Anyone owned or used a Boss SD1 Super Overdrive

Dills

New member
I would like to know your thoughts on this pedal, and how you use it i.e to run as a standard overdrive on the clean channel or as a boost.
Does it fatten up your tone or remain thin?, does it run well as an overdrive on clean.

Thanks Dills
 
Re: Anyone owned or used a Boss SD1 Super Overdrive

Hmmm, Never used one myself. But I saw Bruce Kulick(formerly of KISS) play with one. He was using a Marshall TSL 60 head and 4X12 cab. He sounded Freaking Amazing. I know he had a JB in the Bridge.... Well I guess this isn't really much help...
I got to plug in his One Plug thingy for his pedals:32:... Best Freaking day of my life...
Oh, well the BOSS Super Overdrive gets my vote as a good pedal.
Good enough for Bruce Kulick, good enough for me.
 
Re: Anyone owned or used a Boss SD1 Super Overdrive

I own one and use it pretty regularly.

With a clean amp it gives a nice Bluesy breakup on the lower end of the gain stage. On the high end of the Gain it really drives an amp pretty hard. But it doesn't get into metal really, just near it when you really lean on it.

I find the tone to be pretty fat on it. Unlike alot of other OverDrive pedals the SD1 is pretty transparent to my ears.

I picked mine up used about 8 months ago on a whim thinking I would turn around and sell it and it'd become my #1 pedal. I play Blues and classic rock.
 
Re: Anyone owned or used a Boss SD1 Super Overdrive

ITs great in front of a tube amp, but nasty sounding through anything else. I use it to saturate some leads.

Heres a good clip where you can hear it being switched on..using my SD-1 in front of a Splawn Quick Rod.
http://hair-metal.com/tunes/blues_splawn.mp3


FYI, I just listened to this and I click on the SD-1 at exactly 0:37 seconds.
 
Re: Anyone owned or used a Boss SD1 Super Overdrive

A few famous guys have used this cool little pedal in front of their already overdriven tube amps to get some great saturation. The trick to this is to keep the Level pretty high and the Drive low so it is more of a boost than an overdrive.

A good example is Steve Vai on Dave Lee Roths "Eat 'em and Smile"(His best tone IMO). Most songs on this have the basic Marshall overdriven sound on the rhythm tracks then he kicks in the SD-1 for the leads and fills.

I think Zakk Wylde did the same.
 
Re: Anyone owned or used a Boss SD1 Super Overdrive

ive had like three of them, i always ended up selling them for some stupid reason but im keeping this one. i use it as a boost, level up most of the way, say 2:00, gain at about 9:00 and tone right around the mid point. its great for pushing a tube amp into more saturation
 
Re: Anyone owned or used a Boss SD1 Super Overdrive

I also use one to saturate the gain on my Marshall JCM800.
Great pedal.
 
Re: Anyone owned or used a Boss SD1 Super Overdrive

I still have the one that i bought back in 1983 and it still sounds great. I currently own a total of three SD-1's ( one from 1985 ( Japan ) and the other from 1997 (Taiwan) ). There are no significant difference in sound from the old Japanese models against the new Taiwanese made ones. The circuit is exactly the same. The SD-1 was primarily designed for Marshall Amps and humbucker equipped guitars ( The Gibson Les Paul was an inspiration for the creation of the SD-1 that originally started out as the OD-1 Overdrive. ) In my opinion, the SD-1 really shines as a booster. Pushing an already distorted Marshall, it does a great job. By itself, it still sounds great. More low end, more gain and harmonics than a TS9 Tube Screamer. This is because of the Assymetrical Clipping circuit ( Mismatched Diode ).
As for the famous musicians that have used and still using the SD-1, here's a short list for ya:
Jimmy Page,Eddie Van Halen,Neal Schon,The Edge,Warren DeMartini,Robin Crosby,Richie Sambora,Adrian Vandenberg,Steve Vai,Zakk Wylde,Reb Beach,Brad Whitford,Stevie Salas,John 5, Etc.
 
Re: Anyone owned or used a Boss SD1 Super Overdrive

DirrtyCraig said:
ITs great in front of a tube amp, but nasty sounding through anything else. I use it to saturate some leads.

Heres a good clip where you can hear it being switched on..using my SD-1 in front of a Splawn Quick Rod.
http://hair-metal.com/tunes/blues_splawn.mp3


FYI, I just listened to this and I click on the SD-1 at exactly 0:37 seconds.

Dude - I've never heard you play before. I'm thinking of moving to Orlando just to take lessons from you. Your chops kill. I loved the tone, too. :)

Joe
 
Re: Anyone owned or used a Boss SD1 Super Overdrive

DirrtyCraig said:
ITs great in front of a tube amp, but nasty sounding through anything else. I use it to saturate some leads.

Heres a good clip where you can hear it being switched on..using my SD-1 in front of a Splawn Quick Rod.
http://hair-metal.com/tunes/blues_splawn.mp3


FYI, I just listened to this and I click on the SD-1 at exactly 0:37 seconds.
Nice clip man. Sweet tone. Out of interest what else were you playin with? guitar? any other pedals?
 
Re: Anyone owned or used a Boss SD1 Super Overdrive

I use mine for low gain rhythm tone. I have an all-tube Laney LC-15 that I set for a slightly dirty tone (gain on 4 or 5 depending on how powerful the pickups are). Then I add the SD-1 in front with gain around 9 o'clock and the volume and tone depending on the room.

I don't use mine for solos though - to my ears it's too smooth. For solos I use the Marshall Bluesbreaker II - it sounds more 'toothy'. And I don't set the gain on my SD-1 past 12 o'clock (it's below 10 most of the time) because to me it loses definition with gain cranked.

I'm going to have my SD-1 modded (several mods including the JRC 4558 chip and true bypass switching), but even as is I think it's a fine pedal.
 
Re: Anyone owned or used a Boss SD1 Super Overdrive

DirrtyCraig said:
ITs great in front of a tube amp, but nasty sounding through anything else. I use it to saturate some leads.

Ditto. I use it to goose marshalls mainly for extra saturation...works great through the Valvetronix too..haven't tried it yet through my MESA.

I generally run the level full up..the gain between 7 & 9 oclock, and the tone between 7 & 9 oclock...

EDIT: I should also say that it rolls off some lows and compresses some highs..which works particularly well with lower output humbucking pickups under high again (i.e. 59/PAF styles that can get muddy w/ too much gain)
 
Re: Anyone owned or used a Boss SD1 Super Overdrive

A fine little pedal. I've done it all with this pedal. It start out as my primary pedal, went to never being used, then it went to being used in conjuction with my other dist. pedal, and THEN back to my only pedal.

I was running it as a boost into my distortion pedal then to a silverface twin. When I got my Z I ran it a lot as a boost. Gain at about 8 o'clock
level maxed and tone at 10-11 o'clock

Once I got my pup booster I loaned it to D!ck (JacksonMIA) I should get it back I've been wanting it alot here lately.

Luke
 
Re: Anyone owned or used a Boss SD1 Super Overdrive

Mr Wolf said:
Nice clip man. Sweet tone. Out of interest what else were you playin with? guitar? any other pedals?

Sorry man, I just did a 2 nighter out of town,...

Nope no other pedals, just a Wolfgang with a JB/59'. I did add some reverb in Cubase though. No eq'ing at all other than from the amp.
 
Re: Anyone owned or used a Boss SD1 Super Overdrive

One just can´t go wrong with an SD-1.

JB Humbucker Equiped guitar --» Boss SD-1 --» Overdriven Marshall = Tone Heaven
 
Re: Anyone owned or used a Boss SD1 Super Overdrive

Responding to an almost 14 year old thread? Aiming for a new record? :D
 
Re: Anyone owned or used a Boss SD1 Super Overdrive

use it like a tubescreamer... because it's basically a buffered-bypass tubescreamer. greate in front of a marshall. turn the drive down and vol up and it's a great dirty boost.
 
Re: Anyone owned or used a Boss SD1 Super Overdrive

i dont love the buffer, wish i had known that was my issue back when i had the first mij one. i keep my sd1 (same as the one i said id hold onto 14 years ago!) in a bypass loop with an oc2 to keep the buffers out of the way unless the pedal is on. yes i know im being super picky but i can hear a difference i dont like with them inline. the buffer on my rotosphere on the other hand is glorious
 
Re: Anyone owned or used a Boss SD1 Super Overdrive

perhaps I'm more picky than you... but I HATE the buffer on my rotosphere! treble bleed like crazy... but then I have version 1 so... I dunno what version you have. Being a ge fuzz fan, I don't like any buffers really.
 
Back
Top