BOSS DS-1 Distortion Compact Distortion Pedal

The Boss DS-1 is a timeless distortion pedal that delivers every time. It’s super easy to use, built like a tank, and gives that perfect crunchy tone for rock, metal, or punk. The tone control is very responsive, and it sounds great with any amp. For the price, this pedal is unbeatable — a must-have for every guitarist!

Great Boss DS-1 Distortion Pedal. This is one piece. You must buy other accessories if you choose to. It sounds good & was bought for our grandson.

I wanted to make sure I had some good settings to show off before I posted a review. Those are in the video, and I'll write about them more later. The orange Boss Distortion pedal is likely the first one I played when my brother got an electric guitar. It has all the clipping and crunch of 90s grunge tones that you could want to mimic playing like a rock star. Anyone who's used this can tell you it's an inexpensive and well-built pedal that really needs some fine tuning using your ears. Cranking the Tone and Distortion to 5 o'clock will get you shrill, muddy and undefined notes. That sound may have it's use, but it's not where the pedal shines. Two settings that sound really good with my Orange Crush Amp and a tele: 1. Tone: 12 Level: 12 Distortion: 3 This gets you in the realm of pushing some overdrive into the amp, while having a balanced tone. If you pick the strings harder, power chords get some good distortion on them, with note definition retained. You can even push the Distortion setting a bit higher to still get some great 90s grunge rhythm guitar sounds. 2. Tone:7 Level: 12 Distortion: 5 There's no treble boost on this one, but the distortion acts as a boost and heavy overdrive for single note (or double stops) in soloing. Satriani and Vai are known to use the pedal this way. Beware though, note definition is very poor in chords. Best to turn off the pedal before switching to that style of playing. In short, use your ears. Boss pedals are typically inexpensive, durable, and have great boost features to work with other Boss pedals without compromising your signal in a pedal chain. The only catch is, you really have to play with the settings to get the best tones for your playing.

I guess it's pretty good, boss is definitely my favorite brand. But the volume levels seem to not be perfectly even with each other with my overdrive pedal which is also boss. I was expecting the distortion to be a little bit more fuzzy, but overall, I would say it was a good purchase for the money.

Awesome pedal for everything rock!!!

Fine tune to your own sound. I've heard some bad reviews about this pedal. But as you know guitar players are picky and unique to their own sound. I really like this pedal once I got it dialed in to the sound I wanted it's one of my favorites on my board. Really good for grunge Rock and punk music especially when you push it with an overdrive like a tube screamer.

Guitarists have become a bunch of cork-sniffers. There are so many players more concerned with the name on the headstock of their guitar and their amp and the endless "boutique" pedals in their collections that many seem unable or unwilling to give a listen to "stock" gear, or anything that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. The fact is that if you're a gigging musician, and I am, you come to realize that all those subtle, detailed nuances of tone that so many want to obsess over get lost in the band mix, and in the poor acoustics of wherever you're playing. Yes, we want to sound good to ourselves because that's inspiring, but frankly, I don't need $200+ dollar distortion/OD pedals to be inspired. I haven't owned a DS-1 in a long time, but recently got one because I was looking for a distortion pedal on a budget. Frankly, I'd forgotten how musical this pedal is. With the distortion set to minimum (it never gets clean) it's a good, moderate-gain overdrive that still lets your guitar's basic tone get through. I play a strat & and jazzmaster - those guitars still sound like themselves with this thing. With the gain at halfway you get great AD/DC crunch. And even with the gain maxed out you still get excellent note definition on chords. What more could you want? Sure, it's "old school" rock distortion. The usual "may not appeal to metalheads" caveat applies, maybe. Combine this with an eq and you could scoop the mids as much as you want. I also have a Barber LTD (great, relatively cheap "boutique" moderate gain OD that doesn't break the bank) and a Visual Sound Route 66, which is a tubescreamer clone (with much more gain) and a compressor in one pedal. Both the LTD & Rt 66 have the usual TS9 midrange hump, though much less pronounced on the LTD. What's refreshing about the DS-1 is that the strong mids are there, but the overall tone is not in the same realm as a tubescreamer, so it can sit well on a pedalboard and bring a different flavor to the party. The tone on the DS-1 can get very bright, but as I indicated I play with single coils, and I have no problem finding sweet spots on the tone knob - I generally run it around 9-10:00. Overall this pedal is a steal - look around and find a used one for a good price. I'd considered a modtone Speedbox, but decided to go with the generally bulletproof Boss instead, for basically the same price. I couldn't be happier.

This pedal is great. I used it on my Gibson LP 100 and Roland drum machine and man... It sounds like a dream. There's definitely a lot to work with here. I don't know what these other people mean by saying "mid-high or high-gain is only achievable with this". I tested the pedal myself and adjusted the tone of it to produce lower frequencies and it sounded thick. I wouldn't ever use this for low, low sounds but, that's not to say that someone wouldn't. If you're receiving a brighter sound out of it and want it to be lower, it's likely that you are playing an instrument that's already producing a bright sound. I can't hit my cymbal on my drum machine and complain about the lack of bass through the distorted sound because there no low end frequencies to work with in the first place. There is a meal on a silver platter, and you hold the power to possess this meal. But you have to inquire about it. This pedal is your waiter, menu and utensils that can help you indulge in it. But in all seriousness. I have spent so many hours on specifically distorting my sounds through digital pre-sets and such. They've sounded great afterwards, but that's not the point... No the point is, is that this device right here: 1) Cuts the distortion editing process time in half. 2) Saves up RAM + Helps avoid potential latency issues in your DAW (if you're like me and use a shitload of presets) which in turn, creates more efficient, easier work flow. 3) Creates an effortlessly attractive flare to your sound. If you have the money get it. If you don't, go on eBay or to guitar center and spend 25$ for a used one...These things are very indestructible. Hope this helps.

Tenía otro pedal de distorsión y no conseguía hacerme con él. Demasiado ruido. Vi el DS-1 de toda la vida por debajo de los 100€ y no me lo pensé. Acierto total. Distorsión ajustada a tu deseo en cada momento. Con los controles justos para conseguir lo que quieres cada vez. Lo dicho, un clásico con casi cincuenta años de experiencia.

First of all I’ve been playing blues for over 50 years and have used all the classics including my 1965 Fender Super Reverb amp. Blues as we all know is based on using tone and nuance to play “ between the notes “. I still own a 1980s TS-808 and a 1980s Boss Blues Driver pedals. I also got the new Japanese Boss Blues Driver this year with its little hidden switch! They are all interesting and can recreate the 60s electric blues sounds up to a point. I got this Distortion pedal on a whim due to I just retired and am playing more and the price was very attractive. I plugged it in today with one of my Stratocasters and I couldn’t believe its sound, nuance, feel and tone. It’s funny only this week I was watching the Cream reunion concert first time in years and saw Eric Clapton doing “Stormy Monday”. In his solo he hits a sustained bend on the third that lasts almost a minute and the crowd goes wild. I plugged in today to try this pedal out and just happened to hit a bend and let it go and it sounded the same! This is a marvellous addition to anyone’s pedal collection no wonder Gary Moore, Satriani, Johnson and many others use it. It’s definitely worth a try if you’ve never played with it.

Pues no se por que pintan mal en reseñas este pedal, bueno tambien es li primer pedal , hace muuucho no tocaba guitarra. Pero esta muy bien. La bateria te dura lo del reembolso. Practica, usalo frecuente mente y checa si llega a tener un problema asi puedas hacer rembolso. Pero RECOMIENDO AL 100

Il BOSS DS-1 è il pedale distorsione che ha definito generazioni di chitarristi: gain medio versatile dal crunch blues a saturazione punk/rock anni '80, con sustain naturale e risposta dinamica che segue ogni tocco.​ Suono e controlli semplici: Tre manopole essenziali: Distortion per passare da boost leggero a overdrive aggressivo, Tone per bilanciare medi caldi e alti definiti, Level per adattarsi a qualsiasi setup. Arancione iconico, metallo indistruttibile, vero tank Boss che dura decenni senza battere ciglio.​ Perfetto su Fender o ampli vintage per quel suono "touch sensitive" che pulisce col volume chitarra. Ideale per riff taglienti senza diventare fangoso Manca il gain estremo per metal djent moderno; resta vintage, non high-gain serrato. Resta insuperato per rapporto qualità/prezzo e affidabilità assoluta. Un must per chi cerca il "suono distorsione" senza complicazioni.​

I had one Ds1 decades ago. Now that I use it again I m amazed at how good it sounds. So simple yet so plenty of different ranges, from bluesy overdrive to overkill fuzz. All varying endlessly with the differents pickups, [pre] amps, personal settings, etc, you might you. Even if you re a sloppy player, the mere powerfull sustain of this pedal will carry you thru. Probably the best distortion unit ever created.