Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive Pedal

I've been a fan of the Super Overdrive since the 80s. It's a perfectly balanced overdrive pedal with just enough bite and transparency. Now, with the Waza Craft edition, you get even more bite, crunch and clarity. While I'm still a fan of the classic edition, I consider the Waza edition well worth the money. It's built like a tank and works for any musical style.

The boss SD-1 is an awesome pedal. My humbucker pickups break up nicely with just this pedal plugged into my amp. I would describe it as a "tight crunch" tone, or a light distorted sound. And when I put the SD-1 before my distortion pedal-goodnight! It pushes my distorted gain to a whole new level! I'm very happy with this purchase. Most guitar players are going to like this pedal.

Can't say enough good things. It's a high quality product for a great price. I got one of these to replace a Behringer TO800. The Behringer is fine but I wanted a mid focused drive pedal with more gain/bite than it offered and knew the SD-1 would provide that. For $62 this thing was a great deal. It's built like a tank, solid metal. And it gives me that warm overdrive tube like sound I wanted with more flexibility in the gain knob than a tubescreamer. If you want that warm tube amp sound, this is perfect. I think some that rated this lower wanted a straight up distortion pedal which this is NOT. For the Boss version of that, look to the DS-1 not the SD-1. This is a medium gain overdrive, not a distortion pedal.

This Boss overdrive gives the classic vintage overdrive sound in a compact package. Yes, you lose the battery option, but you gain room on your pedal board. Totally worth it in my case as I already use a power supply. Matches well with other Boss pedals. Sturdy and well made for gigs, practice, etc.

The full-chord voicing tone that you get out of this pedal is amazing. It's clean, crisp, and well balanced. I also like playing Vai and other virtuoso players. If you enjoy playing those stylings or hard rock or metal, this pedal may not be for you. "Super Overdrive" is not super overdrive, it's more like a subtle distortion when it comes to lead play. In fact, even with the settings to the max, you can still hear the acoustic tones of the notes breaking through, which is awesome if you're a blues player or 70s rock enthusiast. Don't get me wrong, it's a great distortion and really flairs up the pentatonics when playing over an acoustic rhythm section. Major form and modal play are quite weak though. It also pairs well with alternative rock (broader chord voicing). If you like low end, this pedal may not be a great choice. It has quite a bit of treble and is very airy (not sure if that's a word). I pair it with a chorus pedal, which really improves the tone. I think a lot of the demos that you see on this pedal are run through high-end amps, which really does not display how this thing sounds to the average person playing a $200 amp. Another trick that I've seen when people are demoing this pedal is that they add the super overdrive to a distorted channel to push it over the top, which sounds amazing. You cannot push this pedal over the top on its own. I hope this helps.

Many guitarists I love us this pedal, one of them more exclusively than others. That would be Mike ness, and although I don’t have an identical amp setup as him (not trying for it either), this awesome boss pedal alone gives the mike ness/social distortion sound. That came as a bonus, as I was really just looking to add a good overdrive pedal to my arsenal. Whether you are getting your first overdrive, or adding to your overdrive options, you can’t go wrong with this one. Boss is and always has been quality, with the effects they produce as well as the solid chassis that holds it all together. Amazing price too. Definitely recommend.

Boss invented the first op amp overdrive pedal with the OD-1 and not long afterwards, Ibanez put out the Tube Screamer, which was basically an OD-1 with a tone control and symmetrical clipping. Not to be outdone, Boss added a tone control to their OD-1 and called it the Super Overdrive and designated it the SD-1. I’ve played modded and unmodded TS circuits and clones and I’ve played modded and unmodded SD-1 circuits and clones. The original still sounds the best to me. Nothing goes as well with a breaking up amp like an SD-1. Nothing kicks a dirt box to the next level like an SD-1 (put it in front of a mid-scooped fuzz for an amazing chunky metal tone, throw it in front of a Rat for a surprisingly good Van Halen brown sound). Single coils, humbuckers, etc. it’s all just grand in that classic way you’ve heard on hundreds of recordings. And it has remained the same for decades. I’ve tried earlier black label units, the most recent SMT version and a few in between, they all sound and act exactly the same to me. If it had a cooler name, it’d be more famous than Ibanez’s world famous green rip off pedal, but as is, these little yellow wonders are brand new for $50 all day long. Save some dough and get the original overdrive. Everything that has come on the scene since owes a debt to this humble pedal, and for my money, nothing does classic overdrive better than the Boss SD-1.

lots of sound. good deal