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Hatsubai « Similar to the SD1 »
Published on 01/27/12 at 15:59Zakk Wylde has always been known for having some sort of boost in his arsenal. For decades, he used the old school Boss SD-1 to boost his Marshall JCM800s loaded with 6550 tubes. However, since he's gone on his little binge of signature gear, he decided to get his own signature boost pedal. In reality, this is pretty much the same as the standard Boss SD-1, but it might be a tad thicker in tone. It's close enough to where either one works if you're looking to get his tone.
UTILIZATION
The housing on this is fairly sturdy, but I've heard of a few switches failing on these. I never personally experienced that, however, so take that with a grain of salt. The housing seems like it would be able to withstand heavy touring. The graphics on this are kinda dumb with the whole bullseye theme, but that's what he likes, so I can't criticize it too much. The knobs are easy enough to get at, and if you've ever used an SD-1, or any boost, you'll know exactly how this thing works.
SOUND QUALITY
The pedal sounds like a slightly thicker SD-1, but the difference isn't too huge. You'll hear people on the internet arguing about this pedal all the time. If you have an SD-1, you'll pretty much know how this will sound once you start boosting your amp with it. I like to run the gain low with the level cranked and the tone at roughly noon. That delivers a solid tone if you already have a gainy amp. If you have a lower gain amp, such as the JCM800, you'll probably want to add more gain and a little less level to help even everything out.
OVERALL OPINION
The pedal is solid, but SD-1s are so cheap that I just recommend getting one of those instead. I see SD-1s going for like $25, which is awesome. The only real reason to get this pedal is if you absolutely need all of Zakk's gear. You can easily mod the SD-1 to sound like this pedal with a few parts, so I'm not sure how much this pedal is worth getting, but it's solid on its own.
UTILIZATION
The housing on this is fairly sturdy, but I've heard of a few switches failing on these. I never personally experienced that, however, so take that with a grain of salt. The housing seems like it would be able to withstand heavy touring. The graphics on this are kinda dumb with the whole bullseye theme, but that's what he likes, so I can't criticize it too much. The knobs are easy enough to get at, and if you've ever used an SD-1, or any boost, you'll know exactly how this thing works.
SOUND QUALITY
The pedal sounds like a slightly thicker SD-1, but the difference isn't too huge. You'll hear people on the internet arguing about this pedal all the time. If you have an SD-1, you'll pretty much know how this will sound once you start boosting your amp with it. I like to run the gain low with the level cranked and the tone at roughly noon. That delivers a solid tone if you already have a gainy amp. If you have a lower gain amp, such as the JCM800, you'll probably want to add more gain and a little less level to help even everything out.
OVERALL OPINION
The pedal is solid, but SD-1s are so cheap that I just recommend getting one of those instead. I see SD-1s going for like $25, which is awesome. The only real reason to get this pedal is if you absolutely need all of Zakk's gear. You can easily mod the SD-1 to sound like this pedal with a few parts, so I'm not sure how much this pedal is worth getting, but it's solid on its own.