volume differences between the original and processed signals.
- HIGH EQ control (amplifies/attenuates high frequencies)
- LOW EQ control (amplifies/attenuates low frequencies)
- BALANCE control (adjusts the mix between direct and distortion sound)
- GAIN control (adjusts the gain of the direct or distortion sound.
Provides a wide sound range from crunch to fuzz and distortion or a simple boost.
Very rugged yellow aluminum housing.
Battery or PSU operation (battery included).


UTILIZATION

Very simple overall configuration, effective controls and very intuitive use. The user's manual provides nice setting examples you can fine tune to match the sound of your amp and your bass.
Like with every Boss pedal, the learning curve is not very steep but you'll have to take enough time to find the tone you really want because the controls are precise! Precise equipment requires precise use!
The distortion sound is a variation of the clean sound, so you'd better find your own clean tone before setting the distortion sound.


SOUND QUALITY

Wonderful sound! It shakes the walls, but always with class.
It gives you everything you want from dirty fuzz to light crunch and heavy distortion.
I use it with a Cort B4 and a Trace Elliot stack (GP7SM-250 head) and it was a delight from the very beginning! Even with all controls in center position, the sound is good!


OVERALL OPINION

I've been using it for some days and I'm very happy. Great product for rehearsals and live gigs. Boss products have a very long life
Before buying it, I played with an Electro-Harmonix Big Muff. It' not comparable. The Big Muff had less lows, the sound was not deep enough and it was too dirty! I don't regret my choice.
The price is ok considering it's a Boss stomp box: good manufacturing quality and sturdiness. I wouldn't hesitate to buy it again!

This is a bass overdrive overdrive pedal from Boss. It is similar in ways to a Boss DS-1 for guitar, but for bass. It does have a few subtle differences. It is a 100% analog pedal. It has no MIDI or USB connections and it is not rackable as it is a pedal. It does have a 1/4" input and output like most pedals do. It can run on a 9V battery or by power supply.

UTILIZATION

Editing the effects on this pedal is pretty easy. It has four knobs, one of which has two working parts. The level knob controls the overall volume of the signal. The tone knob has two parts, one for low end and one for high end. This helps maintain a lot of control over the tone of the bass, which is difficult to manage with some bass distortions/overdrives. There is a balance knob, which controls the balance between the dry signal and the wet signal, allowing for a significant amount of blend (and therefore not overdoing the distortion). The final knob controls the gain.

SOUND QUALITY

I am a huge fan of this pedal, because it has a lot of tonal variety to it. I think that the best sounds I got with this were with my P-bass, as it has the thick heavy low end necessary for such a pedal. The best thing about this pedal in my opinion are the EQs and the balance knobs. The eqs can control how much of the low and high end remain in the mix. The main complaint I often have of these pedals is that too much of the bass gets lost in trying to distort the signal. Another great way of avoiding this problem is the balance knob, which will provide the (already reasonably heavy) dry signal more room in the mix. I like this pedal because it doesn't annihilate the tone of the bass and amp you are using, just distorts it a little bit. It is rare that I find a distortion that can do this.

OVERALL OPINION

This pedal is really cool. I like the variety of tones you can get, and I really like how it doesn't color the sound too much. I prefer to use it on a lighter side, as a thick bass distortion is tough to hear in a mix and almost defeats the purpose of beefing up the bass tone. It's a good price and it competes really well with the pedals in it's price range. I highly recommend it to anybody who's been skeptical about bass overdrive in the past.