All user reviews for the Boss DS-1 Distortion

Analog pedal with 3 knobs minimalist Tone / Level / Overdrive, an inlet and an outlet and that's it!
Works with a battery or power supply with a 9V like most pedals the mark.

UTILIZATION

It is a simple distortion by making head because there are no bad setting itself.
The tone is effective on the equalizer and you can go from blues to metal very fat by varying the volume pot with the appropriate level of distortion.


SOUND QUALITY

This pedal is distinguished by its relatively balanced, it is far Syndrome "niz Bee" common on some models known mine (metal zone and co) is a distortion a little vintage evokes the sound of thrash 80's metal / early 90's.
I appreciate the fact that we are not in the sonic aggression, but rather a sense of power that provides the sound.
Detail is important: the pedal does not generate blast, even at a fairly high level of distortion, you really push the 3 knobs at the bottom to have it.
Personally I use the following config (for the metal with good low on parts of palm mute): Tone in 2 / 3, mid level and distal to race 3 / 4 (beyond the sound becomes a bit messy).

OVERALL OPINION

I own this pedal for a few years, it is robust and efficient.
I had other models (sometimes more expensive) in my equipment but the result was not as good, I think to keep this as long as DS1 can take it to the current price is an awesome deal .

The classic orange pedal, the BOSS DS-1. It's used by tons of players, from bedroom noodlers to arena playing rock stars. It has Tone, Distortion, and Level knobs. It's built very well, like pretty much all BOSS pedals. It's an all analog distortion, and stock it offers distortion ranging from almost light-overdrive to higher-gain rock.

UTILIZATION

I can't say how well the manual explains things, as I only had it in for me to mod it, but it's not exactly hard to use. The "Tone" knob controls the tone (Duh!) which goes from muddy to incredibly shrill way to fast (More on that later though.). The "Distortion" knob controls the gain, and the "Level" knob controls, well, the level. Plug in the cable from your guitar into the input, and then plug the cable coming from the output into the next effect or your amp, tweak knobs to taste, and play. Doesn't get much simpler than this pedal.



SOUND QUALITY

This is where the DS-1 (Stock, mind you) falls VERY short. Un-modded it's very either very shrill, or very muddy, depending on where you have the tone control set. Although the mods for it are very easy to do, this review is for the stock DS-1, so that I'm how I'm rating it.

It just in general lacks the "oopmh" that one expects, and has very little low end. I used this with a BC Rich Warbeast NJ Deluxe loaded with active EMG's, and the amp I was using was a Peavey Ultra all-tube amp pushing a 5150 Straight cab loaded with Celestion V30's and G12T-75's. Even with that rig it still sounded nasty. It was either dark and muddy, or much very bright and shrill. No matter where I tweaked the knobs to I couldn't get a tone that I liked.

OVERALL OPINION

Overall, unless you are comfortable modding guitar pedals, then I have to suggest that you stay away from this pedal. It might work OK if you had a VERY dark guitar, baring that there are many better distortion pedals out there to choose from.

I have to say though, for the price that it is, it's a very good platform for modding. I do want to add that after doing the Marshall Mods to the pedal it sounded infinity better. It turned out to be less shrill and had more gain on tap than it did before the mod, but was still able to clean up very well.

good, as if there was not enough notice I'll give mine, since c my favorite pedal, if I had that it would be this one.
the simple crunch dirty (I put the dry at 10-11h) playing with the theft of his big-GTR-edged ...
hmmm, I can not get enough, she is always engaged ...
I couple with a big muff russia (FYI c what kurt balou converges to I think) and there is great big sound good for hardcore or metal core ...
yeah I ft torque with a TS-9 for warm and dirty ...

I find this pedal really deadly, especially for the price, 30 euros Used
Here are some links that I think its very representative of this pedal ...
(c demo boss, the first plan well aware of the good side of the pedal)

then
ca super group, the guitarist has that ds 1 it engages for passages Powers!

UTILIZATION

yeah peace of cake

SOUND QUALITY

let's go

OVERALL OPINION

Come Get Some

Probably the most beginner or entry level distortion box you can buy. You can find this pedal in just about every music store in the world. There is a couple reasons for that, one being that everyone likes this pedal and its marketed very well. The other being it is as cheap as they come and can get you somewhat of a desired result.....not really

This is a pedal for a learning guitar player who got $50 from his parents for Christmas. If your on a budget then I can see this pedal working out for you.

Simple design and layout as follows..

Level, Tone, and Dist

Level will turn your overall volume up or down. The tone will brighten or darken your tone depending on which side you turn it to. The Dist with give you the grind or saturation that your looking for.

UTILIZATION

The sound is very metallic in nature as most OD pedals can be. It isn't going to be suitable for recording or any real band applications. I guess some people can be creative with it but those people are just going to get something that works for them and not spend much time tweaking a pedal that sounds like forks hitting aluminum siding.

Very easy to use as only three knobs are present. The manual....well I didn't even open because any monkey who can figure out how to turn on an amp can turn this thing into the most usable situation.

I gave it a middle of the road rating since it was easier than pie to figure out though it sounded like trash cans banging around.

SOUND QUALITY

Horrible is an understatement! I would say it would be better suitable for hitting someone in the head with if they touched your amp then actually using in your chain or effects. I used my Les Paul which I though would give it the best chance of sounding decent but no goods. I also tried a Strat and it sounded so bad with single coils that I just unplugged it and never plugged it in again.

I couldn't see myself even touching this pedal again. I heard that they make a mod for it that you can pick up on ebay. Maybe this address the volume loss when engaging this pedal or makes it sound like garbage from utter and complete ruin. I guess you can only go up from utter and complete ruin.

OVERALL OPINION

I like the color of the pedal. That is about all I can say that was good about it. It made me want an ice cream pop but not want to pick up my guitar and jam.

One more good thing I can say which is not exclusive to this pedal is that Boss makes very rugged and road worthy products. If you decided to use this pedal I believe it would last you forever. Boss/ Roland does makes some stomp heavy ready boxes.

I wouldn't recommend this pedal to anyone. Save up and buy a used Boss OD-2!

It is a simple distortion from crunch to heavy rock. It is only in the form of pedal and can not be edited via an editor PC / MAC. It is digital and has only one input / output connectors such.

UTILIZATION

The configuration could not be easier! Three knobs: one volume, one tone and gain. Awesome right?
The manual is as clear as useless! But, after all, is the pedal that interests us, there is no manual with it. However where it can be appreciated, it is on the proposed adjustments. It a little needle on the most interesting sound possibilities. Anyway, to get a good distortion, the pedal is the most effective people I know.


SOUND QUALITY

The effect is really realistic. It reminds me of distortion "made in Marshall! It produces a warm and versatile, with clean more than satisfactory, and has a grain that has not displeased over the years! I think that Steve Vai has a copy of this pedal ...
I mainly use this pedal with an Ibanez RG350DX WH. But also with a Cort X-6 and Hamer Limited Edition SlammerSeries. Regarding amps, I play with a Peavey ValveKing 100, a Marshall JCM900 and a Randall RG200. The sound is always great! either when I push it to the max or minimum.

OVERALL OPINION

I use this pedal for two years now. This was my first distortion. At the time I entered the store to buy a Boss Metal-Zone. But I finally decided to try several. And I fell in love with Boss DS-1!
The quality is really excellent and unbeatable. If I was the steal, I bought on this great pedal.
I highly recommend. =)

The Boss DS-1 Distortion is a simple guitar pedal that's basically the cheapest way to get some quality distortion. It's an analog pedal that has 1/4" jacks for input and output and requires power from a 9 volt battery or power supply. It isn't going to be rackable since it's a stomp box.

UTILIZATION

You really don't need to have any experience with distortion pedals in order to manipulate the Boss DS-1 Distortion. It's going to be a lot of beginner's first pedal at this price, so I'm sure Boss has kept this in mind and kept it simple for this reason. It's also got a pretty standard make up, as you'll find that a lot distortion and overdrive pedals share the same controls of gain, level, and tone as you'll find here. You definitely don't need the manual for use with the DS-1.

SOUND QUALITY

The Boss DS-1 Distortion is a pretty solid pedal for what it can do, but it's certainly not the most versatile distortion out there. For me, it's great for thick and heavy rhythm guitar parts or for piercing leads, as there's not much room for in between sounds in my opinion. It can of does what it does and you leave it at that. It's definitely more of a traditional distortion than anything else, as it's hard to get it to sound good while being subtle.

OVERALL OPINION

The Boss DS-1 Distortion is probably the best way for beginners to get involved with using distortion. The super cheap price will attract players of all kinds however, as it's definitely the cheapest quality distortion pedal out there. It's not going to give you a plethora of sounds, but is great at what it does. It's not the best distortion out there, but it's definitely not the worst and is at least worth a shot at this incredibly cheap price. This is going to be the pedal to get most players into using Boss gear, as it seems like almost everyone has one when they start playing. I'd definitely recommend picking one up if you're distortion-less and are looking for a cheap one.

This is a pretty bare bones distortion pedal, but don't let that fool you. Sometimes simple is the key. This is the best sounding distortion pedal I've ever played. I tend to prefer amp distortion straight from a Marshall or a Fender, but this might change my mind. I started using it in my band when my other guitarist let me start using his, and now I have my own that I love. There's a tone adjustor, and distortion adjustor, and a level knob. That's really all you need in one of these pedals. It can use the Boss adaptors, and it's easy to daisy chain it.

UTILIZATION

The setup is almost TOO simple. There's nothing confusing about it. Three knobs, that's it. Tone, Level, and Distortion. There's not much else to say about it. If you can't figure it out, you must not know how to plug it in.

SOUND QUALITY

The sound is better than almost any pedal I've played. Most distortion pedals really emphasize the high end, and while this pedal is capable of that, it sounds way more natural. It really rocks certain amp types, namely a Fender Deluxe, so it's perfect for that. It sounds particularly good with compression (in fact I wouldn't recommend buying it without a good delay... try Boss again, they make good ones.) I use my '67 Strat reissue with it and it sounds fantastic. I like to sound more like a classic rocker like Neil Young or Hendrix, and it does a decent job of recreating that sound. I wouldn't recommend it for metal or hardcore players because it doesn't have the roaring low end those styles tend to need, but it probably wouldn't sound too bad with the right gear for that music. It doesn't feed back too much, which is a problem with most bright-sounding single-coil pickup guitars. It can get pretty bright so make sure you don't crank the tone knob too much!

OVERALL OPINION

This is hands down the best distortion pedal I've played. I won't say it's the best out there, because I'm new to the world of pedal distortion, but there's really not much way you can go wrong if you are looking for a great way to rock out. Again, for soloing, it's great with compression so strongly consider buying a compressor or sustainer if you don't already have one. I don't really have any problems with it at all, and it definitely beats most other pedals I've tried. It's worth every penny, and I'd buy one again if I needed to.

The boss ds-1 is a widely-known, cheap, and reliable distortion pedal. It's a typical analog pedal with tone control, distortion saturation, and level control. Of course, it's a pretty simple pedal. It's typically a beginners pedal, but it has a lot of life to it.

UTILIZATION

The ds-1 is most widely recognized as a grunge pedal, it's nothing too complicated for anyone to use. It only has 1 input and 1 output. It does have the option for an a/c adapter, but a 9-volt lasts quite a while.

SOUND QUALITY

The pedal does well to offer a good range of sound for having such limited variable controls. I have used it with several guitars, primarily a fat strat. The most use mine sees is with my bassist. He loves it. He has a MusicMan which he plays through a trace elliot and he just loves to distort his bass and get that dirty, grungy sound.

OVERALL OPINION

I've had this pedal for about 8 years. I have recommended it to several people, and wouldnt mind having a spare myself. I cant say that it is a quiet pedal, it comes with some noise and you can achieve feedback when you want. It's a fun pedal for anyone wanting some simple distortion with an easy interface. The Boss name is undeniably reliable. If you dont have a gain channel on your amp, it is sufficient and nice to have around. It's value compared to it's price is about right, with boss, you get what you pay for, and they have products for everyone. The ds-1 is right for beginners but good enough for anyone. Im glad I bought it years ago.

The DS-1 is a distortion stomp box. You've probably heard it before. The pedal is cheap, so many people end up picking one up for some easy distortion.

Theres 3 knobs for tone, level, and distortion. Boss provides a battery for it, but you can also plug in a standard 9V adapter.

UTILIZATION

The simple setup makes it easy to use. With only three knobs, there's not a whole lot to fuss around with, but there is still enough room to vary the sound a bit. The controls all respond how you would expect them to.

The pain with this pedal is, if you're using a battery, like many pedals you must unplug the input or the battery will drain.

SOUND QUALITY

I like this pedal quite a bit. It's got a crunchy, "fizzy" distortion that I enjoy. The tone knob will take some adjusting to find the sound you want. It seems to start off a bit muddy on the low side and gets a bit too bright on the high side. But I like to vary the fullness of the sound and the tone works well for that.

The distortion will provide some nice crunch even on its lowest setting, and add the "fizz" as you turn it up. Level works well to help dial in the sound.

It's probably not for everyone, but it's perfect for a basic distortion. It also seems to work well with fuzz boxes and other pedals.

OVERALL OPINION

Okay, the DS-1 sells new for $40. At that price, you can pretty much afford to hate it. For a basic distortion pedal, I think there is very good sound here which makes it an incredible deal. I've heard more expensive pedals that I didn't like so much. Anyone who is looking for a distortion should give this one a shot. I bought this pedal just to try it. It was much better than what I was expecting.

And like most Boss pedals, it's very sturdy, so it'll probably last a lifetime.

The Boss DS-1 is a distortion pedal, with adjustable tone, level and distortion. It is an analog pedal and has a 1/4'' input and output. It is not a rackable unit.

UTILIZATION

Like most of the Boss pedals, you can pretty much just plug this thing in and let it rip. All you have to do is plug in your guitar in the input and the amp to the output. I had no need to look at the manual as I just adjusted my tone by ear with the 3 knobs and had no troubles setting it up.

SOUND QUALITY

This produces a great heavy distortion sound. Its really thick and great for sustaining a power chord. The distortion can range from just a light overdrive to all out heavy metal. However, I am unable to get a real tube sounding overdrive with this. I have only used it with guitar, and it sounds great with my amp that has no built-in distortion.

OVERALL OPINION

I've had this pedal for about 5 years, it was my first pedal. I like this pedal for the specific heavier distortion in produces. I use it mostly for rhythm guitar but doesn't sound bad for lead. I also have a BK Butler overdrive pedal to satisfy that sort of overdriven sound. However, the reason this pedal is so popular is the price. Since it is so cheap, even the most beginner level guitar players should have it in their set up. While there are certainly a slew of better distortion pedals out there with more versatility, for the price this pedal cannot be beat.