Boss SD-1

[Purpletele]

I have seen a lot of chatter about the Boss SD-1 and now the Boss OD-3 as being the pedals that everyone should be familiar with.

I have a bad habit and curiosity on equipment, so I bought a brand new Yellow Box.

It is my understanding that folks used this OD to accentuate an overdriven amp.

I put the SD-1 on my board which has a Tumnus and a Wampler DB+ as the flavor.

I cranked up my new Dr. Z EMS and I get a warm dep overdriven tone. When I click on the SD-1 I definitely get a signal boost but it seems to be much more thin than the amps tone.


When I have the Tumnus and the DB+ engaged I get a snappy OD tone, when I click on the SD-1 it seems to bring the tone down about two clicks. (referencing an attenuator)

I sort of expected a thinner tone, but I am not familiar with that pedal.

Question: Is that the correct use of that pedal?

I had purchased a mod kit from Monte Allums, this one is called the stacked gain mod I believe, plus I bought a re-cap kit.

I intend to see if I can make this pedal a keeper.


Has anyone used the Monte Allums Mods on their SD-1?

[Demanic]

Re: Boss SD-1

Try turning the tone knob down to 9 o'clock, the gain to 11 o'clock and the volume to 2 o'clock.

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[Empty Pockets]

Re: Boss SD-1

Yeah i bet that $50 pedal is going to make your $2500 amp sound a lot better.

SD1s exist to make cranked up 80s rock amps (Laney AORs and Sunns and Ampegs) sound like 90s punk bands. Your other pedals are better at basically everything they do.

[Demanic]

Re: Boss SD-1

Yeah i bet that $50 pedal is going to make your $2500 amp sound a lot better.

SD1s exist to make cranked up 80s rock amps (Laney AORs and Sunns and Ampegs) sound like 90s punk bands. Your other pedals are better at basically everything they do.

Ouch.
Maybe so.
But.
Whatever.

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[Sirion]

Re: Boss SD-1

Yeah i bet that $50 pedal is going to make your $2500 amp sound a lot better.

SD1s exist to make cranked up 80s rock amps (Laney AORs and Sunns and Ampegs) sound like 90s punk bands. Your other pedals are better at basically everything they do.

That's odd. Zakk Wylde and Reb Beach were both known to use this, and I could swear that they didn't sound like 90s punk! Then again, Reb at least used 70s amps, so the SD-1 might only have taken him to the 80s.

Jokes aside, it behaves as I would expect with the Dr. Z pedal. These things accentuated the mids at the expense of the bottom end. This made them excellent solo boosts. They can, alternatively, be used as a platform for tightening your sound – Jake E. Lee used its predecessor, the OD-1, for this, as he found that his Marshalls got a bit mushy once the volume got up to a certain level. They are not transparent, and without extensive modification I don't think they can be.

So, my answer to your first question will be yes: you are using it like most people would, although it would normally be used to boost an amp rather than another gain pedal. When using it in conjunction with other pedals you might have to experiment with volume levels and pedal order to make it behave the way you want.

What I don't get from your post, however, is what exactly you want it to do. It would probably be better to find out where it is supposed to fit into your rig, and what you want it to do, before you start modding it. (Yes, I know, I'm boring!)

[Purpletele]

Re: Boss SD-1

That's odd. Zakk Wylde and Reb Beach were both known to use this, and I could swear that they didn't sound like 90s punk! Then again, Reb at least used 70s amps, so the SD-1 might only have taken him to the 80s.

Jokes aside, it behaves as I would expect with the Dr. Z pedal. These things accentuated the mids at the expense of the bottom end. This made them excellent solo boosts. They can, alternatively, be used as a platform for tightening your sound – Jake E. Lee used its predecessor, the OD-1, for this, as he found that his Marshalls got a bit mushy once the volume got up to a certain level. They are not transparent, and without extensive modification I don't think they can be.

So, my answer to your first question will be yes: you are using it like most people would, although it would normally be used to boost an amp rather than another gain pedal. When using it in conjunction with other pedals you might have to experiment with volume levels and pedal order to make it behave the way you want.

What I don't get from your post, however, is what exactly you want it to do. It would probably be better to find out where it is supposed to fit into your rig, and what you want it to do, before you start modding it. (Yes, I know, I'm boring!)

Sirion,

Thanks for the reply.

The whole project is a learning experiment. I was curious of the staple pedals from 20 years ago and how they were used. I also wanted to try some of the Mods that Turned on Wampler, Keeley and the rest.

Here is the link to the Mods that I have purchased. I bought the stacked gain mod as well as a cap kit.

I am hoping that the Mods open up the pedal and make it sound full with some warmer sounding drive and distortion.

The Dr. Z EMS has a killer tone without a pedal in front of it. I am digging this amp.

http://www.monteallums.com/pedal_mods_SD1.html

[contiContiCONTI]

Re: Boss SD-1

I don't think there's any 1 way to use a pedal that is designed for 1 sound and one sound only. In fact quite the opposite. Gear is what you make of it and how you personally use it.

That said, I have a BOSS OS-2 and I only use it with a Bad Monkey overdrive (set on really low gain) before it, then going into a clean amp. Without the bad monkey it does just give a very weird thin distortion. I usually use the amp OD channel with the bad monkey, but the boss is there for when I go to open jams and the available amp is very low gain. Maybe try something like that? Very low gain overdrive before it?

[jeremy]

Re: Boss SD-1

the sd1 is a staple pedal from maybe 30 years ago. its similar to a tube screamer in many ways. it cuts bass, smooths out the highs and boosts mids. ive bought and sold the sd1 many times and after the last time, im just keeping this one. i sell it because it sounds thin then buy it because in a live situation it does cool things. i usually keep the gain and tone between 10-11 o'clock and the volume up enough to boost the volume, so im not that far off from what demanic said.

[Rex_Rocker]

Re: Boss SD-1

Thing about the SD-1 is it's basically a grittier Tube Screamer with a bit more range in the drive knob (less gain at lower settings, more gain at higher settings) and a bit less range in the output knob (or overall less output IME). It does cut more bass than a TS808 or TS9 without adding as much juice in the mids, so it's definitely a bit thinner and benefits from keeping the tone knob low.

It's got a killer rasp in the high mids that a TS does not have. It gets along with some amps better than the TS. I personally really like it with a Dual Rec, but many people dig it with Marshalls.

[Kamanda~SD]

Re: Boss SD-1

Yeah i bet that $50 pedal is going to make your $2500 amp sound a lot better.

SD1s exist to make cranked up 80s rock amps (Laney AORs and Sunns and Ampegs) sound like 90s punk bands. Your other pedals are better at basically everything they do.

WTF are you on about? It's not about matching the prices of things, but what tool is right for the job. An SD-1 certainly makes my $2000+ amps sound better for what I need.

With that said...everyone else here is pretty bang on, depends on how you use it and what you want. It CAN certainly make things thin, especially with high tone knob settings and even high gain settings. I use my OD's to mainly 'push' so I get the Level knob up and keep the dist knob low.

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Boss SD-1

[PFDarkside]

Re: Boss SD-1

All that being said, maybe you prefer the clean boost and Klon style boosts for your amp and style.

[Purpletele]

Re: Boss SD-1

All that being said, maybe you prefer the clean boost and Klon style boosts for your amp and style.

I do prefer the clean boost and Tumnus at this time.

I am going to perform the MODS as discussed to see if I can recreate the magic of the late 70's, with regard to pedal advancements and Hot mods. It's all for fun.

[dave74]

Re: Boss SD-1

If it weren't yellow I'd probably have one in my collection. (lol, but true)
For my gear combinations I tend to like boosters with either a thicker burly mid-boost (with passives),,,,,,,,,, or a more flat and transparent EQ/pick-dynamics (more for actives).

The sd-1 can be absolutely perfect for some situations.

[ThisDyingSoul76]

Re: Boss SD-1

Solo mid boost or tighten up the bottom end of an amp with higher gain settings is where this shines. I think this is the Pedal Jeff Waters of Annhilater used for decades to push his Marshall's over the edge.