The Most Underrated Boss Pedal?...The Boss SD1 Will Outlast Us All

[@kmjansen]

Most underrated Boss pedal of all time is the OD-3. I use the OD-3 as my Nobles and the SD-1 as my Tube Screamer because Boss is Boss.

[@jameswilson1628]

Came here to say this. The SD-1 is a good TS alternative, and well known. The OD-3 is a total sleeper

[@nedludd3641]

You made a video 2 years ago using a bog standard SD-1 and it was simply the best vlog you've ever done. It very simply clearly concisely showed the wonderful tone one was able to get using a Strat SSS & an SD-1 on about 4 settings. It was a masterclass

[@TheRodge2112]

In front of a dirty amp, it pushes and reduces all the right frequencies. This and the OD3 are timeless.

[@alguitarchristie]

I used one for 30 years and I still have it, I just bought a new one because I was travelling to the states and got one too use while I was there, but ended up bringing it back with me. I'll take it over a tube screamer any day of the week!

[@youngesteban]

Hey John - I was the one that sold that to you and David, so glad you’re still loving it; I’ve got one too and totally agree with your take on it, a near perfect pedal.

[@mattofthemountain]

25 years ago I was using a TS9 as a “distortion” pedal into a Twin Reverb and wishing it had more edge. Little did I know the Boss SD-1 would have been a better choice.

[@pCeLobster]

It's the best pedal ever. It's the only thing that's never left my board.

[@DROPTUNED]

Best OD and underrated.... someday the World will appreciate it more...

[@lilhoss1]

I have tried every overdrive imaginable. I keep coming back to the sd1. It always feels like I'm coming "home."

[@beesong2450]

If you want to be heard in the mix without being obnoxious the SD1 is the best at that

[@alexwalker67]

Boss pedals are great. The SD-1 is brilliant, the BD-2 is ace, the DD-3 is a classic, TR-2 is the best tremolo pedal ever IMO and the TU-2 is the industry standard for a reason. All well priced too. I've owned the same Blues driver for 25 years and the same tuner for 20 years. Indestructible!

[@scozz6139]

The Boss Sd1 is certainly ubiquitous, seems every player has one, me included,... but I find myself using my Boss Bd2 quite a bit more than my Sd1. The Bd2 doesn't cut the low end quite as much as the Sd1, and to my ears it's more transparent too. The Bd2 doesn't color the sound of my amp as much as an Sd1, to my ears at least, and that's very important to me. I love the tone of my 20 watt Marshall Studio JCM800 head, I don't use any pedals or devices that color my core too much.

[@edlib02169]

I have one that got left behind at work. After 6 weeks when nobody showed up to claim it, it came home. I don’t hate it. But I don’t use it much. I think I generally prefer a Tubescreamer. But mainly because I know them better. I’ve had TS pedals since the 90s.

[@hankrocks7504]

Every iteration of pedal board I’ve had has had an SD-1 on it. Even my band mate got one after hearing mine at practice . Simply put … if you want an over drive that’ll cut through a mix… this’ll do it. I compete with a keyboard player and this thing gets me over him

[@MilesReedMusic]

I was looking for an overdrive for a little 4 pedal fly rig. When I saw this video I thought perhaps this would work! So I bought an older black label model and love it. It’s perfect for my needs! Thanks John

[@ksharpe10]

It seems to enhance all of JOHN"s Nuances/ Techniques in his Playing. All the Squawks, Chirps, wild bends and spooky sounding stuff!!!!

[@Rael0505]

My favorite thing about this pedal is how it smoothes out harsh high frequencies

[@craiger2399]

While listening to the intro playing: it cuts the bottom right out of your sound, but honestly, that is what makes a guitar heard in a band. Hard to play with that sound in a bedroom though (for me).

[@pepeowen]

Yes, 100%. Adds a lot of warmth. I use it in front of a somewhat overdriven amp and it gives you a warm distortion.

[@joemiller9856]

Just the right amount of overdrive.. in your intro , great definition and clarity. 👍

[@jimmcdougall9973]

Yes, it has a lot more gain than the Tube Screamer. I bought the SD1 and a Peavey Bandit, both new from a music store in 1982. It was the first pedal I ever owned. I used to stack it on the Bandit’s overdrive and got some interesting, tube like tones. When I tried a Tube Screamer, I didn’t get it. It was a slight boost, but no overdrive.

[@cmonsterz]

I’ve always loved the SD-1. Beautiful tones! It’s also a pedal that stacks with another drive pedal well (tip: stack two SD-1 pedals).

[@jackprice7828]

I recently added a ToneX to my Stomp rig. After reviewing a lot of amp captures I finally ended up with 2 excellent amps. 65 Fender Deluxe Rev. (Tone Junkie) and an AC30. What I didn't expect was a challenge of which Helix OD or distortion would work good in the signal chain. To my surprise the Stupor OD ended up working great. I could run the gain very high and still have the smooth violin OD tone I was looking for.

[@GetEspo]

Boss is the BOSS.

[@jasonlee8497]

It’s the most amp like overdrive. The secret weapon of many great 80s players.

[@hakarl_]

I bought it on a whim and it's been on my board ever since

[@messybluesboy371]

Nice jamming 👌

[@rafaelzengo5534]

I have a 1985 MIJ. At this point I'm afraid to use it and damage it, so I'm keeping it as a museum piece as Ive used it so much, it's the most beat up SD-1 in the world maybe. After getting the OD-3 this has become my main BOSS OD. I think it taps into SD-1 territory, and gives a few extra things that you can't get from an SD-1. But SD-1 is indeed a classic.

[@danjack-son4871]

love my boss sd-1w

[@Tomekkplk]

Grab the WAZA version. Has the vintage mode that is 99% the same and extra settings if you want them

[@adamdes0t0]

Just picked one up a week or two ago for like 30 bucks. Great pedal, classic.

[@tmsglobal5848]

Thanks for the insight!

[@JDStone20]

Hahaha, must be Strum, I live right down the street from that store, Tom Quayle had their shirt on the other day, and they also serve food, kind of like a bar/cafe and have a guitar store also. Nice!

[@changestrangers]

I love the SD-1 with humbuckers - helps tighten up the low end. Overall though, I prefer a tube screamer - a much smoother sound.

[@allworksnew]

Best title for anything. For sure

[@bartosztarka637]

Oh wow.. awesome tone 😍

[@hemmingsguitarsandstuff]

Amazing pedal!

[@mikeellis4345]

Sounds about great !! 👍

[@alexmbrenner]

I have one on all my boards. It’s literally the best overdrive you can get and they are super cheap to buy used.

[@RuXTaR]

I've had it on my pedalboard ever since I bought it seond hand about 16 years ago.

[@daveschellenberg5894]

i stack with blues driver. always default to sd-1 live because the mids never fail to keep me in the mix.

[@valendis]

This is the only pedal I have besides my HX stomp I love this pedal! (I have the limited Black edition)

[@joelcraig6416]

For overdrive I tend to go for my Notaklon, OD3, Maxim (sp?) 808, Timmy which are a bot more organic sounding. Even the GE7 pushed works well also.

[@TheMasonator777]

The second most under-rated pedal is the OD-2. The OD-3 is a better overdrive (also under-rated) but the OD-2 is a great “amp channel”. It’s a bit particular though. Which can be a plus into the right clean channel. The most versatile pedal is not always the best sounding in a given situation.

[@High.On.Guitars]

Beautiful playing and tone man! I once bought the ibanez tube screamer ts9 which i never really liked even though i would use it alot . I've always wanted to get this one , and i think it'd have been the better choice 😮‍💨

[@stefanfyhn4668]

Wonder if you could talk a little about your tone building philosophy? Your general tone seems to have lots of presence and treble but not ear-piercingly so. And it reacts so nicely with pedals, where a pedal for lead playing makes it more smooth instead of more shrill. Is your lead tone recorded with stereo effects or is that added in post?

[@mr.bluenotedoobop]

I picked one up "new", it was an old stock as some small music store, for $45 bucks. Sounds great! Wish it was more quiet like my waza craft blues driver though.

[@iamstan_rimp]

Absolutely. Right now I have a demon fx Andy Timmons clone and that might be too much gain. I may switch it out for this.

[@zenncatt]

I downsized my already lean pedalboard. This one stayed.

[@beardedrancher]

Good tones.

[@stevemorgan9626]

Now try the OD-3. A great complement to the SD-1.

[@yeyogak32]

Yeah , i own both on my board. Heaven

[@scottnoricsson2023]

Best overdrive, I use it nowadays as a full booster for my plexi, level full gain full tone 3 o clock

[@chrispygingerpie]

I have one of these which has the keeley mod, I’m not sure exactly what it changes. However i like it a lot and never felt like i needed a TS. I keep meaning to put it into my klone to see how it responds.

[@eb7912]

This pedal is just awesome. I sold my mxr and my warm Audio klon copy. Far better. ❤

[@cleanhit777]

Good pedals, i pep mine up running an hbe germania into it, but then i do like my gain, takes the punishment well though!

[@maxs.5163]

Underrated???? Underrated?... really?.. everybody loves it

[@dejct]

Damn, that thing is epic, I kinda need one. Does the one in the helix compare nicely?

[@nickm.9474]

I think the OD3 is the most underrated pedal. That’s pedal sounds incredible! Absolutely destroys any boutique pedal.

[@smithersjones7541]

Clearly this can be golden in the right hands but… This vs OD-3 for stunning lead tones this?

[@BOSSenjoyer]

The newer surface mount version has less noise.

[@dan_santana]

I really like the Sd-1, the only thing that I think that could be better is a higher output volume…

[@hakarl_]

Add an EQ pedal after it, and there you go. Gives you even more tone shaping options as well

[@dan_santana]

@@hakarl_ That’s a good idea, thanks for the tip!

[@fredyezl]

Anyone find the sd-1 to be noisy ? Using isolated power supply

[@charlesbaker3876]

It reminded me of a light od that can get real nasty 🎉

[@truthfactreality6814]

This channel sounds a lot better since you’ve been using real amps and pedals

[@dver4624]

it sounds exactly the same, GoldenEars.

[@truthfactreality6814]

@@dver4624 nope. And yes I do have golden ears.

[@LenLynch]

Medium OD? Preference: SD-1 Zen Drive Blues Driver

[@gffg387]

SD1 is great Jonathan. You havent tried it yet? C'mon!

[@tonystartup3817]

He borrowed mine a year or so ago and he's made videos with the waza version too

[@gffg387]

@@tonystartup3817 That's better. Thank you for teaching Jonathan some nice pedals.

[@DIGITAL7Media]

It’s has like 1k 5 star reviews on Amazon. That’s hard to accomplish.

[@Michel-r6m]

Think that the SD-1 is underrated and the BD-2 is slightly overrated, at least by me 😅

[@ShreddingFinn]

I was just telling a playing partner that I think all BOSS pedals are underrated, these drives will hang with a klon or any other obscenely priced pedal

[@eoinjennings519]

SD1 > TS

[@primaballerina84]

More playing and jamming like this while tinkering Yes Ffffing Please! 🎸👑🔮

[@PedalBattle]

The Boss pedals are disrespected and unfairly so

[@davidschaer]

the sd-1 is not even sooo underrated. literally everyone has one

[@Mexxx65]

I picked up a mint Boss SD1 recently. Can't get one decent sound out of it. Maybe I got a bad one.

[@Michel-r6m]

Or maybe a bad match between pu and amp?

[@gunkanjima3408]

What kind of music and guitar are you using? We commenters can help!

[@Mexxx65]

@@Michel-r6m possibly.

[@Mexxx65]

I'm currently running a MX strat with CS shop fat 50s, into my Blackstar Club 40 tube amp (with an effects loop), clestion 12" speaker. Everytime I try using my Boss SD1, well I take it out of my effects chain, it sounds worse than an Ibanez tube screamer I once owned.

[@lilhoss1]

It should sound like this video. If not, there's something wrong.

[@BaroqueBlues]

I think the sd1 is the most overrated pedal of all time. I own Black label & silver label, the gain structure on both of them is way too gritty & loose. You can make anything sound good with oceans of reverb & delay though. I prefer tight & smooth gain structure.

[@RuXTaR]

What makes a pedal overrated is several factors including price and general opinion of the pedal among other things.There are many better pedals. That's exactly why this pedal is underrated, it's cheap, available, and gets many jobs done without stealing the spotlight from the likes of the tube screamers, morning glories, em drives and the list goes on.

[@BaroqueBlues]

@@RuXTaR WRONG. The made in Japan ones aren't "cheap" & they don't sound any better than the ones that aren't MIJ. Second off the crowd isn't always right, you can make anything sound good with tons of reverb & delay, but that doesn't change the horrible sounding gain structure of the sd-1. That's why so many people have modified them throughout the years... because they just don't sound good on their own.

[@gunkanjima3408]

@@RuXTaRThere is nothing underrated about the SD1. It’s unanimously regarded as one of the best pedals of all time and by Boss, which is the most popular pedal brand

[@TheDarkEthereal]

@baroqueblues and yet you're still entitled to your stupid opinion. I had the opportunity to try an original klone centaur and man is that POS really overrated.

[@RuXTaR]

@@BaroqueBlues wrong? So, I'm just supposed to bow down to your opinion? Here's my opinion, you can't extract good tone from gear.